Support the OGL v1.0a; sign this change.org petition

Two decades ago I helped create the Open Gaming License which helped save Dungeons & Dragons. Today that license is at risk of being changed by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast. I am hoping that a coordinated response by the community might make them reconsider their plans.

Please join me in signing this petition on change.org. The more people who sign, the more visible this effort will become and the more likely we will have an impact on the decisions being made by Hasbro.

I believe time is of the essence. An announcement of their plans may happen today, Thursday the 12th of January. If you are inclined, please sign the petition now.

Thank you for your support!

This campaign needs you now

Hasbro, Please Take No Action Regarding the Open Gaming License v1â.â0a

chng.it

Ryan S. Dancey

 

[Art Waring]

Seriously ... did you actually read what I wrote? I understand that things are getting as little heated, but here-

I appreciate everything that Ryan Dancey has done, and continue to say that shepherding the OGL did the whole community a solid.

In fact, you will see that I've written similar laudatory things in other threads. I was writing about why Hasbro is unlikely to listen to him.

If you consider everyone to be your enemy, and number me among them, keep going.

Seriously? I said:

please allow those who it does effect to have a chance at doing something

thats with a please at the front of the sentence.

Up until now, I have shown respect and consideration for every member of this forum, even people that disagree with me from time to time, why don't you ask them. You have no right to put me on the spot like that.

 

[FoolishFrost]

Not to be a downer, but what is the point of this?

They just tried to change it, and erase it. What makes you think they can be trusted to not try it again, even if they add language to prevent it?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Seriously? I said:

please allow those who it does effect to have a chance at doing something

"You have essentially just confirmed that you have a less than positive opinion of Ryan Dancey, "

I did not appreciate that mischaracterization, and I have corrected it. We're good.

 

[see]

Why wasn't the word "irrevocable" included in the license?

As someone who participated both in the Netscape/Mozilla Public License discussions (on a Netscape-hosted news server) and the OGL discussions (on the OGF listserv), I can tell you the reason the OGL didn't have it is the same as the reason the NPL and MPL didn't have it -- nobody ever even suggested it was necessary.

I mean, seriously, if any of the lawyers -- and there were lawyers around, in both discussions -- had gone, "Hey, wait! Since you didn't specify it was 'irrevocable', it can be revoked at will! See [this case]!" everybody would have stopped right there and demanded that some sort of irrevocable-unless-breached language be added.

Note that the "gold standard" free software license in 2000, the GPL version 2, did not have the word "irrevocable". Nor did the releaseed-in-2002 (thus, after the OGL) original versions of the Creative Commons licenses. This was not on anyone's radar.

 

[Nilbog]

I ... doubt it. Again, if signing it makes you feel better, more power to you! But signing stuff on the internet really isn't good for actual change.

Cancel your D&D Beyond Subscription. Write a letter (or call, or otherwise contact) WoTC and Hasbro directly. Boycott their products if you want. That might make a difference.

Oh agreed I don't think it's the most effective method, what you suggest are far better options, but something is better than nothing and it can create a snowball effect, if enough folk sign it might get picked up by more mainstream media than the coverage has garnered so far, the more noise we make the better

 

[Art Waring]

Thanks for blocking me and not allowing a reasonable response. Is it wrong to advocate for people who are suffering right now???

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Signed both and kicked in some cash. Thanks for promoting, Mr. Dancey!

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Oh agreed I don't think it's the most effective method, what you suggest are far better options, but something is better than nothing and it can create a snowball effect, if enough folk sign it might get picked up by more mainstream media than the coverage has garnered so far, the more noise we make the better

I don't disagree, I just worry that a lot of people confuse this type of activism (signing a change.org petition) for the types of activism that tends to be more effective.

Because it is so easy, and because the companies don't know if the people doing it are actually real customers, IME companies tend to discount it. Which is why (absent, as you note, media followup) this often doesn't move the needle. Voting with your wallet and credible threats of boycott, on the other hand, does tend to get a reaction and quickly.

 

[TheSword]

I think there is a risk with this petition. If it goes viral and gets great results then sure it adds weight to the calls already out there to change the plans. Albeit with the limitations such petitions suffer from.

If it doesn’t… well then it suggests that the opposition is a small and vocal minority.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

You have my wand!