D&D Beyond Cancellations Changed WotCs Plans

Gizmodo has revealed that the partial OGL v1.1 walkback yesterday was in response to the fan campaign to cancel D&D Beyond subscriptions, with "five digits" worth of cancellations. However, the site also reveals that management at the company believed that fans were overreating and that it would all be forgotten in a few months.

In order to delete a D&D Beyond account entirely, users are funneled into a support system that asks them to submit tickets to be handled by customer service: Sources from inside Wizards of the Coast confirm that earlier this week there were “five digits” worth of complaining tickets in the system. Both moderation and internal management of the issues have been “a mess,” they said, partially due to the fact that WotC has recently downsized the D&D Beyond support team.

Yesterday's walkback removed the royalties from the license, but still 'de-authorized' the OGL v1.0a, something which may or may not be legally possible, depending on who you ask.

Cancelled D&D Beyond Subscriptions Forced Hasbro's Hand

Swift consumer action prompted Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast to to scrap licensing updates. The players aren't done yet.

gizmodo.com

 

[I'm A Banana]

WOTC exploiting its distinctive settings for D&D in movies and TV shows has nothing to do with the OGL because the IP of their settings are is not shared with anybody. The D&D brand is not shared with anybody.

I am confident that WotC disagrees. Normie public perceptions of a brand do not care about what license something is released under. Normies were up in arms about rainbow fentanyl over Halloween. Normies thought D&D was a way to worship Satan. Normies don't care about reality, they care about what their prime time news networks talk about (which is part of why the media attention on the OGL is such a significant part of this).

And, yes, that also means it's not bulletproof. Adding a morality clause to the OGL won't stop every bad actor, someone can still do Naughty Things that would damage the D&D brand. But, it will stop some, and it will assert more control of the brand for WotC, and so I can see why it's appealing enough to to them to keep doing it. Not doing anything would be worse than doing something marginal from their perspective.

They see less risk (more money) in changing the OGL like this than they see in leaving the OGL alone. The OGL is going to be changed to include some "don't be naughty" language. That's clearly something they're not wavering on.

 

[rcade]

Adding a morality clause to the OGL won't stop every bad actor, someone can still do Naughty Things that would damage the D&D brand. But, it will stop some, and it will assert more control of the brand for WotC, and so I can see why it's appealing enough to to them to keep doing it.

The OGL does not permit anyone to use the D&D brand or any other brand owned by Hasbro/WOTC. All of your hypothetical normie freakouts could happen because of anything published in any role-playing game. Singling out the OGL as something that could be modified to alleviate these concerns is bogus.

P.s. It isn't the 1980s. Pat Pulling has been dead for 26 years and was already discredited in the major media when she was alive. There isn't going to be another Satanic panic to make our moms concerned about whether we should be playing D&D.

 

[billd91]

P.s. It isn't the 1980s. Pat Pulling has been dead for 26 years and was already discredited in the major media when she was alive. There isn't going to be another Satanic panic to make our moms concerned about whether we should be playing D&D.

You're right, it's less likely to be grieving mothers looking for scapegoats to avoid confronting their kids' mental illness. D&D is, however, hardly less vulnerable to cynical manipulators, whether individuals or organizations, who would want to raise their own notoriety or fame by accusing players or club organizers of being "groomers" or some other accusation that they think will work with the rubes.

 

[Lichbeard]

Shrug, it will be in court soon enough. That is the only place where someone's opinion matters. Lets see what the judge says. I have heard experts speak on the matter and it seems plenty easy to decide either way. Lets get it done. Either way a lot of people are done with WOTC. Is it enough to matter? Who knows. The only people who do are not talking.

 

[raniE]

I think the real question at this point is, would the terms I laid out in previous threads be enough to overcome the "sour taste" in developers' mouths, as quoted in the article?

For brevity:
1. Explicitly (in writing) disclaim any right to "de-authorize" the OGL, and explicitly say the OGL is irrevocable.
2. Include actual open-license structures in any new license(s) produced (perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, share-alike, etc.)
3. Explicit, direct, & specific apology from the important people in the company.

