British intellectual property law is a very odd creature, I wouldn't be surprised if giving creative control over things to someone else would actually legitimately threaten their ownership like Millandson said.

British intellectual property law is a very odd creature, I wouldn't be surprised if giving creative control over things to someone else would actually legitimately threaten their ownership like Millandson said.

Maybe I will sit down with a beer this week and try to look up Brit IPL and see what some of the issues are.

This is just a general question for those who have done RPG Alpha testing for any company: Are NDA's a standard part of the industry? If so why? it seems odd to me with an industry as big as the Role Playing Game industry that NDA's are needed simply because its not like there is much room for "trade secrets" in a industry where any and every type of rules system will eventually be released to the public as part of a game launch. So what purpose do these even serve?

This is just a general question for those who have done RPG Alpha testing for any company: Are NDA's a standard part of the industry? If so why? it seems odd to me with an industry as big as the Role Playing Game industry that NDA's are needed simply because its not like there is much room for "trade secrets" in a industry where any and every type of rules system will eventually be released to the public as part of a game launch. So what purpose do these even serve?

Usually, the NDA is there to stop news and unfinished rules from reaching the fire and brimstone, doom and gloom crowd, which would result in bad publicity. If a product, even a clearly unfinished version of it is released (or information about it is revealed to the public), and it is poorly received, it will negatively impact the product. Therefore, until the product is good enough, it is kept under a veil of secrecy under which only individuals trusted enough to fairly evaluate and try to improve the product are given access. It's the same as in video game testing; if you release a terrible alpha version to the public the majority of your "testers" (aka, people only wanting to play the game early, not contribute to it in any meaningful manner, and especially not bug test it) will complain about it, and not only are they less likely to buy the finished product, they are also likely to influence others into not buying it based on their evaluation of the unfinished product.

fair enough but then why keep them in effect after the product is released either in beta or in full production?

British intellectual property law is a very odd creature, I wouldn't be surprised if giving creative control over things to someone else would actually legitimately threaten their ownership like Millandson said.

Maybe I will sit down with a beer this week and try to look up Brit IPL and see what some of the issues are.

This is just a general question for those who have done RPG Alpha testing for any company: Are NDA's a standard part of the industry? If so why? it seems odd to me with an industry as big as the Role Playing Game industry that NDA's are needed simply because its not like there is much room for "trade secrets" in a industry where any and every type of rules system will eventually be released to the public as part of a game launch. So what purpose do these even serve?

Two purposes, basically:

1. Even knowing they will release it all at a set date, it wouldn't be cool to see someone stole your rule on how people take damage, adapted it to his system which he released two weeks before yours.

2. More importantly, control over what potential customers know. Letting people talk about what they saw in internal tests is equivalent to letting a random bunch of people manage your press releases for you. Some of those people might be enthusiastic about your product and talk about in a way that'll attract more customers. Some of them will be enthusiastic alright, but may talk about in a way that actually dissuades potential customers. Some may willingly present the upcoming game as the worst book since Mein Kampf just because the devs ignored their clever houserule on how halflings trim their feet hair. All in all, you don't want to do that. Most people aren't that interested in the inner workings of the development process at all, and the risk to the product's public image are too big to cater to those who care.

fair enough but then why keep them in effect after the product is released either in beta or in full production?

In this case, all the above are nice, but in this case it's because no one is allowed to talk about the development process or the things that go on during it at all. I've been told that this has to do with the terms of the licensing agreement with GW, rather than a policy FFG came up with. The reason would be, my best guess, in case the development team learns something about upcoming GW product. See, as we all know, particularly from the recent Chapterhouse suit, GW's IP sits on a foundation made of sand, because the only thing really original about it is the manner in which they stuck together a lot of pre-exisiting sci fi and fantasy.

And they know it.

i see thanks for the clarification this guys.

i wasnt here for the Only War beta but how often does fantasy flight release updates or news relating to the beta?

Weekly, generally. We should expect an errata next week.

Good to know. Thanks!

British intellectual property law is a very odd creature, I wouldn't be surprised if giving creative control over things to someone else would actually legitimately threaten their ownership like Millandson said.

Not just British IP law - not keeping strict control of your IP in many countries can result in you losing your rights over it, especially when it comes to trademarks, etc.

I dont understand the stranglehold the GW has on its IP's. They have explicitly stated that they are a model company why not give story control to someone else while they just focus on the mini's?

They have had issues in the past with the IP early on in the history of 40k (see Malal, the 5th chaos god).