Can WotC be forgiven?

[Umbran]

"Realizing 1.1 landed with a massive thud, suppose WotC announces that 1.1 is no longer a thing and 1.0a will remain for the indefinite future. They also say they are sorry. Really sorry. Really, really sorry. What would it take for them to be forgiven? Is there any going back at this point?

A real apology has three parts:
1) A sincere statement that you regret what you did.
2) A clear statement that you understand why it was bad.
3) A clear outline of what you intend to do to make it better, if that is possible, and follow-through on that plan.

Like, "Oh, geeze! I'm so sorry I whacked you in the face with my flailing arms while dancing! That must have hurt! Is there anything I can do - do you need an ice pack or something? If not, I'm going to go over here where there are fewer people and be more careful. Again, so sorry!"

 

[Mercurius]

Can a wolf that you thought was a sheep be forgiven for actually being a wolf?

Now maybe it isn't that simple. Certainly, "WotC" includes good people, and the "wolf" is ultimately Hasbro. So sure, WotC could be forgiven (that is, trusted again) if it wasn't owned by Hasbro. But Hasbro is going to Hasbro.

To some extent, we all knew this - that the sheep was really a wolf. But I think what is shocking for a lot of folks is that it seemed like the "sheep nature" outweighed the "wolf nature," or at least kept it in check. That is, there was a feeling that WotC was run by people who loved D&D, and largely left to its own devices from Hasbro's dictates. This may have once been the case, but I think as D&D exploded, Hasbro took greater interest and now wants to do what all corporations want to do: optimize profits for shareholders, regardless of the cost.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

"Realizing 1.1 landed with a massive thud, suppose WotC announces that 1.1 is no longer a thing and 1.0a will remain for the indefinite future. They also say they are sorry. Really sorry. Really, really sorry. What would it take for them to be forgiven? Is there any going back at this point?

Yes, they can be forgiven.

 

[Vael]

Honestly, yes, because I firmly believe that WotC isn't the main villain here, it's Hasbro. Hasbro has explicitly said they want WotC revenue to double in five years, and I've already seen the effects of that in Magic The Gathering. And enough of the creatives in both the DnD and MTG sides of WotC are people I think are doing the best they can and trying to make the best games they can.

 

[Yaarel]

In the leak from WotC, Hasbro-WotC doesnt want to be forgiven. They are still trying to push the OGL 1.1 and its legal assault thru:

I'm an employee at WotC. ...
-They are briefly delaying rollout of OGL changes due to the backlash.
-Their decision making is based entirely on the provable impact to their bottom line.
-... They are looking at DDB subscriptions and cancellations as it is the quickest financial data....
-They are still hoping the community forgets, moves on, and they can still push this through.

... I will repeat, the main thing this leadership is looking at is DDB subscription cancellations.

 

[Parmandur]

Can a wolf that you thought was a sheep be forgiven for actually being a wolf?

Now maybe it isn't that simple. Certainly, "WotC" includes good people, and the "wolf" is ultimately Hasbro. So sure, WotC could be forgiven (that is, trusted again) if it wasn't owned by Hasbro. But Hasbro is going to Hasbro.

To some extent, we all knew this - that the sheep was really a wolf. But I think what is shocking for a lot of folks is that it seemed like the "sheep nature" outweighed the "wolf nature," or at least kept it in check. That is, there was a feeling that WotC was run by people who loved D&D, and largely left to its own devices from Hasbro's dictates. This may have once been the case, but I think as D&D exploded, Hasbro took greater interest and now wants to do what all corporations want to do: optimize profits for shareholders, regardless of the cost.

In other news, water is wet and fire is warm.

 

[Drake2000]

Honestly, yes, because I firmly believe that WotC isn't the main villain here, it's Hasbro. Hasbro has explicitly said they want WotC revenue to double in five years, and I've already seen the effects of that in Magic The Gathering.

Although Hasbro is now run by Chris Cocks, who was president and COO of WotC. His predecessor, Brian Goldner, was intent on expanding Hasbro's reach into TV, film and digital platforms, so it's unlikely the board would choose someone who was against that type of expansion.

 

[Haplo781]

If you bought a 5E product, then I presume you already forgave WotC for the 4E GSL. Why not do it again?

The GSL didn't try to revoke the OGL.

 

[mamba]

One thing that might bring me back would be if someone made a 1D&D clone (paying careful attention to copyright law) and released it under the ORC, and Wizards announced that they didn't have a problem with it and encouraged people to use it.

so nothing then...

 

[Umbran]

But Hasbro is going to Hasbro.

Even large organizations can learn and change. It is hard, but it can happen.

Honestly, this is a learning time for Hasbro. They recently realized that their real money wasn't in typical consumer products, but in WotC's products, and they rearranged to work with that.

But, prior to this, Hasbro's major money came from pretty impersonal sales of low-meaning products to people who don't think about them much later - while there are certainly people who are really into Monopoly, most sets get bought, played a few times, and then end up in a closet.

WotC's products and success, though, are based in the engagement of fandom, and repeated sales of products into that fandom.

Which means Hasbro has little concept of a cheesed-off fandom.

From that perspective, any errors made by Hasbro leaning in are entirely understandable bumbling of folks who are ignorant, and probably not listening to those with experience.