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RPG Evolution: The Art of the Apology
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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8902360" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>This isn't quite true. Hasbro bought Wizards in September 1999, and the OGL was released in 2000.</p><p></p><p>Not that that changes anything. Wizards put the SRD out there under the OGL, did their very best (given the jurisprudence of the time) to nail down the terms so that it would be irrevocable, and represented it as such to the community. Hasbro could have stopped them from doing that, and didn't. I doubt anyone at Hasbro was paying much attention to what the D&D nerds got up to -- Magic and Pokemon were the cash cows at Wizards then -- but that's on Hasbro. Wizards then, over a period of many years, continued to represent the OGL as irrevocable (see their FAQs), and recommitted to it in 2016 with the 5E SRD.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, the OGL is not a gift. It is a <em>contract</em>, where those who sign on agree to give up certain rights in exchange for certain others. For example, you forfeit the right (which you otherwise possess!) to put "Compatible with Dungeons and Dragons" on the cover of your books. I'm not in the camp of those who say the OGL is a cheat, but Hasbro certainly gets substantial consideration out of it.</p><p></p><p>Was the OGL a good business strategy? That's not something we can ever prove. Ryan Dancey thought it was, and the editions which were released under the OGL (3E and 5E) were kept around longer than the one which was not (4E), suggesting that Wizards at least thought they did better. But whether it was good or bad doesn't matter. When you sign a contract, you don't get to tear it up years later because some of the terms are inconvenient to your current plans. Hasbro, through Wizards, made a commitment and should be held to it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 8902360, member: 58197"] This isn't quite true. Hasbro bought Wizards in September 1999, and the OGL was released in 2000. Not that that changes anything. Wizards put the SRD out there under the OGL, did their very best (given the jurisprudence of the time) to nail down the terms so that it would be irrevocable, and represented it as such to the community. Hasbro could have stopped them from doing that, and didn't. I doubt anyone at Hasbro was paying much attention to what the D&D nerds got up to -- Magic and Pokemon were the cash cows at Wizards then -- but that's on Hasbro. Wizards then, over a period of many years, continued to represent the OGL as irrevocable (see their FAQs), and recommitted to it in 2016 with the 5E SRD. Furthermore, the OGL is not a gift. It is a [I]contract[/I], where those who sign on agree to give up certain rights in exchange for certain others. For example, you forfeit the right (which you otherwise possess!) to put "Compatible with Dungeons and Dragons" on the cover of your books. I'm not in the camp of those who say the OGL is a cheat, but Hasbro certainly gets substantial consideration out of it. Was the OGL a good business strategy? That's not something we can ever prove. Ryan Dancey thought it was, and the editions which were released under the OGL (3E and 5E) were kept around longer than the one which was not (4E), suggesting that Wizards at least thought they did better. But whether it was good or bad doesn't matter. When you sign a contract, you don't get to tear it up years later because some of the terms are inconvenient to your current plans. Hasbro, through Wizards, made a commitment and should be held to it. [/QUOTE]
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