Guild homepage and the Planeshift License

[leinir]

It dawns on me that according to the Planeshift license, those making homepages for guilds are not allowed to use the material in the game, without getting an explicit permission from the Planeshift team. Has one such been extended to guilds in general at any one time (I\'ve searched around the forum and found no such thing), or is this the first request for a permission to do this?

At any rate, I would like to ask permission for guilds to use the Planeshift graphics and other material released under the Planeshift license to be used by guilds, of course with proper attention to copyright, like linking back to the Planeshift license on the homepage.

Perhaps another option would be to make a Guild Starter Pack, with a collection of graphics released under a special license, stating that they can be used only by guilds, for the specific purpose of creating a homepage and potential marketing for that. This has worked in other games and might be a viable option here too

[Zeraph]

I strongly doubt that anyone will sew you for making a guild website with copyrighted Planeshift graphics, unless you are using the website for making money or a separate project other then Planeshift.

[leinir]

Oh yes, I\'m certain it would be no problem, but the thing is, the way the license is written, if that is not cleared up, any case that might be tried in court would not be accepted because they had looked through their fingers with what the guilds did Just covering ground to make sure nothing bad happens to the project at a later time

[Parts]

Originally posted by leinir
Oh yes, I\'m certain it would be no problem, but the thing is, the way the license is written, if that is not cleared up, any case that might be tried in court would not be accepted because they had looked through their fingers with what the guilds did Just covering ground to make sure nothing bad happens to the project at a later time

You\'re quite right if someone is using \'raw\' artwork from the data package.

However, if the artwork used on a guild site were to be \'screenshots\' it should negate the legal risk to planeshift because it would be a \'product\' of the software rather than a \'derivative work\'.

Think of it rather like using GIMP or PhotoShop to make a picture; the screenshot would be more like your end design than a modification of GIMP or Photoshop.

Machinima provides a fairly good case example for what you *can* do with games without breaking the author\'s licences or causes the authors problems. Except perhaps in the case of RvB who have to carry a disclaimer but even then thats no big deal

[FESFES]

Would this count for screen shots too?

[leinir]

Hmm... I am not entirely sure, since I\'m not really that big on law, but while re-re-re-reading the license, this section sprung out at me:

3. You may use the provided Material, for personal use only, to connect to an Official PlaneShift Server only in conjunction with a Planeshift Client, distributed by the Planeshift Team. Offical PlaneShift Servers can only be designated by PlaneShift Team.

Could a guild be considered personal use, since it does happen in conjunction with an official Planeshift Client (i.e. it\'s what the guild members use to play the game)?

Also, the material I was wondering about are things like the Renderings on the homepage since they are of a quality more suited for designing homepages than a plain screenshot would be.
Though actually, writing this down has made me think a bit about it, and indeed screenshots can be used, if they are of a high enough resolution (i.e. highest setting, preferably OpenGL).
This could of course also be used to actually make the Guild starter pack that I mentioned above. That is, a set of screnshots of a selection of poses of the different races, and some shots of important buildings, alongside a copy of the license and some more general information that would be of interest to new guilds. I would volunteer to make this, but I\'ve given up on MB a long time ago, it seems to very much not like my machine at all, so I\'m waiting for CB

[Dajmin]

Wouldn\'t a screenshot on a website make it a public display?  It\'s not like taking a screenshot to use as your desktop picture, but more like taking a picture of someone\'s sculpture and putting on display in an art gallery.

The other thing to look out for is that you\'re not violating any NDAs.  I don\'t know if PS has issued pre-alpha testers with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (I would assume it\'s in the Terms somewhere) so posting screenshots on a publicly viewable website WOULD violate copyright and could get you sued.

It\'d be pretty silly not to have some kind of NDA, because it\'d be easy enough for another software developer to look at a website, see an idea they hadn\'t thought of then use it and copyright it themselves, making it illegal for the PS team to use without permission and thereby screwing up the entire project and forcing a code rewrite.

/inhales

Of course, there might not be any need for an NDA right now if there is nothing original in the product at the moment.  For instance, if they plan on changing the graphics or UI later and don\'t care about the current models then it\'s not necessary.  If it\'s still the \"3d chat room\" it was described (I\'ve not downloaded my version yet) then there might be nothing to protect - lots of people have released 3d chat rooms.  It\'s only once the quest and detailed content get added that things become valuable.

That any clearer for ya?