News
2010/07/29
Richard Stallman answered a list of questions from the Reddit community. One of them was from Bart K ("lendrick") over at Open Game Art.
We get this question a lot at OpenGameArt: "If I release a piece of art under GPL, can it only be used in games that are also GPL?". Stallman seems to confirm the answer is "no" -- it is still possible for your art to appear in proprietary games, as long as they abide by the GPL just for your art.
In the case where your art is intentionally modular (e.g. submissions to OpenGameArt are hopefully used in many games), even proprietary games might treat your art as modular.
An easy to understand example: imagine a proprietary game that allows user-created levels. Someone could create a level using all GPL'd art and distribute the level under GPL, but the game itself doesn't need to be GPL. The level is modular, so the game itself isn't a derivative work.
It might get grayer if a proprietary game is built on top of GPL art. I would discourage a proprietary game to use my art without asking. (If asked, I would likely negotiate a specific license with that developer).
(I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice)