Mail Bag

Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 11:58:49 -0800
From: "Stringer, Steve"
Subject: RE: Blue's Two Cents on the EULA

Hi Blue,
I saw your blurb about WorldCraft and our License Agreement. It is unfortunate that so much has been made of our EULA. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I need to get the message out: it is not our intention to restrict people from making levels or having fun.

The spirit of our releasing the H2 Utilities is really the same as id's original intent with the Quake utilities: to allow end-users the ability to make their own levels and mods so long as they don't exploit the utilities commercially.

Okay, I'll admit that our legal language is a little heavy handed, but we took a cold, hard look at what happened with the Quake add-ons and the level of illicit commercial exploitation that took place in the form of unauthorized level compilations and add-on packs. id has spent a great deal of money and time challenging the companies that violated their license agreement, and we simply do not want to open ourselves up to any potential copyright violations. History has taught us to be cautious.

Seemingly, the focal point of the controversy is the clause that states that any levels created with our utilities becomes the property of Activision. Honestly, hobbyists and fans have nothing to worry about here. I can't stress this enough. This clause gives us strong ammunition to go after people who violate our copyright. We are not going to troll the net for levels and throw them in some shovelware package.

It was never my intent to scare people, and it certainly is not my intent to inhibit fans from building levels and having fun. I'm deeply sorry that so much has been made of this issue, and I can only hope that people will take what I say to heart.

Some great work has already appeared on the Net based on our utilities, and I sincerely hope that this creativity and awesome design continues. Only time will prove my assertion that we wish nothing more than to allow the Community to have fun.

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