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MariZ
04-06-2006, 09:02 PM
I have a question :
I want to make a RPG. And I want it to be freeware, not Open Source. What license type should i choose ? Also, if it matters, i would like to get donations for the RPG ;)

dmantione
04-06-2006, 09:43 PM
That depends if you want to offer no source at all, or offer source code while people are not allowed to do anything with it.

In both cases, Creative Commons BY-ND would be a good license. It requires attribution to you, so they cannot remove your name etc. People cannot distribute modified copies, which removes the open-source-ness.

WILL
04-06-2006, 11:57 PM
Well if you are not offeriong source, then don't worry about it! :)

For releasing source with it, I always opt for the 'Do What You Want' clause. :) Coupled with the 'Give Me Credit And You're A Cool Guy/Chick' seal of approval. :lol:

but for you, it will depend on your 'care level'. If someone uses it to make a game of their own at any level do you want a cut? Are you just releasing the source to be a nice guy or are you on a mission? Totally up to you. You don't really need a standard licence though. Before all this GPL, LGPL, Mozilla GPL, MyBestFriend'sMom'sCousin'sNanny'sPaperboy's GPL business people just wrote what they wanted into the documentation of their software's package. In Canada you pretty much make it official by putting your name/company beside a © symbol and a date(usually only the year).

It's really quite that simple over here. Not so sure about in all the other places though.

cairnswm
05-06-2006, 05:56 AM
I have thought long and hard about "Free" licenses and I think there are few types of licenses (these apply obviously to source code)

Free for Anything license - Somone can take your code, compile it and sell it, and you are cool with that. (They can even say they made the game themselves)
Free for Use - Someone can take your code, modify it a little to fit their game and sell it and you are cool with that.
Free for Learning - this is the sort of license that says you can use the ideas and make you own similar game, but you cant sell my game.

None of these are official license types, just the types I made up when trying to define how my freeware programs would be released.

Any game of mine that includes a source code release is released as Free for Anything. (Games I want to selel I do not release the source)

MariZ
05-06-2006, 07:18 AM
I will post the source. They will be able to use it just for learning, but thay will not be able to use any part of the source in their own games ;) So what would be the best license for me ?

2 Will :
In my country this won't work :(

aidave
05-06-2006, 07:33 AM
I'm looking for a similar license: "opened source" thats free for free products, but not free for commercial.

dmantione
05-06-2006, 07:36 AM
Apart from the Creative Commons license, the Microsoft Reference License from their shared source initiative might do what you want:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/licensingbasics/referencelicense.mspx