darjr
I crit!
Back in 2010 Greg Tito (yes that Greg Tito, all around great guy really) interviewed Andy Collins and Liz Schuh. The interesting bits for me are the ones about the OGL. Espeically talk about how times had changed. I think it turned out that they didn't change as expected.
AM: What was the bad? In other words, why not stick with OGL for 4th edition? Because obviously when the Game System License was announced for 4th edition, it was fraught with controversy. Why did you make the changes you made?
LS: With the new edition we felt it was time to revise the license as well, so that’s why we decided to go forward with the revised license.
AM: Is that a polite way of saying you don’t want to get into this?
AC: The times changes, legal opinions change, legal staffs change, the realities of doing business – the world in 2000 was different than the world in 2008. As you pointed out, digital piracy is a bigger issue, protection of intellectual property and trademarks has gotten trickier. We wanted to make sure we were making a decision that was good for gamers, but was also good for Wizards of the Coast and good for the long term survival of Dungeons and Dragons. We’re in this for the long haul, we don’t want to just make a few bucks and retire to an island somewhere, because none of us make that much money. We’re doing it because we love it.
GT: Did you feel that the OGL allowed too much profit to be made by 3rd parties?
AM: Or that fragmentation was resulting? Because initially it seems like it got everyone onto the same page, but then it started to fragment into, “Oh well I play True20. Oh, that’s totally different, I play Swords and Sorcery.”
AC: No, that didn’t really enter into it at all. Ultimately, those audiences were small enough that they didn’t really have an impact on our decision making.
LS: With the new edition we felt it was time to revise the license as well, so that’s why we decided to go forward with the revised license.
AM: Is that a polite way of saying you don’t want to get into this?
AC: The times changes, legal opinions change, legal staffs change, the realities of doing business – the world in 2000 was different than the world in 2008. As you pointed out, digital piracy is a bigger issue, protection of intellectual property and trademarks has gotten trickier. We wanted to make sure we were making a decision that was good for gamers, but was also good for Wizards of the Coast and good for the long term survival of Dungeons and Dragons. We’re in this for the long haul, we don’t want to just make a few bucks and retire to an island somewhere, because none of us make that much money. We’re doing it because we love it.
GT: Did you feel that the OGL allowed too much profit to be made by 3rd parties?
AM: Or that fragmentation was resulting? Because initially it seems like it got everyone onto the same page, but then it started to fragment into, “Oh well I play True20. Oh, that’s totally different, I play Swords and Sorcery.”
AC: No, that didn’t really enter into it at all. Ultimately, those audiences were small enough that they didn’t really have an impact on our decision making.
