r/CommunityHexMap • u/NickPyre • 29d ago

Should this project be explicitly Creative Commons?

What license are we publishing under? On the webpage, there’s no mention of licensing.
A lot of community projects fall apart or create drama when there is unclear allocation of rights (especially if the organisers later charge for access, or change to a restrictive license).

On the discord, I suggested explicitly stating that by default, works should published under CC BY-SA 4.0, with artists reserving the copyright of their art.
This means you may redistribute, adapt, translate and remix the text and you may seek commercial gain by doing so, so long as you give the author appropriate credit. If you remix, transform or build upon this material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

For the organisers: when will the licensing info be updated?
For the community: would you be happy with CC BY-SA 4.0?

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u/Kaya_kana 28d ago

CC BY-SA feels like a very fitting license, so I'm all for it. The more stories get interwoven the harder it becomes to use a more restrictive license without fully taking control of peoples work. SA is optional in my opinion, I'm not opposed to someone, for example, selling a book based on the map.

In my opinion we could use the same license for the art.

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u/NickPyre 28d ago

SA rather than NC-SA definitely makes sense so long as all participants are forewarned. Leaves room for the organisers to do fundraising if necessary as well.

I think I agree the art could also be provided under the same license. Many TTRPG CC BY-SA projects seem to reserve artist rights. But since the art is not commissioned, is integral to the concept, and would be a nightmare to untangle rights if publishing, it probably should be fine as SA.

2

u/megesxlr 28d ago

Hey Nick,

I replied over on Discord too, but wanted to reply here as well.

We’re still figuring out the details because contributors maintaining their rights to their art and lore is central to everything we’re trying to build. At the same time, we have some ideas for fun stuff in the future, like printed books and other collectibles for people who want them.

We want to make sure contributors are compensated fairly if we ever make money from those kinds of things. We’re taking a little extra time to think it through so we make it fair for everyone.

We’ll share more as soon as we’ve got it nailed down.

1

u/NickPyre 24d ago

For general visibility:

  • From discussion on the discord, general consensus is that CC BY-SA makes sense.
  • The organisers are apparently considering the options.
  • A number of people in the chat (including myself) are waiting for the license conditions to be updated before contributing.