The Playtest Agreement

[mach1.9pants]

I tell you, despite having agreed to (and obviously not read) the OPTA, there is no way I am not going to run this with at least 2 people who will not be official signers of OPTA... my bloody kids! Stupid legalise rubbish, all it is doing is punishing the honest. The rules are going to be freely available (as said already are) without the OPTA, but attempting to stop people using this as DnD 9Making stuff up and sharing that with friends) is ridiculous. ENWs policy on following the OPTA means that much of the really interesting discussion won't be held here. Once again punishing the honest.
Add this to adding DRM to games, pointless stuff that only effects the LG and LN aligned!

 

[Kurtomatic]

Guys, pull the corn cob out and relax for a minute.

Doesn't that feel better?

Right, the Wizo Police are not going to knock on your door tomorrow looking for your papers. If I wasn't the soul of discretion that I am, I might even talk about how I've already rezipped the player docs (including the OPTA!) and distro'd them to my players, with a strong encouragement to officially sign-up themselves so they can directly enter their own feedback. I could philosophically (if not legally) argue that I implicitly accepted the terms of the OPTA on their behalf, and simply take responsibility myself for making sure that no negative impacts occur. Its simply an exercise of good judgement.

However, I am in fact the very soul of discretion, and I didn't talk about anything of the sort! This was a purely hypothetical discussion.

 

[Anselyn]

there is no way I am not going to run this with at least 2 people who will not be official signers of OPTA... my bloody kids!

Me too! I was intending to run for my family: wife and 2 kids. They really enjoyed the Pathfinder box I gave my son (10) for his birthday and my daughter (7) was incredibly excited and inventive when playing an elf. My wife would probably sign-up via WoTC if I ask but my kids (the next generation of players...) aren't (I guess) legally competent to agree to the OPTA. Oh well ...

 

[Libramarian]

Couldn't they have just put the OPTA thing at the beginning of all the pdfs with some clause that says by choosing to read the rest you are consenting to the agreement? And then just distributed the files freely?

 

[Greatwyrm]

However, I am in fact the very soul of discretion, and I didn't talk about anything of the sort! This was a purely hypothetical discussion.

It's not hypothetical situations that are a problem. The problem is that some genius started a program called an "online playtest" and then said they don't wanting us "playing online" using any means, including the one they provide as a paid subscription service.

Will people play online anyway? Of course, hypothetically. Does this really affect how good or bad the game itself is/will be? Not at all. But it does nicely book-end a day of bad first impressions of whether WotC as a company, not the developers, has their act together.

 

[underfoot007ct]

That's how I read it too. Pretty much prevents my group from participating in the playtest - most of my players wouldn't put in the effort to download playtest rules. Well, maybe that's a good thing, making sure they only get really dedicated playtesters.

If your players don't DL the rules, then they will not be able to supple any feedback. If you love or hate the playtest, it does no good, if WOTC never hears about it. Although it might be fun, Feedback is the whole point of the playtest.

 

[Quickleaf]

If your players don't DL the rules, then they will not be able to supple any feedback. If you love or hate the playtest, it does no good, if WOTC never hears about it. Although it might be fun, Feedback is the whole point of the playtest.

Exactly. They're shooting themselves in the foot. What I cannot legally do is print out the rules for the group and let them learn while playing. That makes playtesting (with the DM as the primary reporter back to WotC) not viable for my group and others with a similar dynamic.

No big loss, I'm sure plenty of others will give great feedback once it gets rolling.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I wonder how many posts would be deleted in this sub forum if we stuck to the agreement, probably about half!

 

[Lwaxy]

I was under the impression, originally, that it would do if the GM has the material. Not counting the minors who cannot sign up, there are the others who don't want to sign up and just want to play, assuming, as it usually went with similar things, that the GM is the one to give feedback. So they would be heard simply by what they told me.

Sure, I could form yet another group out of the few who signed up. But that would mean putting at least one other group on hold and get delayed in playing schedule. I can only see one group that would maybe work with.

And not playing online is.... weird, to say the least. Seriously, lots of groups only play online and are scattered all over the world.

 

[Walking Dad]

I got no RL players who want to sign in. My kids are to young to sign up. Online is forbidden. Any possibility to delete all the rules and get out of the contract? I won't talk about D&D next ever again, I promise. Or play it ever. I will not even buy a single book.
I will just revoke my interest to receive new material and hope for the best.
Hm, which system I will play instead...