D&D 5E why i am now boycotting wotc and dnd next

[justmike1976]

Hi everyone I am a long time player of AD&D. I started when I was 5 and the 1st edition dms guide was the first book I was able to read cover to cover and I was hooked. I have played every classic edition and when 2000 hit and 3rd came out I didn’t like what I saw and I skipped playing 3rd, 3.5 and 4th. Now I was part of the playtest for 5th I was starting to warm up to a lot and was getting ready to decide to buy it when it was published. then that all changed today, I was on the dnd next forums responding to a 4th player that was really upset about how due to copyrights and other IP issues the future fan support online for 4th would be stopped by wotc lawyers claiming copyright infringement. I responded to his post by saying that if wotc wouldn’t allow 4th players a haven to create new material for their favorite edition like dragonsfoot does for 1st and other classic editions, there should be a boycott against them till they allow the community that created them to enjoy whatever edition they want. As I was reading some other forum posts my account started to act weird so I refreshed the page and found my account suspended. They emailed me there reason as baiting. The whole discussion was an old school supporter looking out for a fellow player of an edition I don’t like at all. Wotc has been very abusive with forum suspensions when people speak out in support of others and the decisions they have made in next. Some people may find this silly but if they can stop someone from being able to share their campaign settings and other works to other like-minded people then they can do it to all of us, and that is something I won’t stand for. I apologize in advance for this if my sentences are run on and my punctuation isn’t perfect. I am seeing red and wanted to share my disgust with others so they don’t win.

love to all my fellow gamers, i wish the wotc was like kenzer co., steve jackson games, and many others that are fans at heart and show us every day that they care about us. I will vote with my wallet and not give the bad guys any more of my money.

 

[billd91]

Wizards also set up the OGL, enabling anybody to use the 3.0 and 3.5 game rules (minus some specific omissions) freely. So it's not like WotC has been some ogre with its intellectual property all its existence.

Let's think about this - stopping people from using their IP, when the people have no right to use it, is pretty much the right thing for WotC to do if they want to protect it effectively. But who is out there saying WotC won't let people post their own campaign settings or materials? TSR may have been pretty stingy about use of terms like Armor Class by others, but I'm not aware of WotC doing anything like that. WotC has issued cease and desist orders for a number of things since 4e was released under a more restrictive license than 3e. In one case, they ordered someone to take down some play aid materials that reprinted virtually all of the text of the powers available in the game. That was pretty clearly a substantial infringement of WotC's intellectual property. If WotC is doing something that's nefarious, you're going to need to show evidence before most people will believe you.

 

[JamesonCourage]

and wanted to share my disgust with others so they don’t win.

and not give the bad guys any more of my money.

While I can sympathize with you to some degree, these bits really don't make me feel for you. You're not really framing things fairly, and I can't really trust accounts of events that seem this biased. You're literally saying that you want them to lose (something?), and that they're the "bad guys." But, you admitted you were seeing red, so once you calm down some, if you can give me a more in-depth account of what happened, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. As always, play what you like

 

[Super Pony]

Take up your forum ban with WotC admins. Venting here may help you cool down, but if the offense was truly a case of overreaction or mistaken intention they may listen to reason. If not, you're no worse off than you are now. Still, sorry to hear of your troubles justmike1976.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Welcome to ENworld! The atmosphere around here is [with few exceptions] more fun and enlightened than WotC's forums. (And yeah, I had a rude experience there too.)

Also, welcome to the 'I'll stick with what I already have' posse! Most of us just don't see anything in 5e that our preferred edition or clone doesn't already have.

 

[Dwimmerlied]

I guess I'm asking this out of sympathy, because on the surface that seems pretty crap: what is the future fan support exactly? And why would WOTC stop this?

 

[Zardnaar]

The community there died a long time ago mike. Even here people like different editions but it doesn't seem as toxic. Spending more time at Dragonsfoot and Paizo boards. I do not really need WoTC any more or D&DN.

 

[delericho]

Shouldn't you wait for WotC to actually clamp down on fan support before boycotting them for clamping down on fan support?

Your being suspended from their forums is another matter. However, I'm not at all surprised that they have rules against what you did given that it's an official forum of the company - they'll be stricter about such things that unaffiliated sites... and rightly so.

 

[Dannager]

Do you have a link to the post that your account was suspended over? I have a feeling we're not getting the whole picture here.

Regardless, I'm not sure how you see this as "abusive" on their part. You were encouraging a boycott against them, on their own forums. Why should they feel obligated to facilitate that for you?

If you didn't want to get suspended
[Captain Hindsight]
You shouldn't have advocated killing their business

Calling them "bad guys" and ratcheting up the rhetoric over a deserved forum suspension just seems immature.

 

[Morrus]

Sounds to me like WotC is boycotting you, not the other way round.

I wouldn't let you use EN World to arrange a boycott of EN World, either. If that's what you require from a forum, here ain't your place either. And I don't imagine Paizo or anywhere else is - if your goal is a forum that will provide you with the means to organise a boycott of itself, you maybe be in for a long search. Good luck!