Would that be enough to bring even some of the 3PP people back? Because if not, there is room to argue that WotC could view it as "one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb." The whole issue where, when all crimes merit death, escalation carries no extra punishment but might let you succeed.

I think I've made my strident opposition to WotC's position clear. I consider the above to be the absolute bare minimum necessary to resolve this problem. But I am at least somewhat sympathetic to the idea that...well, "forgiveness" or "rebuilding trust" or whatever one wishes to call it, must be possible in order for people to actually try to obtain it. If forgiveness(/etc.) is impossible and trust, once broken, can never be regained, may as well start fighting as dirty as you can, y'know? And I don't think that's something we want to encourage the holder of the D&D IP to do.

I’m not a 3PP, but to get me as a customer back, this is what Hasbro would have to do
1: sign on to the Paizo-led ORC with the 3.5 and 5e SRDs. Preferably also update the OGL with a 1.0b version that explicitly states no version of the license can be revoked or de-authorized ever, then release this license to the ownership of an open IP non-profit.

2: Fire Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks and WorC president Cynthia Williams.

3: As has been advocated for by many Hasbro investors in order to increase the value and profits of Wizards, spin WotC off as an entirely separate company from Hasbro, with no ties between them.

If those 3 are met, then yeah, I can come back as a customer.

 

[Dire Bare]

P.s. It isn't the 1980s. Pat Pulling has been dead for 26 years and was already discredited in the major media when she was alive. There isn't going to be another Satanic panic to make our moms concerned about whether we should be playing D&D.

As a teacher dealing with manufactured controversies over CRT and teachers "grooming" and "indoctrinating" students . . . . . I'm not so sure a return of the Satanic Panic or something like it is off the table in American society.

 

[MGibster]

P.s. It isn't the 1980s. Pat Pulling has been dead for 26 years and was already discredited in the major media when she was alive. There isn't going to be another Satanic panic to make our moms concerned about whether we should be playing D&D.

We tend to place an emphasis on the Satanic part of that panic, which means we focus on the salacious supernatural savagery while scorning the full scope of the scare in our stampede to shame and spoof those simpletons who created the sham in the first place. It went deeper than Satan, there was a great fear that children were being abused, one of Pulling's arguments agaings RPGs in particular was that role playing was a therapeutic tool designed to change behavior, and impressionable young minds shouldn't being toying around with something that might very well warp them.

It's very easy for us look back, scoff, and tell ourselves something like that couldn't happen again. Look up Pizzagate from 2016 and tell me it doesn't closely resemble the McMartin case from 1983. We have organizations and politicians who are arguing that there is a conspiracy of transgender people out to groom our children. I don't mean to bring politics into the discussion, only insomuch as to say that another moral panic might very well hit RPGs. I kind of doubt it, but I'm not confident enough to say it's outside the realm of possibility.

 

[jerryrice4949]

I’m not a 3PP, but to get me as a customer back, this is what Hasbro would have to do
1: sign on to the Paizo-led ORC with the 3.5 and 5e SRDs. Preferably also update the OGL with a 1.0b version that explicitly states no version of the license can be revoked or de-authorized ever, then release this license to the ownership of an open IP non-profit.

2: Fire Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks and WorC president Cynthia Williams.

3: As has been advocated for by many Hasbro investors in order to increase the value and profits of Wizards, spin WotC off as an entirely separate company from Hasbro, with no ties between them.

If those 3 are met, then yeah, I can come back as a customer.

Well none of those things are going to happen so best to move on.

 

[mamba]

I mean, yeah. But feelings don't care about your facts, and Brand Management is all about the feelings. Just because there's absolutely zero truth to the idea that D&D is a manual for worshiping Satan doesn't mean that the D&D brand wasn't significantly defined by that idea for like a decade. The facts will not save anyone. Modern brand managers worry about that kind of stuff, and more control over the brand is always going to be something they want.

I am not sure I follow. If the facts say no one can use D&D PI, then no one can. So what is WotC worried about, that other fantasy movies exist ?

 

[raniE]

Well none of those things are going to happen so best to move on.

That’s up to us, really. If every customer WotC has made that their condition to continue being customers, what choice would Hasbro have? Being defeatist just ensures you’ll be defeated.