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Scott- I don't know if you've answered this before, but are you able to give us any background on the how/whys of the GSL?
What went into brainstorming the GSL? (What were the reasons behind it?)
What caused you to determine the OGL was no longer viable in the end?
Was the option to still release the game under OGL, but with a stronger STL document (like maybe tying the IP stuff to the STL but leaving the mechanics OGL) an option at all?
I'll put these answers in my memoirs but for now I am not gonna talk about it
Seriously, though: Scott, don't let the local wildlife ruin your week. Even though tinfoil stock is going through the roof, I'm sure the majority of the fanbase is appreciative without the self-entitlement.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dire Bare
I wonder if Scott's compensation includes hazard pay!!! I can picture The Rouse suiting up in his protection suit +5 vs flame and hyperbole before visting ENWorld!!
I know there's a tradition for the White House Press Secretaries of passing on a "Flak Jacket" to eachother.
Maybe Scott should start the same thing for D&D Senior Brand Managers?
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I wonder if Scott's compensation includes hazard pay!!! I can picture The Rouse suiting up in his protection suit +5 vs flame and hyperbole before visting ENWorld!!
No, no, he has his dreaded army of clones that are effectively well-disguised Shield Guardians... And staying in his underground lab and creating even *more* of them is the primary reason why GSL is delayed (I *think* I saw someone say that Mordain Fleshwarper is actually modeled after Scott).
It was a corporate business decision, probably made in a room by, you know, real people trying to find a happy medium between the OGL and no open license. There might have been gamers and "suits" (who are people, too, you know) all trying to find out what would be good for the company and still allow 3PP to make products.
I asked because Charles Ryan wanted us to stop talking about nameless suits.
Well, to be honest, my agenda is a lot broader.
I abhor cynicism. Especially groundless cynicism. Especially especially groundless cynicism that is presented as authoritative fact by people who have no actual insight into the matter at hand. Especially especially especially "authoritative fact" that becomes "accepted truth" on the internet, even by people who aren't particularly cynical by nature.
Whenever the old "WotC would have done [the thing I like], but the lawyers/Hasbroids/coporate suits wouldn't let them" routine is trotted out, it pushes all of my buttons. It tells me you're basing some or all of your opinion on a cynical, Dilbertian preconception of how things work in business.
See my earlier comments on the WotC legal department, and catsclaw227's cynicism-free supposition about how the GSL might have come about. As someone who's been there, I can tell you that whenever you invoke the mythical "suits" in your post, you might as well type "I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT" in 24-point type at the top of your post.
So rather than wanting you to stop talking about "nameless suits," per se, what I'd really like is for everyone to step away from the preconception based on Dilbert cartoons, and instead approach the conversation from the perspective that decisions are made by reasoning people attempting to balance a number of legitimate factors.
I'll put these answers in my memoirs but for now I am not gonna talk about it
They should be called simply, "Being Rouse".
Can I pre-order the first signed copy please.
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I think you're misreading people's underlying mindset on this pretty spectacularly, Charles.
People aren't blaming "the suits" and "Hasbro" because they're cynical. People are doing it because they don't want to blame the WotC employees they know and like from EN World. I guess that's not the opposite of cynical, but it's sure not "somewhat" the same.
(They're also blaming "the suits" and "Hasbro" because nobody else will admit who's to blame. It's all well and good for Scott Rouse to say, "The responsibility is mine," but when everybody who's been following the GSL saga has also heard him say he's passed it up the ladder and it's "waiting on Legal" and so on, "The responsibility is mine" doesn't ring quite authentic. And regardless, "responsibility" and "blame" aren't synonymous.)
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People aren't blaming "the suits" and "Hasbro" because they're cynical. People are doing it because they don't want to blame the WotC employees they know and like from EN World. I guess that's not the opposite of cynical, but it's sure not "somewhat" the same.
They are all Wotc employees in a certain sense. All of them are supposed to work for the good and benefit of Wotc. Unless you mean that "the suits" may possibly want to "tank" Wotc for some reason I cant see where your point is.
Last edited by xechnao; 27th February 2009 at 02:35 PM..
They are all Wotc employees in a certain sense. All of them are supposed to work for the good and benefit of Wotc. Unless you mean that the suits may possibly want to "tank" Wotc for some reason I cant see where your point is.
You've overlooked what we writers call a "restrictive clause."
__________________ Jeff Wilder, San Francisco Bay Area If your sig is longer than your posts, your sig is too
long. Nobody reads it, they just get annoyed by it. And if you bore me, you lose your soul to me. - Belly
I think you're misreading people's underlying mindset on this pretty spectacularly, Charles.
