WotC quietly deleting access to the 3e SRD

[Lakesidefantasy]

Is this the End of Days?

 

[Yaarel]

Is this the End of Days?

It is part of the world becoming less compassionate and more merciless, including legally punishing.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If anyone wants to acquire offline copies of the 3.0 SRD, 3.5 SRD, Modern SRD, 5.0 SRD, 5.1 SRD, d20 STL, original GSL, or the revised GSL, please drop me a line. I have local copies of all of them, and I don't mind sending them to anyone who's interested in having copies of their own.

that is a great service for many. good work

 

[Mistwell]

Holy jesus.

That is... wow. WOW. WotC just doubling down on this, huh?

No. THIS part is frankly hysteria. This happened years ago, not now. Long before this issue existed. And these docs are in a LOT of places and always have been for years. Google any of these docs and you can find them easily. They're not "disappearing" and never did. WOTC just stopped hosting copies, like lots and lots of other stuff they stopped hosting, quite a while ago, with no nefarious intent apparent.

I understand people are afraid. People sometimes behave badly when they're afraid. I am seeing a lot of people ramp up the fear of others with implications of nefarious plots and conspiracies by WOTC years in the making. It's not a good look - and I don't mean for WOTC.

 

[Art Waring]

Oh dear, good thing its all over the internet, and I think I have half a dozen separate copies scattered amongst all the various SRD files I have.

 

[Xyxox]

Follow the license. It’s widely available on the web though. I wouldn’t worry about that going away.

A lot of people are worrying about it going away. I am still of the opinion that WotC/Hasbro cannot revoke or "unauthorize" it, though I would also agree they can force abandonment of it a condition of acceptance of OGL 1.1, which is what I believe the language in the leaked portion is actually doing.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

A lot of people are worrying about it going away. I am still of the opinion that WotC/Hasbro cannot revoke or "unauthorize" it,

I don't know if they can or can't win if it goes through full court and a judge rules... I bet no lawyer can say for 100%. However if WotC loses $2,000,000 in legal fees and don't win it will be a hit but a really small annoying one... if a group of small publishers spend half that (1 mil) to win that could still bankrupt them even in victory.

If 1 or 2 big players make a side deal to not need to use the OGL, then nobody can or will try.

It's not "You can't win because your wrong" it's "they can make it cost you everything just to try...

that group that MIGHT win if they throw 1mil at it... and they lose, that would be DEVISTATING. and they have to weigh then that they MAY lose.

some one get that Picard quote meme about loseing when you do everything right

 

[Xyxox]

I don't know if they can or can't win if it goes through full court and a judge rules... I bet no lawyer can say for 100%. However if WotC loses $2,000,000 in legal fees and don't win it will be a hit but a really small annoying one... if a group of small publishers spend half that (1 mil) to win that could still bankrupt them even in victory.

If 1 or 2 big players make a side deal to not need to use the OGL, then nobody can or will try.

It's not "You can't win because your wrong" it's "they can make it cost you everything just to try...

that group that MIGHT win if they throw 1mil at it... and they lose, that would be DEVISTATING. and they have to weigh then that they MAY lose.

some one get that Picard quote meme about loseing when you do everything right

But what if they aren't planning on doing any of that because they know they cannot afford the lost good will?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Is this the End of Days?

No, just the 80's and early 90's again.

 

[Drake2000]

But what if they aren't planning on doing any of that because they know they cannot afford the lost good will?

I would assume that they are weighing the cost of the lost good will against the potential increases in revenue that they are projecting from increased monetization, and drooling in anticipation.