WotC Talks OGL... Again! Draft Coming Jan 20th With Feedback Survey; v1 De-Auth Still On

Following last week's partial walk-back on the upcoming Open Game Licence terms, WotC has posted another update about the way forward.

The new update begins with another apology and a promise to be more transparent. To that end, WotC proposes to release the draft of the new OGL this week, with a two-week survey feedback period following it.

WotC Walks Back Some OGL Changes, But Not All

Wizards of the Coast has finally made a statement regarding the OGL. The statement says that the leaked version was a draft designed to solicit feedback and that they are walking back some problematic elements, but don't address others--most notably that the current OGL v1.0a is still being...

www.enworld.org

They also list a number of points of clarity --

• Videos, accessories, VTT content, DMs Guild will not be affected by the new license, none of which is related to the OGL
• The royalties and ownership rights clauses are, as previously noted, going away

OGL v1 Still Being 'De-Authorized'
However, OGL v1.0a still looks like it's being de-authorized. As with the previous announcement, that specific term is carefully avoided, and like that announcement it states that previously published OGL v1 content will continue to be valid; however it notably doesn't mention that the OGL v1 can be used for content going forward, which is a de-authorization.

The phrase used is "Nothing will impact any content you have published under OGL 1.0a. That will always be licensed under OGL 1.0a." -- as noted, this does not make any mention of future content. If you can't publish future content under OGL 1.0a, then it has been de-authorized. The architect of the OGL, Ryan Dancey, along with WotC itself at the time, clearly indicated that the license could not be revoked or de-authorized.

While the royalty and ownership clauses were, indeed, important to OGL content creators and publishers such as myself and many others, it is also very important not to let that overshadow the main goal: the OGL v1.0a.

Per Ryan Dancey in response this announcement: "They must not. They can only stop the bleeding by making a clear and simple statement that they cannot and will not deauthorize or revoke v1.0a".

Ryan Dancey -- Hasbro Cannot Deauthorize OGL

I reached out to the architect of the original Open Gaming License, former VP of Wizard of the Coast, Ryan Dancey, and asked his opinion about the current plan by WotC to 'deauthorize' the current OGL in favour of a new one. He responded as follows: Yeah my public opinion is that Hasbro does...

www.enworld.org

Amend At-Will
Also not mentioned is the leaked draft's ability to be amended at-will by WotC. An agreement which can be unilaterally changed in any way by one party is not an agreement, it's a blank cheque. They could simply add the royalties or ownership clauses back in at any time, or add even more onerous clauses.

All-in-all this is mainly just a rephrasing of last week's announcement addressing some of the tonal criticisms widely made about it. However, it will be interesting to see the new draft later this week. I would encourage people to take the feedback survey and clearly indicate that the OGL v1.0a must be left intact.

 

[GreyLord]

They are going to have a survey. Items which you feel are important, highlight on the survey.

I think they are trying to allow those who have previously published systems (I think, so this is just an opinion here) to still be able to publish things for those systems such as adventures and things like that), so the actual system remains publishable.

However, new items such as what may go onto VTTs and other areas, or people trying to make new games or stuff using the new SRD that will come out eventually, and other things like that (with the obvious exceptions that they listed) will not be able to be published. They want to be able to control material in that way.

It's a fine line to walk where they want to allow freedom to use it in a more traditional manner, but also have control over the new D&D material going forward. They don't want someone using the old OGL in order to access the new material, but still allow that material to be used.

HOWEVER, if you don't like the wording, TELL THEM in the survey. If everyone tells them they need to reword it, or even more strongly tells them that they dislike it...we can then see how they respond.

The only way to see is to actually take the survey and tell them though.

As they say, if you want to have a voice heard, if you want your choice to make a difference, vote.

If you want to make changes, take the survey and tell them. You may feel that you are just one, but if everyone says the same thing, if everyone is on the same page on what they want changed, it sends a strong vote on that matter.

So, take the survey. Make your voice heard on the matter.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I am not gaslighting... leave the guys personal history out of this. He is a representative of Hasbro and Wotc focus on them not him as a person.

He's the Executive Producer of D&D - that means he is the top day-to-day decision-maker about D&D.

You think we shouldn't be allowed to look at information that HE WROTE and that HE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE? You're running accusing people of CRIMINAL ACTS for using LinkedIn? You think that's fine behaviour?

You are absolutely gaslighting and acting in bad faith, because you've never cared before about a LinkedIn.

 

[jerryrice4949]

This quote from the Motley Fool says it all:

Motley Fool

I don’t think they care as much about revenue with this as more control over what they see as their brand.

 

[Haplo781]

It‘s a trick!

They want to stop the flood of deletion of DnDBeyond-accounts!

(Because no DnDBeyond-account, no possibility to join the new-OGL-survey.)

Canceling subs is far more impactful than deleting accounts. Flooding the survey with clear, levelheaded criticism is also more impactful than deleting accounts.

 

[Haplo781]

I can’t do that without subscribing to D&D Beyond, and I’m not sharing my Google or Apple accounts with WOTC.

You can link a WotC account with DDB now.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

This sure is a take all right

yeah, I assume you work for a company (you may own one so i may be wrong) if Your boss told you "go do this" and people were mad at your boss do you want them digging into you outside of your current job/role?

I spent some time as a bouncer at an adult establishment... that doesnt mean anything
I spent time working retail that doesnt mean anything.
If my current boss told me to go do something and the responce was to post my work history i would be upset.

 

[mamba]

It's not an Open Gaming Licence. There's no OGC in it. You can't use it like the OGL 1.0a.

what do you base that on? I am not beholden to the material made accessible being called OGC, the point is it can be freely used and the license is open, even if NFTs and computer games are no longer covered.

The new license seems to accomplish this, I will take a close look once we have more

 

[Ruin Explorer]

You can link a WotC account with DDB now.

Interesting. That's an improvement on the previous situation, if a probably unintentional one lol.

 

[overgeeked]

Insert Braveheart_Hold.gif here.

 

[Scribe]

I don’t think they care as much about revenue with this as more control over what they see as their brand.

No, the revenue clearly is not the holy grail.

The holy grail, is the deauthorization of 1.0 OGL because it has the 5.0 SRD in it.

Everything else is a smokescreen, a fabrication, to distract people from what they really care about.

They do not want things like Level Up, to exist. Period.