Creative Commons licensing for game content creators Jessica Coates Project Manager Creative Commons Clinic AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Code v content AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J Open Art Museum by el_aguacil under CC Attribution v2.0 …music, script, lyrics, art, sound recording, film…
Why license content? Practical – need to be able to distribute etc whole product, not just code Collaboration and innovation – user generated content, machinima etc. Clarity – remove any uncertainty as to rights Principle – sharing is good (for your players and your pocket) AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Enter Creative Commons Aims to make content more freely available by providing free licences that creators can use to give permission in advance AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Licences 4 licence elements: Attribution – attribute the author Noncommercial – no commercial use No Derivative Works – no remixing ShareAlike – remix only if you let others remix AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Attribution-ShareAlike Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Licences Attribution Attribution-NonCommercial Attribution-NoDerivatives AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J creators mix and match these elements to make a licence:
Licences AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative
Licences AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative
Finding CC material AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Before using CC material Check that you’re following the licence (ask for extra permission if needed) Do you need any extra rights? DRM? Make sure your use isn’t ‘derogatory’ Use common sense Don’t forget to attribute AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Why open license? Increases reach and reputation Facilitates collaboration Gives new value to stagnant material Community engagement Reduced admin Legal clarity Increases sum of human knowledge, encourages innovation AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Licences AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative
Licences AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative
Licences AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative
Using CC licences As well as licence generator – also ccPublisher, plug-ins, individual, site generators Place button/text in credits, on individual works, websites Don’t forget to say what you’re licensing Don’t forget metadata AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Before using CC licences Do you have the rights to license the material? Do you need extra rights yourself? Non-revocable, worldwide? Are you choosing the right licence? Don’t use CC for code – GPL AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
CC and open source? Some grey area – but code licences generally don’t work for content Ease of compliance? CC licences endorsed by FSF and Debian (some) Compatible with GFDL? AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
GFDL BY-SA AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J GNU
Case studies AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J
Thanks AUSTRALIA part of the Creative Commons international initiative CRICOS No J This slide show is licensed under a Creative Commons Australia Attribution licence. For more information see