Recently, Nerd Immersion has made a video about how he suspects 1DD is going to get rid of the Open Gaming License. However, his video has a large amount of problems. Let me walk you through them.
1) He talks about how he has high-up and trustworthy sources giving him information on what is playing out with the Open Gaming License. However, he refuses to name any of the sources, and as such, the fact that he makes money from his video's views and views from the outlandishness of the video combines to make it so that he is more likely to make bold claims based off only a few sources because the way Youtube works incentivizes him to do so. To be honest, it makes trusting him and his unnamed sources a bit difficult to say the least.
2) He looks at an article about D&D being under-monetized and makes a bunch of rather wild conclusions based off it. For one, just because a company is making a decent amount of money doesn't mean that they couldn't make more. And yes, the article does go to show that Wizards of the Coast may be making some business changes, but nothing in the article says or even really implies that they will be drastically changing the Open Gaming License. All it goes to show is that business executives want to make money, which I think we already know.
3) The email is the most concerning thing in the video and it is a bit worrying to say the least. However, plenty of companies use non-disclosure agreements, and while that is concerning, it doesn't mark the end of the world. Also, NDAs may be scary, but my guess is that someone might use the condition of anonymity to leak information about their meeting with Wizards were they really, really, super concerned by it.
I mean, how many articles have you seen in newspapers where people who have signed these agreements speak on the condition of anonymity and don't get caught? I've seen quite a few, and to be honest, the fact that we haven't seen someone talk about meeting Wizards on this does make me wonder if the meeting and non-disclosure agreement really was as serious as Nerd Immersion thought. It is possible - if not likely - that Wizards of the Coast wanted to speak to important D&D content creators on a matter that is completely unrelated to the Open Gaming License, but still a sensitive matter.
All in all, while the prospect of Wizards of the Coast not extending the Open Gaming License is flustering to say the least, I would recommend you don't trust every random Youtube video you see. Especially when the company in question has explicitly said that they will continue to support third-party content creators.
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The only thing I'm certain of through all this is the fact that most people don't know how the business works. They have never listened to a shareholder meeting. Have never worked in even the mid tier of a corporation. Don't know how executives speak. Don't know how NDAs work and why they are used. And are largely just getting worked up by their own imagination.
As I've said, I like Nerd Immersion. I've watched many of his videos. But this one really missed the mark. The letter he read was an unprofessional mess. It showed that the writer(s) didn't understand the business entirely either. And it was mostly just someone venting their frustrations and fears. It could easily have just been someone with an axe to grind, or a group of people who are (understandably) concerned about the the future of their own business jumping to the worst case conclusions.
I get why third party creators, and many players, want answers. If I were them, I certainly wouldn't be planning a Kickstarter for 1DnD content any time soon. And 2024 is a long time to wait in limbo. So I understand the nail-biting.
But even in this video we see cases where people jumped to the wrong conclusions in the past. Sometimes journalists have to protect their sources. There's nothing inherently wrong with an anonymous source. But it then depends entirely on the public's trust in the journalist that presents the information, and the believability of that information itself. And this letter he read was so flawed in parts of its understanding of the business and legal issues involved, and was so full of bad arguments and exaggerations, that I can't take it seriously.
Of course WotC wants an NDA if they are going to discuss the future of their game and online platforms (Assuming that email is real in the first place). If the creators really want to know what's coming, they can find out. Sign the agreement, go to the meeting, and see. If it's good news, tell everyone we have nothing to worry about. If it's bad news, start writing for Pathfinder. You don't have to break the NDA, or even become an anonymous source, to show us clearly what you think of the planned changes. If we trust your opinion, then we'll have our answers too.
If every creator walks away from the meeting, gets on their platforms, and says to run far away from 1DnD now, WotC will get the message too. They'll either have to change their plans, or at least get more transparent. Right now though, everything is just speculation based on a very unconvincing letter and some misunderstood corporate speak.
To answer the question in the poll - Do I believe Nerd Immersion is worried? Yes. Do I believe he should be this worried based on the information he provided? No. I could be wrong. Six months from now everyone might be able to point and say 'look, the sky did fall!' But there's just not nearly enough actual facts to make me concerned yet.
I like nerd immersion but he is very much a news youtuber. When sharing his opinions they tend to be Strong Ideas and not developed beyond his own perspective. Strong click bait ideas get views and he has a likeable personality that makes you want to agree. However, He isn't always right and sometimes can't invest enough time to get a full picture. I believe there are a couple of actual bad opinions that are popular because they came through his channel during his growth period.
