Hussar said:
Why isn't it still open? The GSL is every bit as open as the old STL. Yes, it is not as open as the OGL, true, but, that doesn't make it closed. It's still an open license. I think that you'll find that the decision was made after a number of companies abandoned D&D to use the OGL to make their own self sufficient companies that now directly compete, rather than complement, WOTC.
99% of the material out there could be published under the STL. It was only after the debacle with the Book of Erotic Fantasy that the OGL became THE thing to publish under. But, the difference between the two licenses is very minor and wouldn't affect most publishers. Where the difference comes in is with publishers like, for example, Mongoose, who are using the OGL in combination with licensed products to publish games that have nothing to do with D&D. Yes, I know about the ideas of network externalities, but, I'm thinking that maybe, allowing companies to piggyback on the thousands of dollars of development you pour into your system without supporting your system isn't good business sense.
It is a bit a "Genie out of the bottle" scenario. In the beginning, people latched onto the STL because they wanted to make money with D&D. Because everybody knew that it was a large franchise and the crumbs left by WotC could sustain smaller companies. And WotC put out the STL and the OGL to make even more people interested in D&D, since it could be used to so much more that WotC could do alone. But everyone would start with D&D, and then expand.
Now, the situation has changed. People are putting out core books for their own games, that use the D20 system as a basis, but don'T require any WotC products anymore.
People in the D&D market - both customers and publishers - understood that having a solid base system (and despite all the flaws I and other 4E fanbois like to point out, it is a solid base system) can allow you to create other games that can make money and are worth to be bought.
If the 4E GSL would work the same as the OGL, people would still remember this fact. Many might use this as an opportunity to look at the core rules and immediately create their own game. (Maybe a Iron Heroes 2.0 or a Spycraft 3.0 on the 4E "engine"). The customers would by the product, because they learned "it uses a game system that is good and solid, but it can give me the special things I like".
So, the GSL will start more restrictive. It will require a PHB. YOu might create a "Spycraft" Supplement that adds some new classes and a new equipment/gadget subsystem, but what you produce won'T stand on its own. People will need the PHB to play the game effectively. (And if you have the PHB, why not also look into the DMG and MM? And by the way, there are these cool beginner adventures... Off course, there is a "cut-off" point where the likelyhood of buying anything for D&D becomes very low, if all you really want is a modern espionage game.)
Later, maybe with D20 Modern 2.0, there is room again for a more open license. At that point, there are enough 4E related and requiring products on the market that a new gamer will find 4E a compelling idea. And if someone that was there from the start couldn't be persuaded by the phletora of 4E supplements to buy more into WotC 4E, he is lost anyway, and he can freely get into a different game system. (But at least he stays in the d20 market, which means he might still keep an eye out for the off-chance that some WotC / D&D product is to his tastes again.)
(teasing)
