Mastodawn

Electronic Frontier Foundation Jan 12, 2023

D&D critically fails its community: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/01/beware-gifts-dragons-how-dds-open-gaming-license-may-have-become-trap-creators

Beware the Gifts of Dragons: How D&D’s Open Gaming License May Have Become a Trap for Creators

The company that owns Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is planning to revoke the open license that has, since the year 2000, applied to a wide range of unofficial, commercial products that build on the mechanics of the game.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Show thread

rocky_mount Jan 12, 2023

@eff @AshleyMayWrites I'm hoping to get your take on this.

Show thread

Ashley May (she/her)Jan 12, 2023

@rocky_mount @eff Wooo here we go...

WotC's new CEO thinks D&D hasn't been properly monetized, which is kinda true. But she imagines them like EA, or Ubisoft, and that they need to shove every bit of DLC they can down people's throats.

In truth, they're the console, not the game. The PEOPLE make the games, and if you screw with them enough, they'll find another console to run it on. Which is exactly what they're doing right now in droves.

Show thread

Ashley May (she/her)

@rocky_mount @eff
They've decided to turn old supporters into direct competition (like Kobold Press) and make previously more relaxed competitors step up their game hard (like Paizo). WotC said "no more cooperation" and thought they'd start raking in licensing fees, but these companies called their bluff, said "lol k", and are setting up to start chipping away at D&D's market share.

Show thread

Ashley May (she/her)Jan 12, 2023

@rocky_mount @eff
Now left in the middle are the little people, like me, and a great many of my OGL-producing friends. Where do we go? We can't hang our future on something as scary as OGL1.1. Do we learn new systems? What's "the" next system? What will their new licenses look like when they launch? It's terrifying. And I've got nobody to be mad at but WotC.