WotC Talks OGL... Again! Draft Coming Jan 20th With Feedback Survey; v1 De-Auth Still On

Following last week's partial walk-back on the upcoming Open Game Licence terms, WotC has posted another update about the way forward.

The new update begins with another apology and a promise to be more transparent. To that end, WotC proposes to release the draft of the new OGL this week, with a two-week survey feedback period following it.

WotC Walks Back Some OGL Changes, But Not All

Wizards of the Coast has finally made a statement regarding the OGL. The statement says that the leaked version was a draft designed to solicit feedback and that they are walking back some problematic elements, but don't address others--most notably that the current OGL v1.0a is still being...

www.enworld.org

They also list a number of points of clarity --

• Videos, accessories, VTT content, DMs Guild will not be affected by the new license, none of which is related to the OGL
• The royalties and ownership rights clauses are, as previously noted, going away

OGL v1 Still Being 'De-Authorized'
However, OGL v1.0a still looks like it's being de-authorized. As with the previous announcement, that specific term is carefully avoided, and like that announcement it states that previously published OGL v1 content will continue to be valid; however it notably doesn't mention that the OGL v1 can be used for content going forward, which is a de-authorization.

The phrase used is "Nothing will impact any content you have published under OGL 1.0a. That will always be licensed under OGL 1.0a." -- as noted, this does not make any mention of future content. If you can't publish future content under OGL 1.0a, then it has been de-authorized. The architect of the OGL, Ryan Dancey, along with WotC itself at the time, clearly indicated that the license could not be revoked or de-authorized.

While the royalty and ownership clauses were, indeed, important to OGL content creators and publishers such as myself and many others, it is also very important not to let that overshadow the main goal: the OGL v1.0a.

Per Ryan Dancey in response this announcement: "They must not. They can only stop the bleeding by making a clear and simple statement that they cannot and will not deauthorize or revoke v1.0a".

Ryan Dancey -- Hasbro Cannot Deauthorize OGL

I reached out to the architect of the original Open Gaming License, former VP of Wizard of the Coast, Ryan Dancey, and asked his opinion about the current plan by WotC to 'deauthorize' the current OGL in favour of a new one. He responded as follows: Yeah my public opinion is that Hasbro does...

www.enworld.org

Amend At-Will
Also not mentioned is the leaked draft's ability to be amended at-will by WotC. An agreement which can be unilaterally changed in any way by one party is not an agreement, it's a blank cheque. They could simply add the royalties or ownership clauses back in at any time, or add even more onerous clauses.

All-in-all this is mainly just a rephrasing of last week's announcement addressing some of the tonal criticisms widely made about it. However, it will be interesting to see the new draft later this week. I would encourage people to take the feedback survey and clearly indicate that the OGL v1.0a must be left intact.

 

[Greg Benage]

So if this was the exact same as the 1.0 expect it had the anti bigotry, and irrevocable added to it, would you guys still complain about 1.0 being deauthorized?

I'll accept 1.0a with no bigotry, no blockchain and irrevocable (others won't). But they still need to explain how and why they think they can revoke or deauthorize OGL 1.0a. Continuing to ignore the core problem isn't helping them, and people aren't just going to forget about it.

 

[Velderan]

• Your OGL 1.0a content. Nothing will impact any content you have published under OGL 1.0a. That will always be licensed under OGL 1.0a.

Why would they support two OGL's.
Everything under old OGL will still be forever under the old OGL, that is reasonable.

The concern is they're not going to "support" OGL 1.0a, they're going to make it legacy and say if you used it prior to this date you're good. Everyone else use OGL 2.0.

 

[overgeeked]

WotC is either lying

That’s far more likely as it’s been their MO since the leaks.

 

[Scribe]

They want their piece of the pie$ and they can't have it if Wotc succeeds.

Totally, Wizards needs their piece.

Looks up Wizbro's profits.

 

[Morrus]

So if this was the exact same as the 1.0 expect it had the anti bigotry, and irrevocable added to it, would you guys still complain about 1.0 being deauthorized?

Yes. It speaks to trust. If we can't trust them to not try to illegal de-auth a license they promised they wouldn't, then we can't trust them to adhere to the terms of their new license, either.

 

[rcade]

• Your OGL 1.0a content. Nothing will impact any content you have published under OGL 1.0a. That will always be licensed under OGL 1.0a.

This will only be true if new works can be derived from existing works. If Hasbro/WOTC does not make that concession, it is not respecting the rights of everyone who published under OGL 1.0a, because part of the reason to do that is to enjoy the network effect of your work being reused in the future.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If 1.1 was exactly the same as 1.0, everyone would still complain, because most people on forums don't want them to succeed
They want their piece of the pie$ and they can't have it if Wotc succeeds.
Its all about money.

its' also about inertia... so many have spent the last week or so making "WotC is the worst" there main thrust, that no matter what they do they can't change that attitude...

 

[MockingBird]

We will see what they present to us in the upcoming survey. I am happy this will be a separate survey so OneD&D doesn't get blasted but I still feel like that playtest has been tarnished.

 

[ilgatto]

1. On or before Friday, January 20th, we’ll share new proposed OGL documentation for your review and feedback, much as we do with playtest materials.
2. After you review the proposed OGL, you will be able to fill out a quick survey–much like Unearthed Arcana playtest feedback surveys. It will ask you specific questions about the document and include open form fields to share any other feedback you have.
3. The survey will remain open for at least two weeks, and we’ll give you advance notice before it closes so that everyone who wants to participate can complete the survey. Then we will compile, analyze, react to, and present back what we heard from you.

We’ll listen to you, and then we will share with you what we’ve heard, much like we do in our Unearthed Arcana and One D&D playtests. This will be a robust conversation before we release any future version of the OGL.

WotC statement 18 January 2023

So, ignoring the shameless plugs, this means that the "robust conversation" is going to be people filling in some questionnaire? Be interested to see what, exactly, they'll allow their fans to "converse" about.

EDIT: Added link

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

The moment they suggested they could de-authorize it there was no turning back. It has to be defended in court or otherwise it's a Sword of Damoclese. The only other way to resolve it is if they published a new OGL that makes the previous ones irrevocable.

And the Open-Source software community has a bit of reason to be wary since a ruling that older open licenses can be revoked...would devastate the Open-Source community.