The terms of sale has an ambiguous statement that needs fixing. It currently reads:
"(d) that digital goods made available by Fandom on D&D Beyond are only usable in conjunction with the D&D Beyond toolkits, and are not designed to be exported or used with other toolkits or systems, "
I suggest that this be changed to read as follows:
"(d) that digital goods made available by Fandom on D&D Beyond are intended to be used in conjunction with the D&D Beyond toolkits, and are not designed to be exported or used with other toolkits or systems. Use with other toolkits or systems is permitted with the express understanding that those digital goods may not always function with such other toolkits or systems, and that Fandom is not responsible for any such functionality,"
The terms of use also need fixing, and not just with disambiguation. It currently reads:
"Except as expressly permitted by the Company (for example with respect to the use of text content that is submitted to particular Fandom communities as permitted as set forth at our licensing page), you may not modify, publish, transmit, reproduce, scrape, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, adapt, aggregate, sell, transfer or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part,"
I suggest the following changes:
1. remove the words "modify, transmit, reproduce, scrape, create derivative works from, adapt, aggregate, transfer, or in any way exploit" from the above, so it reads:
"Except as expressly permitted by the Company (for example with respect to the use of text content that is submitted to particular Fandom communities as permitted as set forth at our licensing page), you may not publish, perform or sell any of the content, in whole or in part"
2. Add the following. Also, except as expressly permitted by the Company, you may only modify, transmit, reproduce, scrape, creative derivative works from, perform, adapt, aggregate or transfer any of the content for personal, non-commercial use, including use with third party RPG environments in which the customer participates"
The terms of use also states: "Use any robot, spider, site search and/or retrieval application, or other device to .scrape, extract, retrieve or index any portion of the content;"
I suggest that this be changed to read as follows:
1. Add "which creates a large number of web site or application requests" before /to scrape/
2. Add after the trailing ";" add: "It is, however, permissible to use a device to scrape, extract or retrieve individual purchased content (e.g. character information, character class information, "monster" information, adventure modules and so on) for personal, non-commercial use by you in RPG games in which you participate as an individual.
Rationale:
D&D Beyond has lots of content which would be of interest to numerous people using other tools, such as Foundry VTT, who will constitute and expanding market. Failure to address that market will result in missed opportunities to enlist those players as customers and loss of customers who move to other tools from those currently explicitly supported by D&D Beyond.
Personally, I am in that first group: I am not currently a customer, but the current licensing restrictions are such that I cannot be a customer in light of the severe legal strictures of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
D&D Beyond needs to work on its licensing. Badly.
The terms of sale has an ambiguous statement that needs fixing. It currently reads:
"(d) that digital goods made available by Fandom on D&D Beyond are only usable in conjunction with the D&D Beyond toolkits, and are not designed to be exported or used with other toolkits or systems, "
I suggest that this be changed to read as follows:
"(d) that digital goods made available by Fandom on D&D Beyond are intended to be used in conjunction with the D&D Beyond toolkits, and are not designed to be exported or used with other toolkits or systems. Use with other toolkits or systems is permitted with the express understanding that those digital goods may not always function with such other toolkits or systems, and that Fandom is not responsible for any such functionality,"
The terms of use also need fixing, and not just with disambiguation. It currently reads:
"Except as expressly permitted by the Company (for example with respect to the use of text content that is submitted to particular Fandom communities as permitted as set forth at our licensing page), you may not modify, publish, transmit, reproduce, scrape, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, adapt, aggregate, sell, transfer or in any way exploit any of the content, in whole or in part,"
I suggest the following changes:
1. remove the words "modify, transmit, reproduce, scrape, create derivative works from, adapt, aggregate, transfer, or in any way exploit" from the above, so it reads:
"Except as expressly permitted by the Company (for example with respect to the use of text content that is submitted to particular Fandom communities as permitted as set forth at our licensing page), you may not publish, perform or sell any of the content, in whole or in part"
2. Add the following. Also, except as expressly permitted by the Company, you may only modify, transmit, reproduce, scrape, creative derivative works from, perform, adapt, aggregate or transfer any of the content for personal, non-commercial use, including use with third party RPG environments in which the customer participates"
The terms of use also states: "Use any robot, spider, site search and/or retrieval application, or other device to .scrape, extract, retrieve or index any portion of the content;"
I suggest that this be changed to read as follows:
1. Add "which creates a large number of web site or application requests" before /to scrape/
2. Add after the trailing ";" add: "It is, however, permissible to use a device to scrape, extract or retrieve individual purchased content (e.g. character information, character class information, "monster" information, adventure modules and so on) for personal, non-commercial use by you in RPG games in which you participate as an individual.
Rationale:
D&D Beyond has lots of content which would be of interest to numerous people using other tools, such as Foundry VTT, who will constitute and expanding market. Failure to address that market will result in missed opportunities to enlist those players as customers and loss of customers who move to other tools from those currently explicitly supported by D&D Beyond.
Personally, I am in that first group: I am not currently a customer, but the current licensing restrictions are such that I cannot be a customer in light of the severe legal strictures of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
JRJ