Do you think it's too late now?

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20080811

No, but really, I don't care. I'm good for core books and usually one supplement on most games. I'm more interested in how the virtual tabletop is coming along.

Quote from: GameDaddy;234717Do you think it's too late now?

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20080811

By far.  It is also rather irrelevant at this point.  The 3.x folks will be staying with Paizo and OGL games.  The 4e folks will likely get only WotC product, in large part due to the dearth of 3rd party games using 4e rules.  I mean, they are  not saying just how much they plan on revising the GSL, which means a compliant company may have yet another delay in getting product out the door.  A paranoid may even suspect that isn't accidental.  

The revisions could make the game more open, which is good for everyone, but will have the least impact on the bigger publishers as far as shipping product.  WotC could make part of it more open, and another part less so.  This would have a variable effect, depending on which part(s) any particular company would have to overhaul.  Ranges from not much impact, to potentially starting over.  They could even make it slightly more restrictive.  While 'we listened and we are changing it' certainly sounds like they are moving toward a more open license, in the earliest stages, we were also led to believe it would practically be OGLv2, only better.

I find the announcement very vague.  I wonder what they'll change.  I know they were always unhappy with how the OGL played out.

With a little luck they'll tighten it and strangle themselves out of the market.

Quote from: David Johansen;234728I find the announcement very vague.  I wonder what they'll change.  I know they were always unhappy with how the OGL played out.

With a little luck they'll tighten it and strangle themselves out of the market.

I'm not sure how much more they can tighten it at this point.  The more systems that will slip through their fingers, etc.

But it is pretty much 'you are locked into 4e until we say otherwise'.  I'm not sure how much more restrictive they could make it, unless they start kidnapping people's families.

Quote from: StormBringer;234730I'm not sure how much more they can tighten it at this point.  The more systems that will slip through their fingers, etc.

But it is pretty much 'you are locked into 4e until we say otherwise'.  I'm not sure how much more restrictive they could make it, unless they start kidnapping people's families.

What's this? A longsword that does 1d10? Here's your daughter's finger!  If you deviate from cannon again we'll be sending more of her back to you!  

I will believe this when I see it. A string of promises and a disappointing finale is what happened with the GSL -- this could just be more damage control and corporate evasion to creat uncertainty among the 3rd party publishers.

Nevertheless, if the license gets a decent revision, that definitely counts as good news.

I'll be interested to see their fan site policy.  Their 3e policy was completely laissez-faire; either they stick with that or the T$R analogies will start.

I think it's time for the carrot, rather than the stick.  They can threaten to sue people into oblivion, but this isn't the bad old days - third party publishers now have money, lawyers, credibility, and fans, all thanks to the money they made off 3e supplements.  What WotC should really consider doing is offering incentives to follow their publication guidelines, instead of trying to get companies to sign something that actually limits rights they already have, thanks to the uncopyrightable nature of game mechanics.

Or they could pull a Disney and try to get copyright law revised to suit their whims.  Hasbro probably has the clout for that.  That'd really screw up the board game industry, wouldn't it?

Quote from: pathar;234758Or they could pull a Disney and try to get copyright law revised to suit their whims.  Hasbro probably has the clout for that.  That'd really screw up the board game industry, wouldn't it?

Hmm, the problem is that making mathematical procedures copyrightable would have huge implications beyond the games industry.  I think that expanding the scope of what counts as a game's artistic expression via eg the Scrabulous suit is their best hope.

Well, I'll just have to take a wait-n-see approach. Hopefully, it moves towards less restriction, but the cat is already sort of out the bag with folks just doing an end-around on the GSL.

Over on tbp, GM Skarka suggested that this announcement may just be an attempt by WotC to blunt any negative publicity for 4E at the upcoming GenCon. Cynicism aside, I think he may be correct. WotC is being deliberately vague about exactly what they are going to change with the GSL in this announcement, which doesn't look good.

It'll make a difference as far as Necromancer Games is concerned, while they recently refused the GSL they have been hopeful of coming to an agreement. Orcus has been talking to the guys and said that he is optimistic that it will be resolved.

Quote from: GrayPumpkin;234819It'll make a difference as far as Necromancer Games is concerned, while they recently refused the GSL they have been hopeful of coming to an agreement. Orcus has been talking to the guys and said that he is optimistic that it will be resolved.

My guess is that he's one of (if not the) "valued colleagues" mentioned in WotC's announcement. This is why I think the revision will be a loosening up of restrictions. It matters to me because I would like to see some third party products out there for 4e. A lot of really good d20 products came from those companies.

This is good news.   If the GSL become more win-win, then I see less of a need for people do the run around.

I want to be able to put the D&D Logo on the front cover of the print product.   More than anything, that's my concern.