wrote:
> 3. The concept use statement. My personal main objection. If I
spend some
> time writing stories about "Vinga's little sister XXX" and
Issaries then
> publish a cult of "XXX, Vinga's little sister" I expect to be
credited as
> the creator. I don't think anyone would find that unreasonable -
and
> encouragingly comments I've had from Greg suggest he thinks it is
> reasonable too. Yet, the "concept use" statement claims that
Issaries can
> "use any Gloranthan concepts without credit". Is "reasonable
credit where
> possible" too much to ask for?
>
I wrote a reply about this yesterday, but Yahoo ate it, so I'll try
again. I think (and hope) the intention here is not that Issaries
would take your creation and use them without credit, but covering
themselves against the possibility that while you have been writing
your "Vinga's Little Sister XXX" stories, A N Other writer has
Submitted "The Cult of YYY, Vinga's Sister" to Issaries, without
being aware of your stories. The "Concept Use" clause prevents you
from being able to litigate on the basis that Issaries have "Stolen
your concept and changed the name" to avoid paying you for your
idea.
Now I don't think, (by and large*) that this is a cause for
concern. I suspect that if Issaries (Greg) was sufficently
enamoured of your creation that he wanted to make it official then
his first port of call would be to ask you to work on it, and I
think the credits that have been added in errata suggest that
Issaries is (a) trying to credit the work of the originiators and
(b) will take action where it fails to do so originally. It might
get trickier where you add somthing to a pre-existing concept, or
the concept is built up over discussions on a mailing
list/forum/wiki where the "ultimate creator" is not so clear
I'd suggest that it is "business as usual" on this front, at least
until someone feels genuinely ripped off, as opposed to worried that
they might be (although given the "minimal if any" original content
I've produced, I am maybe not the best placed to argue this....)
*I do recall seeing somewhere, however that Peter Marinci (sp?) was
less than impressed with the (re)use of his "Grey company" in the
first of the (Fan produced) "Pavis" books, even though he was
credited.