He's already made a new video back tracking due to the press release response from Wizards. Nerd Immersion wasn't the only ones crying about the end of 3rd party publishing so Wizards did issue a statement.
SOMEBODY is obfuscating the truth. & I don't know who. You don't, either.
So, if you MUST do some detective work...do it to everyone who has influence on this issue.
Fair enough, the reason I mostly just talked about Nerd Immersions video was because he was the only YouTuber with any semi-reasonable points. Everyone else was panicking about their anonymous sources telling them that the Open Game License would be completely eradicated. Doing "detective work" on them is hard because they are only reporting what their "sources" tell them and as long as we have no idea who their sources are, we can't really know whether those sources are trustworthy or not.
But anyways, we now know that the OGL is staying relatively intact. So these sources were (by and large) incorrect.
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He's already made a new video back tracking due to the press release response from Wizards. Nerd Immersion wasn't the only ones crying about the end of 3rd party publishing so Wizards did issue a statement.
There is a very solid chance his and other outcries caused them to shift direction to a more open license again.
SOMEBODY is obfuscating the truth. & I don't know who. You don't, either.
So, if you MUST do some detective work...do it to everyone who has influence on this issue.
Fair enough, the reason I mostly just talked about Nerd Immersions video was because he was the only YouTuber with any semi-reasonable points. Everyone else was panicking about their anonymous sources telling them that the Open Game License would be completely eradicated. Doing "detective work" on them is hard because they are only reporting what their "sources" tell them and as long as we have no idea who their sources are, we can't really know whether those sources are trustworthy or not.
But anyways, we now know that the OGL is staying relatively intact. So these sources were (by and large) incorrect.
Or they weren't incorrect and they changed their minds when there was a massive outcry.
There is a very solid chance his and other outcries caused them to shift direction to a more open license again.
There is a very, very unsolid chance that this is the case. If we're seriously going to start speculating about companies suddenly changing their business plans and lying about it, then I think we are making incredibly big assumptions. Wizards of the Coast has no reason to remove the Open Game License, and almost all of the YouTubers saying they would were basically just spreading wild speculation.
There is a very solid chance his and other outcries caused them to shift direction to a more open license again.
There is a very, very unsolid chance that this is the case. If we're seriously going to start speculating about companies suddenly changing their business plans and lying about it, then I think we are making incredibly big assumptions. Wizards of the Coast has no reason to remove the Open Game License, and almost all of the YouTubers saying they would were basically just spreading wild speculation.
Thanks for your wild speculation on the event. I find it much less likely than my wild speculation.
Thanks for your wild speculation on the event. I find it much less likely than my wild speculation.
Just to clarify, I don't think you were spreading wild speculation. What I do think is that some of the YouTubers talking about this were spreading wild speculation and making assumptions based off their information is faulty to say the least.
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Thanks for your wild speculation on the event. I find it much less likely than my wild speculation.
Just to clarify, I don't think you were spreading wild speculation. What I do think is that some of the YouTubers talking about this were spreading wild speculation and making assumptions based off their information is faulty to say the least.
You should thank all the YouTubers that feared the worst, because it forced WotC to respond with their actual intent. The last thing you want when someone has power over your future is for them to vague and ambiguous about it. Obviously if WotC says nothing everyone has to suspect the worst. Especially after that investors meeting. It’s easy to become concerned when someone says that something that makes tons of money is under monetized. I start wondering where do they believe they can make more money? I have concerns and I’m only a consumer. I’m sure anyone making a living off of d&d products and content would have more concerns.
You should thank all the YouTubers that feared the worst, because it forced WotC to respond with their actual intent. The last thing you want when someone has power over your future is for them to vague and ambiguous about it. Obviously if WotC says nothing everyone has to suspect the worst. Especially after that investors meeting. It’s easy to become concerned when someone says that something that makes tons of money is under monetized. I start wondering where do they believe they can make more money? I have concerns and I’m only a consumer. I’m sure anyone making a living off of d&d products and content would have more concerns.
I guess I see what you mean there. However, Wizards of the Coast's initial response wasn't actually that vague; They explicitly said that they would continue to support third-party publishers. And when people panicked even more because they weren't giving massive amounts of information of future business decisions, they disclosed what they were doing and put an end to the rumors.
