WotC Hasbro CEO Chris Cox talks about D&D on NPRs Here & Now. Topics include Layoffs and OGL.

[Scribe]

So what is the answer? Put 'em in stocks in the central courtyard for public shaming?

Seriously. What exactly are people expecting?

Release the rest of the.SRD in CC, including 5.5 on release.

 

[Alzrius]

So what is the answer? Put 'em in stocks in the central courtyard for public shaming?

Seriously. What exactly are people expecting?

I'm expecting them to take action specifically designed to assuage the harm to the community that they caused (because yes, harm was still caused despite them backing down; when you shake everyone's confidence in something that was previously treated as a bedrock, that's harm). The CC was a decent first step, but it's not the last one; hence why we're still waiting for that "review" of the 3.0, 3.5, and/or d20 Modern SRDs over a year later, even though that should take them maybe an afternoon at most, since they've all been out for over twenty years now and to my knowledge there's been no accidental release of WotC's IP from them.

Personally, to regain my trust, they'd need to do the following:

Create an OGL v1.0b, which adds the word "irrevocable" to Section 4, and which is released into the public domain the same way Paizo did with their ORC License.

That's it. That's all I'd need. It's not like it'd take them that much time, effort, or money...or really any time, effort, or money. And yet somehow that's a bridge too far.

I suppose while I'm dreaming, I'd like them to open up the DMs Guild to earlier editions of D&D also. Let people make compatible materials for 4E and Essentials, 3.X, 2E, 1E, BECMI, OD&D, B/X, Holmes, etc. They wouldn't even need to put it into the DMs Guild per se; have OneBookShelf throw up another mirror site (seriously, they're good at that; just look at Pathfinder Infinite and Storyteller's Vault and DriveThruComics, etc.) just for the earlier-edition stuff. They can call it the Old School Rchive (see what I did there?), and the fans would eat it up. Plus they'd make more money off of the sales, the same way they do for the DMs Guild.

Also, some new SRDs for those earlier editions would be nice also, but that one would take actual effort on WotC's part, so I consider it the least likely...not that any of this is likely from the current leadership.

And yet people still act like this is asking for the moon and then some.

 

[JEB]

Well, a bunch of the WotC examples were early retirement offers that were taken up: accelerating a turnover of the "old guard" to get new talent is a pretty old technique to tighten the belt.

I'm sure, but Cocks indicated that the cuts in gaming weren't actually to "tighten the belt" - they were due to "changing priorities". So again, that raises the question of what priorities changed. What are they looking for in new talent that wasn't in the old guard?

 

[Alzrius]

Did you trust them before...?

More than I do now.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm sure, but Cocks indicated that the cuts in gaming weren't actually to "tighten the belt" - they were due to "changing priorities". So again, that raises the question of what priorities changed. What are looking for in new talent that wasn't in the old guard?

Lower salaries, to look like progress on the next year's numbers?

 

[Parmandur]

More than I do now.

But why...? As long as I've been paying attention (early Aughts), WotC have pulled this sort of stuff literally all the time: and based on everythingI have read, TSR before that was even worse. I don't expect them to stop, either, though slowing down would be nice.

 

[Pedantic]

So what is the answer? Put 'em in stocks in the central courtyard for public shaming?

Seriously. What exactly are people expecting?

I don't think that's a gotcha question. Everyone has been pretty clear. Apologize (technically already done), restore the prior status quo (make irrevocability clear, put everything in CC, some equivalent), perform some act of contrition (expand the 5e SRD under the same conditions, free 4e material into the OGL, lots of options here).

Legitimately, they could absolutely earn trust back with a concerted effort.

 

[Pedantic]

But why...? As long as I've been paying attention (early Aughts), WotC have pulled this sort of stuff literally all the time: and based on everythingI have read, TSR before that was even worse. I don't expect them to stop, either, though slowing down would be nice.

There isn't a prize for being cynical first, unless you really enjoy the taste of "I told you so." Certainly, you're not entitled to "I shouldn't have had to tell you!"

 

[Alzrius]

But why...? As long as I've been paying attention (early Aughts), WotC have pulled this sort of stuff literally all the time

I'll have to disagree with you there. I don't recall them doing anything on the level of trying to revoke the OGL. If nothing else, I honestly never expected them to do something so punitive to so many people, particularly when it had so little gain for them; and to the extent that that's "trust," then most other people seemed to trust them that much as well, considering how people reacted.

 

[Parmandur]

There isn't a prize for being cynical first, unless you really enjoy the taste of "I told you so." Certainly, you're not entitled to "I shouldn't have had to tell you!"

I mean, ot makes one hard to disappoint!