There is a stereotypical image of Dungeons & Dragons players. These social outcasts sit around a table, often placed in a basement, and create fantastical stories involving, well, Dragons, more often or not, in a Dungeon. This has been portrayed many times in popular media, usually putting them as people who you wouldn't want to be associated with.
But recent media has improved their image. And yes, back in my teens, I was exactly like this. We did meet in the basement of a friends house where we created our own stories that lasted for years. Friends came and went between the group and we spent many a weekend down dungeons, in swamps or flying between the stars, or... well just anywhere our imagination took us. It was a time that started midday on a Saturday, and a brief stop in the evening for a trip down the local chippy, before resuming into the small hours or even in the middle of the next day.
So what do these quiet, unassuming people do when they're not sitting huddled up? Do they venture out into the real world. Well, lets leave the world of LARPing alone, but consider instead the world of business.
Behind every game are a set of rules. And behind every set of rules is a publisher who made and sold them. The biggest of which, back in the day, was Gary Gygax and TSR, the creator and publishers of Dungeons and Dragons. OK, the story is a little more complicated than that, but through a series of mergers, acquisitions and the usual business shenanigans, the current owner/publisher is Wizards of the Coast, now a subsidiary of Hasbro.
And for the past few weeks there has been an uproar across the Internet as changes to the gaming system of D&D had been proposed which affected all players, and future players of the games. Way back in the depths of time (2000), WotC published the Open Game License version 1.0a to release the rights to the D&D third edition to publishers to make their own content for the games. And many did. This has allowed the game to flourish. To be used in stories, campaign, be made into Youtube shows and cartoons, and eventually up to TV series and, due for release in March, a big budget movie.
But at the start of the year, WotC threw out a bit of a storm where they wanted to revoke this license and introduce a new one. One which wanted to real in some of the money that people were making on their intellectual property with the hope of cashing in, and nobody was surprised when it all blew up in their faces. WotC initially said they wanted to prevent people from using it in blockchains, NFTs, and undesirable content. But the way they wrote the clauses had such a wide reaching impact that players and publishers alike took to the streets with torches and pitchforks to protest. A thousand memes were produced, a thousand voices in protest and people started to create their own license. How dare they withdraw their rights to the game. The initial license was supposed to be in perpetuity. But this revocation meant that people could lose their income. Could lose their jobs. Could lose their fun.
- The first change was that the new OGL was that a company who created works under the new OGL v1.1 would have to report the works they are creating to WotC, and if over $50,000 is generated, the revenue would also have to be reported. The creators making over $750,000 on their OGL-licensed Works would then have to pay a royalty of 20-25% on the excess amount. The royalty is higher on products sold to the trade than on Kickstarter-funded products. Either percentage is far higher than conventional licensing royalties, and would substantially dissuade publishing of any significant quantities of OGL content by a single publisher.
- A second, more controversial, provision of OGL v1.1 grants ownership of the OGL works to their creator, but gives WotC the perpetual, irrevocable right to use their works in any way it sees fit without payment.
- A third asserts restriction was that despite granting "perpetual" rights to use the game mechanics in products created under it, is no longer in effect and will be replaced by the new license, which WotC can revise with 30-day notice.
- A fourth prevents commercial publication for virtual tabletop platforms. Hasbro purchased digital roleplaying companion D&D Beyond from Fandom last year and wanted to restrict access because this would be the focus of their forthcoming push into the digital market.
- Finally, a fifth change would have required OGL publishers to rapidly accept the new terms or cease selling all OGL products.
As you can imagine this was a storm of unimaginable consequences. Garnering thousands of signatures on petitions, the formation of other gaming licenses that publishers flocked to. It was a storm like no other.
The pressure grew too much. Hasbro caved.
Come not between a gamer and their enjoyment. For you will feel a wrath so mighty that your very bones will shatter under the thousand footfalls of the revolting geeks.