I do agree with you that it is good and important that they responded to their customers' concerns. However, the concerns were overblown and they caused lots of panic and angry discourse. If people had taken their concerns directly to Wizards, then this would be fine. But they didn't, and as such, I will never thank individuals for causing a public panic. These "leaks" probably (note the probably) did not inspire Wizards to change their plans for this anyways. All they did was make sure the plans were revealed a bit earlier.
Edit: The fact that D&D is under-monetized isn't something to be super concerned about and it isn't really related to the Open Game License. Just because Wizards is making a lot of money off D&D doesn't mean it isn't under monetized, and corporate officials using corporate language really isn't that unusual.
I guess I see what you mean there. However, Wizards of the Coast's initial response wasn't actually that vague; They explicitly said that they would continue to support third-party publishers. And when people panicked even more because they weren't giving massive amounts of information of future business decisions, they disclosed what they were doing and put an end to the rumors.
I do agree with you that it is good and important that they responded to their customers' concerns. However, the concerns were overblown and they caused lots of panic and angry discourse. If people had taken their concerns directly to Wizards, then this would be fine. But they didn't, and as such, I will never thank individuals for causing a public panic. These "leaks" probably (note the probably) did not inspire Wizards to change their plans for this anyways. All they did was make sure the plans were revealed a bit earlier.
Edit: The fact that D&D is under-monetized isn't something to be super concerned about and it isn't really related to the Open Game License. Just because Wizards is making a lot of money off D&D doesn't mean it isn't under monetized, and corporate officials using corporate language really isn't that unusual.
Being “under monetized” directly links to the OGL, which is why moving forward WotC is demanding companies that are make a certain amount from OGL creations pat royalties. When they only initially stated they would continue to support content creators they were far too ambiguous. Considering they are requiring royalties at a certain dollar amount it wasn’t a wild assumption many made that it’s possible they will push all 3rd party through DMs guild. The YouTubers weren’t making wild accusations. They were voicing their concerns. Many of them don’t have a direct line to WotC. It is also something to worry about as typical consumer. It could change the way you purchase your products.
Being “under monetized” directly links to the OGL, which is why moving forward WotC is demanding companies that are make a certain amount from OGL creations pat royalties. When they only initially stated they would continue to support content creators they were far too ambiguous. Considering they are requiring royalties at a certain dollar amount it wasn’t a wild assumption many made that it’s possible they will push all 3rd party through DMs guild. The YouTubers weren’t making wild accusations. They were voicing their concerns. Many of them don’t have a direct line to WotC. It is also something to worry about as typical consumer. It could change the way you purchase your products.
It really wasn't reasonable to assume that the Open Game License was going to be completely eradicated, when all it has gotten is a minor tweak. I spent hours watching the YouTube videos about this, approximately 0 of them were anywhere close to the mark. In other words, their concerns were mostly about things that wouldn't be affected or wouldn't happen.
Yes, the Open Game License has changed a bit. However, the Youtubers speculating about a lot worse things happening to it were very much wrong. As TreantMonk said, the only reason the mild modifications to the Open Game License were a big deal was because all this speculation and worry made it one.
Thanks for your wild speculation on the event. I find it much less likely than my wild speculation.
Just to clarify, I don't think you were spreading wild speculation. What I do think is that some of the YouTubers talking about this were spreading wild speculation and making assumptions based off their information is faulty to say the least.
You should thank all the YouTubers that feared the worst, because it forced WotC to respond with their actual intent. The last thing you want when someone has power over your future is for them to vague and ambiguous about it. Obviously if WotC says nothing everyone has to suspect the worst. Especially after that investors meeting. It’s easy to become concerned when someone says that something that makes tons of money is under monetized. I start wondering where do they believe they can make more money? I have concerns and I’m only a consumer. I’m sure anyone making a living off of d&d products and content would have more concerns.
No, that's not logical.
It WotC remained silent, then the only reasonable conclusion is the company has nothing to say. Which means nothing changes. SRD 5.1 (including OGL 1.0a) would remain in effect, and, since One D&D is backwards compatible, we can continue using it to write compatible content.
There would be some exceptions, naturally. We know there are new conditions, so a new OGL and SRD would be necessary to use them. Same thing for new versions of monsters, and for designing subclasses using the new 3/6/10/14 schedule. I mean, some classes (barbarian, druid, and wizard) would be unaffected. But most would be off-limits. Technically, you can't even write subclasses for the artificer under the OGL. It's not covered by the SRD5.
