On Thu, 27 Apr 2000, Faustus von Goethe wrote:
> Do you think there is some "shadowy organization of gamers" that we haven't
> heard about that is creating this so that WotC doesn't have control? Or
> maybe all the gamers in the world are going to come together each year under
> a full moon and vote by secret tally for the board of directors.
No more unlikely than the shadow organization of WotC employees that you
seem to feel are masterminding the OGL. Let's dispense with the invalid
intellectual shortcut of equating individuals with the organizations which
they belong to and look at it this way:
Ryan Dancey is an individual human being with his own ideas, agendas, and
interests. He happens to work at WotC, a large factor of which is likely
because he is a big fan of gaming and particularly D&D. Similarly, he also
happens to be interested in bringing Open Source principles to gaming. His
interest in gaming and D&D in particular are also likely motivations for
this. There are also motivations that cross the boundaries between these
two pursuits. As he's stated, he thinks this move is good for WotC as a
business, as well as being good for gaming as a community and an industry.
What isn't likely isn't the case is that he is a robot connected to the
WotC hive-mind without motivations beyond his role as a VP there.
It is very easy to dismiss people because of their membership in a group.
Don't fall into that trap. Granted, WotC is going to be a big part of the
OGF effort. That's because, unsurprisingly, Dancey has more influence
there than at, say, White Wolf or Atlas, being a VP and all, and this is
his baby. However, I find it highly unlikely that he will allow WotC or
Hasbro corporate to run the organization through him. That isn't his
intent and I am more prone to believe him than dismiss what he's said in
favor of my own paranoid mistrust of large corporations.
Not to be a pain in the ass or anything, but this sort of thinking isn't
realism. In fact, it is rather pointedly not realistic because it has a
tendency to discard evidence that disputes its preconceptions. It is the
sort of thinking that racism and other forms of discrimination are based
on. Let's just recognize that Dancey is a free-willed human being in his
own right and cut out the corporate paranoia, shall we?
--
Eric Christian Berg
System Administrator, Comptek Amherst Systems
(716) 631-0088 ext. 199
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