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Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - 05:04

@capbros Thanks for bringing this one to my attention.

I"ve updated this page http://opengameart.org/content/420-pixel-art-icons-for-medievalfantasy-rpg

The download is no longer available, and I've added notices and links to the new pack.

Usually we catch licensing issues early and we can just delete offending entries. But this one's been on OGA a long time and gotten heavy traffic. I think leaving the stub page for that obsolete collection is a good call for this situation.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - 05:08

I'll share my personal opinions -- if this were my site (it's not, I'm just a volunteer mod for Bart K).

I would attempt to deprecate GPL as a main art license option for new uploads.

I would then consider listing WTFPL, BSD, MIT, LGPL, and GPL (or just Other, fill in the blank) as options that only Mods can choose when editing items. Then these code licenses can appear under "Advanced Search", or something similar.

These options would only be used when relicensing as CC is not possible. Here's an example where I feel it would be highly appropriate to host a BSD art set here on OGA: an open source game gets abandoned and there's a set of BSD art assets that deserves preservation and reuse. And none of the artists are available to relicense as CC-BY.

An updated search interface could allow searching by License still, but also searching by Requirements. Example:

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Filter by Art License:

[ ] CC0

[ ] CC-BY

[ ] CC-BY-SA

[+] (Show advanced license options...)

Filter by License Requirements:

[ ] No restrictions (CC0, also includes rare Public Domain and WTFPL results)

[ ] Attribution Only (CC-BY, also includes rare BSD, MIT results)

[ ] Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA, also includes rare LGPL and GPL results)

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Note we wouldn't have a Non-Commercial search option, as we strictly don't allow those licenses here (CC-BY-NC, etc). Non-commercial restrictions are incompatible with most open source code licenses, so we just don't allow them.

Monday, June 1, 2015 - 05:15

Thanks capbros. Those are flagged now.

And thanks Nikita_Sadkov for contributing. No worries -- we'll get on the same page with licensing issues. When in any doubt, let's get permission from the original artist.

Maybe we can build an updated licensing help page. One that can help artists at submit-time, and covering some of the more common FAQs.

Imagine a "Help?!" button next to the license choices. A pop-up could briefly explain the main licenses, explain what choosing multiple licenses means, and what to do when the exact license isn't available.

It could also include examples of things we can't allow, that I end up deleting often. Trademarked characters, cgtextures, paint-overs of closed works, etc.

 

Monday, June 1, 2015 - 04:09

Hm maybe that is a mod only button. For me, while logged in, the "Flag Licensing Issue" button appears just under the licenses icons on the left sidebar. This is when viewing a single art submission.

If the button really is mod only, we can ask Bart K to open it up to other registered users.

In any case, if you have a license question about an art entry, please do post a comment on that art entry. Ask the submitter whether they've gotten specific permission to relicense. These kind of comments will help me with context and save me some legwork.

Monday, June 1, 2015 - 03:46

COPYRIGHT NERD + OGA MOD CHECKING IN.

If ANY art entry says it's a CC license that seems incorrectly applied, please click Flag Licensing Issues and I'll take a look at it. Send me a direct message if it needs my urgent attention, or if you have info about the original license. Either I can remove the listing, or contact the original artist to request proper CC license.

I am strict AS FUCK about CC licensing. It's my pleasure. I want this site to have clean license sources on everything.

If the original creator hasn't specified a CC license, it probably shouldn't be uploaded to OGA without contacting that artist first. Even if the original creator uses a very similar license (e.g. WTFPL instead of CC0), it's best practice to ask the creator to specifically allow their work to be released on OGA under the CC license.

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As far as having other licenses, it's something we often debate here. MIT, BSD, LGPL, etc. used to be upload options. But those CODE licenses are fundamentally wrong for art. We're a big curator of copyleft game art, and I think we have a duty to encourage proper licenses. 

GPL is the wrong license for art, but there is an important legacy reason we allow it. Copyleft GPL game art existed before Creative Commons was a thing. Example: Battle of Wesnoth uses all GPL art, and that project was big before anyone had even heard of CC licenses.

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Strict licenses are what allows people to safely use our art in both free and commercial games. If we are not strict with licenses, this website becomes useless to anyone doing real game development.

Anyone with copyright licenses questions or rants can send them my way.

Thursday, May 28, 2015 - 04:37

These are the cutest. Don't know if I should be scared or pinch their cheeks.

One day we're going to make this kids adventure game. These would be fun inhabitants of that world.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 05:57

Deleted it.

Monday, April 13, 2015 - 17:44

Oh, reverse engineering is completely fine. We expect everyone to take heavy inspiration (and copy/pasting) from the basic data files we create. I made the data files .txt so that anyone could be tempted to open them up and see how they work.

Above I meant, if someone makes a game that uses mostly fantasycore art, that mod will probably have to be CC-BY-SA itself.

Thursday, March 26, 2015 - 03:21

FuzzyWuzzie: here on OpenGameArt, multiple licenses mean you can choose whichever one works best for you. Not that you must follow every license listed. Hope this helps!

Thursday, March 12, 2015 - 11:14

If your mod contains 100% original content, you are free to license it however you want!

The engine is designed to be completely separate from all content. So while the Flare engine is GPL, mods can be whatever license the creator chooses.

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Note the "fantasycore" mod packaged with the engine is CC-BY-SA. Any custom mod heavily depending on fantasycore should probably be licensed CC-BY-SA.

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