You may have heard that Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast caused some controversy over D&D’s OGL over the past week (Open Game License).
In an effort to lessen some of the reaction, plans to enact unpopular revisions that would crack down on unofficial RPGs were swiftly abandoned. However, Wizards of the Coast has now officially apologized and described how updating the OGL will function going forward.
Kyle Brink, the executive producer of Dungeons & Dragons, issued the apology via a blog post on the D&D Beyond website. Brink claims in the post that the business “got it wrong” with regard to the OGL adjustments and that he says to “find a route forward.”
We’re sorry,” Brink says. “We made a mistake. Our draught OGL’s standards and terminology were disruptive to creators and did not serve our fundamental objectives of confining the OGL to TTRPGs and preserving an inclusive play environment.
Then we made matters worse by keeping quiet for too long. When more frequent and transparent communication may have avoided so much of this, we damaged fans and authors.”
Let's talk about the path forward. https://t.co/aatjkU1dFH
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) January 18, 2023
In addition, Brink says that because Wizards of the Coast will now solicit player input, future OGL modifications will be more “open and transparent.” Players will be able to assess improvements and provide comments on a new OGl draught before January 20.
Then, taking into account player feedback and making the process more open, Wizards will use this input to make changes to their prior draught.
Brink also lists the types of content—including video, add-ons for your own content, unpublished works, and a tonne more—that will always be exempt from OGL revisions in the future.
Wizards will likely need to work much more to win everyone back over, but maybe this will go some distance toward helping to restore the harm it has done to player trust.
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