Open Publishing is important

[Aus_Snow]

If the new version of D&D does not have an open component I will not play it.

Same here.

On the other hand, it now appears that it might be at least partly OGC, and so forth. . . hmm. . .

 

[GSHamster]

You never could. Not legally. Part of the problem the OGL was intended to solve was this. Fans could publish their own OGL material. Guess what happened? The fans didn't, and Wizards were left with this big hole in their IP protection.

Wizards will likely turn a blind eye to most of it, as before. Small sites won't be worth shutting down; larger sites will alienate too many fans if gone after... although Wizards may indeed work out new arrangements with them to make them more "legal".

Cheers!

But that's one thing that OGL allowed. If a fan site stepped over the line, WotC could contact them, tell them to OGL it, and they'd get 99% of the content. I think the OGL had a useful purpose in serving as a middle ground to "letting people do anything" or "shutting people down". I think it also allowed WotC to make a reasonable presumption of adherence to the OGL, rather than presuming their IP was being violated all the time.

 

[trancejeremy]

You never could. Not legally. Part of the problem the OGL was intended to solve was this. Fans could publish their own OGL material. Guess what happened? The fans didn't, and Wizards were left with this big hole in their IP protection.

Wizards will likely turn a blind eye to most of it, as before. Small sites won't be worth shutting down; larger sites will alienate too many fans if gone after... although Wizards may indeed work out new arrangements with them to make them more "legal".

Well, actually, you could legally, if WOTC gave fans their permission to do so, like pretty much every other RPG company does, except Palladium.

If WOTC wants to play hardball with fans producing free fan material, like TSR did, they have every legal right. But it's not going to make many people happy.

 

[Raven Crowking]

At first, I thought the D20\OGL license might be the beginnings of that system. It made me have huge respect, even gratitude, for wizards of the coast.

<snip>

If the new version of D&D does not have an open component I will not play it.

Yup. Me too.

The apparent move away from the OGL also seems likely to be an attempt to compel players to post to Gleemax.

To paraphrase MerricB, in some ways, the ability of the public to contribute to 4e will be even greater. All you have to do is post your material on Gleemax, everyone will be able to see it... and the best of it will draw the attention of Wizards and they may contact you about including it in an official book, or may not if they decide they just want to use it anyway.


RC

 

[roguerouge]

If WOTC wants to play hardball with fans producing free fan material, like TSR did, they have every legal right. But it's not going to make many people happy.

And then we have the return of the master-slave, command and control architecture that transforms altruistically sharing ideas into stealing property... which is what we have in every other form of cultural production in this country. The OGL said we were all in making imaginative worlds together. It made the game special in our culture and encouraged others to go further in that direction.

It's going to be simple: no OGL, no bucks from me.

 

[Sigurd]

I was at the press announcement last night (I work for an Indiana newspaper) and they very definitely said that 4e would fall under OGL and they would be releasing a new SRD. They very clearly expressed a desire for third parties to continue to produce D&D compatible material.

thormagni
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=3703604&postcount=80

Looks like there will be some OGL support at least.

 

[RFisher]

I'm close to de facto taking the same position. When I list the games that most interest me these days, they are nigh all free or out-of-print.

I'm not totally giving up on proprietary systems, however. I put them on my Amazon wish list. When someone buys me one, I ravage it for anything I can borrow, steal, or just be inspired by. I might actually play one someday.

Not enjoying being in the position of telling a new player he has to go to ebay or a second-hand shop to buy his own copy of the rules, however, & having had so many proprietary system I invested in go out-of-print, proprietary systems have a big strike against them with me from the get-go.

But, all of that mostly applies to the games I intend to GM. I may buy a game because someone else in the group is GMing it.

 

[Xyxox]

thormagni
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=3703604&postcount=80

Looks like there will be some OGL support at least.

That was my requirement to move forward with 4E, so I'm a koolaid drinker now.

 

[pawsplay]

The OGL did not create the write to produce compatible material. Rather, it was a courtesy meant to say, "We definitely acknowledge the right to create compatible material under certain circumstances, without opening up the doors to things we can't foresee the legal consequences of."

There are reasons to suspect that no game company could prevent you from publishing D&D extensions. Hopefully, WotC will see the value in continuing friendly relationships with the hobby community.

 

[Ranger REG]

You never could. Not legally. Part of the problem the OGL was intended to solve was this. Fans could publish their own OGL material. Guess what happened? The fans didn't, and Wizards were left with this big hole in their IP protection.

???

The OGL was created expressly for fans?

I thought WotC was still enforcing the fansite online policy. Granted, most of the fansites are based on published campaign settings, past and present (and well outside the OGL's jurisdiction). I didn't hear them publicly notifying that they will (or have) terminate(d) that policy in favor of OGL.