I understand the controversy of the OGL. I can see what the community is trying to do. But unsubscribing from the great tools that D&D Beyond offers is so ridiculous. The fact that people are willing to sacrifice helpful D&D tools just to put out their opinion is, in my eyes, over-the-top. Why does it matter where your money goes? The D&D Beyond website hasn't changed at all and dozens of D&D YouTubers are basically rebelling against the website. Why? I haven't seen a YouTuber say that they actually prefer paper character sheets because, let's be honest, nobody does. Digital character sheets, stat blocks, and combat trackers are so useful, and even D&D players who don't make 3rd party content are unsubscribing and are refusing to buy any more official D&D products, for no apparent reason that I understand.
I am going to get a lot of hate for this comment and I'm risking that just so I can have the answer: why?
_________________________________
EDIT:
I no longer need responses for this thread. I have gotten all the answers I need. Thank you for answering. Please do not bombard this thread with any more explanations, I understand.
It actually does, you're just not grasping the concept. A corporation's leadership looks at the bottom line, the money they effectively make, as such is their fiscal duty to their shareholders. There can be a lot said about the ethics of this judgement, but that is another debate entirely. As such, any corporation doesn't care very greatly about losing a few customers here or there as long as they can make more money, assuming this also keeps the future of the company healthy and stable. Otherwise a balance must be struck. This also means a few loud voices aren't very interesting to a corporation, since to them the overall costumer numbers matter; not the loud ones.
Now, with that in mind, D&D Beyond is owned by WotC, and canceling subscriptions are a very short-term, fast method to express grievance, when your voice will not reach.
Effectively; yes, it thus matters where your money goes.
Sorry if I was being a bit closed-minded, but thanks for explaining that! I really do hope that people continue playing D&D, because the game itself is still great.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Running a (homebrew) hexcrawl open-world campaign called In Thrall of the Lost, inspired by BotW and Skyrim.
It actually does, you're just not grasping the concept. A corporation's leadership looks at the bottom line, the money they effectively make, as such is their fiscal duty to their shareholders. There can be a lot said about the ethics of this judgement, but that is another debate entirely. As such, any corporation doesn't care very greatly about losing a few customers here or there as long as they can make more money, assuming this also keeps the future of the company healthy and stable. Otherwise a balance must be struck. This also means a few loud voices aren't very interesting to a corporation, since to them the overall costumer numbers matter; not the loud ones.
Now, with that in mind, D&D Beyond is owned by WotC, and canceling subscriptions are a very short-term, fast method to express grievance, when your voice will not reach.
Effectively; yes, it thus matters where your money goes.
All those 3rd party producers also have bottom lines, though. What about them shows they care any more than Hasbro does?
A lot of times it's the quality of their work relative to Hasbro.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Running a (homebrew) hexcrawl open-world campaign called In Thrall of the Lost, inspired by BotW and Skyrim.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
It affects directly to VTTs, where a huge amount of players play. There are far more DnD players in VTT that irl
I understand the controversy of the OGL. I can see what the community is trying to do. But unsubscribing from the great tools that D&D Beyond offers is so ridiculous. The fact that people are willing to sacrifice helpful D&D tools just to put out their opinion is, in my eyes, over-the-top. Why does it matter where your money goes? The D&D Beyond website hasn't changed at all and dozens of D&D YouTubers are basically rebelling against the website. Why? I haven't seen a YouTuber say that they actually prefer paper character sheets because, let's be honest, nobody does. Digital character sheets, stat blocks, and combat trackers are so useful, and even D&D players who don't make 3rd party content are unsubscribing and are refusing to buy any more official D&D products, for no apparent reason that I understand.
I am going to get a lot of hate for this comment and I'm risking that just so I can have the answer: why?
In theory, it is a message that companies will listen to. Ultimately, they're after your money (and that's true of multinational corps as well as your local mom & pop's, even if we tend to trust one more than the other), and by unsubbing, they get the message that you're serious.
The problem in this case is timing. It's a single-shot gun. Firing it at the wrong time is a complete waste. We're in that period now. WotC is ostensibly at the table and listening - and there's nothing to be gained. Unsubbing is effectively table pounding and saying that the negotiation isn't over, sit back down. Currently, they're at the table, looking at you, waiting for you to talk. Perhaps they're willing to listen, perhaps not, but that's not the time to be demanding attention - you've got it, such as it is. You wait until they declare the negotiations over, and if the final draft is not to your liking, then you do your dramatic unsubbing in the hopes that they reconsider and reopen negotiations.
