WotC before Hasbro. The way we were.

Bluemoon · Jul 19, 2003

With the arrival of D&D 3.5, I'm in the mood to reminisce. We on the outside had no inkling of the geek-utopia that Peter Adkison had created, until this wistleblower article (http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/03/23/wizards/index.html) appeared in Salon.com in March 2001 and revealed the dirty little secrets.

I was doing some bookmark cleaning and came across it again. Some of you may remember when it came out and how it sent the rpg boards abuzz. With the idealism, betrayals, passions, egos, sex, tragedy, and power struggles, you would think you're reading Macbeth or a trashy dime-novel. For those of you who don't know of it, it's a great and fascinating read.

***

EDIT - How about I edit out this prolific piece of prose in the interest of brevity and copyright preservation, and leave the link?

Henry

Darrin Drader · Jul 19, 2003

An interesting read for sure, but the truth of the matter is that post-Hasbro WotC is not the evil corporate devil people sometimes make it out to be. In fact it still rates as the best job I've ever had and I intend to be there for as long as they want to keep me.

Bluemoon · Jul 19, 2003

These are a couple of letters to the editor written in response to the article:

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I worked freelance with Wizards of the Coast for 10 months in 1995, while John Tynes was there. Though I never saw the promiscuity he describes -- must have been employees-only -- I can vouch for the company's stultifying reliance on consensus.

When I saw John the day he gave notice at Wizards, he said getting something done there was like pushing through gauze. I knew just what he meant. Over months of strenuous effort I had secured approval for my own project, a card set for Magic: The Gathering, from about eight or nine R&D designers, managers and marketers. My little set clawed its way onto the schedule; I saw Gantt charts and everything. But ultimately, mysteriously, it died. Some empowered entry-level Wizard, in some remote reach of the flattened Wizards hierarchy, objected to it.

In trying to make gaming as big as the movies, Wizards unwittingly mimicked the Hollywood movie-making process. 99.9 percent of screenplays never get produced; 90 out of every 100 movies that start filming never finish; complete films get shelved before release all the time. In movies, anyone at any time can say, "Let's not do it." At Wizards in its early years, nothing could happen unless everyone, including receptionists and mail clerks, approved.

A year or so after I left, though, things changed. Wizards CEO Peter Adkison put executives in place that could actually make decisions. I always admired Peter's ability to learn, and I don't know how well that ability comes across in John's fine article. Derisive gossip referred to Peter as Pooh-bear: bumbling aimlessly along, getting his head stuck in the honey jar, pulling it out, and resuming his amiable hum. But the guy managed to ride the Wizards tiger for years, took it from strength to strength and finally sold for $350 million. Meanwhile, the gossips are still trying to make rent.

-- Allen Varney

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As an online editor specializing in science fiction and gaming, I could see every bit of the commonality between Wizards' early gestalt and the dot-com lunacy. It would be nice for both industries to make the transition to the mainstream with their energy and passion intact; but I suspect those qualities are nearly always doomed to the fringe. They're vital for the creation of a concept, but not for the transformation of concept to property. They're just too alien to the middlemen to survive for very long.

-- Shane Ivey

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Corinth · Jul 19, 2003

*ahem*

That article and those letters are all copywritten material, and reposting it without expressed permission of the rights-holders is a crime. Someone yank this thread before the attack-lawyers start slapped C&D letters around.

Bluemoon · Jul 19, 2003

Corinth said:
*ahem*

That article and those letters are all copywritten material, and reposting it without expressed permission of the rights-holders is a crime. Someone yank this thread before the attack-lawyers start slapped C&D letters around.

Umm...okay. If that's the case then yes the mods should yank it. I posted it as a curiosity that I thought some may find interesting. I gave no thought to the legalities of it. I guess I should have just posted a link to it instead. Live and learn. My apologies.

Gumby · Jul 19, 2003

Corinth said:
*ahem*

That article and those letters are all copywritten material, and reposting it without expressed permission of the rights-holders is a crime. Someone yank this thread before the attack-lawyers start slapped C&D letters around.

Thank you for contributing to this thread.

Corinth · Jul 19, 2003

Gumby said:
Thank you for contributing to this thread.

You're quite welcome.

Enceladus · Jul 19, 2003

Bluemoon said:
I guess I should have just posted a link to it instead. Live and learn. My apologies.

Actually whether its legal or not you should just post a link to it. Most of us are smart enough to know how to click something.

Sort of overkill when you do that.

Sixchan · Jul 19, 2003

Ahhh...that's kind of depressing.

Adso · Jul 19, 2003

Agreed, Darrin, agreed.

Baraendur said:
An interesting read for sure, but the truth of the matter is that post-Hasbro WotC is not the evil corporate devil people sometimes make it out to be. In fact it still rates as the best job I've ever had and I intend to be there for as long as they want to keep me.