WOTC undecided over OGL/GSL. Why you should care

[Ydars]

Comments made yesterday by Mike Lescault indicate that WoTC are reviewing their whole stance towards Open Gaming.

"Who cares!" I hear you say.

Well YOU should care because if open gaming is scrapped it means three things;

1) the lunatics have taken over the asylum; corporates have taken over the creative direction of D&D 4E. Last time this happened, D&D almost died! Remember TSR.

2) All 3rd party publishers will HAVE to continue making products for 3.5E, creating even more competition for 4E, which could be VERY serious, despite what everyone thinks.

3) The above means that support for 4E will be MUCH reduced and will all follow WoTC's official line. Whilst their products are good, their vision of the 4E world is not to everyone's taste and more diversity from 3PPs will keep more of the old guard of D&D playing the game.

So WHAT can WE do.

I am calling on ALL gamers to boycott 4E until WoTC release a GSL that allows for substantial community/3rd party involvement. CANCEL your pre-orders of 4E and MAKE them think seriously before dropping GSL. I have already done so.

Also, REGISTER your support by adding a comment to this thread.

COME ON PEOPLE; WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF WE STAND TOGETHER!

 

[Cadfan]

You should, perhaps, link the comments that are making you become hysterical. Otherwise we have no way of judging whether you're making sense.

 

[griff_goodbeard]

Comments were made over in the OGL sub-forum

HERE

 

[Ydars]

Sorry Cadfan; you are correct. The thread is hidden away in the industry forum section of this site. You can find the post here and reproduced below.


http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=221163&page=5

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Originally Posted by Mike_Lescault
Hi All,

They dragged me, kicking and screaming, back from vacation and I wanted to follow up on this issue as promised. Obviously, Linae's a key person working on this stuff and her insight into the area will forever dwarf what little informaton and undestanding I can track down, but with that said, I have a quote from Liz Schuh, D&D Publishing Brand Director.

“We’re still vetting our final policy regarding open gaming. As soon as that process is complete, we’ll make an official announcement. Stay tuned for more information.”

I'll make sure additional informaton is passed on when I receive it, but for now this is the best we can do for a quote.

Thanks,
-Mike

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since the OGL was promised in January and since they are "still vetting their final policy regarding open gaming" now it is nearly April, this doesn't sound very hopeful to me.

I know I sound like I am panicking, but I just want to stir up some support before WoTC slip this by without anyone noticing. They only way they will reconsider is if they think it will cost them something.

 

[DaveMage]

I think we should wait until an announcement before we start over-analyzing what these comments mean.

WotC knows the value of open gaming.

 

[Ydars]

Davemage; you could be right, but what if you are wrong? It will be too late once they announce their decision.

 

[DaveMage]

Davemage; you could be right, but what if you are wrong? It will be too late once they announce their decision.

I win either way.

 

[Andre]

Since the OGL was promised in January and since they are "still vetting their final policy regarding open gaming" now it is nearly April, this doesn't sound very hopeful to me.

I know I sound like I am panicking, but I just want to stir up some support before WoTC slip this by without anyone noticing. They only way they will reconsider is if they think it will cost them something.

Sorry, but you haven't convinced me.

What exactly is WOTC trying to "slip past" us? All the post says is that they are still reviewing the basic policy of the GSL. I agree that taking so long to do so is a failure on their part - WOTC reps committed to releasing it earlier this year and letting the date slip is frustrating to many. But nothing - nothing - in this post indicates that they have decided to abandon the GSL, gut it completely, or any such interpretation. It's always possible they would do so, but inferring such on such slim evidence strikes me as too great a leap.

 

[Ydars]

So you don't think it is worrying that none of the 3 parties have seen the GSL yet despite it being 3 months after the official announcement of WoTC's plans.

For them to say that they are still vetting their policy suggests that there is some serious problem.

I am saying that maybe, WoTC are intending to stop open gaming and don't want to announce it until after the launch of 4E to avoid the negative publicity. This has been suggested by a number of others on the same thread I directed you to earlier.

 

[Andre]

Davemage; you could be right, but what if you are wrong? It will be too late once they announce their decision.

Ydars, WOTC already knows the how much a vocal minority of their customers values the current OGL. If they make a decision on this that you object to, I expect them to do so realizing that a few gamers such as yourself may go elsewhere. Any decision a company makes has tradeoffs.

The idea that there are enough such gamers to noticeably impact 4E sales is not something I've seen backed up by any reliable data. If cancelling your pre-order works for you, that's ok - it's your money, your decision. But I'll judge whether or not to purchase the game on far more than just the GSL - and certainly not on the possiblity that one post, in one thread, might mean something I don't like.

 

[Jack99]

Comments made yesterday by Mike Lescault indicate that WoTC are reviewing their whole stance towards Open Gaming.

That is a fairly big assumption.

And while I in no way support your proposed boycott, why on earth can't it wait until we hear something more. Pre-orders can be canceled up until the moment stuff is shipped, last I checked.

