Important! Interview opportunity - what do you want to know about the GSL?

[Flynn]

Wasn't Mike_Lescault's response good enough for you? He basically said 2 or more weeks. With that time frame, how much more accurate could he be? A better question would be to reiterate DaveMge's request about how many hands the questions will go through before release. Mike might be able to give us a ballpark figure on that.

It probably would have been, had I actually read it. Sadly, I'm operating on under two hours of sleep and the effects of a few cough suppressants, so I just missed it entirely. Thanks for pointing that out for me, kind sir. It would appear by your choice of words that you found my statement/question, uninformed as it was, to be somewhat irritating, and for that, I do most sincerely apologize.

And now, having been properly chastised and redirected in my efforts, I shall endeavor to disturb you no more. Instead, I will bid you all adieu, and depart from such esteemed company for a time, perchance to dream of matters that are best not described in polite company.

(Man, I usually don't get this verbose save when I'm drinking. What did they put in these "antibiotics" and "cough suppressants", anyway?)

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Goobermunch]

Tell me, if that is the case, what is the advantage in them "sandbagging it"?



Great we lost another one!

The advantage is that until WotC owns up, it will have fans, like myself who will argue that it's a good company and that we don't have enough reliable information to reach the conclusion that OGL publishers are being screwed out of the opportunity to participate in 4e because of their non-d20 lines.

You know, I've spent a lot of time since the announcement that the GSL may have a poison pill clause publicly standing up for Scott and Linnae and WotC, both here and in other communities, and arguing that we don't have enough information to reach the kind of paranoid conclusions some people have been jumping to. We've been told that our concerns are important to WotC, and that we'd have more information "soon." Soon has slipped from Monday to Thursday or Friday, to maybe more than two weeks. That suggests that our concerns are not so important.

WotC benefits from delay because without solid information, people can't make informed decisions. If I want to vote with my dollars, I will need to do so soon. But at the same time, I prefer not to vote without information. If they can delay until after my preorder ships, that deprives me of the opportunity to vote with my dollars. Now, I can go ahead and cancel, but then, if there's been a miscommunication, I'll feel bad for jumping to conclusions. So I continue to think long and hard about what the right thing to do is.

That said, being mocked for confessing that I'm not as confident that WotC will do the right thing as I was a week ago, that just pisses me off. If I screw up, I'll cop to it. But that doesn't give you the right to cop an attitude about it.

--G

 

[JohnRTroy]

I honestly suspect now that WoTC will decide they will release the information on June 6th and no earlier. A comprehensive FAQ will be made available and placed on their web site where they put the terms of the GSL.

I predict this in part because (a) the company keeps making changes until the very last minute and (b) the best way to bury "bad news" is to release it when people are distracted--which is why some government laws or policies are released on Friday evenings.

If WoTC suspects negative PR, what better day to release the GSL when 95% of the fans are happy that 4e is finally released, and most press and media coverage won't give the GSL a second thought.

 

[JVisgaitis]

The advantage is that until WotC owns up, it will have fans, like myself who will argue that it's a good company and that we don't have enough reliable information to reach the conclusion that OGL publishers are being screwed out of the opportunity to participate in 4e because of their non-d20 lines.

I don't agree. The backlash that would happen if they made us sit on it and finally dropped a bomb like that would be far worse. You think people actually are sticking up for them? It seems like everyone just complains that they have no faith in WotC and they're evil.

I'm a publisher and I have almost 1,000 copies of Denizens of Avadnu sitting in my friends garage. I don't feel like I'm being screwed. There were a lot of plans we had for True20, but business is business. Of course they don't want people to continue to play 3.5. Why is that so surprising? I feel really bad for Green Ronin and Paizo, but nothing is set in stone and we'll see what happens.

We've been told that our concerns are important to WotC, and that we'd have more information "soon." Soon has slipped from Monday to Thursday or Friday, to maybe more than two weeks. That suggests that our concerns are not so important.

In your opinion. To me, it suggests exactly the opposite. They want to make sure that what they decide on is going to be something that weighs the community response. What would you rather?

Option 1: Announcement made right away: "All products need to be destroyed and no publisher can continue to support OGL Systems. Its all GSL or nothing."

Option 2: Several weeks later: "After listenting to the concerns of the community for the past couple weeks, this is what we came up with ________________."

I'll take option 2 every time. You're just over reacting and buying into all of the "Wizards is The Man" crap.

If I want to vote with my dollars, I will need to do so soon.

You have to June 6th and they are only asking you to wait for 2 weeks. I don't understand the whole sense of urgency thing....

So I continue to think long and hard about what the right thing to do is.

Be patient. The preorder won't ship until long after you have a firm idea of what is going on with the GSL.

That said, being mocked for confessing that I'm not as confident that WotC will do the right thing as I was a week ago, that just pisses me off. If I screw up, I'll cop to it. But that doesn't give you the right to cop an attitude about it.

Come on! I'm in a good mood and excited for obvious reasons. I didn't mean anything personal by that and I wasn't trying to cop an attitude. Sorry if I offended you.