Right now, all unsubbing does is tell WotC that you're a lost cause and there's no point listening to you. At best, it's unproductive and a waste of what you presumably thought was a worthwhile transaction, and at worst you're making things worse for everyone as WotC realises there is less incentive to negotiate.
Everyone needs to hold fire until it's actually useful. I get it that unsubbing is cathartic and is sticking it to the man, but be smart about it. Wait until it matters.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
In the case of the latter DM with no intentions to buy anything more...it doesn't. At all. He has what he needs, doesn't rely on the OGL at all, and so isn't affected except in the most contrived or minor ways (eh finding inspiration).
If players use any content (WotC or 3rd party), then they could be indirectly affect. Lack of competition would reduce quality, and that lack of competition could be caused by the OGL - if it's too overbearing, 3rd party could just not produce content for D&D and so the pressure to produce quality goods won't be there. As a result WotC products would likely worsen and 3rd party products will both worsen and decrease in number.
For the most part though, we won't be affected that much. Which is why 3rd parties and other media who profit from controversy are blowing certain things up to epic proportions despite them often being fairly standard legal stuff. I mean, it's good in a way, contracts and T's & C's have become too favourable to the corps, but the hysteria is being whipped up - nobody cared about similar language in the other hundreds of sets of T's & C's they've personally signed. Which, again, isn't to say they don't have a point - however, the spin is strong on both sides of this whirlwind.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
It affects directly to VTTs, where a huge amount of players play. There are far more DnD players in VTT that irl
Not everyone playing online is playing through a VTT. VTT's are visual. There is also an open question as to how far they can affect VTT's. If someone has made up 3d maps for any given official WotC released adventure, sure, or even 2d scripting, but simply a map and figures system that lets DM's design what they want for whatever they want to run? That would be like them trying to regulate pencils and paper.
They could try to go after Avrae or something but it is run non profit, IIRC and almost certainly helps them more than hinders. Edit: And isn't really a VTT in and of itself.
The only way they can go after Avrae, or AboveVTT for that matter, is shut off their access to the DDB APIs.
I sometimes forget how there are those involved in the community while the vast majority just enjoy the fruits from the tree they grow.
Perhaps some basic history might make for the best demonstration of how this works.
Wizards of the Coast created 4th edition, universally it was generally rejected by the community because... well, opinions may very but it was not very good.
Wizards of the Coast wisened up. Hired whole army of 3rd party content creators and designers to help them build 5th edition while simultaneously reaching out to the community for advice on how to make a version of the game everyone would like. Fast forward a couple of years later, we get 5e.
The community responds by adopting the new game. They make Youtube Channels, Shows like Critical Role, VTT support, DnDBeyond... the community grows by leaps and bounds, 50 million strong making Wizards of the Coast tons of money and creating a new future for D&D.
Suddenly they decide.. hey we don't need to community, they are making too much money off "our" franchise, so they start making cuts. They buyout DnDBeyond, try to push an OGL that effectively cuts 3rd party content creators out, announces their own VTT while trying to kill the ones the community created just to name a few of the money making schemes.
So what are they doing? Well they are cutting out the very community on which their success was built. Sure it doesn't directly effect you, you are not a contributor, not part of the community that builds the game, you simply sit back and enjoy all of the labor and effort that was made to create the community for you... but, many of us, myself include, understand why this situation is complete crap... and its why we are fighting it.
The reason DnDBeyond subscriptions are being canceled is that companies like Hasbro and WotC only listen when they are losing money as was the case when they made 4e...: They didnt ask anyone anything when they made that game, they just did what they thought would make the most money but what they failed to understand then and what they are failing to understand now is that they don't actually own D&D. They don't have control... We do.. the community. We dictate what Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro can and can't do with the game and if they don't do what we demand... we (the community) will shut them down financially.
So.. this whole thing.. its working as it should. If you love D&D and you want it to be a thing in the future, stop buying books, stop supporting DnD Beyond and join the Boycott and assure you WotC will do the right thing ...eventually. Every once in a while WotC just needs to be reminded of how things operate and re-learn this lesson.