Apparently, everyone forgot that 1.0a came out in 2016. We went two years without an OGL for 5th edition. Being loud and making a lot of noise may have forced WotC's hand, and you might think that's a good thing. But I don't. Haste makes waste. Even with almost two years of lead time, forcing them to work ahead of schedule─on your timetable, solely to keep you happy─could result in an inferior product.
Thanks for your wild speculation on the event. I find it much less likely than my wild speculation.
Just to clarify, I don't think you were spreading wild speculation. What I do think is that some of the YouTubers talking about this were spreading wild speculation and making assumptions based off their information is faulty to say the least.
You should thank all the YouTubers that feared the worst, because it forced WotC to respond with their actual intent. The last thing you want when someone has power over your future is for them to vague and ambiguous about it. Obviously if WotC says nothing everyone has to suspect the worst. Especially after that investors meeting. It’s easy to become concerned when someone says that something that makes tons of money is under monetized. I start wondering where do they believe they can make more money? I have concerns and I’m only a consumer. I’m sure anyone making a living off of d&d products and content would have more concerns.
No, that's not logical.
It WotC remained silent, then the only reasonable conclusion is the company has nothing to say. Which means nothing changes. SRD 5.1 (including OGL 1.0a) would remain in effect, and, since One D&D is backwards compatible, we can continue using it to write compatible content.
There would be some exceptions, naturally. We know there are new conditions, so a new OGL and SRD would be necessary to use them. Same thing for new versions of monsters, and for designing subclasses using the new 3/6/10/14 schedule. I mean, some classes (barbarian, druid, and wizard) would be unaffected. But most would be off-limits. Technically, you can't even write subclasses for the artificer under the OGL. It's not covered by the SRD5.
Apparently, everyone forgot that 1.0a came out in 2016. We went two years without an OGL for 5th edition. Being loud and making a lot of noise may have forced WotC's hand, and you might think that's a good thing. But I don't. Haste makes waste. Even with almost two years of lead time, forcing them to work ahead of schedule─on your timetable, solely to keep you happy─could result in an inferior product.
No one is asking for haste. What they wanted was transparency. Thankfully they got some. People have lives based around supporting the game. They needed to know if they need to pivot to another game or career. The idea that staying quiet means nothing is going to change is ridiculous. If the plan was to force all 3rd party creators to pay royalties or create only through DMs guild the best option as a business is to not tell them until your product is out. The last thing you want to do is tell these 3rd party developers that it might be best to create your own core game over the next two years, because if you decide to use ours we want half.
Also your example of the OGL not being out at the start of 5e is flawed because 4e version of OGL, I don’t know what it was called ,was so bad many weren’t making content for re. So many people are making a living off 5e, because the OGL allowed them to legally do it. Now if 1dnd comes out with no updated OGL for 2 years that’s 2 years content creators couldn't legally make things for 1dnd. They could continue to make stuff for 5e under the current OGL and hope it’s compatible enough people would still purchase it. No classes would be because 1dnd class progression is changing. Without a new OGL they couldn’t sell classes based on the new format legally.
Thankfully WotC have now been more transparent with their future plans with the OGL. Mainly because of outcry.
No one is asking for haste. What they wanted was transparency. Thankfully they got some. People have lives based around supporting the game. They needed to know if they need to pivot to another game or career. The idea that staying quiet means nothing is going to change is ridiculous. If the plan was to force all 3rd party creators to pay royalties or create only through DMs guild the best option as a business is to not tell them until your product is out. The last thing you want to do is tell these 3rd party developers that it might be best to create your own core game over the next two years, because if you decide to use ours we want half.
Also your example of the OGL not being out at the start of 5e is flawed because 4e version of OGL, I don’t know what it was called ,was so bad many weren’t making content for re. So many people are making a living off 5e, because the OGL allowed them to legally do it. Now if 1dnd comes out with no updated OGL for 2 years that’s 2 years content creators couldn't legally make things for 1dnd. They could continue to make stuff for 5e under the current OGL and hope it’s compatible enough people would still purchase it. No classes would be because 1dnd class progression is changing. Without a new OGL they couldn’t sell classes based on the new format legally.
Thankfully WotC have now been more transparent with their future plans with the OGL. Mainly because of outcry.
