cairnswk wrote:RjBeals wrote:Not that I would ever want to Ruben to abandon this map, but what if someone does? Has there ever been thought to a time limit on map creations? Other newer talented members may want to create a map that's dead in development...
RjBeals...in cases where it is thought that a map may be abandoned, we contact the person to seek clarification of the question. If after a period of a couple of weeks the author has not replied, or left any indications with anyone, then perhaps work on a new version would be allowed. I'll check to see if there is an official time limit.
As far as I know Final Forge is our commitment to the map creator that what they have made is very near acceptable and will be placed onto the site when the final polishing has been completed.
As such, major game play changes (entirely new layout, ect) are bad form and can be easily refuted by the map creator at this stage simply by noting we final forged them
unless such changes are found to be necessarily because the final forged game play is discovered to be broken or otherwise incompatible with the site in some way.
Any map maker, even post quench, can demand their map be removed from the site when they abandon. Maps are owned by the creators and are used by lack via permission, usually conducted through e-mail at the final stage. Assuming the creator would still like to see the map on the site after they abandon we can lift permissions and transfer them to a new cartographer.
I'd expect in many cases cairnswk or myself may even finish things out ourselves if such an event occurred, although there are many committed authors we could transfer ownership to if they so desire.
An entirely new version would depend on the abandonment wishes of the original author as well, since we did final forge them... It's really something that may need to be handled on a case by case basis. An actual set of standards would be hard to form, and even if standards for this rare case were created, I'd argue current final forge maps are covered via a grandfather clause.
In short, it's complicated, but we know what we are doing and want to ensure a fair, just, and especially legal process.
Hope that makes sense.
As an extra note. A new version by a new person would need new everything if the original author wants their work not used by the site. By new everything I really mean everything. New art, new layout, new title (unless geographically based). Unless you like being sued for copyright infringement, but I know we aren't keen on it.
