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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 5810035" data-attributes="member: 50987">An editorial.Some people are of the opinion that the Open Gaming License was a bad thing...that it allowed third-party companies to compete directly with Wizards of the Coast, and ultimately caused their popularity to drop in the gaming community as people chose the older 3PP materials over the new.I think these people are only half right.Yes, the OGL made it possible for third-party publishers to write, publish, sell, and profit from the d20 Game System.  And yes, that ended up hurting them in the long run.  But the dent in WotC's popularity was not caused by the OGL.  Popularity is not mandated by a legal document, after all.  It is decided by the public based on product satisfaction: if the public likes your product, they will buy it.And it wasn't the OGL that made Paizo popular.When the 3rd Edition was released (and the Open Gaming License with it), there was an explosion of creativity in the gaming community.  Publishing companies sprung up overnight like mushrooms, and a nearly endless line of gaming products hit the market.  I like to call this the Golden Age of Gaming, because there seemed to be no limit to the creativity, accessibility, and quality of gaming materials that could be found.  The evolution of our hobby was so dynamic back then.  Even the lower-quality splatbooks and supplements were worth collecting, if only so you could hack them up and cherry-pick your favorite pieces.Yes, Wizards of the Coast had to compete with third-party publishing companies for business, but that is what capitalism is all about.  When competition is fierce, the focus on product quality becomes critical...and some of WotC's best work (IMO) came from this crucible of heavy competition.  SWSE?  The Book of 9 Swords?  Eberron?Remember...with the advent of 4th Edition, Wizards of the Coast did a lot more than just release a new edition of the game.  They also abandoned all product support for older editions, they stopped sales of the PDFs of out-of-print books, and they ignored all interest in the still-valid Open Gaming License.  This created a demand in the community for older material, and allowed others to capitalize on it without any competition.As optimistic as I was about the hobby as a whole, it didn't seem like a wise move.  At a time when the economy is down but the hobby's popularity is at an all-time high, they just walk away from half of their customer base?  While leaving the door open for their competition to fill the vacuum they leave behind?  Not good.I hope I'm not implying that 4th Edition was a failure...it continues to be a success, and it still enjoys a thriving fan base.  But the 4th Edition will never achieve the level of popularity that 3.X enjoys.  The GSL restricts the publication of 4E-compatible products, which greatly reduces the amount of material available to the public...material that could otherwise be generating interest, advertising, and buying incentive for the 4E core rulebooks.The way I see it, for the new edition of D&D to thrive the way that the 3rd Edition did, they need to do two things differently.First, they need to create a new Open Gaming License for the new edition, to generate public interest and rapidly create a large catalog of gaming material.  Instead of locking down the product and relying on their limited resources to promote the new product, they should let the so-called competition do the advertising and promotion for them, and keep a laser-like focus on product quality.Second, they need to make this new edition directly compatible (not just backward-compatible) with Open Gaming License material.  This would allow them to compete directly with Paizo, and enjoy a larger slice of the customer base.  Even a conversion manual for previous editions would go a long way to increasing the new edition's appeal.Wizards of the Coast has found themselves in a bit of a predicament with Paizo and the OGL.  But they are only there because they choose to be.  A lot is riding on the next edition of the game, and a lot of people are watching to see how they handle third-party publishing support.  I hope they kindle that spark of interest into a roaring flame.  And I think an Open Gaming License is the best way to do it.</blockquote>

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