What About Shareware Fees?

If you'll look in the Blades of Avernum Software License (which you
definitely should) you will note that you aren't allowed to charge money
for your scenarios. Why is this? Why are we taking this seemingly (to
some) ungenerous stance towards scenario designers? We have good
reasons.

The reason is, quite simply, liability. Legal liability is a tricky,
dangerous thing, and even a frivolous lawsuit can cause difficulties and
incur great expense. Suppose a 16 year old releases a Blades scenario as
shareware with a $10 fee. When someone pays, he sends them a password
which they need to play the second half of the scenario.

Now suppose this person's family moves. Or suppose that he goes off to
college and people's checks arrive at his home. The parents, not knowing
what to do with them, throw them away. Or, worst of all, suppose he
decides to just keep the money and not bother with sending the keys.
When this happens, people will, naturally, complain to us. And we won't
be able to do anything. We won't be able to help, and we don't have the
time, the ability, or the inclination to mediate in these circumstances.
More importantly, while our legal responsibility if someone uses our
product to swindle others is unclear, there was no way to guarantee we
would be safe from legal action.

If a scenario designer wants to ask for donations and doesn't try to
charge for the ability to complete the scenario, this is all right. The
key here is that the person sending the money must not need to receive
anything in return to finish the scenario (so that, if the designer has
moved or just pockets the money, the buyer won't be swindled). We're
sorry that it has to be this way, but we'd be even sorrier if the Better
Business Bureau started breathing down our necks.

We released Blades of Exile about five years ago. In that time, we have
received many E-mails from confused players who wanted to speak with the
creator of a scenario, only to find that he or she has disappeared off
the face of the Earth. This is unfortunate, but inevitable. And if money
gets involved, than it is a huge mess, and we will be in the middle of
it.

If you absolutely insist on making money from a scenario you design and
neither winnings from the scenario contest or the returns from asking
for donations are sufficient, I'm afraid that we can't help you. With
Blades of Avernum, the fun of creation will have to be its own reward.
If it is any consolation, pretty much every other computer game that
supports user-made mods and campaigns has a similar policy.

-Jeff Vogel