Ray Winninger comments on the OGL

[jeffh]

Take D&D away from Hasbro

How? By what mechanism short of Hasbro ceasing to exist (not bloody likely) would this lead to Hasbro losing D&D?

 

[Grendel_Khan]

If this was preposed by newly installed leadership, likely they won't be leaders for long.

Corporate execs fail upwards all the time. Never assign intelligence or good planning to corps, especially big ones.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Yes. This is moment in our hobby where we learn that we no longer matter, that we can't play the way we want, that content is packaged by a corporation that has no foundation in games anymore (when even WotC had connections to magic cards).
And this is the time when many fans (like myself) realize that it's artists, creative minds, and those who have inspiration that we want to invite into our imaginations - those who fantasize about dragons more than dollar signs.
D&D has lost its soul. I'm not going to sell my imagination, my hobby time, my precious moments with friends and family, to the highest bidder ... people who clearly can give a rat's behind about how we enjoy the game.

I could be remembering wrong, but haven't you posted a lot about being done with 5e long before any of this blew up? I'm not white-knighting for WotC—not by any means...I hope it dies in a fire. But it seems like you've gone a different direction anyway, so how are they determining how you play?

 

[eyeheartawk]

Corporate execs fail upwards all the time. Never assign intelligence or good planning to corps, especially big ones.

You're right.

I think it's time

 

[Ibrandul]

If this was preposed by newly installed leadership, likely they won't be leaders for long.

You would certainly think so, after the company has torched its relationship with both of its fandoms in the span of mere months.

On the other hand, they want massively more profit out of D&D. They’re not going to get it out of the people who are willing to leave them over this. They have a plan (which is obviously doomed to fail, but that’s irrelevant right now) to extract that profit from a different segment of their audience.

If you’re making a million bucks off of a thousand consumers, and you think that by completely transforming your business model you can make two million bucks off of just 800 of those consumers—by alienating the other 200—you go for it.

Especially if you fail the INT check to figure out that many of the 800 can’t consume your product without the 200.

This feels like part of the endgame with all this: a hard sunsetting of 5E to push people into 1D&D, as well as completely controlling the licensed version of your game on the VTT market. It's incredibly dumb, but it feels too coincidental for it not to be purposeful. Just an utter misread of the market and the audience.

This has been a cause of concern for me since the announcement of 1D&D, of panic since the “fireside chat,” and now—for me—of acceptance and even excitement.

D&D is dead. Long live D&D!

 

[jeffh]

If you’re making a million bucks off of a thousand consumers, and you think that by completely transforming your business model you can make two million bucks off of just 800 of those consumers—by alienating the other 200—you go for it.

I suspect the thought process is closer to making the 2 mil, or ideally more like 4-5 mil, off 20,000 consumers - i.e. a larger, individually less invested group. The mass market, basically. Those 20k will naturally have little overlap with the original 1k, I mean they couldn't possibly make up more than 5% of the new audience anyway, so what does it matter if they lose 200 or even 700 of those?

(All numbers are illustrative only and not necessarily meant to resemble the real ones.)

 

[Mallus]

Based on the threats of the OGL: deleting content, closing businesses, threatening VTTs, shutting down commentators, silencing fans on their messageboards. Want me to continue?

I agree that WotC can make D&D less convenient to play than it is now. But they can't delete content from the physical books I own, shut down VTTs that don't integrate the rules (or doing anything at all to groups playing via tools like Discord and Zoom), silence people who are talking on platforms they do not own (have you noticed there'a a lot of discussion about this online right now?), etc.

WotC can certainly do many consumer-unfriendly things. Like invalidate the digital purchases people like me made on sites like Roll20. Would be the first time I lost access to a digital material. But even that would only makes my current campaign slightly less easy to run.

 

[Retreater]

shut down VTTs that don't integrate the rules

It's possible and a threat that they're positing. Technically, VTTs who don't sign 1.1 can't host rules sets, modules, etc., for any OGL content. That means if you're playing any edition of D&D, Pathfinder, etc., the VTT would be in violation and would be sent a C&D or sued. VTTs will have to pull that content - which is the lion's share of players (from what we've seen posted on Fantasy Grounds' and Roll20's reports. So losing something like 75% of their players (and paid customers) isn't going to bode well for these companies, right?
So, yes, they are planning on indirectly shutting down VTTs. Everything is going to the OneD&D VTT. And do you think they will allow other games to be played on that platform?
They are trying to monopolize and crush the entirety of the industry.

 

[eyeheartawk]

It's possible and a threat that they're positing. Technically, VTTs who don't sign 1.1 can't host rules sets, modules, etc., for any OGL content. That means if you're playing any edition of D&D, Pathfinder, etc., the VTT would be in violation and would be sent a C&D or sued. VTTs will have to pull that content - which is the lion's share of players (from what we've seen posted on Fantasy Grounds' and Roll20's reports. So losing something like 75% of their players (and paid customers) isn't going to bode well for these companies, right?
So, yes, they are planning on indirectly shutting down VTTs. Everything is going to the OneD&D VTT. And do you think they will allow other games to be played on that platform?
They are trying to monopolize and crush the entirety of the industry.

Yeah, a VTT where the largest game being played on it is CoC (not a dig, I love CoC, just going by pure numbers here) is likely not enough to sustain any of those businesses.

 

[schneeland]

I disagree. I think it is in the best interests long term. Take D&D away from Hasbro - they are irresponsible and disrespectful stewards of the industry leader. It is in better hands elsewhere.
It stinks in the short (and possibly medium) terms.
But long term, I want to see some scorched earth at WotC and Hasbro.

I understand the sentiment. But instead of official D&D in other hands, I would rather like to see it cut back to normal a bit, while other publishers thrive - a successful Paizo, a growing Chaosium or a Free League Publishing that has stepped up would IMO be healthier for RPGs overall than just somebody else governing the fate of D&D.

And, to at least briefly connect this to the OP: even though I don't agree with everything that has happened to D&D under his direction, Mr. Winninger seems to genuinely care for RPGs, so it would be great if he was a part of that healthier RPG world.