They could try to go after Avrae or something but it is run non profit, IIRC and almost certainly helps them more than hinders. Edit: And isn't really a VTT in and of itself.
actually, avrae was acquired by beyond, and so is owned by wotc, so they probably will not go after it at all
I understand the controversy of the OGL. I can see what the community is trying to do. But unsubscribing from the great tools that D&D Beyond offers is so ridiculous. The fact that people are willing to sacrifice helpful D&D tools just to put out their opinion is, in my eyes, over-the-top. Why does it matter where your money goes? The D&D Beyond website hasn't changed at all and dozens of D&D YouTubers are basically rebelling against the website. Why? I haven't seen a YouTuber say that they actually prefer paper character sheets because, let's be honest, nobody does. Digital character sheets, stat blocks, and combat trackers are so useful, and even D&D players who don't make 3rd party content are unsubscribing and are refusing to buy any more official D&D products, for no apparent reason that I understand.
I am going to get a lot of hate for this comment and I'm risking that just so I can have the answer: why?
and basically because it was admitted they were looking at the canceling of subscriptions to see how the ogl 1.1 leak was affecting them
I understand the controversy of the OGL. I can see what the community is trying to do. But unsubscribing from the great tools that D&D Beyond offers is so ridiculous. The fact that people are willing to sacrifice helpful D&D tools just to put out their opinion is, in my eyes, over-the-top. Why does it matter where your money goes? The D&D Beyond website hasn't changed at all and dozens of D&D YouTubers are basically rebelling against the website. Why? I haven't seen a YouTuber say that they actually prefer paper character sheets because, let's be honest, nobody does. Digital character sheets, stat blocks, and combat trackers are so useful, and even D&D players who don't make 3rd party content are unsubscribing and are refusing to buy any more official D&D products, for no apparent reason that I understand.
I am going to get a lot of hate for this comment and I'm risking that just so I can have the answer: why?
It is basically a measure of pressure. Do you ask why? Well, to put pressure on WoTC, simply. It's as simple as that. You don't have to be an economist to understand it. WoTC/HASBRO just bought DnD Beyond for $146.3M. What can do them more harm than a mass unsubscription? So that's the reason, putting pressure on WoTC. And do it where it hurts the most.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
If you are not going to buy anything else, or if you are not going to use third-party content, it does not affect you at all. It's obvious.
But it turns out that most of the community does consume third-party content. Here in the forum there are several surveys in this regard with more than 90%. And I, in my personal experience, have never come across anyone who does not use any third-party content. Maybe some very casual gamer I suppose.
Oh, and well, actually this OGL thing affects a lot of projects that have nothing to do with D&D. It is an open license and, therefore, for 23 years, many companies have used it to publish their content even if it had nothing to do with D&D. Fudge/FATE, is probably the most notable case. Although it's been years since they took everything out of the OGL. Maybe you're a casual D&D player, but maybe you're a longtime X game player who is somehow affected by the change in the OGL. Especially because of what OGL 1.1 said (which was when people unsubscribed en masse because it was a terrible document).
Where it can affect you is regarding the VTTs (even if you do not use third-party content), but that is another topic. Now, if you don't use them, it doesn't affect you of course.
I haven't canceled my sub but I am not buying any more books directly from this site for the forseeable future, and while that thought doesn't bring me joy I currently don't like the way things are headed and I have serious doubts this will be resolved in a decent way that can cause decent recovery.
I also fear for how they intend to use DDB subscriptions in the future based off this nonsense. While I am currently the DM of the current campaign, even prior to it, I was the one creating things for our campaign, the one buying books, and the one who had the master tier sub for the group. That was my choice and I don't regret it, I currently agree with the standing price at the moment. But if they increase the price and/or make it so that people in your campaign have to pay some sort of fee to access there characters I won't be using it any more... and I fear something like that will happen based off everything they are doing right now.
It actually does, you're just not grasping the concept. A corporation's leadership looks at the bottom line, the money they effectively make, as such is their fiscal duty to their shareholders. There can be a lot said about the ethics of this judgement, but that is another debate entirely. As such, any corporation doesn't care very greatly about losing a few customers here or there as long as they can make more money, assuming this also keeps the future of the company healthy and stable. Otherwise a balance must be struck. This also means a few loud voices aren't very interesting to a corporation, since to them the overall costumer numbers matter; not the loud ones.
Now, with that in mind, D&D Beyond is owned by WotC, and canceling subscriptions are a very short-term, fast method to express grievance, when your voice will not reach.
Effectively; yes, it thus matters where your money goes.
All those 3rd party producers also have bottom lines, though. What about them shows they care any more than Hasbro does?
