White Wolf Wants LARPers To Pay Them For Advertising

[athelind]

Their side of the story:

In brief, White Wolf is requesting that those who wish to charge players to play White Wolf games (beyond standard fees at a convention) obtain a license to do so from us. We request this both in order to ensure we can provide a consistent level of support and play experience to those fans looking to play our games and in order to protect our rights in terms of trademark and so forth. Yes, our games are meant to be played and we encourage everyone to do so — but charging players is stepping into a commercial arena and license agreements then come into play. Our vehicle for granting this license is membership in the Camarilla.

Cory Doctorow's Interpretation:

Serious LARPers who love and promote the hobby (and have therefore kept White Wolf in business) often go to great personal expense to organize games: renting halls, making props, printing and photocopying materials, etc, and they ask their players to pay fees to recoup those costs -- indeed, it's hard to imagine LARPing as a viable hobby without this practice...

snobahr's Reaction:

I'll support White Wolf's desire for consistency when they display a desire for consistency within their own individual books, let alone whole product lines.