Why We Should Work With WotC

[Remathilis]

And you think this degree of censorship is even remotely reasonable? You're not only defending the CCA here, you're arguing that WotC needs to have dictatorial power that surpasses theirs because we have the internet.

Moderation of user-made content is an unfortunate reality. Go ahead and post naughty words on this message board and see what happens. My point is less that they have the ability to threaten this as much as there is a mechanism to dispute it. If you get hit with a DMCA report, you can challenge it. If you get a content strike on YouTube, you can challenge it. I'm fine with WotC having the power to pull the license IF there is a mechanism for you to disagree. The current 1.2 doesn't have that; it needs it. That is a reasonable fight.

 

[FormerLurker]

For a computer game specifically. If you can't find a file on your hard drive, you're not a "reasonable person".

That tells me more a lot about the size of your social and professional circle...

 

[Aspirinsmurf]

Moderation of user-made content is an unfortunate reality. Go ahead and post naughty words on this message board and see what happens. My point is less that they have the ability to threaten this as much as there is a mechanism to dispute it. If you get hit with a DMCA report, you can challenge it. If you get a content strike on YouTube, you can challenge it. I'm fine with WotC having the power to pull the license IF there is a mechanism for you to disagree. The current 1.2 doesn't have that; it needs it. That is a reasonable fight.

For a brand compatibility license or in a marketplace they control, absolutely. But if I'm handing out free OGL pamphlets with obscenities at a private sex club, I think it's the venue that should be allowed to set its own standards, potentially diverging from WotC's. I'm already barred from using their brand name, so it would be my obscene sex game anyway, not WotC's.

It just has owlbears and magic missiles in it. That was how they divided up the IP back in 2000 to put an end to litigation in the industry, and it's not unreasonable to hold them to that. They kept the aboleths and the illithids for themselves, so they've already drawn their lines here.

We really, really don't want to return to this:

"They Sue Regularly" The Many Lawsuits Of TSR - Prime

Back in the 80s and 90s, people joked that TSR stood for "They Sue Regularly" and when you look at their court history, you can see why.

www.belloflostsouls.net

 

[Aspirinsmurf]

That tells me more a lot about the size of your social and professional circle...

Reasonable person - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[FormerLurker]

I have no interest in licensing material from WotC under any new terms. I’m interested in keeping my rights to all the OGC under current terms and with the licensing structure intact. This position is inclusive of your concerns, but yours are exclusive of mine. So the common ground here is to fight for the status quo.

How many products are you going to lose the right to publish?

If WotC and I were negotiating this privately, I think I’d happily throw the entire 5e ecosystem under the bus just to keep the 3.5 SRDs under the old terms. Probably the VTTs too. So we really shouldn’t let them divide us like that.

You don't need to negotiate privately. You just need to push for the 3e SRDs to be released under the new license as well.

 

[Remathilis]

Well, I've said my piece. Keep fighting for 1.0a and when we get 1,2 as is, accept or refuse it as you will. I would prefer that if we are going to get 1.2 (and we ARE going to get 1.2) it would be in the best terms we can get.

Dulce et decorum est pro licentia mori

 

[Aspirinsmurf]

How many products are you going to lose the right to publish?

You don't need to negotiate privately. You just need to push for the 3e SRDs to be released under the new license as well.

I'm not accepting any new terms. The license structure needs to stay intact, as represented by them.

 

[raniE]

Well, I've said my piece. Keep fighting for 1.0a and when we get 1,2 as is, accept or refuse it as you will. I would prefer that if we are going to get 1.2 (and we ARE going to get 1.2) it would be in the best terms we can get.

Honestum et justum est pro licentia mori.

No we won’t. We’ll get the OGL 1.0a or nothing. What the terms of whatever crap Hasbro puts out are don’t matter, as it’s an irrelevant document.

 

[Aspirinsmurf]

How many products are you going to lose the right to publish?

Infinitely many, in theory. There are probably infinitely many hypothetical OGL products that merely infringe on their new policies by including an owlbear somehow.

 

[Remathilis]

No we won’t. We’ll get the OGL 1.0a or nothing. What the terms of whatever crap Hasbro puts out are don’t matter, as it’s an irrelevant document.

Then there is a very good chance you get nothing. Are you willing to accept that?