Depends on if they have shareholders. Public or private is a big difference.
While there are a few larger operations and business-oriented 3rd party publishers in the TTRPG 3rd party market, the overwhelming majority are small, often one-man operations. Very few people are getting rich publishing 3rd party material and even very successful businesses like MCDM for example make enough to keep the lights on so they can make more books.
This isn't a wealth-driven business, most of the people that operate these companies are in it for the hobby and are generally focused on supporting it. Wizards of the Coast is the only business in TTRPG's that is trying to figure out how to get rich off it and its why they are always the talk of the town.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
It affects directly to VTTs, where a huge amount of players play. There are far more DnD players in VTT that irl
But it turns out that most of the community does consume third-party content. Here in the forum there are several surveys in this regard with more than 90%. And I, in my personal experience, have never come across anyone who does not use any third-party content. Maybe some very casual gamer I suppose.
Survey on this website are far from statistically valid, as is your anecdotal evidence. Yes, lots of people use 3pp. But if “most” of the community did, kobold press, mcdm, et al would be much larger operations than they are. (Arguably, they deserve to be bigger, they make good stuff.)
We know only 20ish are making more than 750k/year. Round that up to 1M, and we’re at 20m/year. And D&D is making more like 150M. Yes, people who but 3pp are also buying WotC, but that same person is probably buying from multiple 3pp. 3pp are just not that big of a slice of the pie.
I’d argue, actually most people don’t even know of the existence of 3pp. And a smaller subset of those actually use them. There are lots and lots of people buying a starter set at target who play and don’t ever know about other publishers. (Maybe you want to deride them as casuals, but they are still players.) Maybe they upgrade and buy the PHB on Amazon, or go to a Barnes and noble, where they might see a book from another system. Some will pick it up and explore that new system. Some will pick it up, realize it’s not D&D and put it back down, some won’t even pick it up.
This isn’t to say the community shouldn’t stand up for 3pp and against the awful 1.1, and continue to make 1.2 the best we can. It’s good that we did, and that WotC are re-thinking their strategy. And I want for my fellow gamers who enjoy 3pp (as I, myself, do) to keep on enjoying them. It’s just, 3pp aren’t that widely used.
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I understand the controversy of the OGL. I can see what the community is trying to do. But unsubscribing from the great tools that D&D Beyond offers is so ridiculous. The fact that people are willing to sacrifice helpful D&D tools just to put out their opinion is, in my eyes, over-the-top. Why does it matter where your money goes? The D&D Beyond website hasn't changed at all and dozens of D&D YouTubers are basically rebelling against the website. Why? I haven't seen a YouTuber say that they actually prefer paper character sheets because, let's be honest, nobody does. Digital character sheets, stat blocks, and combat trackers are so useful, and even D&D players who don't make 3rd party content are unsubscribing and are refusing to buy any more official D&D products, for no apparent reason that I understand.
I am going to get a lot of hate for this comment and I'm risking that just so I can have the answer: why?
_________________________________
EDIT:
I no longer need responses for this thread. I have gotten all the answers I need. Thank you for answering. Please do not bombard this thread with any more explanations, I understand.
Running a (homebrew) hexcrawl open-world campaign called In Thrall of the Lost, inspired by BotW and Skyrim.
This is the only language big corporations speak.
That doesn't answer my question.
Running a (homebrew) hexcrawl open-world campaign called In Thrall of the Lost, inspired by BotW and Skyrim.
It actually does, you're just not grasping the concept. A corporation's leadership looks at the bottom line, the money they effectively make, as such is their fiscal duty to their shareholders. There can be a lot said about the ethics of this judgement, but that is another debate entirely.
As such, any corporation doesn't care very greatly about losing a few customers here or there as long as they can make more money, assuming this also keeps the future of the company healthy and stable. Otherwise a balance must be struck. This also means a few loud voices aren't very interesting to a corporation, since to them the overall costumer numbers matter; not the loud ones.
Now, with that in mind, D&D Beyond is owned by WotC, and canceling subscriptions are a very short-term, fast method to express grievance, when your voice will not reach.
Effectively; yes, it thus matters where your money goes.
Sorry if I was being a bit closed-minded, but thanks for explaining that! I really do hope that people continue playing D&D, because the game itself is still great.
Running a (homebrew) hexcrawl open-world campaign called In Thrall of the Lost, inspired by BotW and Skyrim.
A lot of times it's the quality of their work relative to Hasbro.
