Wizards of the Coast planned to start charging royalties to some of the creators who have built businesses on the seminal role-playing game’s open-gaming license. Facing a backlash, it decided instead to introduce a new, more open approach that gives creators “a worldwide, royalty-free, non sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license.” (TechCrunch)

Talking point: The D&D drama makes an interesting case study in creator-economy power dynamics. Since 2000, Wizards of the Coast has had an open-game license for D&D, letting anyone create and sell experiences that rely on the game’s rules but that don’t reproduce official elements, such as characters. When news leaked that the company planned to start charging anyone making more than US$750,000 a 25 per cent royalty, ban virtual tabletop simulators and deauthorize content made under the last agreement, creators rallied to #OpenDnD and more than 77,000 signed a letter slamming the proposed changes. Wizards walked back the royalty fee and admitted, “We got it wrong.” It has now shared a new draft license with creators that is more open than the original, and has asked them for feedback.