 

[Ydars]

I am only asking that people consider not buying into 4E until after WoTC make an announcement about GSL.

I am not suggesting that others go and find another game system permanently, just because of GSL. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

[dm4hire]

I'm wondering if their stance isn't a long the lines of:

Should we go with the GSL as planned, restricting what 3rd Party does in relation to D&D or should we just modify the OGL to include the new edition and make everything in 4e closed content beyond the core as we did with 3.x.

I think they are realizing they are causing a rift to form and are trying to decide if that rift will be beneficial or detrimental to them. How much of an impact will the GSL be to them if the majority of 3rd Party doesn't follow after them?

 

[Ydars]

Jack99; if we wait until after WoTC have made an annoucement, what happens if this isn't until after the release of 4E? Once we have all bought in, those who oppose OGL with have already won because we can only hit them in their pockets.

 

[HeinorNY]

Comments made yesterday by Mike Lescault indicate that WoTC are reviewing their whole stance towards Open Gaming.

"Who cares!" I hear you say.

Well YOU should care because if open gaming is scrapped it means three things;

1) the lunatics have taken over the asylum; corporates have taken over the creative direction of D&D 4E. Last time this happened, D&D almost died! Remember TSR.

2) All 3rd party publishers will HAVE to continue making products for 3.5E, creating even more competition for 4E, which could be VERY serious, despite what everyone thinks.

3) The above means that support for 4E will be MUCH reduced and will all follow WoTC's official line. Whilst their products are good, their vision of the 4E world is not to everyone's taste and more diversity from 3PPs will keep more of the old guard of D&D playing the game.

So WHAT can WE do.

I am calling on ALL gamers to boycott 4E until WoTC release a GSL that allows for substantial community/3rd party involvement. CANCEL your pre-orders of 4E and MAKE them think seriously before dropping GSL. I have already done so.

Also, REGISTER your support by adding a comment to this thread.

COME ON PEOPLE; WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF WE STAND TOGETHER!

I don't remember any 3rd party publisher producing WoD products, so I think we should boycott them too?
AFAIK White Wolf is the evil empire, not WoTC.

 

[Ydars]

Ainatin, I am not talking about "evil empires", I am trying to give some impetus to that part of WoTC that supports open gaming. I believe that a clash of cultures may be taking place and I want to influence the decision, which is obviously taking place as we speak.

I don't play WW games, mostly because they don't support open gaming.

If you don't have anything constructive to say, I really don't know why you post.

 

[Zamkaizer]

1) the lunatics have taken over the asylum; corporates have taken over the creative direction of D&D 4E. Last time this happened, D&D almost died! Remember TSR.

There is no, "last time"--D&D has never moved from an open system to closed system before in its history. And, under TSR, D&D did well enough as a closed system for most of its tenure.

 

[xechnao]

Comments made yesterday by Mike Lescault indicate that WoTC are reviewing their whole stance towards Open Gaming.

"Who cares!" I hear you say.

Well YOU should care because if open gaming is scrapped it means three things;

1) the lunatics have taken over the asylum; corporates have taken over the creative direction of D&D 4E. Last time this happened, D&D almost died! Remember TSR.

2) All 3rd party publishers will HAVE to continue making products for 3.5E, creating even more competition for 4E, which could be VERY serious, despite what everyone thinks.

3) The above means that support for 4E will be MUCH reduced and will all follow WoTC's official line. Whilst their products are good, their vision of the 4E world is not to everyone's taste and more diversity from 3PPs will keep more of the old guard of D&D playing the game.

So WHAT can WE do.

I am calling on ALL gamers to boycott 4E until WoTC release a GSL that allows for substantial community/3rd party involvement. CANCEL your pre-orders of 4E and MAKE them think seriously before dropping GSL. I have already done so.

Also, REGISTER your support by adding a comment to this thread.

COME ON PEOPLE; WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF WE STAND TOGETHER!

For the prosperity of the rpg hobby, fans and publishers should become less fanatics for D&D and stronger followers of tabletop rpgs interests. I am not convinced that another round of OGL that at this point will mostly serve to reupdate old stuff for the sake of compatibility is a good idea. Wotc is making a new game and intends to support it. IMO there should be others doing the same. The hobby needs more games and more support of these new games.

 

[HeinorNY]

Ainatin, I am not talking about "evil empires", I am trying to give some impetus to that part of WoTC that supports open gaming. I believe that a clash of cultures may be taking place and I want to influence the decision, which is obviously taking place as we speak.

I don't play WW games, mostly because they don't support open gaming.

If you don't have anything constructive to say, I really don't know why you post.

Why should WOTC give their rules for free to other companies, so they can profit with these rules, unless it somehow benefits WOTC business?
If open gaming does no good for WOTC business, why should they support it?

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? Andy Collins had been optomistic for a decision soon. If this is true that they are reconsidering, I wonder how much of it is related to Paizo's decision regarding Pathfinder?