What We Lose When We Eliminate Controversial Content

[Scribe]

Yeah I can't be too down on straight edge because my brother and my sister were both adjacent to it (though never fully into it and both grew out of it - they drink more than I do now!), and I kind of understand why, and I certainly have a crumb of sympathy for these kids, even if they also make me want to roll my eyes.

Its for sure a thing, even in small city canada. My son and his girlfriend have taken a hard turn away from excess, along with much of their friend group, as a reactionary turn against modern online 'life'.

We just did it better/first in the 80's/90's as with most things.

Maybe the generation can save itself after all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No it's the difference between MtG and D&D. They are both separate brands even though they are owned by the Disney corporation.

Again, your point? They are still Disney-owned products, available on a clearly-branded Disney streaming service.

 

[Blue Orange]

Its for sure a thing, even in small city canada. My son and his girlfriend have taken a hard turn away from excess, along with much of their friend group, as a reactionary turn against modern online 'life'.

We just did it better/first in the 80's/90's as with most things.

Maybe the generation can save itself after all.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun./Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time./There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. --Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

"And the parting on the left/Is now parting on the right/And the beards have all grown longer overnight/I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution/Smile and grin at the change all around/Pick up my guitar and play/Just like yesterday/Then I'll get on my knees and pray/We don't get fooled again"--The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again

“Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again.” --Stephen King, The Stand

 

[Raunalyn]

The claim @Hussar appears to be making (and they haven't clarified on this) is that if there was certain "controversial content" in D&D, then that would count as "kicking Hussar out of the hobby", because Hussar would be unable to play D&D (presumably even in settings which didn't have that content?). It's a confusing argument, I admit, but it's what they appear to be claiming.

I happen to know for a fact that this particular individual considers Dark Sun one of his favorite settings, so the hyperbole is quite strange.

 

[Thourne]

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun./Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time./There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. --Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

"And the parting on the left/Is now parting on the right/And the beards have all grown longer overnight/I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution/Smile and grin at the change all around/Pick up my guitar and play/Just like yesterday/Then I'll get on my knees and pray/We don't get fooled again"--The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again

“Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again.” --Stephen King, The Stand

Counter point: Robots

 

[Imaro]

I think it had more to do with D&D being 'under monetized' and looking for an argument that would persuade the most gamers that revoking the OGL wasn't a bad thing, so they could over monetize

Yes but then why curtail a project you could monetize and position yourself in a situation where other products for monetization may be off the table because of the stance you took?

 

[Imaro]

Again, your point? They are still Disney-owned products, available on a clearly-branded Disney streaming service.

THE BRAND... the branding is separate... When my 4 year old son wants to see a Disney movie he isn't talking about or considering Infinity War or The Last Jedi. That's what branding is about creating an association. You can own numerous things and brand them differently.

EDIT: The Disney brand is not The Marvel brand is not the Star Wars Brand... Even though the Disney corporation owns all 3...I'm not sure how to explain this in any simpler terms.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yes but then why curtail a project you could monetize and position yourself in a situation where other products for monetization may be off the table because of the stance you took?

That is a fair point. I am saying on the OGL front the reason they invoked these issues was that. On the Dark Sun thing I was just speculating it may have been a talking point WOTC gave to him, thinking it would deflect attention from the OGL issues (which were still being discussed when he started giving these interviews, and the interviews appeared intended to do damage control). But like I said, it could have just been his honest off the cuff remark about Dark Sun.

Another possibility is he said that to start conversation around Dark Sun so they could gauge whether these issues would present a problem for it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

EDIT: The Disney brand is not The Marvel brand is not the Star Wars Brand... Even though the Disney corporation owns all 3...I'm not sure how to explain this in any simpler terms.

Yeah this is valid and I wonder if, longer-term, D&D maybe will need to like separate out at least a couple of brands, maybe more. Right now, and it's understandable, WotC seem to be heading Disney-ward (I don't offer this as a criticism or snark), and trying to make D&D into a very safe and fairly broad brand (Disney has its own issues with inclusivity, esp. towards LGBTQ+ people, which actually is linked to this but probably another separate sub-discussion). I think in the short term that's reasonable, but I think in the longer term, they may want their Star Wars and Marvel equivalents, which are both quite a bit edgier than the Disney brand, in their own ways. They've got an absolute wealth of ways they could do that, from separating out an "Advanced" D&D again (probably not) to making a setting-specific thing, to introducing some kind of new branding or whatever. Sorry may be getting ahead of us here.

 

[Thourne]

Yeah this is valid and I wonder if, longer-term, D&D maybe will need to like separate out at least a couple of brands, maybe more. Right now, and it's understandable, WotC seem to be heading Disney-ward (I don't offer this as a criticism or snark), and trying to make D&D into a very safe and fairly broad brand (Disney has its own issues with inclusivity, esp. towards LGBTQ+ people, which actually is linked to this but probably another separate sub-discussion). I think in the short term that's reasonable, but I think in the longer term, they may want their Star Wars and Marvel equivalents, which are both quite a bit edgier than the Disney brand, in their own ways. They've got an absolute wealth of ways they could do that, from separating out an "Advanced" D&D again (probably not) to making a setting-specific thing, to introducing some kind of new branding or whatever. Sorry may be getting ahead of us here.

I think in the long run it would be a smart choice to have separate properties(by which I mean settings) sorted into different, for lack of a better term, Ratings based on content.
This one is for kids and I mean truely Kid friendly(the wee ones), this ones is for YA/tweens/teens, this one is for adults, etc.
Clearly packaged marked and explained. You know what your getting thanks to the label sort of stuff. Disclaimers in plain sight for whatever they feel needs one.