WOTC undecided over OGL/GSL. Why you should care

[malraux]

Every RPG on the market hurts WotC to some extent by being a way out of Dungeons & Dragons.

And there's little WotC can do to prevent people from playing games other than DnD. But what the OGL does is makes it so that people who move away from DnD are still associated with WotC products and ideas. That way it makes coming back to DnD easier. If I get tired of medieval fantasy and want to play a space/scifi game, its better for WotC if I move to a d20 based system than an entirely different system. That keeps me used to the d20 rules, pursuing d20 source books, etc. But if I move to something like the Serenity system, then I'm going to be less likely to come back to the d20 system.

 

[Mistwell]

Guys, even if the entire OGL concept were scrapped in it's entirety, WOTC would still likely license out their stuff to third party publishers for a relatively modest fee. That's the way of the world now. All it would mean is only the larger companies could afford to purchase a license, and it wouldn't be free anymore. It wouldn't mean an end to all third party support for D&D. And in addition, it would probably mean free third party fan-made stuff would also be OK (at least on an unofficial basis).

So all this would cut out is the smaller companies, who frankly are very hit or miss as it is. The bigger companies rose to the top mostly because of the quality of their products. Sure, we would lose SOME good stuff. But, it wouldn't be the end of the world, and it wouldn't even be the end of all third party support.

Boycott over speculation about something that hasn't happened, and even if it did happen it wouldn't be that big a deal? No. :\

Heck, I think the OP overestimates the numbers of people who even read a thread like this. If every person in this thread, and every person those people game with, boycotted all WOTC products, WOTC wouldn't even notice. It wouldn't even show up as a percentage of preorders.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

The last book I bought from WoTC was Grand History of the Realms I anticipated it might be the last book I bought from WoTC considering how 4e was being designed.

Now I will go even farther, I will purchase no Hasbro product again EVER if they abandon open gaming period

 

[Oldtimer]

Anyway, I don't know how M&M or Spycraft benefits WOTC business, but oh well...

Any widening of the market always benefits the market leader. M&M and Spycraft has probably generated more players than stolen players from D&D. And more players overall benefits WotC. I'm certain I have a quote from Ryan Dancey somewhere, that would explain it better... if I can find it.

 

[Ydars]

I think that will only happen when we get to D&D v5.0. if we go by the plot of Babylon 5 then 4th edition should suddenly and mysteriously disappear, only to re-appear after the launch of D&D 5 to save the day.

I vote that Monte Cook is the one to go back in time and become the legendary hero Gygax (sorry I meant Valen).

 

[Baka no Hentai]

Has anyone considered that this may be looked at from the wrong viewpoint? Perhaps they're going the opposite direction from what people are afraid of.

We already know that the GSL was designed to be more restrictive than the OGL was. Perhaps it was too restrictive as designed from the WOTC viewpoint, and they have been campaigning for more openness for third party publishers?

I seriously doubt that WOTC will ever go back to the OGL as we saw it in 3E... it just does not seem to benefit them as much as it does the third party publishers. Take Paizo for example... the vast majority of customers were brought in by playing D&D. Without D&D and the OGL, Paizo would clearly not be making as much money as they are right now.

But can the same be said for WOTC? Just how many new customers have WOTC gained because of Paizo products? I seriously doubt that a significant number of gamers got into the hobby because of Paizo first, then moved to WOTC products.

 

[Mistwell]

The last book I bought from WoTC was Grand History of the Realms I anticipated it might be the last book I bought from WoTC considering how 4e was being designed.

Now I will go even farther, I will purchase no Hasbro product again EVER if they abandon open gaming period

You really think Hasbro would notice? I doubt, if every single D&D player boycotted all Hasbro, that Hasbro would even notice aside from the D&D portion of their business (which itself is relatively small to Hasbro).

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

You really think Hasbro would notice? I doubt, if every single D&D player boycotted all Hasbro, that Hasbro would even notice aside from the D&D portion of their business (which itself is relatively small to Hasbro).

Do you think I care if they notice? I think it's an appropriate response so it's the one I take and they can bite me if they think their notice, opinion, or anything else matters to me more than the bug I stepped on this morning.

 

[bramadan]

I am with the let the OGL die camp.
I went recently over my RPG library and while there was rubbish from all periods the concentration of rubbish was highest during the early d20-OGL times.
What OGL did was encourage hyper-production while at the same time stifling creativity.

While in the 80ies-90ies we had (in fantasy gaming) DnD, Runequest, Rolemaster/MERP, Harn and WFRP, all distinctly different and fairly unique systems each reasonably well supported well suited for a given style of play. In the 00s we had DnD and well... more DnD. Until that is, WFRP2 reminded people that one can play fantasy RPG differently.

At the same time in DnD land we had such gems as "Book of Erotic Fantasy" (not that I have anything against serious take on sex in fantasy adventures, I even bought the damned thing expecting something like that, - but I do have something against books that would have been less juvenile written by a committee of horny 14 year olds), series of unbalancing class-splatbooks from the publisher that should have known better, tons of garage-printed home brew adventures that would not get pass first line of defence in Dungeon, masquerading as the edited product and tons of other garbage muddying the waters and cheapening DnD brand.

Sure, there were occasional gems in the d20 midden heap: Iron Heros and Ptolus certainly, Midnight and its attendant material, some Pazio stuff, and I have been told Necro adventures were good for the folks who are into their style.

Point is though, without OGL folks who had resources and drive to produce the product of the quality of, say, Midnight would have done so anyway under a different system. Product would still be as good, possibly better for not having to conform to the basic system made for a different game. Chaff that needs other people's brand to thrive would be separated from the wheat and RPGs would have been richer for it.

I am all in favor of WotC giving occasional supervised license to the third parties (such as Necro) who want to make specific variants of their stuff that are so tightly wound to DnD as to be unable to exist outside its cocoon but for the most part I think that for the balance/quality of DnD as well as for the sake of overall health of RPG business, sooner OGL is put out of its misery - the better.

 

[Sora Justice]

This WILL send a nice message to WoTC; "Carry on as usual guys; we are too busy scoring points off of one another to actually do anything meaningful". I am sure they will appreciate it.

You're new to the internet and the ways of fandom, I see. Fans are painfully ineffective at doing anything except whining and being consumed by pitiful nerd rage.

Heck, I think the OP overestimates the numbers of people who even read a thread like this. If every person in this thread, and every person those people game with, boycotted all WOTC products, WOTC wouldn't even notice. It wouldn't even show up as a percentage of preorders.

It sure wouldn't. Plus, you know, almost everyone on the boycott list will end up playing 4e D&D anyway because it's a great game. QQ all you want now, we won't hate you. We'll be waiting on DDI in June with open arms. <3