GMforPowergamers
Legend
yes all of that sounds good to me.Seems to me that by restricting the licenses, WotC can potentially obtain a number of benefits:
Screen out the small fry and less than serious proposals.
Maintain a level of quality in the product family.
Provide incentives to potential licensees by helping to prop up their margins (by limiting competition).
Give them more room for strategic partnerships (partner A covers segment a, partner B covers segment b, &etc).
Imagine X company being allowd to make a new set of classes, and them showing up in a character builder...
OGL was very nice for that, but a fan site or fan info page could work just as well...In my mind, the biggest advantage of the OGL isn't about third party publishers creating supporting content (thought that is nice), but for fans to create and distribute content as needed with the confidence that they aren't doing anything illegal. Under the OGL, I could create an slightly modified version of the Barbarian and post it online, or build a few custom spells, or even create a spellbook webapp using official content. Not for profit, but because I think it would benefit me and the community.
ok, I know you are joking... but damn I just got scary cold chills reading that...Really. So, let us be creative...
Imagine... WotCstarter!
You get to make a pitch for a product. Fans/customers/subscribers vote on pitches. Winner gets a license to make the described product. Not "open" by any stretch of the imagination, but it would mean things *we* want get made. Maybe it is a setting. Maybe it is an adventure. Maybe it is an adventure path. Maybe it is software....