Wongery:Licensing: Difference between revisions

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(Removed Open Game License, and added more information about custom licenses)
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Currently, the Wongery's content is released under a Creative Commons License.  We intend to also create a custom license that makes it easier to use Wongery content commercially for some purposes, and will update this page when that occurs.
== Creative Commons License ==
All content in the articles of Wongery is licensed under a [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].  This means that anyone is free to copy anything from the articles, or create derivative works, so long as they meet the following two criteria:
All content in the articles of Wongery is licensed under a [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].  This means that anyone is free to copy anything from the articles, or create derivative works, so long as they meet the following two criteria:
* They include a notice attributing the work to the Wongery.
* They include a notice attributing the work to the Wongery.
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:'''This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It uses material from the Wongery, <nowiki>http://www.wongery.com</nowiki>, which is the property of The Wongery LLC.'''
:'''This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It uses material from the Wongery, <nowiki>http://www.wongery.com</nowiki>, which is the property of The Wongery LLC.'''


For some applications, users may not find the terms of this license agreeable&mdash;a company coming out with a commercial product, for example, may not want to grant everyone the right to freely copy its product.  For such cases, other licensing options are available.
== Open Game License ==


For role-playing games and accessories, the Wongery contents may be used under an [[rpdia:Open Game License|Open Game License]].  One important difference is that under the Open Game License, it's not necessary to make the entire game freely distributable or reusable; you can designate part of it as "[[rpdia:Open Game Content|Open Game Content]]".  Also, by using the OGL, you can freely mix text from the Wongery with other OGL material (such as open rulesets).  If you do use Wongery material under the OGL, please be sure to add the following notice to Section 15:
Prior to March 26, 2022, this page stated that the content of all articles on the Wongery wiki [[Wongery:mainspace|mainspace]] was also released under an [[Wikipedia:Open Game License|Open Game License]], and was considered Open Game ContentThis is no longer the case.  The text of certain pages in the [[Wongery:Gaming|Gaming]] [[Wongery:namespace|namespace]] is explicitly released under the Open Game License (or will be, once the Gaming namespace exists), but this is not true of the mainspace articles.


* ''The Wongery'' copyright 2008-2009, The Wongery LLC
However, since the Open Game License is irrevocable, that means that technically the original text of any mainspace articles created before March 26, 2022 is Open Game Content, as are any edits to those articles made before March 26, 2022.  But articles posted after this date, and any edits after this date, are ''not'' Open Game Content, though they are still released under the CC-BY-SA license.


For the purposes of the Open Game License, the entire content of all articles on the Wongery wiki mainspace is considered Open Game Content.  The full text of the Open Game License can be read [[Wongery:Open Game License|here]].  Note that you can choose to use material from the Wongery under the terms of either the Creative Commons License ''or'' the OGL&mdash;you don't need to adhere to both, and in fact, you can't; it would violate the terms of either license to add the restrictions of the other.
== Custom Licensing ==


Naturally, there are many instances for which neither the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License nor the Open Game License would be acceptable&mdash;if you want to make a computer game based on a Wongery world, for instance, or, for that matter, a role-playing game for a non-open system.  For these cases, there's no blanket license that applies, but we will be happy to work with creators and publishers on a case-by-case basis to come up with a license that suits their needs.  Please don't hesitate to [[Wongery:Contact|contact us]] if you want to work something out.
If you want to use Wongery material for a commercial product and don't want to be bound by the "share-alike" terms of the CC-BY-SA license, we can work with you to come up with a license that suits your needs.  Please [[Wongery:Contact|contact us]] to work something out. We may, of course, ask for some sort of licensing fee, but we'll work to adapt it to the individual licensee and come up with something within their means&mdash;we may simply ask for a percent of the profits rather than an up-front fee, for example, if that seems to better fit the licensee's circumstances.  (Or, if we really like the project, we may not ask for any licensing fee at all... but we're not making any promises about that.)


