I don't think so.
This conversation is ongoing on listservs such as those hosted by the Open Gaming Foundation, as well as private correspondance (that I'm not privy to, but hear of by those participating--i.e. "I've talked to (X) privately about this."), but it's not the only issue that must be addressed. Why are there not more companies publishing under the Sword & Sorcery Studios banner? Why not negotiate an accord that creates a new and viable channel of publishing module support materials for third-party settings? Why not work together to develop and publize alternative distribution channels to the current outlets? Why not create a hobby-wide organization--one that subsumes existing, but too-specialized groups like GAMA, the GPA and the OGF--that possessed the resources and size required to do the things that individual publishers want to do but can't because they're too small- such as following WotC and WWGS into leveraging their IP into other media, such as comics and videogames.
I'm throwing out ideas here. The point is that if the publishers were to act on the principle of working for the advantage of the other--to create a business community where publishers, retailers and distributors actively and earnestly cooperate on all things--then the long-desired goal of mainstreaming the hobby (something that's already happening with videogames) not only becomes possible, but inevitable. That is entirely a good thing for all concerned; gamers have more people to play with, publishers have more buyers and thus more resources to make more games, retailers can grow their stores into the ideal forms desired by all and distributors will be able to grow their networks into forms that fully realize their desire to connect all sellers to all buyers.
We had this once in the United States. We called it "The New Deal".
Which is the seed that shall bring about their downfall. This is a short-sighted view that generates actions that damage the community and the marketplace that serves it, which in turn fractures the community and turns it against itself. The tragedy of TSR shall repeat itself again if this continues, and the hobby will decline into utter obscurity (leading to extinction within a generation) as the result of such a wicked paradigm. Thinking in terms of how to best serve the whole of the community, and to do so over the long-term, is the way that--in all things--is certain to produce the desired longevity and relevance that many in and out of the business of the hobby desire (and rightly so). This is the idea behind such things as the Open Gaming Movement.
That one cannot sense a thing does not mean that it isn't there. This short-sighted "all-against-all" thinking is what nearly destroyed the hobby twice, once in the early 1980s and against when TSR fell in the late 1990s. A third such event shall end it all for everyone. We--regardless of position--cannot allow that to happen, not if we are truly a just people.
My little bit of insight was more a response to the original post.
