[dkersten]

While I get and support the intent, I don't like this usage of the name of the MIT license. I personally like the license because it tells me at a glance that I can use it for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, as long as the copyright and license is included and that there is no warranty. That's it, no complications, no other demands, no "if it makes X money or not", just I include the copyright and license terms and that's it, I can use the software whichever way I like.

Your license is not that. You have extra conditions that add complexity. I can no longer go "oh like MIT" and immediately use it for any purpose, because you require extras especially if I were to make money. That seems completely against the spirit of the simplicity of the MIT license which says you can do whatever you like, commercial or otherwise, as long as the copyright and license are included.

I think you should make your own license that includes the text of the MIT license, except removing the irrelevant parts (ie the commercial aspects include a caveat about requiring payment). You can still have a separate line of text explaining that the license is like the MIT license but with XYZ changes (basically the text you have now). But the license is not the MIT license and you should therefore have a separate license text that spells it out exactly. Not "its this, except scratch half of it because these additional terms override a good chunk of it".

[bullen]

Ok, I agree but then I also have less time to work on real things and honestly I feel the whole legal/money part of our civilization is a huge waste of time in the face of energy problems that can't go away (2nd law of thermodynamics and sunlight + photosyntesis) and that my platform tries to help with elegantly by being the most efficient solution for MMO networking.

I'm also sad that nobody has solved this license problem yet, there is obviously a need for it. Sometimes time solves all problems though, so I probably just have to wait a while and somebody makes exactly the right license.

But I'm going to allocate some time if somebody who is willing to pay approaches me with the same concerns (it's actually why I switched to MIT in the first place, Unreal does not allow you to use client plugins that are LGPL)...

Small steps, we'll get there!

[dkersten]

> then I also have less time to work on real things

What? To keep your existing license you copy the text of the MIT license, add the statement about requiring a logo and remove the parts about being able to use the code commercially, and add an extra paragraph that has the text you already have: to use commercially you have to sponsor. It’s not about changing your terms, it’s about being clear about what license applies. Hybrid with MIT and other implies that the MIT license somehow applies yet it does not since your “other” invalidates a chunk of what the MIT license allows. Just removing those bits and not calling it MIT is enough.

If that significantly cuts into your time to do other stuff then I don’t know what to say.

> if somebody who is willing to pay approaches me with the same concerns

I’m not concerned about the license per se. It wouldn’t stop me from paying if I wanted to use your software. It’s just that to everyone looking, before even evaluating it, you’re sending a dishonest message, that somehow the MIT license applies when it clearly does not.

I would create a license.txt file that contains a copy of the MIT license text with the commercial use phrasing removed, the need for displaying logo added a second paragraph before the warranty disclaimer stating that you may use the software commercially so long as you sponsor (same text you already have). Then I would link it from the readme with an explanation: proprietary license that is similar to the MIT license except with the conditions of logo and for commercial use requiring sponsorship (existing text more or less). Clear, simple and should take you no more than ten minutes to fix.

My objection is that you are claiming it’s under MIT license and using the MIT licenses name recognition, while applying changes that very clearly make it not MIT license at all.

[bullen]

I didn't know how small the MIT license was!!!

"Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:"

Became

"Permission is hereby granted, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to use the Software, including the rights to copy, modify, merge, publish and/or distribute the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:"

And then I list the stuff...

1) You have to show the logo on startup.

2) You have to sponsor the fuse tier on gumroad while you are using the Software, or any derived Software, commercially:

https://tinspin.gumroad.com/l/xwluh

3) The .html and graphics are proprietary examples except the javascript in play.html

4) The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

it feels completely meaningless to put it that way... laws are really the most superficial waste of time, it only took 5 minutes to edit but it's a lifetime of trouble!

But thanks I guess, if it works... but you only know that later... possibly eons later!

[dkersten]

Great, that's all I wanted. I hope it didn't take you more than a few minutes to do.

> I didn't know how small the MIT license was!!!

This is kind of a problem, before you were saying its like the MIT license but if you didn't know how small it was, you couldn't have read it, so...

Anyway, no point in beating a dead horse, you have corrected the issue I had, so thank you!

> laws are really the most superficial waste of time

Until you need them, at least.

In any case, good luck with your project. It does technically look very interesting.