Separately though, how does the OGL affect the average player who does not post any 3rd-party content but just plays a small campaign with their friends? What about your average DM who already has the rulebooks and doesn't need to buy anything more to run a game with their students? How does this OGL and WotC crisis affect those people?
Running a (homebrew) hexcrawl open-world campaign called In Thrall of the Lost, inspired by BotW and Skyrim.
It affects directly to VTTs, where a huge amount of players play. There are far more DnD players in VTT that irl
In theory, it is a message that companies will listen to. Ultimately, they're after your money (and that's true of multinational corps as well as your local mom & pop's, even if we tend to trust one more than the other), and by unsubbing, they get the message that you're serious.
The problem in this case is timing. It's a single-shot gun. Firing it at the wrong time is a complete waste. We're in that period now. WotC is ostensibly at the table and listening - and there's nothing to be gained. Unsubbing is effectively table pounding and saying that the negotiation isn't over, sit back down. Currently, they're at the table, looking at you, waiting for you to talk. Perhaps they're willing to listen, perhaps not, but that's not the time to be demanding attention - you've got it, such as it is. You wait until they declare the negotiations over, and if the final draft is not to your liking, then you do your dramatic unsubbing in the hopes that they reconsider and reopen negotiations.
Right now, all unsubbing does is tell WotC that you're a lost cause and there's no point listening to you. At best, it's unproductive and a waste of what you presumably thought was a worthwhile transaction, and at worst you're making things worse for everyone as WotC realises there is less incentive to negotiate.
Everyone needs to hold fire until it's actually useful. I get it that unsubbing is cathartic and is sticking it to the man, but be smart about it. Wait until it matters.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
In the case of the latter DM with no intentions to buy anything more...it doesn't. At all. He has what he needs, doesn't rely on the OGL at all, and so isn't affected except in the most contrived or minor ways (eh finding inspiration).
If players use any content (WotC or 3rd party), then they could be indirectly affect. Lack of competition would reduce quality, and that lack of competition could be caused by the OGL - if it's too overbearing, 3rd party could just not produce content for D&D and so the pressure to produce quality goods won't be there. As a result WotC products would likely worsen and 3rd party products will both worsen and decrease in number.
For the most part though, we won't be affected that much. Which is why 3rd parties and other media who profit from controversy are blowing certain things up to epic proportions despite them often being fairly standard legal stuff. I mean, it's good in a way, contracts and T's & C's have become too favourable to the corps, but the hysteria is being whipped up - nobody cared about similar language in the other hundreds of sets of T's & C's they've personally signed. Which, again, isn't to say they don't have a point - however, the spin is strong on both sides of this whirlwind.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
The only way they can go after Avrae, or AboveVTT for that matter, is shut off their access to the DDB APIs.
I sometimes forget how there are those involved in the community while the vast majority just enjoy the fruits from the tree they grow.
Perhaps some basic history might make for the best demonstration of how this works.
Wizards of the Coast created 4th edition, universally it was generally rejected by the community because... well, opinions may very but it was not very good.
Wizards of the Coast wisened up. Hired whole army of 3rd party content creators and designers to help them build 5th edition while simultaneously reaching out to the community for advice on how to make a version of the game everyone would like. Fast forward a couple of years later, we get 5e.
The community responds by adopting the new game. They make Youtube Channels, Shows like Critical Role, VTT support, DnDBeyond... the community grows by leaps and bounds, 50 million strong making Wizards of the Coast tons of money and creating a new future for D&D.
Suddenly they decide.. hey we don't need to community, they are making too much money off "our" franchise, so they start making cuts. They buyout DnDBeyond, try to push an OGL that effectively cuts 3rd party content creators out, announces their own VTT while trying to kill the ones the community created just to name a few of the money making schemes.
So what are they doing? Well they are cutting out the very community on which their success was built. Sure it doesn't directly effect you, you are not a contributor, not part of the community that builds the game, you simply sit back and enjoy all of the labor and effort that was made to create the community for you... but, many of us, myself include, understand why this situation is complete crap... and its why we are fighting it.
The reason DnDBeyond subscriptions are being canceled is that companies like Hasbro and WotC only listen when they are losing money as was the case when they made 4e...: They didnt ask anyone anything when they made that game, they just did what they thought would make the most money but what they failed to understand then and what they are failing to understand now is that they don't actually own D&D. They don't have control... We do.. the community. We dictate what Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro can and can't do with the game and if they don't do what we demand... we (the community) will shut them down financially.
