Wizards Of The Coast Reveals New Open Game License Plans
After more than a week of community uproar about changes to the Open Gaming License, WotC revealed details about their plans for the future.
What a month week it’s been for tabletop roleplaying games and the whole idea of Open Gaming Licenses. With community anger swelling, people canceling their D&D Beyond accounts, and demanding answers, Wizards of the Coast finally released details about their new Open Game License while also attempting to answer questions about the future of the RPG community that has been raised in the past week.
If you haven’t been following along, these questions were raised after a leaked copy of a revised “OGL 1.1” circulated through the community. Hitting news outlets, community creators, and more. The desire for updates crashed WotC’s servers at one point.
New Open Game License Restrictions
New restrictions aimed at 3rd party publishers were among the most significant points of contention. Language in the “OGL 1.1” outlined that WotC “never intended to subsidize competitors.” And in light of that, they would be adding a 25% royalty to people making more than $750,000. It didn’t matter if it was done through traditional publishing or crowdfunding. Though Kickstarter’s director of games pointed out that KS had negotiated for only a 20% royalty from WotC.
In the wake of that news, the community spoke out loudly. Amid silence from Wizards of the Coast, many prominent publishers announced new systems or new licenses. Ones that wouldn’t be dependent on WotC’s good graces.
Today, however, Wizards released an update revealing their plans to change the Open Game License moving forward. And while they are walking back some of the changes, it remains clear that they are committed to moving forward with an updated OGL.
WotC Reveals Update On The Open Game License
Per WotC’s announcement, a new OGL is coming at some point in the future. And that they want to “cover only content for TTRPGs … [meaning] other expressions, such as educational and charitable campaigns, livestreams, cosplay, VTT-uses, etc., will remain unaffected by any OGL update.”
But at the same time, WotC’s announcement touched on the OGL 1.0a without providing any specific answers (emphasis ours):
“Content already released under 1.0a will also remain unaffected.”
This seems to imply that WotC’s proposed changes would affect content not already released under 1.0a. Many in the community have wondered about this. Additionally, WotC also walked back their plans for the “royalty structure” initially proposed in the leaked document. As well as stating that the new OGL won’t include the language surrounding ownership of 3rd-party content:
“Under any new OGL, you will own the content you create. We won’t.”
The lack of royalties and the specific call out of “VTT-uses” makes it seem like OGL 1.1 had provisions stating that “non-static media” would not be covered by the new OGL 1.1. But, there are no details on how WotC will be accomplishing that. Per WotC, the new OGL won’t be released today, but it is coming in the future. There’s no backing down.
Spinning Into The Future
WotC’s update also includes some incredible rewrites to history. As Linda Codega at Gizmodo, who initially broke the story of the leaked OGL 1.1, puts it in their article about the updates:
“Wizards of the Coast is doing some incredible spin doctoring in order to lay the groundwork to try to salvage the situation that they find themselves in. The company would love for you to think that this is all part of the plan, but none of this was part of any plan.
The drafts that io9 received were not a thought experiment. They were intended to gauge a reaction, but from individual publishers that Wizards could silence with an NDA, not from the public at large. For all intents and purposes, the OGL 1.1 that was leaked to the press was supposed to go forward.”
Many creators have said that the “early drafts” were sent around as part of contracts to be signed.
Fans Speak with Their Wallets
Part of what drove fans to cancel their D&D Beyond subscriptions was their desire to make their voices heard by the company’s leadership. Speaking with their wallets, which, according to a reported insider, is the only thing that leadership will listen to.
And WotC’s own announcement spends as much time talking about the upcoming films, television, and digital games, as it does any specifics regarding the OGL 1.0a. They also go out of their way to speak to the community ire.
“[Y] ou’re going to hear people say that they won, and we lost because making your voices heard forced us to change our plans. Those people will only be half right. They won—and so did we.”
Some commenters have said this comes off as reading like dril tweet in real life.
joke’s on you; i actually love being body slammed by one dozen perfect wrestlers. and my mouth isn’t filled with bloodm, it’s victory wine
— wint (@dril) April 28, 2014
Advertisement
Whatever else happens, it’s clear these changes wouldn’t have happened without tremendous pressure and action from the community. As it says on page 1 of the Player’s Handbook: Above all else, D&D is yours.
