Gamer Geek thread: D & D and the new OGL dustup

Put enough corporate lawyers on retainer on it and they'll find a way. Or at least they'll make it so expensive to fight that smaller third party gaming companies are unable to afford the long legal wrangle to defeat them.

I have zero doubt that the mass blowback from their customer base was not expected. I also have no doubt that the Hasbro Board of Directors really does not care how loud the gamers protest the corporation's drive to increase profits and the price of their stock. This is far from over, no matter what Wizard's PR is saying now.

 

Oh yeah, I don't think they'll stop their efforts here - just that they'll more slowly introduce them. It's also a little comical how far behind the curve they are with this, since I feel like we're at peek backlash for microtransactions and/or monthly subscription fees.

 

The thing is that there is a vast horde of people who are less than informed. They got into it because they saw Critical Role or Stranger Things. They use D&D Beyond. They're going to do what Wizards wants, mostly. Many of them don't know or care about any of this, because the nature of the game is that the only one who needs to know and who sources the material (and likely pays for it) is the DM. It's the core of the culture, the hardcore gaming geeks who have been through new editions and all that accompanies them before, and who see the extreme difference in how it is working this time, who are throwing up alarms. That's part of what makes corporate crazy, because however many people are estimated to play, perhaps twenty percent of that number (the DM's) actually buy product beyond a minimal investment. It's killing them that they can't figure out a way to get deeper into everyone else's pockets.

There are a number of unforeseen factors that are going to come into play. Every book and module that Wizards sells is available on the web as a bootleg pdf file. There is a culture of disapproving peer pressure and disapproval of using those out of courtesy to the manufacturer, and mention of sites to get them is banned on message boards, Reddit, etc. If the gaming public turns on them, there are a huge number of lost sales a click away. Wizards is also playtesting the new OneD&D edition by releasing sections of the rules for playtesting by the gamers, who then fill out surveys and give feedback. There are a lot of people who say they will no longer provide free playtesting, that they'll write halfassed reviews or use the survey to give Wizards an earful.

As alluded to in the NR article above, another factor is that Hasbro has been incredibly ham handed in how it has pushed Wizards to run it's true cash cow, the Magic cards. They've pushed very hard, released new series of cards very close together to the point that there are cases and cases of multiple different sets of cards just sitting in storage, not selling. In theory the rarity and lack of availability makes their value increase, but they have printed so many so fast that the market can't absorb what's on hand. Magic cards are like 80% of WotC's volume. Mishandling that puts that much more pressure on to increase profit on the D&D side, and Hasbro is mismanaging that into the ground in much the same way.

 

LO Fn L!

 

This is hysterical. The responses to WotC's PR spin release are just brutal. Jump into the thread just anywhere, cutting replies abound.

 

Press Release dissected and called out.

 

This thread is like nerddom not in multiplication, but in exponentiation. Mind = POOF

 

Sounds like a bunch of Satanist cult shit to me.

 

Yeah, we play down in the sewers. Over the internet.

 

Sure, this thread is just me splashing in a puddle of distilled geekdom. OTOH, many millions of people play or have played D&D. This one just hit an angle between a game I've played off and on for forty years and a classic example of modern corporate blindness and greed. So I'm running wild on it. It's going to calm down and peter out anyhow, with occasional flareups.

Critical Role released a three paragraph statement yesterday that basically said nothing at all, but said it very nicely and politely. The common read is that they have a contract with Wizards that prohibits any derogatory speech, and that this is them saying "We'd say something in support if we could." Matt Mercer has been slowly working CR into being it's own thing. I would not be surprised to see it move to the new Open D&D or Pathfinder sometime soon.

I'm currently playing (in theory) every other Saturday night from 7 till 12 or 1. DM + 4 people. I've gamed with the DM and one other guy for 20 + years. Two friends/co-workers of theirs in Georgia. Campaign has been running 2 1/2 years now. Maybe twenty sessions a year. We have a good time. DM's a twisty minded, sneaky devious sumbitch.

It costs me way less than poker.