Quote:
Originally Posted by Delta  Perhaps you should address that to the person or company who wrote this: Quote: Q: Is there an ethical reason to support Open Gaming?
A: In this writer's opinion, yes there is. It has been an established feature of RPGs since their inception that they should be used to create new content. Prior to the advent of widespread Open Game licenses, there was no practical way for that kind of material to be legally and widely distributed.
Open Gaming is recognition that your natural human right to free speech is protected and enhanced. The Open Game system is a way for the game publishing industry to finally deliver on the basic promises made by the very first RPGs; that individuals should be free to copy, modify and distribute their own creative works derived from the game systems they have acquired.
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Is it possible that that particular writer is now wrong? In the light of evidence that other companies have taken
WOTC properties, created games that DO NOT REQUIRE the PHB or any of the core 3.x D&D books (which is against the spirit of what
WOTC was trying to accomplish with the
OGL).
Let's face it, the company had it's trademarked products and it's rule system slightly tweaked, a whole slew of new games were derived and then sold to a group that didn't require the core D&D books; a group that might have otherwise bought 3.x core books instead.
I seem to think that the spirit of
WOTC was trying to accomplish with Open Gaming changed when it stopped being neat fan sites and
3PP making stuff for D&D and changed into deriving works without paying all the R&D to create the game core system, and then profiting with the marketing angle that you don't need any of the
WOTC books to play.
From here, it just looks like
WOTC is protecting it's own product interests. Nothing wrong with that.
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