License

What is the license for DarkMMO?

DarkMMO is offered to the public under a dual license of GNU Affero General Public License 3
and Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

What does a dual license mean?

A dual license gives you a choice.  In order to user DarkMMO for your own projects you can chose either license.
Whichever license you chose, however, you must follow all the terms of that license.  You cannot make your own license by mixing and matching terms from the two offered licenses.

What are the differences between the two licenses?

The Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommcercial 3.0 Unietd States license is the simpler of the two.  It grants you
the right to use and distribute the artifacts of the DarkMMO project as is or with your own additions and modification provided that this distribution is non-commercial and that original attribution is retained.  This license is non-viral as it makes no demands as to how you license any of your additions or changes beyond the fact that the entire distribution must be non-commercial in nature. (See the definition of a viral license below.)  For more information, click on the CC logo on the left.

The Gnu Affero General Public License 3 is more complex.  It does not prevent commercial use or distribution but requires you to provide all source code and grant redistribution rights to both the DarkMMO artifacts and any additions or changes you make to anyone you distribute it to or grant access to on your computer.  This is what is sometimes called a "viral" license in that it makes you use the license not just for the stuff you are being given rights to but the new stuff you add.  The GPL licenses are somewhat complex and lawyers often debate their exact interpretation.  For more information, click the AGPLV3 logo on the left.

I thought Creative Commons licenses couldn't be used for program executables or source code?

There is nothing in the Creative Commons licenses that prevent them for being used for source code or executables.  Unlike more specialized licenses like the GPL, they contain no special verbiage about program linkage or execution, but as all creative works (including source code and compiled programs) are protected by the same Copyright law, there is no need for special verbiage as  long as the licensor doesn't want to make any special distinctions. 

What is the difference between the GPL and the AGPL?

The AGPL effectively consists of the terms of GPLv3, with an additional paragraph in section 13 to allow users who interact with the licensed software over a network to receive the source for that program.

For more information, see the GPL License page.

Can I charge people to play an MMO I build using DarkMMO?

There are different answers to this question depending on which license you select.  The Creative Commons license option prohibits you from using the DarkMMO code or assets commercially.  You cannot charge someone to play your MMO under this license nor can you charge for anything related to playing the game such as items, gold, character slots or any form of club "membership."

The AGPL3 license does not prohibit commercial use however under this license you must provide access to all the source code and assets you use to make the game to any player.  They are free to make their own MMO using your code and assets, or even just run your game in competition with you.

If neither of these options is appropriate to your specific needs, you can contact jeffpk@worldwizards.net to see if other rights can be negotiated.  I make no promises in this case as much of it will depend on whether or not your plans conflict with my own for the code base.