"Poaching" OGC

[Nellisir]

In another thread...

I know some companies are worried about "poaching", and thus crippled their OGC (especially early on) but it hasn't ever really happened in a way that I considered troubling.

I've heard this a reason for crippling OGC (and newcomers are always worried about it), but I'm not sure I've ever seen it happen. Has anyone?

(and by poaching, I mean, and assume other people mean, taking something that was OGC and using or redefining it in such a way as to have a negative impact on the initial offering/publisher, or take control over it.)

Curious,
Nell.

 

[Vigilance]

I don't think I've ever seen it either, as I said before.

I think there's many reasons why this happens.

First, people do this for pride more than money, so doing things your own way is preferable to most.

Second, assuming you actually do the work needed to tailor the content to another book, that usually doesn't save you much work in my experience. Yeah, you could do a "big ass book of feats" without a lot of work, but a lot of other things would take a lot of careful editing and crafting to fit into another book.

And third, OBS' publishing standards actually make it difficult to just compile someone else's OGC and sell it yourself.

But as I said initially, despite some fears, this doesn't seem to be something that happens.

 

[Ry]

And sadly we see very little collaboration anyway; the ecology flows very tightly around the WotC SRD, very little second-order or third-order development outside of a single company's product line. So yeah, while no one's "poaching" - that's great.

But there's a downside. I have this idea for a round thing - you know, like a big stone? Except I take a big slice out of it. Then I roll stuff on it. I call it, "The Whele"

 

[2WS-Steve]

And sadly we see very little collaboration anyway; the ecology flows very tightly around the WotC SRD, very little second-order or third-order development outside of a single company's product line. So yeah, while no one's "poaching" - that's great.

But there's a downside. I have this idea for a round thing - you know, like a big stone? Except I take a big slice out of it. Then I roll stuff on it. I call it, "The Whele"

Yah -- that's been unfortunate.

Where we have seen good re-use is when a big d20 Publisher like Green Ronin (or AEG with Spycraft) gets out there and creates a friendly atmosphere for smaller publisher support of one of their main lines.

Hopefully we'll see some more of that with Modern20!

 

[Vigilance]

There are some industries where doing something new is just perceived as having more value than copying someone else, even if you're copying them in a way that brings some of your own creativity to the table.

I draw an analogy to the rock and roll cover band here.

Even though you're not going to write the greatest rock song ever (because "Satisfaction" has already been recorded), you have more of a chance of getting a record deal and getting radio play performing your own original material than you do performing a cover of "Satisfaction".

That said, there have been some examples here and there of late.

A few of my martial arts feats appeared in TGM's Martial Arts Mayhem, Green Ronin's Thieves World used the magic rules from Sovereign Stone, and the three base classes in True 20 first appeared in Unearthed Arcana.

So there are some instances off the top of my head, but my experience is that the content has to be pretty darn good.

 

[Urizen]

There are some industries where doing something new is just perceived as having more value than copying someone else, even if you're copying them in a way that brings some of your own creativity to the table.

I draw an analogy to the rock and roll cover band here.

Even though you're not going to write the greatest rock song ever (because "Satisfaction" has already been recorded), you have more of a chance of getting a record deal and getting radio play performing your own original material than you do performing a cover of "Satisfaction".

That said, there have been some examples here and there of late.

A few of my martial arts feats appeared in TGM's Martial Arts Mayhem, Green Ronin's Thieves World used the magic rules from Sovereign Stone, and the three base classes in True 20 first appeared in Unearthed Arcana.

So there are some instances off the top of my head, but my experience is that the content has to be pretty darn good.

To sort of add to that analogy, once you've got your "record deal" covering a song which influenced you is generally considered to be a cool thing ( at least in my opinion).

For instance, if Monte Cook or Wolfgang Baur started using OGC from my company ( Reality Deviant Publications) in a book, I'd be extremely flattered.

 

[Ry]

Also, many artists get a break in the industry by doing remixes - some of which are brilliant.

These remixes can influence the original artists who see new ways to combine their sound with something new.

Also, people are regularly lifting each others' chord progressions, drum solos, and vocal styles and then changing them to something else.

The music industry thrives on different flavors of derivative works.

 

[GMSkarka]

There have been instances of poaching not only OGC, but doing so, adding just enough new content to get past the "repackaging" rules, and specifically pricing to undercut the original OGC provider.

In some cases, not only OGC but trade dress was mimicked as well.

Thankfully, these instances have mostly come from one publisher. But I'm afraid that the knowledge of these are wide-spread enough in the publishing community that it does create a dampening effect.

 

[Vigilance]

Oh yeah, Gareth is right.

The situation he speaks of is probably the closest thing to "poaching" I've ever heard of. The trade dress violations and using someone else's content as the backbone of a new product were both especially troublesome in that instance.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be something at all common, but Gareth is right, that is one definite instance.

 

[Roudi]

I understand there's been one very blatant example of poaching by one particular publisher.

Look at how that situation was dealt with.

I think the industry self-polices itself enough that any "poacher" will quickly find their RPG revenue hindered by their peers and partners. That is, at least, what we have seen in one strong example.

Perhaps, then, the key to preventing poaching is not in distributing "crippled" OGC, or modifying the OGL to prevent "poaching" (and man, that term makes me think of eggs), but to continue industry practices that ensure swift, effective action is taken against "poachers".