Thread by @SWolfertz

Dear @DnDBeyond,

I've restarted my #DnDBeyond Auto-Subscription.

But I want to add feedback I was unable to give in the survey (it bugged out). This is going to be quite a thread with praise and critique for you and some explanation into why and how and what to expect.

1/20

You yourselves know best the kind of disaster the #OGL 1.1 / 1.2 / 2.0 rollout was. This has cost you A LOT of goodwill with the community and turned swathes of us permanently away from your products.

But you've decided to do better. Thank you for that.

2/20

I'm sure you received lots of feedback and combed through the noise on social media and in your survey. But after not being able to take that survey, I'd like to add my 2 cents and a little extra to the voices, maybe it'll help you make better, yet profitable decisions.

3/20

I'm a 40yo hobbyist from Germany, I've been playing #TTRPG|s for 26 years but only switched to #dnd5e less than 4 years ago. In the past, D&D always seemed like a lesser system to me, my impression was: less quality, more fighting. And I needed good reasons to switch to it.

4/20

And once I found those reasons, I gave D&D a chance and quickly switched 4 of my 6 groups from other systems to D&D.

With your recent shenanigans, you nearly undid all of that. Because what drove me to D&D might not be what you think:

5/20

I'm a software developer, a web native, chronically online. I grew up with the internet and with programming. I'm aware of and versed in licencing stuff and my living is made between free and open-source projects, creative commons, proprietary software and paid services.

6/20

And DnDBeyond slotted right into that in a way my other systems simply did not provide.

From work I am used to proprietary systems offering open interfaces and APIs so you can pay for the proprietary part and then be creative with how you use it.

7/20

And this creativity is what created entire eco-systems of opportunity around proprietary databases and an industry that sells additional services around it, with the proprietary owner also adding to the additional services themselves.

DnDBeyond seemed to be exactly that.

8/20

And I am the absolute cliché of a nerd. Started watching Critical Role and listening to MCDM and immersing myself into a D&D culture that just vibed with everything I already was. It's just a natural part of nerd-culture and I love it. The community is just... a home.

9/20

I was also able to spend a CHUNK of my disposable income on DnDBeyond to get simply put, EVERYTHING, and I created characters and NPCs and campaigns and made my players create their characters on DnDBeyond. It was the perfect tool.

10/20

And during the pandemic I found ways to connect it to @roll20app and to @FoundryVTT and to Discord to enhance our playing experience as we were forced from the table to #VTT|s. And I spent money on mapmaking software and on a patreon for a token-subscription.

11/20

And at every step, I could make the decision on which tools to use MYSELF.

We tried Roll20 and I bought and ran Mines of Phandelver on it, and it was great.

But (as a developer myself) I wanted more control over my VTT, host it, write my own modules, so we => Foundry

12/20

And with a small module that I paid for on Patreon, I was able to import my entire DnDBeyond library, monsters, characters, rules, homebrew and all into Foundry. HOLY CRAP! Just imagine the possibilities if DnDBeyond actually provided a quality API for that!

13/20

I still think that D&D is a quintessential american system (and I do NOT mean that in a positive way), it's rules-light compared to The Dark Eye, shallow, easy and way to focused on fighting. And it does too little to mirror character development through the mechanics.

14/20

I'm only making that a point to get one, VERY important message across:

I do not play and spent lots of money on D&D because I think D&D is a good system. It's a mediocre system that's easy to play AT BEST.

But ohh! The community and eco-system around it!

15/20

The ease with which I could connect DnDBeyond to whatever tools I wanted to use. The welcoming, growing, creative, productive community around it, players, masters, creators, tools, influencers, the stories and the possibilities... THAT is #whyIPlayDnD.

16/20

None of which is, nor should it ever be, under your control or ownership.

You are VERY welcome to ADD to it, to place your own products and tools and stories into the vast library we as players have to choose from.

If you do a good job, we will be happy to pay for it.

17/20

You can be the cornerstone of this community, the central piece all the others branch out from. With DnDBeyond you have the potential to be the central starting point for an entire eco-system. People like me will gladly pay for ease of use.

18/20

And with your recent decision to place the SRD under CC-BY you have taken a step into the right direction but you only did that after a huge duckup and lost lot's of potential.

Let me make this perfectly clear for you:

19/20

You can help bring this community forward, if your garden is pretty, it will be visited by many.

But do not try to build a wall around your garden.

We will not leave the playground outside behind to visit your garden only, if you build a wall, you will be alone inside.

20/20

@ThreadReaderApp unroll please