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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5904021" data-attributes="member: 2067">I certainly believe that they are capable of hitting a "middle ground" that doesn't include an OGL.However, I am not sure what they have to gain from that.D&D enmeshes itself in public domain works from the word "Siren." D&D is based on game mechanics which themselves are thankfully open. D&D doesn't have much of anything "unique" to sell in the content of its books. It's all mechanics and advice and nothing in there is something that is going to be your next Transformers. By NOT going OGL, they gain a pile of ill will and enmity, and a system that receives anemic outside support to boot. They might be willing to put up with that in exchange for...What, exactly? They might decide not to do it anyway, since corporate entities are usually control freaks with a suspicion of innovation, but at that point it's not really a decision based on what is the best for D&D, but on impossible hypothetical and lawyer paranoia. Meanwhile, if they do the OGL, they gain a much larger pile of good will, and a system that receives a tremendous amount of outside support. They stand a real chance of getting Pathfinder and OSR players to pick up a 5e PHB or DMG, or even a brand new 1e adventure they're publishing simply for a lark or something. On a reasonable cost/benefit analysis, it seems like the benefits of doing it certainly outweigh the costs of doing it, and the benefits of not doing it are vague at best, while the costs of not doing it are very real and have been born out over the last three years. It seems to be rather smart business. If it wasn't, I don't think rather large, multi-million dollar companies like CryTek or Epic or Valve would give away their dev kits for free to encourage people to make games with them. Giving stuff away is the best way in this day and age to earn BUCKETS of money. Facebook is free. Google is free. A lot of iPhone games and apps are free. DDO is free. I see no reason that D&D can't be free.WotC still can sell books (very nice books that many will pay to own), and can still sell software (updated earlier and better than the competitors!), and can still own the D&D trademark and brand (arguably the most powerful brand in fantasy gaming!), and can still play in the Forgotten Realms and Eberron and Dark Sun and the Nentir Vale wherever else their marketing team decides might be lucrative, and can still make card games and minis games and board games with their IP, too. And they should.If you want to cast a big net, and if you want to show that you understand your market, and you want to not have to publish something new on a monthly basis, you can go OGL, and save yourself a lot of headache.</blockquote>

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