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Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

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Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#171

Post by Grimm665 »

Macha wrote: post #46
sundarurfriend wrote: post #24

So from a little bit of digging around for context (as a non-DnD player): * SRD = System Reference Document [1], is a kind of specification of the DnD rules, that people use to create add-on DnD-related content. * OGL = Open Game License [2], which the SRD is licensed under. * There was a(n apparently very unpopular) proposal to move to OGL 1.2 (which I guess is more restrictive). * Now it seems like SRD 5.1 will be…

For more context: Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast (the company that has owned D&D for the last 20 years) released the rules text and some basic creative content like classes, some monsters, etc. for D&D 3.5 under a custom open source inspired license called the OGL. It's sort of a weird blend of GPL-esque virality clauses but the actual restrictions it places are much more akin to a permissive license like Apache. This l…

This is an excellent explanation, thank you!

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#172

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

jbm wrote: post #60
michaelcampbell wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> has enough self-awareness to have realized they were encroaching significantly on their core demographic. At least where I am in the US, the behavior of many corporations seems to indicate they... just don't give a shit. People will take what they can get, by and large, and as long as it makes the corporation money, they're willing to risk it. Who actually _likes_ not having a single register open at Wal Mart, Home…

A minor point, but I am grateful for the self checkout lanes — they have greatly speeded up my checkout, and w/ covid spiking I just want to leave asap. I have never seen "no" registers open though.

Walmart seems to agree that they like them as well. Renovated stores are entirely designed to streamline the self-checkout experience.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#173

Post by nextos »

wnevets wrote: post #166
vaylian wrote: post #48

A bit more context: * Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has been tasked by Hasbro (which owns WoTC) to drastically increase profits over a few years. * WoTC has been aggressively increasing prices on Magic the Gathering (MTG) and drastically increased the diversity of products. This overwhelmed even people who follow and produce MTG news. Wallet fatique is rampant and people are disgruntled. * WoTC releases the 30th aniver…

> Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has been tasked by Hasbro (which owns WoTC) to drastically increase profits over a few years. Why can't things just exist and be profitable enough to continue? Why must EVERYTHING be ruined by the drive for high but short-term profits?

Overoptimization, especially on a single or a few metrics, leads to fragility.

If they started teaching this to MBAs, the world would be a much better place.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#174

Post by lbotos »

Aeolun wrote: post #145
lbotos wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a game with 30 years of history, genre defining, that has die hard fans and then take some cards, make effectively "fake" versions (not tournament legal) and charge $1000 for 60 of them. They could have done a LOT more cooler things and passionate lovers of the game wish that they did.

Why not make them tournament legal? It’d cut down on some of the insane prices for these things (like house prices, sad for those who just bought at a huge premium, but ultimately good for the rest).

Long story but there is a list of cards called the "reserved list" and WoTC promised to never reprint them. So they got cheeky and said "well, we didn't really reprint them because they aren't legal, see?" Oh, and pay us $1000 for these cards.

https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Reserved_List

One of the most famous cards is on the RL:

https://scryfall.com/card/leb/233/black-lotus?utm_source=mw_...

And the new "not legal" version:

https://scryfall.com/card/30a/228/black-lotus

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#175

Post by thaumasiotes »

hinkley wrote: post #133
tonfreed wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The least they could do is sit down once a month with the game designers for a session of dungeon crawling. The main two in charge have both said they don't play

The only thing worse than obstaining is half-assing it. Do you really want a bunch of detached people paying just enough attention to something you like that they feel like they can 'contribute' by changing it?

Meeting once a month would be within the normal range for a group playing for fun. On the low side, I think, but it's not "so little attention that it's worse than nothing".

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#176

Post by ulizzle »

The silver lining in this shitstorm is that a lot of D&D-like games are going to be getting lots of attention. There's better systems out there. IMO, D&D proper died out at 4e, when it tried to copy WoW.