People aren't blaming "the suits" and "Hasbro" because they're cynical. People are doing it because they don't want to blame the WotC employees they know and like from EN World. I guess that's not the opposite of cynical, but it's sure not "somewhat" the same.
Jeff, you may be right, but I'll counter with a couple of my perceptions:
First, the suits are almost always invoked in a context of bitterness.
Second, it may seem charitable to deflect blame, but as I've posted already, doing so can seem tantamount to saying the individuals have no actual power or responsibility. I can't speak for anyone else, but when I was in the Big Chair, I found that subtext a bit insulting.
Quote:
(They're also blaming "the suits" and "Hasbro" because nobody else will admit who's to blame. It's all well and good for Scott Rouse to say, "The responsibility is mine," but when everybody who's been following the GSL saga has also heard him say he's passed it up the ladder and it's "waiting on Legal" and so on, "The responsibility is mine" doesn't ring quite authentic. And regardless, "responsibility" and "blame" aren't synonymous.)
This is exactly my point: You're taking a perfectly reasonable statement and turning it into "proof" of an imagined corporate structure you actually know nothing about.
The GSL is a contract. Of course the legal department has to buy into it--what sane entity would enter into a binding contract without the support of their legal advisors? Certainly, when I ran my own business, my lawyer wrote or at least reviewed every contract. That didn't change the fact that I was responsible for those contracts and the business and strategy they represented.
It's also a major strategic decision. Of course there are people--peers and up the chain of command--who have a vested interest in the strategy and who's buy-in is important. That's true in any business or organization with more than three people.
So from where I'm sitting, the mere fact that you equate "waiting on Legal" with "Scott can't actually be responsible" reveals what looks like a cynical predisposition.
I think this cynicism is so widespread that people don't even recognize it. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's a long-time pet peeve of mine.
So from where I'm sitting, the mere fact that you equate "waiting on Legal" with "Scott can't actually be responsible" reveals what looks like a cynical predisposition.
From where I'm sitting, the fact that you got what you quoted from what I actually said reveals a serious need to reread what I said.
I didn't state or imply any conclusions on my part at all, except that "the responsibility is mine" and "it's now out of my hands and in others' hands" are very, very understandably viewed as contradictory.
(To answer your question, I work nights. Well, I try to work nights.)
__________________ Jeff Wilder, San Francisco Bay Area If your sig is longer than your posts, your sig is too
long. Nobody reads it, they just get annoyed by it. And if you bore me, you lose your soul to me. - Belly
You've overlooked what we writers call a "restrictive clause."
Pardon? You were trying to make a point up there and if I understood it correctly it was about the protection of an employee while trying to "defend" your interests against who he was working for. And I said that I fail to see the meaning of this "protection". You cant see such employee as one that works for your interests and the interests of who he is representing here if you intend that such interests are in conflict. Unless you are suspecting that the interests of who the employee is representing are against the interests of the employee.
I didn't state or imply any conclusions on my part at all, except that "the responsibility is mine" and "it's now out of my hands and in others' hands" are very, very understandably viewed as contradictory.
Yes, here you' ve got a point here the way you put it. But perhaps Scott was explaining technical procedure in the second phrase rather than political intent and responsibility? In this case it is not viewed so much contradictory. Not so understandably.
My opinion is that they share responsibility, Scott included. You wanted to distinguish roles here, to put him in a role against the rest of his group. Why?
Nevertheless his position may indeed indicate some hierarchy and such hierarchy assumes that he takes responsibility against the public. And in this case what Scott said should be intended as explaining hurdles of technical procedure.
Last edited by xechnao; 27th February 2009 at 03:19 PM..
I think this cynicism is so widespread that people don't even recognize it. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it's a long-time pet peeve of mine.
I don't think you're overreacting.
But rather than cynicism I think one of the reasons people do this is because as gamers get to know (at least sort of know) the actual people behind the game, such as Mike Mearls, Scott Rouse et. al. it gets increasingly difficult to rant and rail against them and still retain sympathy from your peers, i.e. other gamers.
But when ranting and railing against unnamed suits, you can say just about anything, and be just about as offensive as you want to be, since you can't really be called on it like you would if you directed the attack against a named person, who might be a member of our community, and a personal real life friend of several other people here.
So to vent, I think it is an easy way out to blame The Man and his army of Grey Men in Suits, because then you can really let loose.
Maybe corporate cynicism is part of it, maybe Dilbert is to blame. Mostly I think it's a convenient way of venting.
/M
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Last edited by Maggan; 27th February 2009 at 04:33 PM..
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