Wizards of the Coast has officially responded to the OGL 1.1 controversy, but its statement has been ratioed on Twitter by the Dungeons and Dragons community and TTRPG fans at large. At the time of this writing, WotC’s letter about the Open Game License on Twitter has 2,188 likes but 2,199 quote tweets, not including the swath of criticism and anger in replies from D&D players who remain dubious about the company’s intent.
WotC claims that the OGL 1.1 draft was meant to community feedback
In the Wizards of the Coast statement, the company states its plan was “always to solicit the input of our community before any update to the OGL.” But Anna Brisbin – the voice actor for Viola in Bayonetta 3 – hit back with a reply, saying that “If it was a draft intended for community feedback, why didn’t you post publicly, saying so, and including a survey like One D&D?”
While WotC admits that they “rolled a 1” on the OGL 1.1 draft and clarifies that any OGL update will not contain any royalty structure (the draft said that those making more than $750,000 would owe royalties), it also made a particularly incendiary assertion that some fans feel gaslights the entire situation. The company writes:
Second, you’re going to hear people say that they won, and we lost because making your voices heard forced us to change our plans. Those people will only be half right. They won—and so did we.
Mark Hulmes, who is a DM for the popular D&D show High Rollers, also points out that the statement doesn’t answer important questions on whether WotC still plans to de-authorize the original OGL 1.0 or 1.0a license, and if it can change the license terms with or without notice.
Ultimately, this fan-made bingo card on WotC’s response, which has received over 3,400 likes, pretty much encapsulates how the D&D community feels about it.
