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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5828927" data-attributes="member: 22779">Hang on a tick here.  I'm not saying that I'm right.  I've repeatedly stated that here and other places that I'm raising issues, not preaching gospel.  You call 3.5 the "second golden age".  Ok.  Let's try this:How much money did WOTC make in 2002?  2005?  2010?  Were profits up or down in those years?  That's a pretty apples to apples comparison, as all three are two years after release.  But, no one in this thread has any idea of the answer.  Yet, we're supposed to believe that 2000 was a second golden age?  See, 4e could be the most profitable version of D&D to date and still be considered a failure and 5e would still be coming, simply because the targets were different.But, let's take a look at a few other points.I recall reading here that the TTRPG industry is worth about 30 million dollars per year ((although, to be fair that might be my faulty memory and my Google Fu is failing me- that number could be way off - could someone find the correct estimate?))  Now, with that caveat, compare that number to the current DDI.  65k members*7 bucks a month=5.5 million dollars per year.That means the DDI is now currently worth 18% of the TOTAL RPG hobby industry.  Now, from Hasbro's POV, that's still a failure, because the total RPG hobby industry is simply too small to generate the profits that they are looking for, but, good grief, how could that not be considered a MASSIVE success by any other metric.Would going OGL have helped those numbers?  I'm not convinced.  I think that going OGL would have hurt those numbers.  BryonD- you claim that I'm making this a black and white issue.  It's anything but AFAIC.  My problem is that OGL claims are not backed up by anything remotely resembling facts.  At best it's hearsay and circumstance.  Did the OGL drive 3e sales or were there other factors?  Did the OGL have anything to do with the length of editions?  Heck, at a very basic point, what is the total value of the OGL market?  Did the OGL succeed in driving WOTC sales?  On and on and on.  There are a million questions here that need to be answered before being able to definitively say that the OGL is good for the hobby.  Is it good for me personally?  Oh hell yeah.  I love the options.  I thought it was great.OTOH, BryonD, you talk about all the "split" in the fanbase.  How many OGL buyers stopped buying WOTC material?  I know I did.  I bought very, very little from WOTC, but, I bought a heck of a lot from OGL.  How many gamers are like me?  I'm simply not comfortable making bold claims as to the effectiveness of the OGL because of the huge gaps in our knowledge.  I mean, even going form 3.0 to 3.5, if flagging sales wasn't the reason, then why did we get a new edition?  For the good of gamers?  Gimme a break.  That kind of thinking gets you bankrupted pretty quickly.  Businesses are in the business to make money.  They're having fantastic sales in leading into 2002, so, they drive a massive spike into those sales by announcing a new edition?  Really?  Considering that 3.5 sold considerably less than 3.0 (and 4e for that matter), that would have been a really, really bad idea.</blockquote>

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