Re: Raymond.E.Fiest Pbem

From: MindShift Design LLC <jasonm@mindshiftdesign.com>

Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000

In article <3759943b.2305390@news.ozemail.com.au>,
  kenosti@ozemail.com.au wrote:
> Nope, because if it's done then Ray's Lawyers will be hot the heels of
> the person who did it.
>
> Ray is very protective of his work, and there are poeple (me included)
> who will tell Ray if they see something that infringes on his
> copyright.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a Midkemia PBM or PBEM, but I
> respect Ray's decision to keep a tight control on his work, especially
> after hearing about one author's trials with a fan and fan-fiction.

If a commercial company was to create a commercial product without
license, I'd agree withthe lawyers statement. Infringement of any
company or persons's Intellectual Property is bad.

You have to remember though that Feist and the rest of Midkemia Press
created Midkemia for their original roleplaying sessions. Midkemia
Press then produced official maps and modules for it, and Feist went on
to write lots of novels based on that world, and new ones of his
creation. If a group of players were using that material to actually
play an online game instead of a face-to-face game then they're not
breaking law or demeaning his work, but just changing the communication
medium through which they are playing.

I know the story behind the fan-fiction comment you made. But every day
we take things in life and create derivitave works from it without
really realising it. However we don't try and cash in on the original.
What happened was an isolated case where an author had a fan write a
short piece and send it to her, but the author had already written a
piece that was very close. Tbe fan got upset, but the author had
written before the fan and the author's work was actually at the
publishers.

I respect Ray's wish to control his work as well, as I do any company.
However you'll find that the problem with having fans is that they like
your work and want to emulate it so that they can continue to enjoy the
works you created and pay a certain homage to it.

Hell, if we applied this rule to every game that was created, then
roleplaying companies would be stopping players from making their own
adventures based on their games - you could only use official
supplements, game worlds, and chars because otherwise you'd be stealing
their intellectual property.

Lighten up, have fun. Ray wants people to continue enjoying his works -
old and new. He doesn't want them to steal his property or make monet
illegally from it, but he does want them to return again and again to
the worlds he's created. No point in writing if you can't let people
enjoy the end product.

--
Jason Paul McCartan - jasonm@mindshiftdesign.com
CEO
MindShift Design LLC Website - http://www.mindshiftdesign.com
	"Altering Perceptions, Creating Worlds"

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References

Re: Raymond.E.Fiest Pbem
kenosti@ozemail.com.au (Anestis Kozakis)
Fri, 04 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Raymond.E.Fiest Pbem
"Dill" <rena8888@hotmail.com>
Fri, 04 Jun 1999 00:00:00 +0000