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WotC Backs Down: Original OGL To Be Left Untouched; Whole 5E Rules Released as Creative Commons
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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 8919291" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>What for?</p><p></p><p>Seriously -- what would be the point of trying this again, with the 5E SRD released under Creative Commons? We don't know for sure what their goal was this time, but there are several possibilities: They were trying to kneecap competition for their VTT, or they were trying to prevent another Pathfinder from happening down the road, or they were trying to get more control over the brand, or it was just a money grab.</p><p></p><p><em>None of those are possible any more.</em> The CC license is out of WotC's hands -- there is nothing they can ever do to recall the 5E SRD now. The only people still exposed are users of the 3E and 3.5E SRDs, and they have nothing that would remotely justify the backlash.</p><p></p><p>As for this being "slimy"... I think a lot of people are making the mistake of thinking of "Wizards of the Coast" as a person who makes plans and does things. While it's often a convenient shorthand to talk about corporations that way (I did it myself above), you have to remember that it <em>is</em> a shorthand. Corporations do not plan or think or feel or act. They're just legal and accounting fictions, labels for organizing our stuff.</p><p></p><p>The decision to try to kill the OGL was made by a person. The decision to abandon the attempt and put the SRD into Creative Commons was also made by a person. They were almost certainly two different people. It's pretty clear that what we're seeing is the outcome of a power struggle, where one faction was on our side and one was against us. The second faction was originally in control, but the community's furious support tipped the balance in favor of the first -- which then seized the opportunity to put 5E out of reach of the second faction forever. (Notice how they put the Creative Commons PDF into the DDB post making the announcement? I can almost hear somebody thinking, "The big bosses could change their minds again tomorrow, so let's nail this down <em>right freakin' now</em>.")</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 8919291, member: 58197"] What for? Seriously -- what would be the point of trying this again, with the 5E SRD released under Creative Commons? We don't know for sure what their goal was this time, but there are several possibilities: They were trying to kneecap competition for their VTT, or they were trying to prevent another Pathfinder from happening down the road, or they were trying to get more control over the brand, or it was just a money grab. [I]None of those are possible any more.[/I] The CC license is out of WotC's hands -- there is nothing they can ever do to recall the 5E SRD now. The only people still exposed are users of the 3E and 3.5E SRDs, and they have nothing that would remotely justify the backlash. As for this being "slimy"... I think a lot of people are making the mistake of thinking of "Wizards of the Coast" as a person who makes plans and does things. While it's often a convenient shorthand to talk about corporations that way (I did it myself above), you have to remember that it [I]is[/I] a shorthand. Corporations do not plan or think or feel or act. They're just legal and accounting fictions, labels for organizing our stuff. The decision to try to kill the OGL was made by a person. The decision to abandon the attempt and put the SRD into Creative Commons was also made by a person. They were almost certainly two different people. It's pretty clear that what we're seeing is the outcome of a power struggle, where one faction was on our side and one was against us. The second faction was originally in control, but the community's furious support tipped the balance in favor of the first -- which then seized the opportunity to put 5E out of reach of the second faction forever. (Notice how they put the Creative Commons PDF into the DDB post making the announcement? I can almost hear somebody thinking, "The big bosses could change their minds again tomorrow, so let's nail this down [I]right freakin' now[/I].") [/QUOTE]
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