Negative Space: gaming copyright
- Why do we need open source games?
- If game rules cannot be copyrighted, and if compatible supplements require no permission, what is the point of an open content game book? Over the next three installments, I’ll look at how open content licenses can make for better gaming.
- Copyright and game rules
- Game rules are specifically exempted from copyright restrictions in the United States. But open content remains useful for gamers, because it allows for easier re-use, easier improvement, and helps improve the long-term viability of a game.
- Game supplements and compatible works
- A copyright-based open license can’t require anything of compatible works unless the compatible work would otherwise be a copyright violation—something that usually isn’t the case. But an open license on a game makes creating compatible works easier, and can make some kinds of compatible works more useful and complete.
- Worlds and characters, and other copyright expansions
- Copyright law is not static. It has a history of expanding both in term and scope. An open content license will protect, tomorrow, uses that today are unrestricted.
