Rumours: WotC Announcement Today; Insider Email Reveals Plans

There's a couple of rumours going round today. I cannot verify either, but I'm reporting them as most of the recent OGL rumours have proven true.

First -- it is rumoured that today at 3pm ET Wizards of the Coast will make some kind of video statement about the current Open Game License situation. This rumour came from the folks at Roll For Combat who were the first to break the draft OGL scoop.

[[UPDATE -- This didn't happen!]]

Second -- an email has been circulating from an anonymous WotC insider. Again, I must reiterate I cannot myself verify this, so read this with that in mind, but the email says:

Hi,

I'm an employee at WotC currently working on D&Dbeyond (DDB) and with D&D business leaders on the health of the product line. If you want I can provide proof of this.

I'm sending this message because I fear for the health of a community I love, and I know what the leaders at WOTC are looking at:

-They are briefly delaying rollout of OGL changes due to the backlash.
-Their decision making is based entirely on the provable impact to their bottom line.
-Specifically they are looking at DDB subscriptions and cancellations as it is the quickest financial data they currently have.
-They are still hoping the community forgets, moves on, and they can still push this through.

I have decided to reach out because at my time in WotC I have never once heard management refer to customers in a positive manner, their communication gives me the impression they see customers as obstacles between them and their money, the DDB team was first told to prepare to support the new OGL changes and online portal when they got back from the holidays, and leadership doesn't take any responsibility for the pain and stress they cause others. Leadership's first communication to the rank and file on the OGL was 30 minutes on 1/11/23, This was the first time they even tried to communicate their intentions about the OGL to employees, and even in this meeting they blamed the community for over-reacting.

I will repeat, the main thing this leadership is looking at is DDB subscription cancellations.

Hope your day goes well,

P.S. I will be copying and pasting this message to other community leaders.

If both rumours are true, I guess at 3pm ET today we'll find that out.

 

[Reynard]

Also, if you absolutely want to keep playing "official" D&D just buy the books used.
I bet that probably bothers them more than not playing at all.

People should do what they want, of course, but continuing to play D&D promotes D&D (especially at cons or other public space). Folks should consider that when deciding how far they personally want to go in punishing WotC.

Again, I am not saying people should do or not do anything. How one responds to these things is personal.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm not quite as bothered by all this OGL stuff as many people here are. Or more accurately my feelings on the subject are decidedly "mixed". (For example, I LIKE the idea that many 3PP publishers are thinking of getting off the D&D bandwagon and making their own games - I think that's a creatively great idea).

However, I also like a good "stick it to the man" rebellion. So I just cancelled my DDB subscription in solidarity, and in support of ENPublishing and others.

 

[Charlaquin]

Sorry to add fuel to the fire but I think we were most definitely heading for disaster as it became more "mainstream" to attempt to make a living off a game that was initially intended to simply be a pastime or hobby. I'm not looking for people to start throwing a snit but I feel this opinion needs to be voiced. Certainly, the initial publishers, writers, artists, etc deserve to make a profit. There is a lot of work that goes into making this product that we all know and love.

Where I simply draw the line however is people thinking they can run a game and charge for this. Seeing this as acceptable behavior very well could have had an influence on the higher ups that if the consumer can do this, why can't we? Is DMing a lot of leg work? Of course it is. I've DMd for YEARS. I'm not discounting this. But this is my HOBBY which I ENJOY. I LOVE doing the prep and leg-work. Sometimes too much. Doesn't mean I should start charging lonely shut ins for this service.

Complete nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, I find paid DMing a pretty uncomfortable notion too, but if you think that’s what made WotC decide to cancel the OGL you’re off your rocker.

 

[overgeeked]

I assume they could at least amend the original 1.0a OGL to include the word "irrevocable?" That's the only thing that I can think of that will restore perpetual ongoing trust at least with regard to producing content for everything up through 5E.

Make it as legally airtight as it's possible to make it then hand ownership of the OGL itself to someone else. Promise to continue putting out OGL-compatible SRDs for D&D in perpetuity.

