Mearls' Latest Thought on the Industry

[KaosDevice]

I'm going to do a bit of a strafing run then get out. I don't really see PDFs either destroying or being the future of the RPG industry. An adjunct at best. The biggest problem I see with PDF publications right now is quality. I've read some great stuff on PDF but man alive I've read some PDF's that seem like they were written by 5 year olds. It reminds me of the early days of D&D 3.0 when there was an ocean of bad product flooding the game store shelf. Hopefully the PDF world won't have the same painful maturation process.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Belen, if it's only a "tool for grognards", how is it screwing small publishers, or the industry in general? At worst, one could argue it has no effect, but if the industry is nothing but grognards to begin with, then it's in a lot worst trouble than anyone realizes. I see a good many signs that it's more than just 30-year olds, but that it's not growing to the phenomenon-like stages of 25 years ago.

What worries me is that Mike Mearls, whose opinions and works I've liked for a long time, is making statements that are becoming more yes-man-like as time goes on. This, the OGC wiki, it's almost like he's hinting, "anything NOT WotC is hurting RPG's."

Say it ain't so, Mike!

Emphasis added.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Unfortunately, I think I'm understanding perfectly.

First, the idea of an OGC clearinghouse, in itself, not itself an abhorrent idea, would indeed serve to seriously alter the way that many current 3rd-party publishers do their business. WotC, who wants to see OGC content fly to drive sales of their non-OGC product, wouldn't mind it either.

Another thought, PDF's harm the OGC movement. HOWEVER, many OGC companies sell PDF's; it's how they get their product available in some markets where distribution is lackluster. So far, both suggestions would benefit WotC far more than the RPG market as a whole, coincidentally or not.

However, at worst, all the PDF publishing will do is make the best surviving publishers stronger as competition falls out. There will ALWAYS be a presence of "knock-off products" in any venue, be it electronics, games, appliances, what have you. When the PDF venue matures, (certainly a ways off), the strongest will flourish, and there will always be a revolving blizzard of stand-ins who hope to cash in on the fringe of the market. One day it's "Red Tojanida Games" selling 10 dwarven sub-races; six months from now, it's "Screeching Harpy Games" selling their own magic system variant, and then they'll die out, too. But neither one will touch the sales of the stronger survivors, be they Green Ronin, Blue Devil, or Mongoose.

It's scary how much I agree with Henry right now!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think the analogies between open gaming and open source software are only superficial.

In case of Open Source software, everybody can go and look at the source - yo don't have to pay anything. You can now modify the code and reuse it for your own purposes (within the limits of the Open Source License used).
In case of Open Gaming content, you can access this informaton and reuse it only if you already bought the original PDF. (though you then can go and sell it as a 500 pages PDF for 50 $ together with the OGL, if you like to)

In case of Open Source Software, developers can still make money with it - they offer support for the users. There is little need for most of us to get support for OpenOffice, but a corporation that is migrating from MS Office to OpenOffice, thinks look very different, since there are thousands of documents that have to be imported correctly. And Open Office is still avery simple example.
A Open Source Developer can even get paid for his work by a corporation because he simply develops software that will integrate nicely in their workflow and accomdate to their business-specific needs.

But Open Gaming Material is different. There are no corporations that want to switch from Shadowrun 3.01D to OGL Simon the Sorceror. There are no gaming groups that need their old characters to port over between these systems - and if they would, they'd do it themselves, perfectly willing to accept any shortcomings.
The only support that is required for Open Gaming if there is need for errata. But who would pay for that alone?

But these differences can also "hurt" gaming - the only ones that can evolve a system are those that already paid for it - this limits the persons that contribute to it. It is certainly not as narrow like it was in the Software Industry before Open Source (Since only the corporation using the Software, but more likely those selling it could change anything at all), but it is also not as flexible as the Open Source ...

Though having people earning money with Open Gaming is certainly not bad for D20 - since this is the only guarantee that we have that people continue creating new material. As a hobby, it is difficult to constantly create good and innovative material ...

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

But when it comes to open source software, many people ARE willing to do exactly this. What makes RPGs different?

Are you one of them? What open source software have you written? There are generally two types of open source software writers. 1) brilliant programmers who don't care about making money and 2) those who are stickin' it to Microsoft. Which one are you?

 

[BryonD]

Whoa, I said "might". I have no idea and make no conclusions, especially for someone I don't really know that well. I personally think it's a cool idea, but I am seeing reasons why it won't happen.

Heh, fair enough.

I think I agree with this part then.
My position all along has consistently been that anyone capable of doing the WIKI right has better things to do.

 

[Kesh]

One point I think has been overlooked in this discussion:

People who publish their new (d20 compatible) gaming ideas are, by nature, forced to comply with the OGL. Posts on a web forum or personal homepage are not.

How, then, are others to use these forum 'innovations' in their own published works without running afoul of copyright issues and violations of the OGL?

 

[Belen]

Funny...had he said the same thing while working for Malhavoc or as a freelancer, then the tone would be much different. However, he got a job at WOTC and now he is a yes man that toes the corporate line.

I find these comments laughable.

The same things could be said of the PDF publishers on ENWorld. They do not dare agree with Mearls because it would affect their business. In fact, it is probably more true of the PDFers because any change in their market can spell doom.

I cannot say that I have not found some PDFs useful, especially to prep for gamedays where I run d20 Modern/Future. However, I do think that Mearls has a point.

The funny thing here is that WOTC allowed d20 to go OGL, thus creating the market everyone here loves. Yet, it is WOTC who is evil and wants to get rid of the market.

I am starting to agree with Merric!

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

I've wondered if it would be worth creating my own rules for the same concept.

And bingo, here's the problem with innovation, the closing of material that, were it open, would allow others to tinker with it and release it to see what happens. I understand that WotC can't release every single bit of material as OGC for whatever reason, but aside from putting out the OGL and the SRDs, UA and d20 Weapons Locker, their support of the very license they created has been dismal. The rest of us (at least those without convoluted OGC declarations, to toss another pet peeve into the mix) continue to use the license, to various extents, to utilize the existing OGC to create new versions that, hopefully, improve over the previous one. Does it work all the time? No, not really, but the intent is there and the results can be seen in places.

I just don't buy the "PDF industry has hurt innovation" line by a longshot. It seems like a very general and sweeping statement from someone in a cushy corporate job. I've never met Mike personally; I like his designs a lot (I got Iron Heroes, in spite of the arcane OGC declaration, because of Mike's designs), but his latest posts on the industry, starting from the OGC Wiki debacle onward, even though they've had some good and interesting insights, are getting a little too sanctimonious in tone for my tastes.

 

[philreed]

Funny...had he said the same thing while working for Malhavoc or as a freelancer, then the tone would be much different.

Why do you think he never said these things before getting his job at WotC?