Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA: almost everyone is wrong about the OGL and SRD. Clearing up confusion.

[mhd]

Also I think the suggestion that Microsoft execs tend to be viscerally hostile to Open Source may have some merit.

Maybe the first generation, who are probably now all on their yachts anyway. In recent years, MS has been doing Open Source a lot themselves. Heck, Oracle does now, too.
I thought the RPG world has caught up a bit, but unsurprisingly any industry that prints with ink is still a few decades behind most of the world.

 

[Greg K]

Indestructoboy is going over the full OGL 1.1 live on YouTube

 

[pemerton]

Well, remember that Hasbro stock is down 40% on the year, downgraded to a Sell recommendation, and that this is due to WoTC's mismanagement of Magic: The Gathering.

What happened to all the threads I seem to recall recently celebrating how big a part of Hasbro WotC and D&D are? They weren't that many years ago, were they?

Also I think the suggestion that Microsoft execs tend to be viscerally hostile to Open Source may have some merit.

I would expect WotC to have mixed feelings about the OGL, after the experience with PF. And that could be reinforced by intermingling with other corporate cultures. But that doesn't give a reason to sink your own boats, or to cultivate a self-delusion that you can terminate in ways you can't! (Deluding others of course would make sense.)

Leveraging their market power with key sales platforms seems more sensible to me. (It's hard to imagine overworked anti-trust officials turning their attention to the RPG sector in the immediate term.)

 

[S'mon]

But that doesn't give a reason to sink your own boats, or to cultivate a self-delusion that you can terminate in ways you can't! (Deluding others of course would make sense.)

Delusions rarely make sense.

I think this is 90% cold hearted business practice, maybe 10% hate/spite/delusion. It could be 100%/0%, but some of the language feels a bit too spiteful to me.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I just got the following response from @Mongoose_Matt when I asked about the Legend game system:

We intend to keep Legend Open in whatever capacity that might end up being. However, please bear in mind that no one really knows what is happening yet.

So at least there will be a d100 variant available under an open license if the new OGL makes stuff it impossible to publish stuff derived from D&D.

 

[S'mon]

What happened to all the threads I seem to recall recently celebrating how big a part of Hasbro WotC and D&D are? They weren't that many years ago, were they?

What happened was that WoTC became the most important part of Hasbro due to the success of M:tG, with a bit of contribution from D&D. That meant that Hasbro became vulnerable when M:tG then had a very bad 2022, and the investors are not happy.

 

[jgbrowning]

Indestructoboy is going over the full OGL 1.1 live on YouTube

Yep, looks like it.

joe b.

 

[pemerton]

What happened was that WoTC became the most important part of Hasbro due to the success of M:tG, with a bit of contribution from D&D. That meant that Hasbro became vulnerable when M:tG then had a very bad 2022, and the investors are not happy.

Torpedoing you own vessels seems a desperate response to that!

As opposed to leveraging 3PP "rivals", trying to get Kickstarter and Matt Mercer on side, etc - which all seems like rational commercial action.

Would deliberately-cultivated uncertainty about the strength of Paizo's OGL rights make it harder for them to recruit freelance talent? I don't have any intuition about that, but if it would that would be on technique for trying to undermine Paizo.

 

[Tazawa]

Indestructoboy is going over the full OGL 1.1 live on YouTube

And doing a very poor job of it. He’s convinced himself that YouTubers can’t talk about Pathfinder because Pathfinder uses the OGL and WotC’s fan content policy applies to their IP and doesn’t allow sponsorship by competitors.

This obviously isn’t true but it’s clear that WOTC has lost the trust of a large number of people and will need to change their behaviour if they want to regain that trust.

He scrolled up and down a few times. All of the leaks are confirmed.

 

[pemerton]

What happened was that WoTC became the most important part of Hasbro due to the success of M:tG, with a bit of contribution from D&D. That meant that Hasbro became vulnerable when M:tG then had a very bad 2022, and the investors are not happy.

I just Googled up and read this: Magic: The Gathering Cards Face Decreasing Value Due to Overproduction.

My takeaway was that a dilution of secondary market values is seen to risk undercutting demand in the primary market. Which doesn't entirely make sense to me, but that's probably why I'm an academic rather than in business!