Wizards of the Coast apologizes for the Dungeons & Dragons open licensing failure
Wizards of the Coast has apologized for its handling of revisions to its Open Gaming License (OGL) from Dungeons & Dragons, which caused the Massive community reaction during the past week.
The planned revisions were detailed for OGL 1.1 Leaked by Gizmodoand Wizards of the Coast promptly coordinated opposition from fans and prominent community members due to rule changes that would, among other things, require anyone making money through the use of D&D items to report earnings to the company.
The original OGL, which was due to be rendered “unauthorized” after the 1.1 release according to a Gizmodo report, gave publishers not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast relative freedom to use and sell content that utilized existing D&D elements.
In response to the ensuing fallout, Wizards of the Coast delayed publication of OGL 1.1 as it sought to rework key elements based on community feedback. These changes will remove the leaked ownership structure and relicensing provisions “which some people feared were a way for us to steal the work,” and include assurances that “you will own the content you create.” It also expressly applies only to TTRPGs (and will not limit the likes of Live Streaming and Cosplay), and will not affect content released under the original OGL.
After that initial statement, Wizards of the Coast is now Release a new post Make other promises to society. “The past days and weeks have been very difficult for everyone,” Executive Producer Kyle Brink wrote on the D&D blog. “As players, as fans, and as referees of the game, we cannot – and we will not let things continue this way.”
He continued, “First, though, let me start with an apology. We’re sorry. We got it wrong. Our language and requirements in the OGL Draft were upsetting to content creators and didn’t support our core goals of protecting an inclusive gameplay environment and limiting OGL to TTRPGs. Then we doubled down.” Things by staying silent for so long. We’ve hurt fans and creators, when frequent, clear communication could have prevented a lot of this.”
Brink said Wizards of the Coast will now continue to progress in a “better way”, being more “open and transparent” with its community of creators: “We’ll listen to you, and then we’ll share with you what we’ve heard, just like we do for the Unearthed Arcana and One D&D tests. It’ll be This is a solid conversation before any future version of OGL is released.”
To this end, the witches of the coast now have it Mutual Proposed new OGL documents for review and feedback. Anyone viewing the document can fill out a quick survey with specific questions about revisions as well as open form fields for additional feedback.
Brink noted that the survey will remain open for “at least two weeks” and advance notice will be given before it closes. Then, the company will “compile, analyze and respond to” the results, which will then be shared with the community.
Brink wrote, before highlighting “a lot of things” that won’t be affected by OGL updates:
- Your video content. Whether you are a commentator, broadcaster, podcaster, streamer, or other video creator on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok, Wizards Fan Content Policy has always got you covered. OGL doesn’t (and won’t) touch any of this.
- Your plugins for your content. Any changes to OGL will not affect your ability to sell thumbnails, novels, clothing, dice, and other items related to your creations, characters, and worlds.
- Unpublished works, for example contracted services. You can use OGL if you want to publish your work referencing 5th Edition content through an SRD. This means that commissioned work, paid DM services, consulting, etc. are not affected by OGL.
- VTT content. Any updates to OGL will still allow any Content Creator to post Content to VTTs and will still allow VTT Publishers to use OGL Content on their platform.
- DMs Syndicate Content. Content you release on DMs Guild is published under a Community Content Agreement with Dungeon Masters Guild. This does not change.
- Your OGL 1.0a content. Nothing will affect any content you have posted under OGL 1.0a. This will always be licensed under OGL 1.0a.
- your revenue. There will be no royalty or financial reporting requirements.
- You own your content. You will continue to own your content without the requirement to restore the license.”
“You’ll hear from us again on or before Friday as described above,” Brink’s post concluded, and we look forward to the conversation. ”