No, I'd say you've idealized quite a bit with regards to WotC and how people will evaluate their VTT against other such products. Among other things.
I know how impossible it is to moderate large-scale content like copyright strikes against animated TV shows.
In this case, I think you're drawing a very flawed parallel between whatever it is you're talking about and how WotC will curate the walled garden they're setting up.
Trying to moderate the intent of text? It is literally impossible.
And irrelevant. I'm not sure why you think WotC would care about the intent of what their users do. Far more likely they'll simply decide if they approve or not, and judge based on that.
They would have to prevent you from writing about the abilities you have on your legal character, just to prevent someone making a legal one.
Again, this isn't a question of "prevention." It's a question of them being able to unilaterally decide they don't like something, and being able to take whatever action they feel appropriate in response.
It would be a trash fire of such obvious magnitude that no one wanting a successful product would ever attempt it.
Leaving aside the obvious comment with regard to how that would fit with WotC's actions these last few years, capriciousness in moderation of a space they control is fairly ubiquitous in online spaces these days, so I see no reason why WotC would be singled out for it to the extent that you're suggesting. (And remember, the OGL debacle was because WotC was trying to assert authority over a space that they
didn't already control.)
It doesn't matter how much some suited president screams about revenue loss, the IT and software departments will tell them "This is not possible"
Except, of course, that curating content that someone else had written and which WotC can review after the fact is entirely possible. I'm not sure why you think they won't be able to look at someone's account, see what's there, and take action as they see fit.
Because they can't TRACK it.
"Track it"? Are you under the impression that this custom content will be utilized once, apparently during play, and then removed from the system? Because that seems like a rather odd idea, as opposed to writing something and uploading/posting it to their account, at which point WotC can view it at their leisure.
To prevent someone from writing the Gloomstalker Ranger's ability into something else, they would need to not only track the word "psychic" but also "d8" and the context of every usage of those words or phrases.
Or, you know, they could just look at what you've written in your account. Yeah, you might be able to get away with it under the principle of "needle in a haystack," but that's just you hoping to be overlooked, rather than some sort of technical limitation.
They would have to redact their OWN CLASSES to prevent it.
No, they really wouldn't. They'd be able to see if you purchased the content with said class on DDB and were using it that way or not.
And then ALSO prevent anyone from typing into a chat box those words.
So you're of the opinion that custom content on the VTT will be utilized via chat boxes? Really?
So they will make custom spells and there is no issue.
Except of course for the issues that I outlined previously, regarding additional effort for reduced payoff and the disincentivation that creates.
Because "less incentivized" is a mealy-mouthed nonsense stance.
No, it's really not. It's the heart of my concern regarding the unintended consequences of what WotC is doing, and is a far cry from your misinterpretation of my point as "using any VTT reduces creativity."
It seems to both mean that this will be so pervasive that the very foundational rules of creative play for every single person who plays in person with a core rulebook will be effected (eventually) and also so completely innocuous that it will not stop people from doing anything.
I'll point out here that when someone uses a phrase like "seems to mean," it suggests that they're utilizing their own interpretation of what someone else said rather than what they
actually said, inhibiting clarity of communication rather than abetting it. I'd recommend not doing that.
That said, the concern I'm proposing is simply a specific application of the medium being the message, at least in part. It doesn't necessarily need to happen for "every single person," or to the same extent, or over the same period of time. I'm just noting that the potential is there and should be recognized, if for no other reason than simple awareness of it helps to ameliorate the effect (and the discussion is quite intriguing to have).
So, they won't be stopped, they still can, but they won't, and so all the unlimited creative play of DnD will be strip mined from the game to serve the VTT as a soulless cash-grab.
Again, you're speaking in absolutist terms ("all," for instance) that don't match the tenor in which I've presented this, for reasons that I'm still not clear on.
So, despite all the actual plays of people actually playing DnD and not being less incentivized to take any actions... none of it counts because it is only WoTC's VTT that will have this effect on the gaming community.
That's one of the reasons (the other being that your caricature of my point was that all expressions of personal creativity would be affected). WotC isn't those other VTT companies, and they aren't WotC. Their goals, resources,
Q Score, and relationship to the game (i.e. they own it and so can modify it to their satisfaction), among many other things, are all different.
Thank you, I accept your apology.
it is only WoTC's VTT that has the potential to maybe have this effect on the community where they might be less incentivized to take any possible creative action,
In terms of what we're discussing, yes, I believe that this is far more salient with regards to WotC's VTT for the reasons outlined above. Though again, you've unnecessarily universalized "any possible creative action" (e.g. your mention of songwriting and drawing comics) as opposed to "imaginative play."
which is the fundamental core of TTRPG play that it is sold on,
Hence my concern that said fundamental core will be minimized in favor of the monetization efforts which WotC's VTT is in service of.
and this gradual lessening of incentive will eventually erode the game
I'm not sure what you mean by eroding the game itself, as opposed to imaginative play.
until the core rulebooks are written to remove the idea that any action is possible,
More correctly, that they're written to work in conjunction with the VTT as much as possible, which has technical limitations that incentivize what it does well and disincentivize the areas of creative play which it is ill-equipped to handle.
so that people will use the VTT which will have animations and colors.
And sound effects and all sorts of other audiovisual attention-grabbers.
