WotC D&D Historian Ben Riggs says the OGL fiasco was Chris Cocks idea.

[Oofta]

You could do the same because I remember you doing the same argument in other threads?

Are you telling me that I cannot or should not post my opinion? Simple yes or no question.

 

[TiQuinn]

Are you telling me that I cannot or should not post my opinion? Simple yes or no question.

I’m not playing your silly yes and no game.

That’s literally what you told me when I said you were being oddly defensive of a company that you simultaneously claim to not care about, not trust, and don’t understand why people dislike.

 

[Argyle King]

I think it was obvious to everyone looking at it that there were signs of Cocks all over it from day one.

 

[TiQuinn]

I think it was obvious to everyone looking at it that there were signs of Cocks all over it from day one.

I appreciate this phrasing.

 

[Oofta]

I’m not playing your silly yes and no game.

That’s literally what you told me when I said you were being oddly defensive of a company that you simultaneously claim to not care about, not trust, and don’t understand why people dislike.

I'm not defending HASBRO. I never told you that you can't post your opinion but your response was oddly personal and borderline against forum policy because you made it about me personally not the ideas we're discussing on the thread.

I simply accept reality. It's not news that Cocks was behind the decision and even if we have absolute 100% confirmation it doesn't make any difference. Even if he had been fired there's no reason to believe any other CEO would have made better decisions, they may well have made worse.

I disagree with the idea that a CEO should fired for a single poor decision. It's overkill. I don't expect people to fall on their sword because they made a mistake, especially one that was quickly (for a bureaucracy) reversed.

To be clear, I'm not saying the OGL issue was a tempest in a teapot. It was a serious issue and obviously an unforced error. But it was an issue for a month or two before being abandoned a year and a half ago. Meanwhile I look what they have done since, put the SRD in CC and that they are going to do the same with older editions once the 2024 books are done. They're opening up DDB to 3PP, something I never expected.

HASBRO, and Cocks, are not the devil incarnate. Compared to the evil other corporations do on a regular basis, they barely register.

 

[TiQuinn]

I'm not defending HASBRO. I never told you that you can't post your opinion but your response was oddly personal and borderline against forum policy because you made it about me personally not the ideas we're discussing on the thread.

That's because in expressing your opinion, you are accusing others of mob mentality while putting forth an argument that is, in itself, not internally consistent.

 

[Oofta]

That's because in expressing your opinion, you are accusing others of mob mentality while putting forth an argument that is, in itself, not internally consistent.

I never said anything about mob mentality, you're reading in something that's not there If you feel that I'm not being consistent feel free to explain.

But again you seem to be making this personal. Stop.

 

[TiQuinn]

At the end of the day... I suspect everyone at WotC / Hasbro is going to find that they're going to end up making more money via opening up D&D Beyond to 3rd party publishers to sell their wares than they would have changing up the OGL. And it's not lost on me that we have now seen many 3PPs voluntarily get into bed with WotC and DDB despite WotC having tried to cut their legs out from under them a year previous.

You might say it's evidence of that old chestnut "Money talks and bullcrap walks."

The disparity in revenue between 3PP and WotC is obviously massive, so I don’t blame 3PP from wanting to be part of DDB. If someone told you, you could increase your revenue 100x (I have no idea what the actual revenue diff is) for awhile but have the risk of getting knifed in the back later, most are going to take the money.

 

[Scribe]

So I hear Amazon has a sale on pitchforks, I can order some if you bring the torches. Or do you favor an old fashioned tar and feathering?

I never said anything about mob mentality, you're reading in something that's not there If you feel that I'm not being consistent feel free to explain.

 

[Parmandur]

The disparity in revenue between 3PP and WotC is obviously massive, so I don’t blame 3PP from wanting to be part of DDB. If someone told you, you could increase your revenue 100x (I have no idea what the actual revenue diff is) for awhile but have the risk of getting knifed in the back later, most are going to take the money.

It is pretty clear now that bringing third parties into the Beyond marketplace was always part of this plan, and thankfully that hasn't changed.