The Way It Was

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

One of the best things about the OSR is it is not copyrighted or trademarked. We can have it "the way it was" without any fears or limitations.

Contrast this with movies, comic books, and video games. Those rights are locked up so tight they will never be ours as a society. They are all but worthless as today's versions of many things get ruined, watered down, used to sell other characters, and mismanaged to the point where I ceased caring about all of them.

Nostalgia these days is a dirty word used by billion-dollar corporations to extract money and anger from people.

I want no part of it.

I don't need stupid manufactured anger - you see this on  BOTH sides. The angry YouTube reviewers and the idiots who work for multinational companies who do things to "own" them. It is a sick echo chamber of anger and nonsense, and both sides should really be ashamed for buying into it.

Oh, is there money involved?

Then I feel ashamed for buying into it.

If I consider certain things I don't like dead to me, I am immune to any negative feelings companies make and the nonsense spewed by those "upset with the changes."

Ownership and the public domain change everything. If we have the right to distribute something, create new things from it, and show the world our version of what we loved about the past, that isn't nostalgia. That is more tradition and culture, and nobody owns those. Companies may try to make "their own version of history and tradition," but those can be ignored.

They are cheap copies. They are marketing speak meant to get your money and wealth. If the idea is owned by a multinational corporation, just give up on it; it is easier and a lot less trouble.

If you only appreciate and care about public domain works or things created by indie creators, then you have nothing to be angry about. Don't like it? Make your own version, cool new things, or support someone who does. Support the smaller markets, the companies with great ideas, and people with dreams.

It is a beautiful world.

The one without all the hate.