Years after completely ditching the system, WotC makes their move!

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hmmm...

First of all, I'm far from being a WotC apologist. I was among the first to analogize 4Ed to New Coke, after all, and maintain that, while a fine game in it's on right, it is "not D&D to me." But while I have seen WotC do moves I think are foolish in the past few years, I cannot say I've seen them act "boorish."

As for the OGL vs GSL protections & running games online, I cannot give a fully informed analysis, since I never bothered with the GSL. Still, I don't think method of communication between persons playing the game would be grounds for a lawsuit- playing via telepresence machinery of any kind would probably be viewed by the courts to be within the scope of the intended use of the product.

I'm not a worrier. Even though I know that anyone in this country can file a lawsuit, I also know that the profit margins in the RPG biz are slender enough that the likelihood of doing so with bad facts could ruin a company. I simply don't see WotC going after a site that polices itself as well as ENWorld does: lawsuits against similarly well moderated sites tend to lose when brought to trial...if they make it that far.

Because "How would you feel about that?" isn't "What do you think the odds are?" but "How would you feel about Morrus having to respond to C&D letters, and possibly shut down the site?" I.e., how would you feel about that personally?

Responding to a C&D letter is cheap, so no concerns there. Acting in response to it's requests may be expensive...or may just take the form of seeing a few mor mods run the ship a bit tighter, depending upon what was needed.

As for WotC shutting down ENWorld- yeah, that would tick me off. But again, given what i have seen here, I think the probability is slim enough that I'm not going to lose any sleep worrying about it.

It's like you're asking me if I'm worried my fat, flat-toothed 13 year old Border Collie was going to go Cujo on me because I've seen the way she wolfs down her dinner: it's possible, but not very probable, so I'm not wasting my time and energy with an emotional response.

 

[Raven Crowking]

First of all, I'm far from being a WotC apologist.

Good....glad to hear it.

I'm not a worrier.

Me neither, but I am a "Other point-of-viewer" the minute someone suggests that WotC should do something that (seemingly) screws over (some of) its fans. As you and I would be ticked off if it were EN World, so others might well be ticked off about CK. Especially those who started using the resource because WotC pointed it out to them!

And we obviously disagree about what constituts "boorish" behaviour!


RC

 

[Shazman]

The awesomeness of WotC continues. I think it's pretty telling that they seem to be concerned with 3.5 matierial competing with 4E.

 

[Shazman]

Huh. Really odd that they're asking them now to pull their files. I don't actually see how this might hurt WotC in any way, _now_ (unless they plan to re-release all of their 3e books...).
And what kind of 'luck' would that be?! Wishing for WotC to go away is wishing for D&D to go away. And that would be a bad thing for the whole hobby, not just D&D players.

Not really. We still have Pathfinder. It's as much (or maybe more) D&D as 4E is even if that can't legally claim that.

 

[renau1g]

That's too bad, I enjoyed the site, great reference for the 3.5 games I still play in.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Me neither, but I am a "Other point-of-viewer" the minute someone suggests that WotC should do something that (seemingly) screws over (some of) its fans. As you and I would be ticked off if it were EN World, so others might well be ticked off about CK. Especially those who started using the resource because WotC pointed it out to them!

Like I said before, sometimes companies take actions to preserve the integrity of the company's rights or profitability that lead to a PR hit.

As for this case, your last sentence actually gives us a clue. If WotC actually directed people to CK- who was posting something without a license just like other sites- that IS potentially evidence of partial abandonment of IP rights. Again, it's a matter of proof...but one that seems to be supported.

 

[the Jester]

AFAICT, the GSL doesn't offer the kind of protections that the OGL did for a site like this. I would imagine that using the 4e rules to run online games could potentially be seen as infringement, should WotC ever get the VT running and want to channel/force people to use their service.

What?

D00d, you can talk about, houserule, play, etc. the game all you want after you buy the game. IANAL but as far as I know there is no case for infringement whatsoever here. That's like saying that WotC has the right to tell you that you can't playanywhere unless it's at an official WotC store.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Thanks, Dannyalcatraz. A pleasure reading & responding to your reasonable posts!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Were I in charge of WotC- given my pro-3.5 position- I'd probably be hard at work trying to draft a licensing structure favorable to sites like CK and all those they "like."

Because here's the thing: as long as you can prove you're not discriminating on the basis of a protected class (race, religion, etc.), you can refuse to do business with just about anyone.

So you could conceivably have a licensing agreement with CK for...say, $100/term...you could still go after the torrent sites and other pirates in IP lawsuits. You'd never have to give them a license, either. Or you could say they can have a license after paying some kind if nominal damages for lost profits before getting a license.

 

[WHW4]

I am not a lawyer or a copyright expert.

I'm an average gamer. I have used Crystal Keep for the past three years as one of my goto reference tools for 3.5, because there are about eighty-bajillion templates, races, and monsters scattered over thousands of magazines, splat books and web enhancements and they did a really nice job of making things easy to find. I didn't even know half the stuff existed before I found the site.

I just an average gamer, who lost an awesome tool, and who doesn't care about the reasons. It just blows. Thanks, WotC.