In the same post, you say that no one was asking for haste and then write a paragraph about why haste is necessary. Anyways, if all Wizards says nothing, it probably does indicate that there won't be any major changes. When companies want to do something that would make a large portion of their fan-base super angry and panicky and maybe even quit the game, then they would typically say something about it to see how it might go over with their fans. So yes, silence from the company in question typically indicates that the status quo remains because big business decisions are typically announced or discussed.
And yeah, we know that forcing royalties on every 3PP publisher would be bad... But there is also no way you can effectively do that and it would be such a stupid move that the likelihood of it actually happening is near 0. You say you are happy for the transparency Wizards of the Coast is giving you on this, yet you still choose to attack them over hypothetical situations that they literally told you will not occur.
PS. More transparency is given in a FAQ the moderator team shared HERE.
I can't see too many changes to the OGL coming down the pipeline. Right now, a lot of the resurgence for DnD comes from Critical Role and outside groups who are creating their own campaigns, cartoons, etc. off of the base game. If Wizards somehow limits or changes the ability for these people to di these things they would be shooting themselves in the foot. On top of that, a lot of the DnD people have close relationships with some of these outside groups (ie. Critical Role, Kobold Press).
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Recently, Nerd Immersion has made a video about how he suspects 1DD is going to get rid of the Open Gaming License. However, his video has a large amount of problems. Let me walk you through them.
1) He talks about how he has high-up and trustworthy sources giving him information on what is playing out with the Open Gaming License. However, he refuses to name any of the sources, and as such, the fact that he makes money from his video's views and views from the outlandishness of the video combines to make it so that he is more likely to make bold claims based off only a few sources because the way Youtube works incentivizes him to do so. To be honest, it makes trusting him and his unnamed sources a bit difficult to say the least.
2) He looks at an article about D&D being under-monetized and makes a bunch of rather wild conclusions based off it. For one, just because a company is making a decent amount of money doesn't mean that they couldn't make more. And yes, the article does go to show that Wizards of the Coast may be making some business changes, but nothing in the article says or even really implies that they will be drastically changing the Open Gaming License. All it goes to show is that business executives want to make money, which I think we already know.
3) The email is the most concerning thing in the video and it is a bit worrying to say the least. However, plenty of companies use non-disclosure agreements, and while that is concerning, it doesn't mark the end of the world. Also, NDAs may be scary, but my guess is that someone might use the condition of anonymity to leak information about their meeting with Wizards were they really, really, super concerned by it.
I mean, how many articles have you seen in newspapers where people who have signed these agreements speak on the condition of anonymity and don't get caught? I've seen quite a few, and to be honest, the fact that we haven't seen someone talk about meeting Wizards on this does make me wonder if the meeting and non-disclosure agreement really was as serious as Nerd Immersion thought. It is possible - if not likely - that Wizards of the Coast wanted to speak to important D&D content creators on a matter that is completely unrelated to the Open Gaming License, but still a sensitive matter.
All in all, while the prospect of Wizards of the Coast not extending the Open Gaming License is flustering to say the least, I would recommend you don't trust every random Youtube video you see. Especially when the company in question has explicitly said that they will continue to support third-party content creators.
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HERE.The only thing I'm certain of through all this is the fact that most people don't know how the business works. They have never listened to a shareholder meeting. Have never worked in even the mid tier of a corporation. Don't know how executives speak. Don't know how NDAs work and why they are used. And are largely just getting worked up by their own imagination.
As I've said, I like Nerd Immersion. I've watched many of his videos. But this one really missed the mark. The letter he read was an unprofessional mess. It showed that the writer(s) didn't understand the business entirely either. And it was mostly just someone venting their frustrations and fears. It could easily have just been someone with an axe to grind, or a group of people who are (understandably) concerned about the the future of their own business jumping to the worst case conclusions.
I get why third party creators, and many players, want answers. If I were them, I certainly wouldn't be planning a Kickstarter for 1DnD content any time soon. And 2024 is a long time to wait in limbo. So I understand the nail-biting.
But even in this video we see cases where people jumped to the wrong conclusions in the past. Sometimes journalists have to protect their sources. There's nothing inherently wrong with an anonymous source. But it then depends entirely on the public's trust in the journalist that presents the information, and the believability of that information itself. And this letter he read was so flawed in parts of its understanding of the business and legal issues involved, and was so full of bad arguments and exaggerations, that I can't take it seriously.
