JohnRTroy said:
Your experience regarding entertainment is not indicative of others. People do have budgets and have to make sacrifices.
This is definitely true. I figure I'd count as a core gamer, the kind of customer who buys RPG books regularly and we aren't all that common.
But the common customer only buys a couple books anyway, and only WotC books -- so WotC isn't losing customers to them. In fact, hossrex says in the other thread:
hossrex said:
LOL. Unless third parties had an influence over the core books, the Forgotten Realms Campaign book, and a handful of class books... I'm not wrong.
<editing to save space>
We use the core books, and a VERY small splash of other stuff. Most of our campaigns are from old Dragon Magazines, or updated second edition stuff. Its silly to say "there isn't enough material to continue playing without using third party product" (which people have literally said above). We've been playing since month One of 3.0, and aside from a couple *VERY* small breaks to play something else (Star Wars for six months, Hackmaster for about the same, and first edition DnD for another six months), we've never been without something to play.
- so it's odd to see hossrex arguing that the OGL is drawing away sales from WotC when even he and his friends aren't examples of that.
I assume there is some third group of customers who are hard-core enough to scour specialty game shops for 3rd party d20 books, yet not so hardcore that they'll get around to buying books that truly interest them (or are financially unable to). Or, alternately, people who would have bought a WotC book that mildly interests them but didn't because they spent their money on some 3rd party book. Personally, my friends don't fit into that group.
JohnRTroy said:
Mr. Pramas isn't saying one way or another, he's saying Wizards has to take all of this into account. And lets remember that what might be ideal for us may not be ideal for a company to make a profit. What good is "good will" if your bottom line isn't being met. The OGL certainly benefits the consumer and the third-parties a lot more than it may benefit WoTC.
Should note that Green Ronin's Mutants & Masterminds has a very friendly open licensing policy and extensive support. I think it's also their best-selling line of books (but I'm not sure).
In fact, one of the reasons I buy M&M books is precisely because of that support. I don't have the time to make up all my own stuff like I used to.
I have a theory that all use of open-licensed material benefits the originator of that material. As the originator, you get all the authorial benefits. Moreover, the more people and other companies that produce stuff for use with your material just increases your brand identity -- now there's all this evidence sitting on the book shelves or RPGNow saying that Mutants & Masterminds is a great game -- because other people are willing to gamble money and time putting out stuff for that game. Moreover, all those cover images with the M&M logo are actually advertising for you. Finally, the originator will always have the stamp of authority -- it's the company that makes official books.
That's why Green Ronin and Mongoose are competing for market when they both make Dwarf books, but neither of them are able to compete with WotC. At best, they produce a book that a few hard-core gamers will use in addition to their WotC books.
