Official forums for BZFlag.org

It has come to our attention that some users are unclear about map licensing and how it affects themselves and other users (server operators).

If you wish to release a map on BZBB it must be done with an open source compatible distribution license, such as the GPL, Mozilla license, Creative Commons, BSD, or public domain. The license must allow unrestricted use and distribution of the map.

By posting the map here you are giving anyone the rights to reuse and host the map, without any other restrictions. The point of our community is to share. On the reverse side, by using a map from here, you are agreeing not to misrepresent the map as your own (don’t steal it), and respect the original author's time at work.

Additional restrictions on map releases such as "use but tell me", "use with my permission" or "use but give me admin" are not acceptable.

If you are willing to publicly publish the map, then you are willing to let others use it.

It is highly recommended that you indicate your license in your map file, as that offers you the most protection for your work.

If you just want to let anyone use your map in any way (host, play, modify, etc.. ) then the simplest thing is to just say it's public domain. Then it's clear you don't care what people do with it. This how we will assume works with out a specified licenses are licensed. If you want to limit or protect your work in any way, then it benefits you to pick a more specific license.

If you want to personally control all aspects of how your works are used ( who hosts the map, who can modify it, etc.. ) then don't post it here.

If there are any maps hosted by authors that do not agree to these terms, then the authors should remove the maps.

We want mapping to be a very open and friendly activity, where users share and respect the work of their peers.

These terms apply to maps, map fragments, and works in progress.

EDIT by blast on 9/12/2007 at 7:46am
Here are some licenses that we allow. Other OSI-approved licenses may also be allowed, as long as they allow users to make use of your content without having to obtain permission.
GNU LGPL
BSD/MIT
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Public Domain

What is the policy regarding maps that are never officially released, but downloaded through the client (or downloaded from a non-public web site,etc.)? Is it acceptable for people to host maps that they've obtained this way without permission of the author? There was a rather nasty argument regarding such an issue the other day. I'm not advocating doing this, but it would be very nice to have a word from the devs regarding the official policy on such use.

Also, is it acceptable to require that people who use your map properly attribute authorship to the author, and to specify how attribution is to occur (e.g. must be in a help file, -public advertisement, -srvmsg, or -admsg)?

that is not directly controlled by us. Just like you can download an image with a web browser from a webites that may have a copyright, a person can save off the map from a client.

This policy only affects the maps that are distributed via these forums, not individually run game servers, or other websites.

We don't host game servers, so it is up to them to manage and maintain the IP of what they host. There will be no official policy on this.

So I take it then that unreleased BZFlag maps are treated just like any other kind of intellectual property with regards to copyright and usage, etc. I'm not an expert on all of that myself, but I guess I know enough now to know how to respond if it happens again.

yes, a map is owned by it's author. So that author can decide how they want to license it for distribution if they wish to. Just like any other work.

If they wish to publish the work on this board, they must have an open source compatible license as stated. If they wish to publish the work in some other way, then they may do whatever they wish, as it is there work.

As a project we can not force authors to publish works under any specific license, we can simply put restrictions on the types of works that we will publish and host.

A map is not a derivative work of bzflag and is not subject to its' license. Just as a story written with MS word is not bound by the MS license.

If the map is not posted on this forum, then it is not part of this or any official policy.

now that said, I'd personally hope that any map author would be willing to share there map with anyone in good faith .

This can become a nasty debate because of the open-source philosophy and whatnot, but I would personally like a little more control over maps on the server side.

Case and point: In my personal opinion, /saveworld should be gutted, and replaced with a more formal command to fetch the actual map file from the server. Two reasons for this:

• The resulting saved file will not be stripped of comments, reordered, or otherwise changed like it is in the existing client-side /saveworld. This would also have the handy benefit of preserving any licensing info embedded in the map text.
• Mappers and server owners can choose not to allow players to save their maps.

It's not a fool-proof solution, but it would add some peace of mind for those who fear that their games will be stolen... map theft seems to be on the rise, too (be it for malicious reasons or by accident).

You can save an image with out copyright info, and the web page it's on can still say it's copyright. The way you get the info does not automatically protected it.

You can never prevent someone from saving the map, as the client HAS to have the map data, a molded client can just write the data to disk.

Saving the comments when sending the map from the client, sure... that'd be nice. but it's no real protection.

again, it's up to the author to protect his work as he sees fit, not the projects. Anyone can release any map under any license. We will only host open licenses.. that's it. There is nothing else to debate here. It's your work, you do what you want. The ONLY point of the policy is for the works published on THIS site. It has nothing do with game servers or any other publishing method at all.

If you are so tied up in the 'ownership' of your map that you don't want anyone to see it, then it is best to not even publish it.