Of course, for commercial uses, we'll probably ask for some sort of licensing fee, but we'll work to adapt it to the individual licensee and come up with something within their means&mdash;we may simply ask for a percent of the profits rather than an up-front fee, for example, if that seems to better fit the licensee's circumstances(Or, if we really like the project, we may not ask for any licensing fee at all... but we're not making any promises about that.) Seriously, we ''want'' this material to be used; we ''want'' to grant licenses... so we hope no one who's interested is scared away from [[Wongery:Contact|contacting us]] to get things worked out.
We ''want'' this material to be used, and if you ask us for a custom license we're much more likely to say yes than no, as long as there's nothing objectionable about your proposed projectHowever, the following are objectionable practices that may prevent you from getting a license, and if we do grant a license it may be contingent on the condition that these are not present:
* Offensive content.  This by no means signifies that anything created with Wongery assets has to be G-rated, that there's no place for gore or nudity or adult content, but we're not interested in projects that go out of their way to be edgy or offensive.
* Copyright violations.  If you're using other IP from sources besides the Wongery, please make sure you have all necessary permissions for that as well.
* Anything involving NFTs, cryptocurrency, or blockchains.
* Exploitative business practicesIf you want permission to make a commercial product based on Wongery intellectual property, you ''must'' pay everyone working for you, commensurate with the time they put in.  This includes (but is not limited to) actors, artists, and programmers.  [https://twitter.com/forexposure_txt "Exposure" does not count as payment.]  No exceptions.  Nor does a share in hypothetical future revenues.
** This doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay ''much'', but you do have to pay professional wages, though the payment can be on the low end of professional wages.  Actors, for instance, should be paid at least the [https://www.sagaftra.org SAG-AFTRA] minimum rate (even if your project is not done under a SAG-AFTRA contract... though frankly we recommend you do get a contract; it's not hard); programmers should be paid a rate commensurate with the typical rate in your area.
** This is absolutely not negotiable, and we don't want to hear excuses about this.  If you can't afford to pay your artists, you can't afford to make a commercial game, with or without the Wongery material.  Artists are people.  They have bills to pay.
As long as your project does not violate any of these conditions, [[Wongery:Contact|contact us]] and we'll work out a contract.


== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[Wongery:Canon]]
* [[Wongery:Canon]]
* [[Wongery:What to do with the Wongery]]
* [[Wongery:What to do with the Wongery]]

Revision as of 13:45, 26 March 2022

Currently, the Wongery's content is released under a Creative Commons License. We intend to also create a custom license that makes it easier to use Wongery content commercially for some purposes, and will update this page when that occurs.

Creative Commons License

All content in the articles of Wongery is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This means that anyone is free to copy anything from the articles, or create derivative works, so long as they meet the following two criteria:

  • They include a notice attributing the work to the Wongery.
  • They release their copy or their derivative works under the same (or a similar or compatible) license.

The following is a sample license and attribution notice that can be used in a derivative work:

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It uses material from the Wongery, http://www.wongery.com, which is the property of The Wongery LLC.

Open Game License

Prior to March 26, 2022, this page stated that the content of all articles on the Wongery wiki mainspace was also released under an Open Game License, and was considered Open Game Content. This is no longer the case. The text of certain pages in the Gaming namespace is explicitly released under the Open Game License (or will be, once the Gaming namespace exists), but this is not true of the mainspace articles.

However, since the Open Game License is irrevocable, that means that technically the original text of any mainspace articles created before March 26, 2022 is Open Game Content, as are any edits to those articles made before March 26, 2022. But articles posted after this date, and any edits after this date, are not Open Game Content, though they are still released under the CC-BY-SA license.

Custom Licensing

If you want to use Wongery material for a commercial product and don't want to be bound by the "share-alike" terms of the CC-BY-SA license, we can work with you to come up with a license that suits your needs. Please contact us to work something out. We may, of course, ask for some sort of licensing fee, but we'll work to adapt it to the individual licensee and come up with something within their means—we may simply ask for a percent of the profits rather than an up-front fee, for example, if that seems to better fit the licensee's circumstances. (Or, if we really like the project, we may not ask for any licensing fee at all... but we're not making any promises about that.)

We want this material to be used, and if you ask us for a custom license we're much more likely to say yes than no, as long as there's nothing objectionable about your proposed project. However, the following are objectionable practices that may prevent you from getting a license, and if we do grant a license it may be contingent on the condition that these are not present:

  • Offensive content. This by no means signifies that anything created with Wongery assets has to be G-rated, that there's no place for gore or nudity or adult content, but we're not interested in projects that go out of their way to be edgy or offensive.
  • Copyright violations. If you're using other IP from sources besides the Wongery, please make sure you have all necessary permissions for that as well.
  • Anything involving NFTs, cryptocurrency, or blockchains.
  • Exploitative business practices. If you want permission to make a commercial product based on Wongery intellectual property, you must pay everyone working for you, commensurate with the time they put in. This includes (but is not limited to) actors, artists, and programmers. "Exposure" does not count as payment. No exceptions. Nor does a share in hypothetical future revenues.
    • This doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay much, but you do have to pay professional wages, though the payment can be on the low end of professional wages. Actors, for instance, should be paid at least the SAG-AFTRA minimum rate (even if your project is not done under a SAG-AFTRA contract... though frankly we recommend you do get a contract; it's not hard); programmers should be paid a rate commensurate with the typical rate in your area.
    • This is absolutely not negotiable, and we don't want to hear excuses about this. If you can't afford to pay your artists, you can't afford to make a commercial game, with or without the Wongery material. Artists are people. They have bills to pay.

As long as your project does not violate any of these conditions, contact us and we'll work out a contract.

See also