Fans of Dungeons and Dragons are still bristling from the latest controversy stirred up by Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast, makers of Dungeons & Dragons table top games, game play, books, etc., as well as the parent company to D&D Beyond are trying to backpedal from a leaked update to the OGL, which they called OGL 1.1.
First a little table setting. Wizards of the Coast (WotC) is the company behind all things D&D. It has been since the 2000’s. They’re the company behind the books, the games, the rules, all the things. In 2022 Hasbro, who is WotC’s parent company, bought D&D Beyond. Fanboys Marketplace blogged about the buyout back in April. The merger promised that WotC had no intention of changing anything about D&D Beyond’s game play. The goal being one place to find everything D&D. The idea was to streamline things.
The pandemic made D&D Beyond hugely popular. What D&D Beyond does is allow fans to create characters and run campaigns by connecting players globally via the internet. It also can supplement your current campaign played on your favorite kitchen table. The two companies have always seemed destined to be together.
The present controversy started with a leaked draft of WotC’s new Open Gaming License which they were planning to unveil soon. There’s a lot to unpack here but I’ll leave a lot of the nitty-gritty to websites like gizmodo.com that really breaks this thing down in full. The abbreviated version goes a little like this: The new OGL (Open Gaming License)1.1 was going to change a few things. Firstly, it sort of gets rid of the original OGL claiming that it is null and void. The new OGL essentially takes place of the original. The implications of this echo throughout this next little bit which is…secondly, it states that anything a licensee creates WotC owns.
WotC…gets the right to use any content that licensees create, whether commercial or non-commercial. Although this is couched in language to protect Wizards’ products from infringing on creators’ copyright, the document states that for any content created under the updated OGL, regardless of whether or not it is owned by the creator, Wizards will have a “nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free license to use that content for any purpose.”
gizmodo.com
This is sort of like a DC Executive noticing a doodle of Batman in the liner notes of my notebook and immediately saying, “That’s ours, we own that.” And then taking the notebook and all of its other contents with them. And since the original OGL is null and void and this new one takes precedent, it implies that anything any D&D player has ever created technically belongs to WotC. So, it basically back dates any and all things D&D whether made commercially or not. Wow. Thirdly, as if that wasn’t enough, if you make a profit off of anything D&D or WotC related, they can get a cut-if they want one.
Unless they are making over $750,000, licensees get to keep the money they earn. But the new OGL states that the Commercial Agreement “covers all commercial uses, whether they’re profitable or not.” So if you go into the red on a Kickstarter that earned $800K in backing money, you will still owe Wizards of the Coast, regardless of the fact that you did not profit from your venture.
gizmodo.com
The big picture here is simply this-Wizards of the Coast is trying gain complete control of the D&D IP. An IP, mind you, whose existence only really thrives underneath the flexibility of a Licensee’s creativity, game play, and imagination.
I’m sure you can guess what fans thought about this.
At first blush, WotC seemed to be ready for the inevitable backlash. “Wizards of the Coast is clearly expecting these OGL changes to be met with some resistance. The document does note that if the company oversteps, they are aware that they ‘will receive community pushback and bad PR, and We’re more than open to being convinced that We made a wrong decision.”-gizmodo.com. But, I argue they may have underestimated their community.
D&D fans are leading the front of a boycott of all things Wizards of the Coast. And according to a popular Dungeons and Dragons YouTube channel called Roll for Combat the best way forward is sending the only message WotC will hear. This means unsubscribing from D&D Beyond. A message that came so swift and so quick that players crashed the website with how many subscriptions were being cancelled. This measure comes after WotC released a statement where they tried to do some damage control. A.k.a. try and figure out how to put a spin on the mess they made.
But, the damage had already been done. Gizmodo’s most recent article on the debacle says, “the situation inside the castle is dire, and Hasbro’s concern is less about public image and more about the IP hoard the dragon sits on.”
The bottom line seems to be: After a fan-led campaign to cancel D&D Beyond subscriptions went viral, it sent a message to WotC and Hasbro higher-ups. According to multiple sources, these immediate financial consequences were the main thing that forced them to respond. The decision to further delay the rollout of the new Open Gaming License and then adjust the messaging around the rollout occurred because of a “provable impact” on their bottom line.
gizmodo.com
But Gizmodo goes on to report that those same sources say that D&D fans are overreacting to the leaked OGL 1.1 and in a few months nobody will remember the uproar. But, I’m not so sure. While “#DnDBeGone” is still gaining traction on social media, encouraging fans to cancel their D&D subscriptions, the actions of WotC still stings. “Even if Wizards of the Coast were to entirely walk [the leaked OGL 1.1] back, it leaves such a sour taste in my mouth that I don’t want to work with the OGL in the future,” said Unseelie Studios’ David Markiwski.
Since this has all taken place, WotC has delayed the release of the new OGL going forward. But, their statement is as pathetic as their attempt to control the D&D IP,
we won’t be able to release the new OGL today, because we need to make sure we get it right, but it is coming. Second, you’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.
WotC
What a load of crap. WotC goes on to try and schmooze fans by saying “Our plan was always to solicit the input of our community before any update to the OGL; the drafts you’ve seen were attempting to do just that.” Which is pure and un-adulterated spin. That OGL 1.1 was leaked. No one ever intended to solicit the input of the community. Their intent was to try and gain control of an IP that clearly was never really theirs to begin with. I just hope that D&D fans continue to drive home the message. I love it when people in overpriced business suits are pantsed. I’d also love be writing another article in six to nine months showing Hasbro’s quarterly earnings suffered a steep decline.
It looks like WotC don’t quite understand the people that play D&D. These people form campaigns. Players work together to accomplish goals and tasks. They help each other out. As my sister-in-law (a huge D&D fan) simply put, “Bad move, WotC. D&D players understanding team tactics? Imagine that.”