Sticking the old /saveworld code back into a client wouldn't be trivial, especially as new parts are added to BZW. Also, things like world weapons, zones, and tele links (if teleportation were moved to the server) would ideally not be sent to the client, so it would be impossible to get the "whole" map that way.

There's no 100% sure way, of course. But, I don't see why it's a bad idea to at least facilitate things. IMO it fits in with the general push to move things over to the server from the client, and I don't see any DISadvantages to a server implementation.

I'm not saying it should be a priority or anything. Just an idea to go along with the general "code migration" if you will.

that would be a discussion for an enhancement, it has nothing to do with this policy.

Or something more simpler, use
-setforce "Copyright (c) BinarySpike 2007, All rights reserved"

Then if someone "/saveworld" then the -setforce would turn into a set and screw their loading up if they tried to host it. They would either have to remove the copyright or change it back to setforce, in which you could just add another line under that
-setforce TOS "you are not allowed to remove the copyright"

Although it doesn't protect the map, it's the easiest/only way to get custom/comment like data to the clients that use /saveworld.

I personally don't like this whole idea of removing features for DRM purposes. As JeffM commented, if you really need to protect your map that much, don't publish it at all. As for copyright notices, just use a server message. If you are really paranoid, use a material or group name.

I really don't see why you would want to be more restrictive than attribution with a map license anyway. Maybe you want to promote your server over others - fine, but that can be done with better admins, better rules, and better bandwidth. If someone makes your map better, and hosts it on a better server, isn't that a good thing?

Not necessarily- especially when someone else runs your map and takes "creative liberties" with it, or calls it their own, or commits some other act of asshattery with it.

Seems to me that the ONLY restriction you can put on a map posted here is that anyone who uses it must give you credit, which is the case with anything that one creates anyway, as far as I understand it.

But, if this is not the case, please see these links and let me know if it would be permissible to post any map here under such a licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ - Must give the creator credit, cannot use for commercial gain and you can make changes as long as you impose these same terms to any work derived from the original.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ - Must give the creator credit, cannot use for commercial gain and you cannot make any changes.

those are valid licenses, as they do not restrict who can use it unmodified, or require any game specific limitations on the use.

To release a map under one of those creative commons licenses that CBG mentioned, for example "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0", would all I have to be to include a link to these pages?

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- ... /legalcode

well i'm probably gonna let a map i'm working for out for hosting but i dont get the whole lisence thing. i get why you need it but i dont get HOW to get it and how to let ppl know i have a lisence

if you don't care what people do with your map, simply say you are releasing it as public domain when you post it, that's it.

spitfiire wrote:well i'm probably gonna let a map i'm working for out for hosting but i dont get the whole lisence thing. i get why you need it but i dont get HOW to get it and how to let ppl know i have a lisence

Just include the license in the map release post. That's probably the simplest way. You could also just let the person who is hosting know what license the map is under.

spitfiire wrote:well i'm probably gonna let a map i'm working for out for hosting but i dont get the whole lisence thing. i get why you need it but i dont get HOW to get it and how to let ppl know i have a lisence

You don't actually have to get one - you choose one to give to people who want to use your work in future. This thread establishes that to be able to distribute your map via this forum, you can choose any of the open-source licences listed. You can also choose to use a different licence, but you'll have to find a different way to distribute your map.

Public domain means waiving your right to control future licencing - if someone takes your map and adapts it into a basis for the next great million-selling console FPS, you're guaranteed nothing but the satisfaction of knowing it was based on your creation.

If instead you want guaranteed attribution, any of these licences will provide it - BSD or CC for instance. And if you also want to guarantee that no one can make it into a proprietary map, you would use either CC-SA or GPL.

Either way I'd probably go with one of the Creative Commons ones, just because they're presented in a clear manner and are the best candidates for being understood by the general public one day.

As for where to put it, in the post and in the map comments would do.

JeffM wrote:if you don't care what people do with your map, simply say you are releasing it as public domain when you post it, that's it.

if you don't care whats done with your map, you could also use the new CC0 http://labs.creativecommons.org/license/zero http://labs.creativecommons.org/licenses/zero/1.0/

But where on BZFlag do you go to post your world?

opplo rules wrote:But where on BZFlag do you go to post your world?

If by "post", you mean release the map file so that someone can host it, you do that on this forum category. If you meant "host", then you again could post your map in this forum category, and someone could then host it if they want.

blast wrote:

opplo rules wrote:But where on BZFlag do you go to post your world?

If by "post", you mean release the map file so that someone can host it, you do that on this forum category. If you meant "host", then you again could post your map in this forum category, and someone could then host it if they want.

So how do i get this licence?

you just specify what license YOU want to use. You license the map to the rest of people, you don't get anything from us, you have to give us permission to reuse your map

If you don't care what people do with your map, just say that the map is CC attribution in the post and that's good enough.

So, can u specify what each license means, and which is highly reccomended?