Clarification about group game ownership [Answered]

[LanaN]

Regarding this rule for group games,

In general the content of a game belongs to all individuals involved in that game - you are creating in a shared space, and thus ownership is shared. You will need to obtain the permission of all involved to share, redistribute, or otherwise present the content elsewhere.

Does this mean even the original lore and world created by the GM becomes shared ownership with every player, or just the writing within the game itself?

[Amaris]

I've wondered this as well!

[Nymphadora]

I've always kind of interpreted that as if you wanted to paste someone's post you need their permission because what THEY write is theirs.

Just my opinion though...

I can see how it can be interpreted this way too: Everyone in a group game is building the world. Yes, the GM created the starting point. Created the world in which the story begins. But, as people write they are adding to that world because they are writing as the characters living and interacting in the world.

Definitely might need a proper clarification included.

[ZephyrInk]

A clarification has been added to the thread but for ease and I hope this clears up any confusion, here it is -

Addendum:

To clarify, game owners (original GMs) own the rights of the game and by extension the characters within it (as in, should a player desire exiting a game, what happens to their characters is left up to the GM unless the player has left instructions on how their characters are to be handled).

While the players have the right to take their own characters and use them elsewhere, they cannot use the ‘game content’ without the permission of the GM/s.

Basically, the game in its totality belongs to the GM. For the players, their characters and the writing are their property, not the game.

The worldbuilding created by the GM is solely owned by the GM themselves. However, any additional content created by players in the GM's created shared space (for example if players make locations for their characters) is shared ownership by both GM and their players. And because of that, you will need to obtain the permission of all involved to share, redistribute, or otherwise present the content elsewhere.

[LanaN]

A clarification has been added to the thread but for ease and I hope this clears up any confusion, here it is -

This does help, thank you! I figured it was something like that, but wanted to be sure before I did any world building :)

[Nymphadora]

Thanks for that! Totally makes sense!