Of course WotC wants an NDA if they are going to discuss the future of their game and online platforms (Assuming that email is real in the first place). If the creators really want to know what's coming, they can find out. Sign the agreement, go to the meeting, and see. If it's good news, tell everyone we have nothing to worry about. If it's bad news, start writing for Pathfinder. You don't have to break the NDA, or even become an anonymous source, to show us clearly what you think of the planned changes. If we trust your opinion, then we'll have our answers too.
If every creator walks away from the meeting, gets on their platforms, and says to run far away from 1DnD now, WotC will get the message too. They'll either have to change their plans, or at least get more transparent. Right now though, everything is just speculation based on a very unconvincing letter and some misunderstood corporate speak.
To answer the question in the poll - Do I believe Nerd Immersion is worried? Yes. Do I believe he should be this worried based on the information he provided? No. I could be wrong. Six months from now everyone might be able to point and say 'look, the sky did fall!' But there's just not nearly enough actual facts to make me concerned yet.
I like nerd immersion but he is very much a news youtuber. When sharing his opinions they tend to be Strong Ideas and not developed beyond his own perspective. Strong click bait ideas get views and he has a likeable personality that makes you want to agree. However, He isn't always right and sometimes can't invest enough time to get a full picture. I believe there are a couple of actual bad opinions that are popular because they came through his channel during his growth period.
It's not him that leaves me with a suspicious feeling.
It's the fact that this "leak" came from DMSGuild creators, who *could* be starting shit to get revenge for WoTC's steadily increasing cuts of sales.
Griffon's Saddlebag & Indestructiboy are the ones to investigate if you must.
BUT...
Don't presume guilt of anyone. WotC, DMSGuild Creators, Ted, or anyone else.
SOMEBODY is obfuscating the truth. & I don't know who. You don't, either.
So, if you MUST do some detective work...do it to everyone who has influence on this issue.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
He's already made a new video back tracking due to the press release response from Wizards. Nerd Immersion wasn't the only ones crying about the end of 3rd party publishing so Wizards did issue a statement.
Fair enough, the reason I mostly just talked about Nerd Immersions video was because he was the only YouTuber with any semi-reasonable points. Everyone else was panicking about their anonymous sources telling them that the Open Game License would be completely eradicated. Doing "detective work" on them is hard because they are only reporting what their "sources" tell them and as long as we have no idea who their sources are, we can't really know whether those sources are trustworthy or not.
But anyways, we now know that the OGL is staying relatively intact. So these sources were (by and large) incorrect.
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HERE.There is a very solid chance his and other outcries caused them to shift direction to a more open license again.
Or they weren't incorrect and they changed their minds when there was a massive outcry.
There is a very, very unsolid chance that this is the case. If we're seriously going to start speculating about companies suddenly changing their business plans and lying about it, then I think we are making incredibly big assumptions. Wizards of the Coast has no reason to remove the Open Game License, and almost all of the YouTubers saying they would were basically just spreading wild speculation.
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HERE.Thanks for your wild speculation on the event. I find it much less likely than my wild speculation.
Just to clarify, I don't think you were spreading wild speculation. What I do think is that some of the YouTubers talking about this were spreading wild speculation and making assumptions based off their information is faulty to say the least.
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HERE.You should thank all the YouTubers that feared the worst, because it forced WotC to respond with their actual intent. The last thing you want when someone has power over your future is for them to vague and ambiguous about it. Obviously if WotC says nothing everyone has to suspect the worst. Especially after that investors meeting. It’s easy to become concerned when someone says that something that makes tons of money is under monetized. I start wondering where do they believe they can make more money? I have concerns and I’m only a consumer. I’m sure anyone making a living off of d&d products and content would have more concerns.
I guess I see what you mean there. However, Wizards of the Coast's initial response wasn't actually that vague; They explicitly said that they would continue to support third-party publishers. And when people panicked even more because they weren't giving massive amounts of information of future business decisions, they disclosed what they were doing and put an end to the rumors.
I do agree with you that it is good and important that they responded to their customers' concerns. However, the concerns were overblown and they caused lots of panic and angry discourse. If people had taken their concerns directly to Wizards, then this would be fine. But they didn't, and as such, I will never thank individuals for causing a public panic. These "leaks" probably (note the probably) did not inspire Wizards to change their plans for this anyways. All they did was make sure the plans were revealed a bit earlier.
Edit: The fact that D&D is under-monetized isn't something to be super concerned about and it isn't really related to the Open Game License. Just because Wizards is making a lot of money off D&D doesn't mean it isn't under monetized, and corporate officials using corporate language really isn't that unusual.
