Center-of-All
First Post
Make a new ruleset for your IP? Release it without a liscence, or under Creative Commons?
What benefit is there for a smart/careful 3pp to use the GSL?
- Thread starter Wyrmshadows
- Start date
Make a new ruleset for your IP? Release it without a liscence, or under Creative Commons?
thecasualoblivion
First Post
There are two main issues with this as I see it:
1. Control--Some people want full control over what they produce. 3rd party game design isn't really the sort of thing that lends itself well to having full control. I think people got a little spoiled by the OGL. WotC actually lost a degree of control over their game because of the OGL, and was the major reason 4E is GSL only IMO. In the end, it is their game.
2. Dungeons and Dragons--One of the things that happened with the OGL was the mindset that you could consider your own creation its own game. For example, the creator of Pathfinder could consider Pathfinder its own game, instead of D&D. The GSL is for producing D&D material, period. If you can accept the mindset that you will be producing a D&D supplement, the GSL can work for you. Again, I think WotC wants people to publish D&D books instead of their own systems using what WotC created, and I think people got a little spoiled by the OGL in this regard(again).
1. Control--Some people want full control over what they produce. 3rd party game design isn't really the sort of thing that lends itself well to having full control. I think people got a little spoiled by the OGL. WotC actually lost a degree of control over their game because of the OGL, and was the major reason 4E is GSL only IMO. In the end, it is their game.
2. Dungeons and Dragons--One of the things that happened with the OGL was the mindset that you could consider your own creation its own game. For example, the creator of Pathfinder could consider Pathfinder its own game, instead of D&D. The GSL is for producing D&D material, period. If you can accept the mindset that you will be producing a D&D supplement, the GSL can work for you. Again, I think WotC wants people to publish D&D books instead of their own systems using what WotC created, and I think people got a little spoiled by the OGL in this regard(again).
Darrin Drader
Explorer
Exactly.
But even if you did want to go back, what would be the point? You've already killed your IP by moving all of your existing customers to 4E. Even if you could, why would they be willing to go back?
Wyrmshadows
Explorer
That would be fine if it was perpetual and irrevocable as the is the OGL. As it stands now, WoTC can revoke the GSL at any time or alter it greatly causing chaos for any business relying upon it.
It isn't about being spoiled, it is about users of the GSL being at the mercy of another entity in regards to their plans with whatever IP they choose to use with the GSL. Fine for a line of adventures perhaps, but foolhardy for a flagship product like a setting. I may not be personally a fan of 4e or elements of its design philosophy but it looks like it might be a bit simpler to design for than 3e which is wonderful. If I can get around the GSL, I'd look into it, but as it stands..both on principle and in the spirit of good sense in regard to business...the GSL is not for me.
Wyrmshadows
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Yeah, right and how likely is that? Wotc,, like it or not has some control over your IP and how you publish it.
I think the term thrown around was poison pill.
Halivar
First Post
3pp is fan material with a copy-editor (sometimes) and a profit margin (sometimes).
You can be a 3pp anytime you want to be, as hong suggests.
pawsplay
Hero
The thing that ultimately bothers me about the GSL is that it makes a small publisher more vulnerable, rather than less. There is no safe harbor, there is no perpetuity, there is an assurance you will destroy your stock if the agreement is terminated. You give away so much, you get back an assurance they will respect rights that are most likely yours to begin with.
Kalamar was a 3pp setting before 3e and the OGL... I owned the boxed set. It was simply an all original creation with some non-infringing references to AD&D game concepts.
Kalamar was a 3pp setting before 3e and the OGL... I owned the boxed set. It was simply an all original creation with some non-infringing references to AD&D game concepts.
thecasualoblivion
First Post
This is kind of my point. If you are looking for control and guarantees, 3rd party publishing is the wrong sort of business. The OGL for 3E D&D was a fluke, and fairly unique in what it offered. The GSL is more along the lines of what most 3rd party licensing deals look like. People got spoiled by the OGL, and if you judge the GSL by comparing it to the OGL its going to look unfair.
You are publishing material for somebody elses game. They have control of it, not you. Its their game. It wasn't this way in the past, and that was a bit of an aberration. This is why I say that the OGL has spoiled people somewhat.
As I think the OP was getting at, it looks like we're going to see people just forsake the GSL altogether. I can imagine that some folks will sit for a bit and wait to see if anything happens with the non-GSL releases (and I don't think Wizards will try to do anything), then we'll see quite a bit of 3p product that's not officially licensed at all.