 

[The Scythian]

I have no idea if the email is real or not, but even if it isn't, WotC definitely uses D&D Beyond as a metric to understand their customer base. The president of the company said as much in the infamous "under monetized" presentation to investors. On top of that, WotC just paid almost $150 million for D&D Beyond and intends for it to be the cornerstone of the much more lucrative digital platform they're developing. Of course they're going to notice if it loses paying customers.

 

[Deadmanshand]

Sorry to add fuel to the fire but I think we were most definitely heading for disaster as it became more "mainstream" to attempt to make a living off a game that was initially intended to simply be a pastime or hobby. I'm not looking for people to start throwing a snit but I feel this opinion needs to be voiced. Certainly, the initial publishers, writers, artists, etc deserve to make a profit. There is a lot of work that goes into making this product that we all know and love.

Where I simply draw the line however is people thinking they can run a game and charge for this. Seeing this as acceptable behavior very well could have had a influence on the higher ups that if the consumer can do this, why can't we? Is DMing a lot of leg work? Of course it is. I've DMd for YEARS. I'm not discounting this. But this is my HOBBY which I ENJOY. I LOVE doing the prep and leg-work. Sometimes too much. Doesn't mean I should start charging lonely shut ins for this service.

Getting paid to DM? I would be happy if my players brought some drinks considering I feed them.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Also, if you absolutely want to keep playing "official" D&D just buy the books used.
I bet that probably bothers them more than not playing at all.

Speaking of which, I am beginning to wonder if One D&D will support print media at all at this point.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

First, as a long time member of Corporate America, I would like to first posit that NO member of management of ANY corporation has goodwill towards their consumer or users, at least not any business of any size. Personally, my experience is that people who work in corporations that rely on interaction with other humans ... the best way to visualize it is take the Clerks movie tagline - "Just because they serve you... doesn't mean they like you." Magnify that multiple times over and over, with each run of the ladder seeing consumers less as people and more as data points.

Second, I've been gaming since I was a wee lad back in '82, various systems and companies. This all seems cyclical and in-line with D&D's history going back to Gygax - there's a very well-written history of D&D and original TSR on this site.

I feel like we're hitting this new frontier of unintended consequences. I'm sure Hasbro wants more money because Corporations do that, and they're doing it with Magic as well (mass producing sets). I'm sure there's a strong contingent of WotC employees who still feel what they're doing is making a market for a community.

I say this with all due love and respect, but we also need to stop pretending that we are part of a unified community. We are a community in the sense that we all, individually and collectively, love gaming in its various forms. There are voices speaking out who haven't touched a Wizards product in decades, there are voices of people who buy everything that comes out. In the grand scheme of things, it was NOT all that long ago that debates were taking places here and otherwhere over Wizards becoming 'too woke' due to Ancestries - and you heard the same things being said about never giving Wizards another penny, and what sacrilege it is.

It's entirely possible this is just another growing pain leading to more development in TTRPG. If this is the end of OGL and people decide to stop supporting Wizards - that happens. Eventually every company overplays its hand due to corporate think. But you know what? It doesn't stop you from playing the game your way. And it certainly doesn't stop you from supporting small publishers. And it doesn't stop those same publishers from creating their own system that THEY own, that cannot be taken from them. Instead of pitchforks and torches, sit down and create your own systems, your own worlds. There are plenty more dice permutations out there that do not requite 5e math or even a d20 for resolution.

 

[Reynard]

Complete nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, I find paid DMing a pretty uncomfortable notion too,

I don't have a problem with it conceptually, but I found I don't actually like doing it. it changes the relationship at the table in a way I don't like. And I run a lot at cons, so it isn't about playing with randos or serving as an entainer.

 

[Charlaquin]

If this is true their upcoming announcement should confirm it if they say they are delaying the 1.1 OGL but still releasing it anyway.

I doubt they would say they’re still planning on releasing it. More likely they’d just announce that they’re not going to release it yet, and try to wait for the outrage to blow over before releasing it quietly.