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HERE.Being “under monetized” directly links to the OGL, which is why moving forward WotC is demanding companies that are make a certain amount from OGL creations pat royalties. When they only initially stated they would continue to support content creators they were far too ambiguous. Considering they are requiring royalties at a certain dollar amount it wasn’t a wild assumption many made that it’s possible they will push all 3rd party through DMs guild. The YouTubers weren’t making wild accusations. They were voicing their concerns. Many of them don’t have a direct line to WotC. It is also something to worry about as typical consumer. It could change the way you purchase your products.
It really wasn't reasonable to assume that the Open Game License was going to be completely eradicated, when all it has gotten is a minor tweak. I spent hours watching the YouTube videos about this, approximately 0 of them were anywhere close to the mark. In other words, their concerns were mostly about things that wouldn't be affected or wouldn't happen.
Yes, the Open Game License has changed a bit. However, the Youtubers speculating about a lot worse things happening to it were very much wrong. As TreantMonk said, the only reason the mild modifications to the Open Game License were a big deal was because all this speculation and worry made it one.
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HERE.No, that's not logical.
It WotC remained silent, then the only reasonable conclusion is the company has nothing to say. Which means nothing changes. SRD 5.1 (including OGL 1.0a) would remain in effect, and, since One D&D is backwards compatible, we can continue using it to write compatible content.
There would be some exceptions, naturally. We know there are new conditions, so a new OGL and SRD would be necessary to use them. Same thing for new versions of monsters, and for designing subclasses using the new 3/6/10/14 schedule. I mean, some classes (barbarian, druid, and wizard) would be unaffected. But most would be off-limits. Technically, you can't even write subclasses for the artificer under the OGL. It's not covered by the SRD5.
Apparently, everyone forgot that 1.0a came out in 2016. We went two years without an OGL for 5th edition. Being loud and making a lot of noise may have forced WotC's hand, and you might think that's a good thing. But I don't. Haste makes waste. Even with almost two years of lead time, forcing them to work ahead of schedule─on your timetable, solely to keep you happy─could result in an inferior product.
No one is asking for haste. What they wanted was transparency. Thankfully they got some. People have lives based around supporting the game. They needed to know if they need to pivot to another game or career. The idea that staying quiet means nothing is going to change is ridiculous. If the plan was to force all 3rd party creators to pay royalties or create only through DMs guild the best option as a business is to not tell them until your product is out. The last thing you want to do is tell these 3rd party developers that it might be best to create your own core game over the next two years, because if you decide to use ours we want half.
Also your example of the OGL not being out at the start of 5e is flawed because 4e version of OGL, I don’t know what it was called ,was so bad many weren’t making content for re. So many people are making a living off 5e, because the OGL allowed them to legally do it. Now if 1dnd comes out with no updated OGL for 2 years that’s 2 years content creators couldn't legally make things for 1dnd. They could continue to make stuff for 5e under the current OGL and hope it’s compatible enough people would still purchase it. No classes would be because 1dnd class progression is changing. Without a new OGL they couldn’t sell classes based on the new format legally.
Thankfully WotC have now been more transparent with their future plans with the OGL. Mainly because of outcry.
In the same post, you say that no one was asking for haste and then write a paragraph about why haste is necessary. Anyways, if all Wizards says nothing, it probably does indicate that there won't be any major changes. When companies want to do something that would make a large portion of their fan-base super angry and panicky and maybe even quit the game, then they would typically say something about it to see how it might go over with their fans. So yes, silence from the company in question typically indicates that the status quo remains because big business decisions are typically announced or discussed.
And yeah, we know that forcing royalties on every 3PP publisher would be bad... But there is also no way you can effectively do that and it would be such a stupid move that the likelihood of it actually happening is near 0. You say you are happy for the transparency Wizards of the Coast is giving you on this, yet you still choose to attack them over hypothetical situations that they literally told you will not occur.
PS. More transparency is given in a FAQ the moderator team shared HERE.
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HERE.I can't see too many changes to the OGL coming down the pipeline. Right now, a lot of the resurgence for DnD comes from Critical Role and outside groups who are creating their own campaigns, cartoons, etc. off of the base game. If Wizards somehow limits or changes the ability for these people to di these things they would be shooting themselves in the foot. On top of that, a lot of the DnD people have close relationships with some of these outside groups (ie. Critical Role, Kobold Press).