Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7700851" data-attributes="member: 3285">In the previous installment we talked about the <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3453-D-D-Fandom-Part-I-The-Dark-Ages" target="_blank">rise of D&D fandom</a> and how it helped shape the game...only for TSR to see fans at best as misguided (Gygax implied they weren't "serious" or "intelligent" if they mixed and matched other fantasy games) and at worst a threat worthy of litigation. As Internet use became <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3475-D-D-Fandom-Part-II-The-Silver-Age" target="_blank">widespread among gamers</a>, the company's grip was slipping fast. Wizards of the Coast inherited TSR's bumpy legacy of fans thought it had a solution...a solution that would bring a whole new host of challenges.[ATTACH=full]272854[/ATTACH] <a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/gamers-round-gambling-dice-beetle-1953419/" target="_blank">Picture courtesy of Pixabay.</a><h3>A Little Wizardry</h3>Ryan Dancey's push for the Open Game License (OGL) at Wizards of the Coast is well-documented (see my previous article, "<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2891-Is-the-OSR-Dead#.V1wCy76aAtg" target="_blank">Is the OSR Dead?</a>"), but the widespread use of the Internet by fans was likely influential in its launch. Internet publishing, ranging from full design and layout to simply uploading a file, made it easy for anyone to publish anything -- and fans' love of D&D meant that they were sharing their unlicensed works there too.Sean Reynolds is quoted by George Vassilakos in "<a href="http://www.fantasylibrary.com/period/guild/g07.pdf" target="_blank">Spinning in Circles: A History & Analysis of TSR’s Copyright Policies</a>" about the rationale behind the OGL:The effort wasn't entirely selfless of course, as Dancey would later explain:The tension between lawyers and fandom was finally addressed thanks to the OGL, which treated the game like open source software. Now, D&D belonged to all of us, and we could publish whatever we wanted with it. Or could we?<h3>The OGL Hangover</h3>For a time, the OGL was a huge success. Shannon Appelcline explains in <a href="http://amzn.to/1UcA3sS" target="_blank">Designers & Dragons - The 90s</a>:Then things started to go south.  Distributors began to see the license as hindrance and started making the tough choices on shelf space. The other problem was that despite the OGL being relatively open, it did have some boundaries, and someone inevitably tested those boundaries in the form of The Book of Erotic Fantasy. Appelcline explains when the first cracks began to appear in the market:Future versions of the OGL, in the form of the GSL, restricted access to the game so severely that many publishers gave up on it entirely.  The original OGL still existed of course, and the fans kept their support even when WOTC did not, creating an interesting conundrum where an earlier version of D&D (3.5) was a serious competitor to itself (4.0).  One positive outcome of this schism was the birth of the Old School Renaissance, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2891-Is-the-OSR-Dead#.V1wCy76aAtg" target="_blank">which continues to thrive today</a>.The iterative improvement of D&D didn't happen right away as the market was glutted with content. Eventually, the improvement Dancey envisioned took shape in Pathfinder. Pathfinder's ascent built on the massive fanbase that WOTC helped create with the OGL...and then left behind when they shifted gears. Paizo would not forget this lesson.<h3>Testing the Play</h3>Ryan Dancey, then D&D Brand Manager at WOTC, sorted through the aftermath of the acquisition of TSR and <a href="http://insaneangel.com/insaneangel/RPG/Dancey.html" target="_blank">came to a simple conclusion</a>:TSR, in other words, expected  fans and customers to follow its lead.  There's good reason for this: the impetus against TSR's brand of gaming was strong from the wargaming community when D&D first debuted; in the early days its advertising was practically apologetic for introducing fantasy to medieval wargaming. Peterson explains in Playing at the World:If TSR had followed the wargaming trends at the time, the game would likely not have existed. Despite Dancey's insight, it wasn't WOTC that truly took the next step in fan collaboration but another company entirely. When Pathfinder was launched, <a href="http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Pathfinder_RPG_playtest" target="_blank">Paizo Publishing took TSR's lessons to heart</a> by incorporating fans into the development process:By all accounts Paizo's playtest was a success. It helped drum up interest in the game, it engaged fans and gave them a voice, and most importantly it gave Paizo data to make the game better. WOTC didn't follow suit until much later <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2013/05/24/after-a-year-playtesting-a-new-dungeons-dragons-whats-next/#67d1e3ed4982" target="_blank">with the Fifth Edition of D&D</a>:Playtesting of this nature required loosening the legal reins of the game itself.  The caretakers of D&D were finally engaging fans early in the development process to help shape the future of the game.  It was the beginning of a new and sometimes contentious relationship between fans and companies.[h=3]We're All Equal on the Internet[/h]The GSL was eventually replaced by the most recent version of the OGL, which attempts to strike the balance between small press publishers and WOTC's defense of its brand. More important, it explicitly recognizes that Internet publishing was a legitimate channel with the DM's Guild.The DM's Guild is a compromise of sorts between the OGL and the digital world. It has some restrictions but entices prospective publishers with the opportunity to use officially licensed worlds. It avoids a physical glut by limiting fan works to the Internet. And it shares income from the sale of the products -- although even this is contentious on the Internet, where there are many other ways of funding and publishing (like Patreon and Kickstarter). For more info see my previous article, "<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?480792-Can-Wizards-Avoid-Another-OGL-Glut" target="_blank">Can Wizards Avoid Another OGL Glut?</a>"The OGL will exist in perpetuity, as the OSR demonstrates.  It's a tradition that continues from the early days of TSR, back when publications like Alarums & Excursions provided a fertile ground for discussing and critiquing game innovations. Now the entire Internet is a fan playground with blogs, social media, and sites like ENWorld filling the gap.The fans are officially the caretakers of D&D.  Companies can profit from it, but they no longer completely control it. Recent fan-led efforts to change the course of some franchises has caused some critics to question if fans can be trusted with this stewardship.<h3>A Chamber of Screams?</h3>Devin Faraci explains how the Internet has changed fandom and not necessarily for the better. Creators worked in a vacuum and now, thanks to the Internet, <a href="http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/05/30/fandom-is-broken" target="_blank">they have access to more data than they can handle</a> or may even want:Jesse Hassenger at A.V. Club<a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/ghostbusters-frozen-and-strange-entitlement-fan-cu-237139" target="_blank"> explains how fandom and creators engage in a self-perpetuating cycle</a>:Dr. Richard Forest explains in the introduction to <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product/175392/The-Complete-The-Oracle&affiliate_id=34014" target="_blank">The Oracle</a> compilation that D&D has always been this way, more so than other forms of fandom in which the end product (television, movies, comics) are less malleable:The difference is that D&D on the Web has massively expanded this creative process to such an extent that the line between creator of the game and player of the game is blurred. Faraci sees a dark side to it all:Things are different for D&D fans, as Dr. Forest explains:The key, it seems, is to channel that feedback constructively.  The difference with D&D fandom is that we can create anything we don't have. We have the tools.  We have the platform.  We have the players. The question is if we can find enough commonality so we can play together.</blockquote>

Verification