D&D 5E I'll make my own Fifth Edition.

[tuxgeo]

. . . thought I would add this little bit here:

< snip vast wall of text >
Hasn't worked doesn't mean cannot work. If we look at American history we can see two general trends that seem mutually exclusive but have somehow existed together: The rich get richer and richer, but people become more and more free. It may even be that the former indirectly stimulates the latter through reaction (not intention!). But again, let's not be so jaded and fed up that we don't continue to try to expand the boundaries of what is possible. For that DnDPhilmont should be applauded, encouraged even.
< snip even vaster wall of text >

[emphasis mine, above]

Greater freedom might actually cause part of the inequality. Not everybody can be Karl Benz; not everybody can be Alexander Graham Bell; not everybody can be Henry Ford. Those who do more stand to get more. Monte Cook worked with WotC in the early days of designing D&D 5E, but he left to take his chances going it alone away from the corporate structure -- and Numenera was born. That game seems to be doing alright.

 

[Umbran]

1) Talk about how the lengthy extension of copyright-as-it-exists, is an intrusion of the political state into the cultural sphere. If the American Republic had retained its original 14 (or 18) year copyright law, D&D would already be in the Public Domain.

Not quite.

For one thing - the rules, as separate from the presentation, are already public domain. They *cannot* be covered by copyright, and they were not patented.

For another, the original statute from 1790 was not a flat 14 years. It was 14 years, extendable for another 14 if the author was still alive at the end of the first term - which Gygax and Arneson both were - so we would have been talking 28 years at least.

For another - "D&D" as such, is not one single thing, and has not been since 1977. Each edition is *separately* covered by copyright, as each is an individual particular expression. So if we had stuck by those old laws, some editions would be public domain now, and others would not. Everything published after 1986 would likely still be covered.

But, that "If" seems a bit odd. That first act was in 1790. That's 224 years ago. How many other laws from 1790 do we still abide by? How many would you *want* to still be abiding by? If nothing else, the life expectancy has drastically increased since that initial act, and we would want to at the bare minimum account for that.

 

[Werebat]

I'm reminded of Obama's critics who would throw the word socialism out there like it was akin to bestiality or demon-worship (all this despite the fact that Obama is very much a corporatist!).

Ah, another who can see Obama for what he is! It's not often enough that I meet people who do.

I'll let you get back to your actual discussion now.

 

[Haffrung]

One problem with this model is customers badly underestimate how much invisible professional skill goes into making games, books, etc. All these see is the developer - the main creative author. They don't see the editor, the layout person, the proofer. Those are jobs that people rarely do out of love or creative satisfaction. They work in anonymity, with little social validation or recognition. And there's a big difference between people who dabble in those fields as amateurs, and those with professional training and standards. That's what a commercial company brings to table - professional skills and experience in the unglamorous fields that support creative output. There's a world of difference for me, as a customer, between the books published by WotC and Paizo, and those put out by the tiny vanity press RPG publishers. Professionalism has value. And it costs money.

 

[Umbran]

Ah, another who can see Obama for what he is! It's not often enough that I meet people who do.

I'll let you get back to your actual discussion now.

Nope. We're done.

The thread was borderline to start with. I was going to let the one Obama reference slip by, as if I didn't see it. But two becomes hard to ignore. We're going to give this a rest. Thanks, all, for remaining civil!