CCZone, Licensing and Community levelpacks

[tensorpudding]

The kerfuffle with Andrew at Chip's Portal bringing up claims of copyright over works submitted there made the issue of licensing a more pressing issue. I would not want to allow my levels to appear in a community levelset if the works that I produced would be used in commercial works.

So the question is, to what extent does the community think that explicit licensing is an issue? I'm sure it's not the intent of anyone to do anything unwanted with other people's works, but what constitutes "unwanted use" is contentious and requiring people to be specific on what they want to allow is a good way to avoid problems.

Submitting levelsets for inclusion in a community levelpack would at minimum involve allowing CC Zone to host it and the CCLP1 team to redistribute it in a "derived" form. I would hope something like Creative Commons licensing (without the no-derivative-works clause) would be compatible enough. Since CC Zone accepts .zip files for uploads, it'd be entirely possible to include a separate copyright notice on each set. Though, I would think that'd require distributing future community levelsets with an extensive copyright file attributing every contributor and his or her own specific license, which would get pretty onerous if contributors did not stick to common licenses and roll their own.

The honor system of public-domain-use-it-as-i-say-you-can licensing seems fine, but these questions are better addressed before a problem arises rather than after.

[AdrenalinDragon]

The kerfuffle with Andrew at Chip's Portal bringing up claims of copyright over works submitted there made the issue of licensing a more pressing issue. I would not want to allow my levels to appear in a community levelset if the works that I produced would be used in commercial works.

So the question is, to what extent does the community think that explicit licensing is an issue? I'm sure it's not the intent of anyone to do anything unwanted with other people's works, but what constitutes "unwanted use" is contentious and requiring people to be specific on what they want to allow is a good way to avoid problems.

Submitting levelsets for inclusion in a community levelpack would at minimum involve allowing CC Zone to host it and the CCLP1 team to redistribute it in a "derived" form. I would hope something like Creative Commons licensing (without the no-derivative-works clause) would be compatible enough. Since CC Zone accepts .zip files for uploads, it'd be entirely possible to include a separate copyright notice on each set. Though, I would think that'd require distributing future community levelsets with an extensive copyright file attributing every contributor and his or her own specific license, which would get pretty onerous if contributors did not stick to common licenses and roll their own.

The honor system of public-domain-use-it-as-i-say-you-can licensing seems fine, but these questions are better addressed before a problem arises rather than after.

It gets difficult involving the CCLP level packs, as the team will have to decide what to do with them. This is not Chip's Portal, and Andrew won't be involved anymore. As I'm the current owner of CC Zone, I promise to treat the community well this time around, and I will not put copyright on any custom made levelsets. Not even if there was an official CC Zone Level Pack, I still would have no problem with it.

[tensorpudding]

It gets difficult involving the CCLP level packs, as the team will have to decide what to do with them. This is not Chip's Portal, and Andrew won't be involved anymore. As I'm the current owner of CC Zone, I promise to treat the community well this time around, and I will not put copyright on any custom made levelsets. Not even if there was an official CC Zone Level Pack, I still would have no problem with it.

I don't want to accuse the fine admins here of having any designs on the works submitted here...I just was kind of liking the idea of allowing users to specify what their levels can be used for in a more structured way. Not that it wasn't possible for that to be done before, since I think I saw BigOto using a copyright notice in his set. And you're right, the CC Zone administration present-and-future would not be party to what happens with community levelset, but the team would. I just somewhat dislike the idea of the assumption of public domain on everything here, due to the potential for other people to use the works in ways the author disliked. If someone did put a notice that prohibits derived works, someone could unknowingly make a tribute level that infringes on that copyright and upsets the person who originally wrote the level. If these examples seem contrived, I apologize. It's probable that people here do not think this is a big enough deal to go through the rigmarole of writing copyright notices or even deciding what license they particularly care for. I'm trying to raise awareness of a sort.

[AdrenalinDragon]

I don't want to accuse the fine admins here of having any designs on the works submitted here...I just was kind of liking the idea of allowing users to specify what their levels can be used for in a more structured way. Not that it wasn't possible for that to be done before, since I think I saw BigOto using a copyright notice in his set. And you're right, the CC Zone administration present-and-future would not be party to what happens with community levelset, but the team would. I just somewhat dislike the idea of the assumption of public domain on everything here, due to the potential for other people to use the works in ways the author disliked. If someone did put a notice that prohibits derived works, someone could unknowingly make a tribute level that infringes on that copyright and upsets the person who originally wrote the level. If these examples seem contrived, I apologize. It's probable that people here do not think this is a big enough deal to go through the rigmarole of writing copyright notices or even deciding what license they particularly care for. I'm trying to raise awareness of a sort.

Again, there's not really an easy way around copyright. As far as I can tell, BigOto2 uploaded his levelset on CC Zone himself. The site is still in its early stages at the moment, but we'll see what happens. I won't be as strict as Andrew, if someone wants to file a complaint, I'll see what I can do.

[BigOto2]

Everything I upload to the download database here or on another site will be copyrighted by me and only me. I give the CCLP1 staff permission to use my levels in their set, but I still own copyright to the version of the level in my set and credit for the use of the level in CCLP1 must go to me.

[AdrenalinDragon]

Everything I upload to the download database here or on another site will be copyrighted by me and only me. I give the CCLP1 staff permission to use my levels in their set, but I still own copyright to the version of the level in my set and credit for the use of the level in CCLP1 must go to me.

Fair enough. I'd be annoyed if someone put my levels onto a CCLP without my permission too.

[rockdet]

Fair enough but man so dry.

I for one don't mind about anything regarding my levels, as long as permission is asked before. I don't give a !#@ about any copyright thing. My levels are mine, of course, but geez, chill out Bob. Bring out the orange juice and let's take a glass...

As of community things, I'm in favor of putting levels together, but all consentment should (and even more "must") be gotten from everyone you want their levels from. It goes with logic and without any ridiculous fist on the table frustration about it. Get that glass of orange juice filled up!

Tom, you're a generous guy.

[AdrenalinDragon]

Tom, you're a generous guy.

Thank you very much, rock! I just want this community to be happy and not be annoyed like last year.

[jblewis]

That's why we appreciate you a ton!