Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast is still soliciting feedback from the community regarding its proposed changes to the Open Gaming License. When OLG 1.1 sent the community into an uproar over 25 percent royalty and the requirement for creators to relinquish all control of their creations, Wizards went back to the drawing board and came back with OGL 1.2. It was certainly an improvement, but survey feedback revealed there’s still much to be desired.
According to Wizards, over 10,000 people have responded to the OGL 1.2 survey. "So far, survey responses have made it clear that this draft of OGL 1.2 hasn't hit the mark for our community," Wizards wrote. "Please continue to share your thoughts."
One of the big sticking points for the community was apparently OGL 1.2’s provisions concerning virtual tabletops, or VTTs. OGL 1.2 would have made it so that any VTT that goes beyond merely replicating the physical tabletop experience would be outlawed, with specific language forbidding animations for spells, character tokens, and maps. The rules were prefaced with an explanation stating Wizards was trying to find the line between a VTT and a video game, and they decided to draw that line at animations.
However, the community disagreed. "Thanks to direct feedback from you and our virtual tabletop partners it's also clear the draft VTT policy missed the mark. Animations were clearly the wrong focus. We'll do better next round," Wizards added.
Wizards of the Coast clearly has plans for D&D video games and doesn't want anyone else infringing on that copyright, but finding difference might prove difficult. Some VTTs feature animations, can roll virtual dice, and even keep track of player statistics--almost everything that is performed in a turn-based video game. All the same, VTTs have been around for a while, and the community clearly doesn't want to relinquish their preferred platform to Wizards.