The Open Gaming License and How 3rd Party Publishers Are Going To Sell Out
To anyone who has been paying attention, Copy Right law is a hot topic again.
It’s long been US law that game mechanics cannot be copyrighted.
The Copyright Act of 1976, subsection 102a and 102b, clearly state that mechanics are not copyrightable. Despite attempts by Microsoft to make cracks in the Open Source movement and bad case law set by corporate controlled judges, the law remains intact.
In 2000, the publishers of the wildly popular tabletop role playing game Dungeons and Dragon published its Open Gaming License, acknowledging both the need to safe guard the hobby from corporate failure and to protect budding creators and game developers from running afoul of the corporation in their creative endeavors.
Ryan Dancey, one of the primary creators of the license, has went on record numerous times espousing the intent of the license and adamantly stating it’s irrevocability. Any non trademarked or copyrighted material, essentially the core mechanics of the 3.0 and 3.5 versions of the game, were open for anyone to incorporate with their own creative worlds to be used in role playing, whether for profit or private use.
In December of last year, it was leaked that Wizards of the Coast, the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons, released an “updated” version of the license. It’s draconian nature and overt and inherent corporate greed instantly solidified the community against them, bridging political and cultural divides. Amongst its other Faustian clauses, it revoked the other, widely esteemed OGL, a move Dancey does not believe is legally enforceable.
This immediately spurned 3rd party creators and publishers to gain traction and popularity amongst the community. These companies rose in size due solely to their ability to publish under the original OGL (OGL 1.0a), and have secured respectable, if comparably small, market share next to Wizards of the Coast.
At first, it seemed we could rally behind these upstarts, as they themselves understand the impact and importance of the original OGL 1.0a. But perhaps we have, again been deceived.
Today, Indestructoboy, a YouTuber and popular creator of D&D 3rd party
Content, apparently let slip the direction of litigation these 3rd parties are taking.
If there’s something to be gleaned, and if he’s to be trusted, it would seem they’re going to grandfather in the existing publishers of 3rd party content under the old OGL, effectively locking the gates for any new and future developers.
The blatant hypocrisy of such a move, should this come to pass, would not be lost upon the rest of us.
Should this come to pass, then until someone with the courage to challenge Wizards of the Coast in a protracted legal battle, this will be the new state of the industry, with indie creators being locked completely out or exploited under the new, draconian OGL 1.1.
We shall see what the future holds.