Welp. Apologies to @kaemi and @AmandaB!
StingComp.gblorb (1.1 MB)
(Yay, now I’ve released new IF in 2022!)
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While anything in the public domain is fine, things get a little sticky when trying to use something actively protected by copyright under the free use doctrine. Transformative fair use is difficult to parse in the best of times, add in folks reinterpreting your seed in a way that may or may not still be covered by fair use, and it gets… complicated.
Long rambling version of rationale
We can discuss introducing fair use seeds in the future, but we had enough on our plate with just sorting out the licensing requirements in the first place that we took a more conservative approach for our inaugural season. Fair use introduces another layer of complexity, as seeds consisting of a fair use interpretation of a copyrighted work need to be signposted. Folks using that seed as inspiration will need to know so their interpretation of that seed also uses the original source material in a transformative way.
For example, let’s say someone submits a seed about Netflix’s Squid Game. The PC is a hardboiled survivalist who signs up thinking they’ve begun a gruesome struggle to the death, only to grow increasingly exasperated when they discover they are legitimately playing a series of benign children’s games, and they aren’t very good at them. Someone unfamiliar with the original source material might combine that seed with another seed that effectively reverses this change, or perhaps they simply flip it on its head on their own initiative. The end result being they create a work that is ostensibly similar to the original copyrighted work, potentially opening a huge can of worms.
Add in we weren’t sure how this impacted lincensing; we weren’t certain the author of a fair use transformative work had the ability to grant a CC-BY, as it itself was based on copyrighted material. Probably jumping at shadows with as much attention the IF scene gets in the mainstream, but too much to parse in less than 15 days.
Tl;dr: We are considering transformative fair use in the future, but we couldn’t figure out how best to do so for this year, choosing to bravely sidestep the issue instead.
I’ve created a minimal presence for SeedComp on IFWiki, on general principles.
(Just the abstract idea of the comp, not this year’s iteration – I don’t even know whether that’s called SeedComp 1, or 2022, or 2023, or ‘coco de mer’, or what.)
What’s the copyright status of the (rather fine) logo? OK to upload a copy to IFWiki?
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Honestly has not occurred to any of us yet; will bring it up with the others and get back to you.
Update
The concensus seems to be SeedComp! 2023. Although, if that were to evolve/change, I’d make sure to let you know.
I suspect it may be fine, but as @manonamora was kind enough to actually create the (rather fine) logo (amongst many other contributions), I should probably defer to them regarding that.
ETA:
Also, speaking of the other organizers, I am certainly not the only one, despite what the IFWiki says. @manonamora @MiloM @lpsmith and @Draconis all had a significant hand in organizing this affair, and you might want to check if they’d also appreciate a mention.
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So since SeedComp uses the itch.io jam system, I’m assuming I need to create an itch game page for my seed even if it is “only” text (rather than an unfinished game)? I guess I can just upload a PDF file there…?
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Yeah, it is a little weird, but that is indeed necessary, yes. PDF or txt or whatever will be fine. We recognise that something like this would be smoother hosted on a bespoke platform rather than itch, but we went from initial concept to launch in 14 days so I hope you’ll all bear with us while we figure things out this first year of the jam 
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Since I made the logo on Canva, I went and doubled checked for use rules and stuff: all good for using it All good for upload~!
Like @pinkunz said in his message, I would 100% like to be on the IF wiki page too 
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This is an oddly timed bit of news, given our decision about public domain yesterday (skim through the whole thread):
News
https://twitter.com/juliangough/status/1600465673557143554?t=uJ0GMZiFIlPwVxT8-y4jEw&s=19
“…So if you want to set the words of the End Poem [of Minecraft] to music, or animate them, or dramatise them, or mash them up with something, or use them on t-shirts, posters, tote bags, barn doors, be my guest. They are now free…”
“…I am dedicating the poem to the public domain. You’ll find it at the bottom of this post, along with a Creative Commons Public Domain dedication…”
Update: heh, the creator approves:
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Read all about this comp, thought this is a neat idea, planted my seed… And thought something was wrong because I saw only my own submission. Turned out I was the first gardener…
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Ah you beat me to it! Guess I’m the second gardener
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Submitted my first one! I have others.
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My toot got good engagement over on Mastodon (18—no! now 19—boosts & 20 favorites), so that platform might be a good resource for finding new players/seeders/sprouters. I did get a question:
How can we suscribe to SeedComp to know when the pieces will be available?
I assume this is because the date that play begins is not yet specified. Not knowing much about itch: will it email subscribers when the games are ready?
Eric Normandeau: “@golmac How can we suscribe to…” - Gamedev Mastodon
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I added one! It’s a project I always thought would make a great game but would probably need a more creepy author to handle effectively.
There’s another one that’s a tech demo I’m hoping people will like, but I have to brush it up a bit first.
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It depends on your itch notifications settings. But we will post announcements everywhere we have so far when each rounds ends/start and when voting will be available
I think the reason Eric is asking is that the website says “shortly after round 2 ends.” From your toot, it sounds like there is a specific answer: "at the end of round 2 (March 1).
At least, that is why I asked. If someone asks me about these things, I assume it’s because they aren’t following the places announcements have been posted so far. Which is great! I think it’s great to reach new people.
Thank you for answering Eric directly.
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We don’t know what challenges we may encounter, so our schedule has some built-in processing time.
Round 1 ends on January 7th, but round 2 doesn’t begin until January 9th.
Similarly, Round 2 ends March 1st, and, “…you will be able to vote for Awards and submit Stickers starting March 2nd/3rd, 2023…”
We were more vague on the wording of the playing/voting phase because we have no idea what could go wrong, quite frankly. No one was willing to commit to a hard date, lol.
Thank you for answering Eric, @manonamora . Beat me to it, lol.
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Incredible, Sting will surely make history as the first title to be nominated for XYZZY Best Game two years in a row! Best Use of the Medium no doubt as well.
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Submitting a seed feels like giving away that piece of clothing that, although you love it, you know you will never wear. You’ve kept it in your closet for years and occasionally looked at it and it made you sad because it looks bad on you. But now, it can belong to someone who will look great in it.
I recommend the experience.
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I’ve got plenty of ideas for seeds, and this sounds like my sort of comp, but I’m down with a cold ATM and my brain barely works. 
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