what this ebook is trying to accomplish- An easy way to get people interested in DF. the game that has brought us together in this forum.
Do you
honestly think an ebook of stories would get more people interested in Dwarf Fortress- legalities aside?
See, the part of your own statement that betrays the motivation is this:
i personally would like a collection of DF stories so that i don't have to actively search for it.
You also go on with:
the game that has brought us together in this forum
The
game brought us together to the forum- the forum
then exposed us to the stories.
As such to make the assumption that these stories will bring people to the game is completely wacky. You are taking a process, reversing it, and assuming all the variables hold true.
In the end, the ebook would most likely benefit
us, the current players, over anyone else. That is why
we, the current players, are asking for it- not the prospective players.
I have heard all these crazy ideas as to how to get more DF players- some are good, some are bad, this one, in my humble opinion, is just silly.
Take note, I am saying
[an ebook is a silly idea to draw in new players],
NOT [an ebook is a silly idea]...
So while I fully support anyone's idea to attempt a nice compilation of DF related stories, as I think it would be pretty cool myself, I must step in and say using it as an excuse to draw in more players (and thus justification for any legality issue) is just silly.
The DF interface is the number one factor keeping players away. Period.
So if your
true goal is to draw in more players- then go get on the wiki and make it better, make more tutorials- work on a possible print manual. THose things will open DF up to new people
a bit better... Spend yoru time doing that rather than arguing legalities and making ebooks of stories- we all know the ebook would be for
our (the playerbase's) benefit.
What got me to play DF? When Penny Arcade linked to TinyPirate's tutorial. His time, energy, and his
actual desire to draw in players at his expense brought on more new DF players than
any ebook of stories will ever accomplish. Without a doubt one could argue that it was Penny-Arcade's publicity that did it, but to that I can simply respond "sure, I learned of DF from PA, but I never got past the generate world screen prior to Tiny Pirate".
Reach will not generate players. All of us have heard of or are highly aware of manual drive vehicles, but despite this few of us are willing to or can actually drive them.
Ease of use > reach, as such:
Tiny Pirate's Tutorial > Penny Arcade's publicity, as such:
[ability to play] > awareness and potential interest (like the interest generated from stories)...
Since we all know usability is not a soon to come update, that means aiding the usability through third party apps or even just documentation are some of the next best steps we can take to draw in new players... So once again, if your true reasoning for an ebook is new players- then consider what I write... If you were just saying that to hide your greedy desire for
ease of use in accessing stories, then admit it... cuz honestly theres nothing wrong with that.
EDIT:
RANTING RANTING RANTING RANTING RANTING
Behold American copyright law! Behold it and be amazed! Our entire country actually lives under this system, and I don't know how they get anything done.
Under the circumstances I vote we throw up our hands, abandon legal concerns, and proceed according to the Golden Rule.
Perhaps we could even include a disclaimer in the first post stating that by reading or contributing to this project you are violating [whatever law it is] and could be risking [years of jailtime / other punishment]. You know, just to filter out the sourpusses.
in the post you quoted me, then modified my quote to 'ranting ranting ranting', I'd like you to please explain my 'rant'...
I was simply saying that his examples were
notcopyright infringement... I explained what copyright was... not once did I even mention the original topic of the thread... So I really don't get wtf you are posting for.