Changes for the New Year

Rasael wrote:

Secondly, Baldurs Gate has never made use of any idea not publicized
on the internet by its author without his permission. We have
furthermore always given credit to the original author out of respect
for their efforts, just as we ourselves desire respect for our own
efforts. All accusations to the contrary are factually incorrect and
frankly dishonest.

Many of our developers publish their projects on the NWNVault and
Nexus, they are mature people and do not treat the works of others in
a way they would not want to be treated in themselves.

Finally I will add that in my dealings with this person I have always
wished him well and turned the other cheek. However, this person
appears obsessed with claiming victim status in a dispute that exists
only within the confines of his own mind.
(This is an example of our dealings)

As I have repeatedly indicated to Kaedrin himself, the actions of the
staff and players on Baldur's Gate have nothing to do with any malice
or spite towards him. We are simply pursuing our hobbies and trying to
make this free & player run server as fun and good as it can possibly
be to play on.

To further indicate our confusion and lack of malice in the matter you
should know that I wasn't even aware of his desire not to share
content with us anymore until long after he stopped making such
versions publically available. This intent by Kaedrin was never
personally communicated to me, and I very much doubt it was ever
communicated to our server.... Nor was there any warning on his
website until quite recently.
The first I recall becoming aware of it was by a comment Kaedrin had
posted on his own website, outlining his malice towards our server as
the reason he stopped publishing his PRC pack publically.

Kaedrin wrote:I have no problem with people changing whatever they
want with my stuff (those that have the source code). I offer
suggestions on what should/could be changed and answer any such
questions that developers have (as time allows ).

While I was a dev at Baldur's Gate I was NOT allowed to make many
script changes, I was not allowed to touch hardly anything except
exactly what was asked for by the DMs (who often make balance
decisions based on what they want their personal characters to have).
Almost none of my bug fixes were used by the server. It finally got
bad enough I told Luna that things had to change or I was leaving. He
said fine and we amicably parted ways. No issues, source code still
publicly released, I actually still kept dropping by the forums to
answer questions.

Then I got a PM from several of the DMs telling me to stop posting on
their forums for various reasons. Thus I don't post on their forums
anymore. They also added a new developer who they allowed to change
whatever the hell he wanted (salt in the wound). They broke a LOT of
stuff making massive changes and nerfed a lot more for a few
powerbuilds while allowing others to be far, far stronger. Again,
arbitrary changes at the DM/"balance" guys whims. I constantly had to
deal with complaints in both my email and forum threads that were
rather hostile to me as though I kept doing the stuff wrong and/or
they hated the changes.

I had a crafting system that was running in game and I was trying to
follow the balance rules that were hashed out when they kept changing
the power levels and crafting stuff to the point I never got anything
done because I kept having to rewrite it. I ended up stuffing it off
in a dark corner and let it die.

The last straw was when I announced the hexblade to try and get some
feedback on what my version of it was going to be and it hit the fan
with their "balance" team trying to figure out how to
rewrite/rebalance it again for their own desires. My blood pressure
just isn't mean to be frelled with that much.

After going "private" with the source code releases I've actually had
a far, far bigger issue with them but for now I'll reserve commentary
on it to see if they stick with their word. My opinion of them is
pretty low because of it all to be honest and recent events haven't
helped that in the least.

Rasael wrote:Yes but that's the point - your version is left out
and only credited as inspiration.

I mean, the whole Knight thing only illustrates that we did not copy
your version - its completely different from it in form and substance.
You were credited as the original catalyst of the idea but the
subsequent design and implementation had nothing to do with your idea
anymore. (try the class out on the server if you're unsure!)

The reason I believe you are so "affected" by it is because of the
text placeholder in the beta version which was from your draft. If
that hadn't been there and we'd still credited you as a source for the
initial idea would you also be upset? I really can't wrap my head
around that because they are or were published designs and ideas.

Consequently, asking people to not to read and think about a published
idea strikes me as unreasonable, for lack of a more sensitive word.
(english is not my main language)
Even more so because at the time your aprehension in this regard had
not even communicated to us.

Additionally as I wrote then: we aren't constantly scanning the
internet for your ideas. We certainly don't intend to
copy your designs, not soley because you don't want us to but also
because it simply wouldn't work for our hobby here.
Your designs are meant for generic settings with a higher base
powerlevel. Our designs are meant for a low power environment in the
Sword Coast region of Faerun. Those two don't match, meaning that
inspiration is the most a design proposal from your pack can ever be.

As regards what players put on the forums, you can't blaim people for
doing that with publicized ideas and designs. If you
really don't want it to happen put a big notice about that on the
design page that others may not reproduce (e.a. copy) it and don't
make it publically available.
Public information may always attract some manner of comment and
discussion, which is legitimate soley due to the fact that its
publically available. An author is not at liberty to ban discussion of
an idea he publicized - that would be the death of freedom of
expression and violate the basic tenets of patent, copyright &
authorship law, even by the more uptight European Standards for that.
(In the US this is a wider area of law)
The author is only at liberty to forbid reproduction of his works,
such as a copy paste of a text or design. We have always adhered to
your wishes in this regard and quite frankly I think its indecent
towards us to imply otherwise.

Regardless, I wish you a happy Halloween!
Don't eat too much candy, god knows I'm trying