Talk:Dark Elven Horror Stories

I was just informed of the existence of this page. I never granted permission for my "Chains" story to be posted on this site. I would prefer it be removed. KALLINI (talk) 12:39, 19 June 2015 (CDT)

Howdy. This story was submitted as part of a player contest to submit Dark Elf horror stories and as part of the contest, the winning entries were to be posted on the Play.net site. This story was one of the winning entries and has been published on Play.net since January, 2014. Participating in the contest constituted granting permission for its reproduction on the website. Thank you! GS4-SCRIBES (talk) 17:04, 19 June 2015 (CDT)

Howdy. If you could provide me the contract I signed in 2009 (when I delivered this story) wherein I agreed to these conditions, including the posting of my work on a site that wouldn't exist for another 6 years, I'd be glad to withdraw my request. Having a GM post it in the forums (without my knowledge, 5 years after it was delivered in-game) does not count as me relinquishing my copyright, and turning it into a forum post, as opposed to an "official document" is the limit of what I am willing to allow. Would it kill Gemstone/Simutronics to be even remotely ethical and professional and simply remove my story? I would much rather not have to initiate a DMCA takedown request, and I'm sure you would prefer this as well, when you can simply edit the page. Gemstone owns a handful of game-related words in my story, not my story. It's not even a good story (by non-Gemstone standards), but it's still not GemStone's, and there are key terms in it that I have utilized in my own work. If you force me to initiate a DMCA Takedown request, I will request that it be edited out of the forums as well, now that you have provided me the link to it there. Thank you! KALLINI (talk) 06:33, 20 June 2015 (CDT)

I have repeated my above request to Feedback, with the hope that at least your superiors are professionals who don't approve of IP theft. KALLINI (talk) 07:05, 20 June 2015 (CDT)

If you guys are concerned about being left with only 3 horror stories, I can write out the one I was going to do for the Faendryl symposium. You could also ask Silvean about using the one he did last year. I'm sure I could come up with something innocuously Dhe'nar, if having the document be culturally balanced is important. INIQUITY (talk) 20:20, 21 June 2015 (CDT)

#11 sounds about right to me in terms of Simu's use of "intellectural property" that players have submitted for contests. VANKRASN39 (talk) 20:46, 21 June 2015 (CDT)

"Public Area" is not defined anywhere in that agreement. The story in question was only recited in-game at a paid festival - not an area of general access to the player population - and not "submitted" to the forums or to the Wiki except by a GM. I would have been perfectly glad to replace the story here in the wiki with a version that subtracts and replaces the elements I've used in my own non-GS-related copyrighted work, but Scribes, who presents himself here as Simutronics' legal representative regarding intellectual property, has taken the stance that Gemstone has been granted permanent copyright of every element of my work, so therefore there is no longer any room for discussion. He could have simply edited the page, until such time as I provided him a slightly modified replacement story (I only care about protecting my use of certain phrases in the story, not the story itself), but he chose otherwise. Now that I have contacted Feedback about the situation, we will see how the issue proceeds from here. With luck, they will realize that using the "edit" option a couple times is preferable to escalating this further.KALLINI (talk) 21:15, 21 June 2015 (CDT)

And once again, for the record, I never intended to escalate this. Had Scribes simply acceded to the initial simple request, I could have already submitted the replacement story to edit back in, and the issue would be over. I don't particularly appreciate being forced into a fight over ownership rights over something as ridiculous as a GemStone story.KALLINI (talk) 21:38, 21 June 2015 (CDT)

You never mentioned a replacement story on the Wiki until now. Obviously I have no idea what you wrote to feedback, but neither does Scribes, unless Simu's reaction/response time suddenly got a whole lot faster. I don't know what you expect to be done within 2 days. VANKRASN39 (talk) 22:03, 21 June 2015 (CDT)

I didn't think it would be necessary to mention the replacement version in the Wiki discussion before now, but then, I didn't expect Scribes' response to be what it was either. Clearly I miscalculated when I expected a reasonable response to a simple request, because outside of GS I'm used to dealing with professional artists and writers who respect IP. Also, I did not expect a response from Feedback within 2 days. I expect any response to take up to 5 business days, as was mentioned in the automated response. KALLINI (talk) 22:30, 21 June 2015 (CDT)

_________

Given that:

-Scribes has been gagged by his superiors for trying to play IP attorney

-I have consulted my (actual) IP attorney, whose opinion is that GemStone/Simu has effectively zero standing to claim ownership of the shared elements between the Chains story and my non-GemStone work

I consider the matter settled satisfactorily, and won't have to initiate a takedown request. Though I grant no other ownership rights, I grant permission for GemStone to continue to display this story on its wiki and its forum, for the benefit of players. KALLINI (talk) 10:55, 29 June 2015 (CDT)