Now Seeking members of the Council of Scribes

Guys, I'm sorry if the decision made by Portalarium has upset people. People (myself included) raising awareness of the possibility of complications with these programs no doubt played a strong role in the making of that decision, and I'm very confident in saying that no one has any desire to rob people of their fun or opportunity to contribute. That's not at all what this is or ever was about.

No one is going to stop people from writing and sharing their writing with the community, and there will still be opportunities (from what I understand) to have your work published in the game. But it's way better for Portalarium to take a few weeks to figure out how to do these things safely, legally, and ethically now than it is to skip that step and risk dealing with some very heavy consequences later.

Yes, this applies to basically every policy the company has, not just the Tales program. Everyone I see making criticisms on these topics either is part of or wants to be part of one or more of the groups they are criticizing. We are criticizing them because we want them to be done right, in ways that don't leave open the possibility that the program will later be terminated because some jackface wants to exploit a ridiculous but justifiable proposition to turn a quick buck. It can happen, and people not talking about it is really the perfect way to ensure the greatest likelihood that it will happen.

So hey, instead of preaching doom and gloom about how this or that was shut down and maybe this or that should be shut down too because it's only fair, maybe we should be putting the community mindset we all seem to have to better work by sharing ideas on how we can keep these programs running without leaving a loaded gun in the unlocked cabinet where the four-year-old can get to it.

In this case, it seems to me the issue of possible claims of copyright violations and due compensation could be resolved pretty easily by making a written request to people whose work is approved for acceptance asking them for permission to use the work in the SotA game, then requiring agreement to the request before work can be actually be used.

Edited for content ~ FireLotus

 

It is interesting to me how those who want to advise Portalarium to be a better business are doing so in a very un-businesslike fashion. This is the role of paid business consultants, board members, and employees. It is also unbusinesslike to profess to speak on behalf of employees of the company. If I could give advice, I would suggest that Portalarium hire those who are professionals to give them this sort of advice if they need it.

To cast people as "preaching doom and gloom" is also an unfair comment about those who have differences of perspective. Isn't it "preaching doom and gloom" to say that Poralarium is "leaving a loaded gun in the unlocked cabinet where the four-year-old can get it."? Preaching doom and gloom was what was at the heart of the decision that was made.

So if you are going to adopt a community mindset, how are you going to encourage writing, and why don't you suggest ways to keep this going?

 

I have locked this thread. There should be no speculation as to what yesterday's policy decision means, the intent of Portalarium, or other community members intent.

To clarify yesterday's decision further: "Tales from the Vale", with production run by FireLotus, will no longer be used to pre-populate the books of the world with fan fiction. With the planned self-publishing system coming online in Release 13 (current expectation) we will wait just a bit longer to see that content in the game.