WotC Responds!!!

[Cedric]

I think it would go over very badly for WOTC to discriminate against their own employee's in relation to the OGL. If perfect stranges with no interest in WOTC are allowed to use it...then why can't WOTC employee's freely make use of it?

It just seems that with such widespread approval and support for the impetus taken in introducing an open license concept to RPG's, WOTC would be fools to then turn around and limit who that open license applies too.

Cedric

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Wow, this thread is still up. Once again I am impressed at the discretion of ENWorlders.

Another effect of their statement is that it prevents the book from being totally ignorable but not so much that it automatically becomes wildly popular.

I mean Madonna's book gets priced at used book stores in hundreds of dollars if it's in nice condition. Loads of really resistant controversy means almost certain financial success.

Any want to go guess what the highest priced used DnD product is and why?

 

[Kilmore]

[Kilmore kicks back with his popcorn and tea and raptly watches all hell break loose.]

 

[Cedric]

I'm going to go with Deities and Demigods, with the Melnibonian and Chuthulloid mythos, since they were used without permission, resulting in subsequent lawsuit and removal from print.

Cedric - sold his mint for $175.00

 

[Simplicity]

Re: employment laws

I never said WotC should fire employees on the basis of belonging to a cult. I could care less what cult or orgy group WotC employees belong to. It is the publishing of this product in the same line of business as WotC (roleplaying games) that I think requires action on WotC's part. (And I'm not saying WotC should fire Mr. Valterra, but rather give him an ultimatum, if they truly oppose this product and if they have a legal right to do so based on his employment contract, which of course I have no idea if they do).

I said it on the other thread, and I'll say it on this one... Why should AV be treated any differently from any of the other WotC members? Monte Cook produces d20 products. Sean K Reynolds produces d20 products. Bruce Cordell produced "If Thoughts Could Kill" while he was still at WotC (I assume, since it came out in 2001, and the "Epic Level Handbook", which he also wrote, came out in 2002).

Nobody was up in arms then saying, that they couldn't compete with WotC...

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I'm going to go with Deities and Demigods, with the Melnibonian and Chuthulloid mythos, since they were used without permission, resulting in subsequent lawsuit and removal from print.

Cedric - sold his mint for $175.00

That's pretty nice, but it's still not the winner. That is, however, exactly the right sort of phenomena to be looking for.

If I were Valterra and I could get this thing canned after it was printed but before it was distributed I would wait a little bit build myself a small addition to the house and engage in some serious Scrooge McDuck money swimming action.

 

[Tiefling]

Re: Re: employment laws

I said it on the other thread, and I'll say it on this one... Why should AV be treated any differently from any of the other WotC members? Monte Cook produces d20 products. Sean K Reynolds produces d20 products. Bruce Cordell produced "If Thoughts Could Kill" while he was still at WotC (I assume, since it came out in 2001, and the "Epic Level Handbook", which he also wrote, came out in 2002).

Nobody was up in arms then saying, that they couldn't compete with WotC...

Theoretically, their contracts might be different such that those you listed can create their own products while Valterra can't. But I doubt it.

 

[Kichwas]

Interesting. Could this be the beginning of the end of outside freelancing using the OGL within WotC?

It's actually suprising that they tolerate it to begin with.

When I worked at a graphic design studio all the designers used to talk about people at various companies getting fired for doing freelance work. One of the co-owners of the place I worked at started her business because of this...

And while I was there I got to see them fire their first employee (a girl who'd been there since day one, but not as a partner) after they caught her doing freelance work...

Generally, if they hire you full time they expect to get your full time commitment, not have you working on side projects over at your desk / cubicle / office / studio on company time and resources...

 

[Kichwas]

Re: disappointed

on the heels of reading Monte Cook's recounting of how he had to resist pressure from WotC to put gratuitous crap (I'm paraphrasing here) in the Book of Vile Darkness...

Where can I learn more about this?

 

[Larry Fitz]

This just gets more and more bizarre....

WOTC is giving AV the IMF treatment? (..the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions...)

So he made this press release without their prior knowledge? And deliberately played off both his association to WOTC and his association with a bondage S/M club? How can WOTC expect anyone to take that press release seriously if they don't fire this guy? How could Anthony have not foreseen that outcome? There is a post on the initial thread on this topic that suggests this is a conspiracy to get mainstream Media attention for WOTC and D&D and the OGL. If that's true though how far does the conspiracy spread? I just can't see the VP's at Hasbro taking it well when their 8 year olds come gome from school and tell them that the other kids said their parent was a"smut-merchant" after a 45-second piece airs on MSNBC. I see them quite happily offering A.V. and his direct superior (and possibly that person's direct superior) an early retirement package, or firing them outright.

I've heard the arguement that they have no basis to fire him, well guess what, employment in most states is "at will" neither side needs a good reason to fire someone, they just need the abscence of a bad one. Embarassing the company and using your affiliation with the company to imply an endorsement of a product where none exists is a valid reason to fire someone, as is not firing the person responsible for doing so if upper management feels you should have.