So.. this whole thing.. its working as it should. If you love D&D and you want it to be a thing in the future, stop buying books, stop supporting DnD Beyond and join the Boycott and assure you WotC will do the right thing ...eventually. Every once in a while WotC just needs to be reminded of how things operate and re-learn this lesson.
actually, avrae was acquired by beyond, and so is owned by wotc, so they probably will not go after it at all
and basically because it was admitted they were looking at the canceling of subscriptions to see how the ogl 1.1 leak was affecting them
It is basically a measure of pressure. Do you ask why? Well, to put pressure on WoTC, simply. It's as simple as that. You don't have to be an economist to understand it. WoTC/HASBRO just bought DnD Beyond for $146.3M. What can do them more harm than a mass unsubscription? So that's the reason, putting pressure on WoTC. And do it where it hurts the most.
And it seems to be working.
If you are not going to buy anything else, or if you are not going to use third-party content, it does not affect you at all. It's obvious.
But it turns out that most of the community does consume third-party content. Here in the forum there are several surveys in this regard with more than 90%. And I, in my personal experience, have never come across anyone who does not use any third-party content. Maybe some very casual gamer I suppose.
Oh, and well, actually this OGL thing affects a lot of projects that have nothing to do with D&D. It is an open license and, therefore, for 23 years, many companies have used it to publish their content even if it had nothing to do with D&D. Fudge/FATE, is probably the most notable case. Although it's been years since they took everything out of the OGL. Maybe you're a casual D&D player, but maybe you're a longtime X game player who is somehow affected by the change in the OGL. Especially because of what OGL 1.1 said (which was when people unsubscribed en masse because it was a terrible document).
Where it can affect you is regarding the VTTs (even if you do not use third-party content), but that is another topic. Now, if you don't use them, it doesn't affect you of course.
I haven't canceled my sub but I am not buying any more books directly from this site for the forseeable future, and while that thought doesn't bring me joy I currently don't like the way things are headed and I have serious doubts this will be resolved in a decent way that can cause decent recovery.
I also fear for how they intend to use DDB subscriptions in the future based off this nonsense. While I am currently the DM of the current campaign, even prior to it, I was the one creating things for our campaign, the one buying books, and the one who had the master tier sub for the group. That was my choice and I don't regret it, I currently agree with the standing price at the moment. But if they increase the price and/or make it so that people in your campaign have to pay some sort of fee to access there characters I won't be using it any more... and I fear something like that will happen based off everything they are doing right now.
Depends on if they have shareholders. Public or private is a big difference.
While there are a few larger operations and business-oriented 3rd party publishers in the TTRPG 3rd party market, the overwhelming majority are small, often one-man operations. Very few people are getting rich publishing 3rd party material and even very successful businesses like MCDM for example make enough to keep the lights on so they can make more books.
This isn't a wealth-driven business, most of the people that operate these companies are in it for the hobby and are generally focused on supporting it. Wizards of the Coast is the only business in TTRPG's that is trying to figure out how to get rich off it and its why they are always the talk of the town.
Source?
Survey on this website are far from statistically valid, as is your anecdotal evidence.
Yes, lots of people use 3pp. But if “most” of the community did, kobold press, mcdm, et al would be much larger operations than they are. (Arguably, they deserve to be bigger, they make good stuff.)
We know only 20ish are making more than 750k/year. Round that up to 1M, and we’re at 20m/year. And D&D is making more like 150M. Yes, people who but 3pp are also buying WotC, but that same person is probably buying from multiple 3pp. 3pp are just not that big of a slice of the pie.
I’d argue, actually most people don’t even know of the existence of 3pp. And a smaller subset of those actually use them. There are lots and lots of people buying a starter set at target who play and don’t ever know about other publishers. (Maybe you want to deride them as casuals, but they are still players.) Maybe they upgrade and buy the PHB on Amazon, or go to a Barnes and noble, where they might see a book from another system. Some will pick it up and explore that new system. Some will pick it up, realize it’s not D&D and put it back down, some won’t even pick it up.
This isn’t to say the community shouldn’t stand up for 3pp and against the awful 1.1, and continue to make 1.2 the best we can. It’s good that we did, and that WotC are re-thinking their strategy. And I want for my fellow gamers who enjoy 3pp (as I, myself, do) to keep on enjoying them. It’s just, 3pp aren’t that widely used.