If you like horror, check out Kult: Divinity Lost. And for a tight game-system, check out Blades in the Dark, which is like...steampunk Peaky Blinders.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#177

Post by Dylan16807 »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #163
deeviant wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don't understand the outrage on that decision What decision are you claiming people were outraged? Because the actual reason people where outraged is the very existence of the magic 30th edition in the first place. It is one of the clearest and starkest examples of a company disrespecting it's customer, ever.

>. It is one of the clearest and starkest examples of a company disrespecting it's customer, ever. Why? Compare it to some other fanbases. With music, printing a super pricy limited edition of an album with extra non-music content is a normal decision. With sneakers, that's like the entire market. With comic books limited edition posters and figures are commonplace. So many fandoms have outlets for the rich megafans…

"We had to create an experience for fans new and old that would be worthy of three decades of the original trading card game." doesn't fit a 250 dollar pack of non-cards.

If it was real very rare cards, there would be upset but they could have made it work.

If it was non-cardlike collectibles, it would have been fine.

But to sell non-legal cards at such a high price is so much the opposite of the community celebration they were pushing for overall.

And the last time they sold something like this, it was the entire set and it wasn't expensive. Even if that was a long time ago.

And wizards constantly pretends that all their pieces of cardboard have similar value, so it's extra obnoxious whenever they price something like this. But this one in particular is an order of magnitude worse even if we forget for a second they aren't legal cards.

And various ways of playing the game are actively dying because it's so hard to get cards like this, which just adds salt.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#178

Post by miiiiiike »

wolverine876 wrote: post #136

A reminder that the old OGL (the one they say they will now continue with) is still nonsense: According to at least some IP attorneys, it restricts your existing legal rights for little benefit, and in most cases you're better off without it. Here's the EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/01/beware-gifts-dragons-h... Also, they claimed they could revoke the old OGL at any time; I assume that hasn't changed.

The OGL is not nonsense.

Before today if you wanted to use the SRD, a work protected by copyright, you needed to do so under the terms of the OGL.

The 5.1 SRD is now under CC, which is a much better (i.e. less restrictive) license and addresses all of the concerns raised in the linked article.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#179

Post by trynewideas »

Aeolun wrote: post #150
trynewideas wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's still a lot to see about what D&D One actually is in terms of product and not system. But these moves really make me suspect that they're going to try to make it a walled garden of player-driven transactional rewards, and to minimize the DM role as much as possible. If their theoretical, non-existent One VTT does all the mechanical work for the DM and dresses up lots of cheap player customization options that…

I mean, if they want to tap a new market of casual DM’s, then that’s fine. But do thry really need to ruin the existing game over it?

Yeah. Why not? Monetizing only 20% of the player base in DMs isn't making them enough money to justify the investment otherwise, and casual DMs don't care about any of this.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#180

Post by throwaway81523 »

ksplicer wrote: post #160
throwaway81523 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I play chess and also follow it as a professional sport. I suck at it but it's fun anyway, it costs nothing unless you play in money tournaments, costs very little unless you play in BIG money tournaments, and as far as I can tell it seems to offer everything that video games do in terms of skill challenge, social connection, and all of that. I'm sure these expensive video games have a reason to exist but I haven't f…

Videogames are expensive when you are young. It might be more expensive than chess, but it quickly becomes one of the cheapest hobbies of most adults. It's sure cheaper than going out drinking an extra night each week.

Fair enough about the cost, but the thing is, chess isn't under any company's control and it has history and traditions going back for centuries. There is a sense of grandeur when you move a pawn even as the lowliest patzer, that no amount of GPU-enhanced videogame graphics can replicate. You almost feel the blood of Lasker and Capablanca running through your veins.

One of my favorite movies is a biodoc about a Soviet-era player from Kazakhstan, on youtube (1st of 3 parts, around 15 minutes each: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Io7jbHsYs ). I can't imagine someone making a movie like that about a Warhammer player. But, that's just me.

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