 

[Oldtimer]

I honestly suspect now that WoTC will decide they will release the information on June 6th and no earlier. A comprehensive FAQ will be made available and placed on their web site where they put the terms of the GSL.

I predict this in part because (a) the company keeps making changes until the very last minute and (b) the best way to bury "bad news" is to release it when people are distracted--which is why some government laws or policies are released on Friday evenings.

If WoTC suspects negative PR, what better day to release the GSL when 95% of the fans are happy that 4e is finally released, and most press and media coverage won't give the GSL a second thought.

You don't often see me and John agreeing much in this forum, but to this I must say: QFT!

I think this is exactly what is happening.

 

[Goobermunch]

I don't agree. The backlash that would happen if they made us sit on it and finally dropped a bomb like that would be far worse. You think people actually are sticking up for them? It seems like everyone just complains that they have no faith in WotC and their evil.

You obviously haven't seen my posts in the GSL thread.

In your opinion. To me, it suggests exactly the opposite. They want to make sure that what they decide on is going to be something that weighs the community response. What would you rather?

Option 1: Announcement made right away: "All products need to be destroyed and no publisher can continue to support OGL Systems. Its all GSL or nothing."

Option 2: Several weeks later: "After listenting to the concerns of the community for the past couple weeks, this is what we came up with ________________."

Option 3: Wow, you know we had this idea (Option 1), but after listening to the community, we're reviewing it to see if we can find a revision that will make everyone happy. We don't know whether we can, but we're devoting serious effort to it.

I'll take option 2 every time. You're just over reacting and buying into all of the "Wizards is The Man" crap.

You obviously haven't seen my posts in the GSL announcement thread. I invite you to take a look.

You have to June 6th and they are only asking you to wait for 2 weeks. I don't understand the whole sense of urgency thing....

Today, they're only asking me to wait 2 weeks. Two days ago, it was until today. A week ago, it was until last Monday. See the trend line?

Be patient. The preorder won't ship until long after you have a firm idea of what is going on with the GSL.

Assuming no further delays.

Come on! I'm in a good mood and excited for obvious reasons. I didn't mean anything personal by that and I wasn't trying to cop an attitude. Sorry if I offended you.

And I'm in a demoralized and crappy mood for less obvious reasons. Which means I'm probably overreacting and being unnecessarily touchy. Apology accepted and extended in return.

--G

 

[jaldaen]

HalWhitewyrm (a.k.a. Daniel M. Perez from Highmoon Media Productions) just posted this in the GSL News thread in the 4e Forum:

Just got back from GTS this morning. I sent this info to some friends who were asking about the GSL and related stuff, and I think it would apply to post it here as well.

I attended a seminar on Thursday morning with Aldo Ghiozzi and Joe Goodman where they, with permission, talked about some of the things they had learned from WotC in regards to the GSL and its interaction with the OGL. In short, from Joe Goodman, WotC is not interested in destroying the non-3.5 OGL games in the market; they want M&M, True20, C&C, etc. to continue, and they especially do not want to hamper other systems released under the OGL that are completely unrelated to D&D/d20 (Fudge, Action!, SotC, etc.). What they DO want from the GSL is a clear distinction of support for the new edition over the older one, which is just sound business sense, regardless of how one may feel about it. The GSL has not been released yet, few have seen the language of the license at the moment, and the rumors are based on things said in unofficial channels (I have my personal speculations about what may have happened since the Rouse posted his comments here last week, but I'll keep those to myself for now). There is still work to be done in that license in order to properly define what constitutes a product that is supported by the GSL, what constitutes a product not supported (and possibly rejected) by the GSL, the interaction of the GSL and the OGL, and what constitutes a product not affected at all by the GSL even though it may use the OGL. This seminar was recorded by Pulp Gamer and will be available in the near future. I also recorded some thoughts right after the seminar which I'll be releasing to my podcast soon.

In short, not everything is as it seems to be, and I expect more news in regards to the actual language of the GSL to come quite soon.

Frankly, to me the really cool part of the GSL announcement from last week is the one that seems to be the least talked about so far, the fact that they will be releasing a separate license for the creation of non-fantasy 4e-based games, starting with a (possible) new edition of d20 Modern from WotC.

The GSL looks a least a bit more promising then it did yesterday... but only time and the license will tell.

 

[Goobermunch]

HalWhitewyrm (a.k.a. Daniel M. Perez from Highmoon Media Productions) just posted this in the GSL News thread in the 4e Forum:



The GSL looks a least a bit more promising then it did yesterday... but only time and the license will tell.

But it sounds like Option 3 may be the truth. The language about having work that needs doing with regard to the GSL and OGL suggests to me that our concerns have been heard and may be being addressed.

Hope . . . rising. Urge to despair . . . falling.

WotC's bought another two weeks of patience.

--G

 

[JVisgaitis]

If I screw up, I'll cop to it.

I'm waiting...

 

[Goobermunch]

I'm waiting...

Hain't screwed up yet. I didn't cancel my pre-order.

And my faith isn't entirely restored, but I'm giving them the two more weeks.

Oh, alright, I jumped to conclusions too.

There, are you happy now.

ARE YOU? Huh? Huh?



--G