"" Of course that is their plan -
they want to make money by providing the core. Who
cares?
I'm
all for standardization myself, and if WOTC wants to be the Microsoft of
RPG's, then
let
them. Remember what it was like before MS became a monopoly? There were
Ataris
and
Amigas and Macs and MSX and Spectrum and CPM and OS/2 and... it goes
on
forever. Everyone different machin had it's own
operating system. It sucked for users and
programmers. With a standard, The market has had an
amazing oppurtunity to grow -
the Advent of 3d cards is one - We would not have
geforce2's and Voodoo 5's without it. ""
Just
for the record. This is not true. If Microsoft hadn't created a Monopoly,
the market would have produced cross platform languages such as java, perl, or
python much more quickly. Different OSs wouldn't be the problem that it is
today.
Now
comes along D20 - A ready made backbone for RPG creation. I believe the
opportunity
is
there for the same to happen - great games will come out, some totally open,
some
totally closed, some using th D20 logo, and some not,
but with one thing in common -
they've spent the time on creating content instead of
having to make rules from scratch.
I
believe the biggest benefit is not going to be in pen-and-paper RPG's anyway.
I think that
the
biggest effect will be felt in CRPG's and other game software (which is a much
bigger
market than the pnp RPG market). If everyone
already knows the rules, then it's easier and
faster for everyone to play. I think you'll see a lot
of standardization. And of course it doesn't
hurt
that D20 is very similar to systems used by several famous CRPG's of
yesteryear also.
>> Fortunately, I think I have figured
out a clever loophole using a combination of the OGL
>>and the D20STL which we can use to
avoid the need for PHBs
Yes,
it's called "don't put the D20 logo on it". Then you can do what you want as
long as you
credit everyone.
Jaimi
Ok, I just read the article by
Ryan that Maggie kindly referred me to. The talk of ‘network externalities’
set off alarm bells all over the place. Now I am *really* suspicious…
>From what I gleaned from the article, WOTC is not pursuing a
strategy of “Open Gaming” at all. They are pursuing something more like
Microsoft’s strategy with regards to Windows... D20 is like Windows, the
‘operating system’ which will succeed by virtue of its ubiquity rather than
its excellence. The D20STL is essentially a “game developer kit” (like a
Windows SDK) which allows you to make content compatible with the operating
system, D20. The goal is to get all the developers working on content for
D&D, killing off other systems and allowing WOTC to earn monopoly
profits from its exclusive sale of D20!
Perhaps you all knew this
already but I certainly did not. I find this horrifying. I thought the point
of open source gaming was to be like LINUX: Make the system free and
modifiable, until a truly superior system emerges, and then compete on the
basis of value-added applications or support.
However…. The plot
thickens. Ryan writes, “we want to use the trademarks of D&D to
hold the value of the business, rather than the rules themselves.” Now what
does this mean? If the core PHB is the revenue-driver, what is the ‘value of
the business’ in the D&D trademarks? It seems to me they are trying to
have their cake and eat it too!
If WOTC honestly believes that sales
of their core rules are their revenue driver, then they should be to be
blunt about keeping the rules proprietary and instead license out what they
call the “product identity”the names, characters, places, monsters, etc.
from all the various D&D product lineswith the caveat that if you want
to use the source material it has to be compatible with D&D. That, at
least, would be really ‘opening’ something.
As it is, all they have
essentially done is say that if you want to write stuff compatible with
D&D, that’s ok with us as long as you don’t alter anything we think is
important, include any rules which would prevent people from buying the
rules, and use any of our proprietary D&D source material. Uh,
thanks!
Fortunately, I think I have figured out a clever loophole
using a combination of the OGL and the D20STL which we can use to avoid the
need for PHBs. Hehehehe.
Alex Macris
Alexander P. Macris
WarCry Corp. -- Chief Executive Officer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tele: 617.354.7843
Cell: 617.515.6934
Fax: 253.423.6181
------------- For more information, please link
to www.opengamingfoundation.org
