Also, the whole point of having “fan” sites is to allow people to say what they want in terms of game crit, etc.. It’s a bad idea to say “You can’t ever say anything terrible about my product.” because that’s simply unrealistic. People have their opinions.

The reason why this policy is a bit restrictive, is because it should not have been called a “fan site policy.” This is a Terms of Service agreement. Facebook got reamed for their ToS which was less restrictive than this one. WoTC has a right to make one that protects their IP (and I agree with that part) but some of the guidelines are a bit wonky.

I suppose technically you could still call it a fan site, but it would not be one according to the above fan site policy. It would be a website with GSL compliant material available for download.

Wizards wants to supply images and info to fan sites that are approved by Wizards. Here is where they enable control of their property. Anything else is not acceptable, if it’s their property. They don’t want people to alter it, they want credit to them for the material provided, and they don’t want anyone misleading the material as an endorsement. They also don’t want anyone making money off the material, ie charge money to see the material.

They also want links referenced back to their site, not in iframe, or specific product.

“We encourage you to use these materials, post your character sheets for Dungeons & Dragons®, create fan fiction, display your personal artwork, and just have fun on your Fan Site.”

You can do fan fiction, pc sheets, etc.

I dunno, it seems pretty straight forward. I think it’s the shock that a company published an official policy that makes people jump and ultimately miffed. The Net can be no holds barred and I think WotC is trying to put some guidelines in place in regards to their material.