D&D 5E Thoughts on this article about Black Culture & the D&D team dropping the ball?

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Parmandur]

It is better to try, and fail, than to not try at all.

(That's something I tell myself after my fourth consecutive rolled 1).

Seriously, my main takeaway from the article wasn't that ToA was "racist," and I didn't see that in the article, at all. Instead, it was, at worst, somewhat lazy.

Do you know what I did see? A marked improvement from what had been ... seriously, some of the history and the old art (and there are much worse example that could have been used if you want to go to non-Chult history) are the types of things we don't see anymore. To the extent that small parts of ToA continue to be problematic, it's okay to discuss that.

And if it's discussed, perhaps it can continue to change for the better! Isn't that what we all want?

Seriously: as a white guy not given to worrying about political correctness as a rule, I had the exact same thoughts as the quoted blogger in the article (POCGamer): two steps forwards, one step back.

 

[robus]

It is better to try, and fail, than to not try at all.

(That's something I tell myself after my fourth consecutive rolled 1).

Seriously, my main takeaway from the article wasn't that ToA was "racist," and I didn't see that in the article, at all. Instead, it was, at worst, somewhat lazy.

Do you know what I did see? A marked improvement from what had been ... seriously, some of the history and the old art (and there are much worse example that could have been used if you want to go to non-Chult history) are the types of things we don't see anymore. To the extent that small parts of ToA continue to be problematic, it's okay to discuss that.

And if it's discussed, perhaps it can continue to change for the better! Isn't that what we all want?

Exactly.

Criticism (good or bad) is a fundamental mechanism of cultural feedback. Saying something could be better is feedback that can be used to improve things. Saying nothing is basically the same as saying things are fine. And for some people it probably is - but they're the ones who've probably had it pretty fine for a good while now. Other people are no longer happy with the status quo and would like things to get better. They're speaking up and others telling them to that actually everything is fine (or go do it yourself, or it was worse before, or what about the Vikings...) is not particularly constructive...

 

[pemerton]

FR was not created by WotC, and they cannot change it lock, stock and barrel from previous incarnations.

When you say "can't" . . . why not? WotC owns the FR IP - they can do what they like with it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If nothing else, how would you rather be viewed through the lens of history? As:

1) someone who did nothing and let the status quo remain

Or

2) someone who made an honest attempt at changing something for the better, even if they didn't succeed.

I know which I'd prefer.

 

[Parmandur]

When you say "can't" . . . why not? WotC owns the FR IP - they can do what they like with it.

I mean, they have: rather frequently. In 3E they changed the size of the planet.

 

[DeJoker]

That may be accurate insofar as how most internal complaints are handled, but it is wholly inaccurate when external customer complaints are involved- I've been on both sides of that. Customer complaints are less about what solutions customers ask for than the depth and ferocity of the anger & disappointment they express...and what they threaten to do if their concerns are not addressed.

We're already seeing a great American guitar brand really starting to hurt from years of bad QC and subsequent sucstandard customer service (Gibson), and another is headed down the same path (Keisel). Why now? Because for some time, the Internet is letting people post CustServ horror stories- with email transcripts- and now even high-profile brand endorsers are doing that.

IOW, you ignore customer complaints at your own risk.

First I want to say your point is more valid than any other I have seen thus far.

Now from what I am understanding your claim is that the individual posting that article is actually a consumer of the stuff -- okay I do not recall reading that in the article perhaps I missed that denoted fact-- or was that an assumption on your part? -- I mean all the inaccuracies and such kind of says they are not a true consumer but I could be wrong there as well -- however since I did not see them come out and state that they were then I am not going to assume that they are.

Now if its a consumer complaint as you state -- okay it is still next to worthless drivel to anyone except the company in question as again it does not put forth any potential solutions or even solicit any -- so basically about as useful as that one guy who said read the email by so-in-so about 5 messages back -- whose guesstimate appears to maybe have been incorrect -- which we won't know for sure until they chime back in -- but again next to useless if you want someone to act appropriately upon your consumer complaint.

So yes if you ignore consumer complaints (assuming that was what this was) long enough they will have a detrimental effect on your client base but some companies as you have pointed out do not overly care about that and thus seem destined to fade away or simply squeeze as much profit out of that line as they can without putting too much money into it. Which I have seen companies do, in fact their are companies that is their sole focus and they are profitable. So the question now is does WotC truly care about the player base they have for DnD or are they simply content with squeezing out as much profit as they can with as little investment as possible. If the former then the complaint could be useful to WotC if the latter it was useful to no one.

So can you answer that question -- Does WotC truly care about their customer base or are they perhaps just playing lip service to them in order to maintain profit longer or do the obviously not care?

 

[robus]

When you say "can't" . . . why not? WotC owns the FR IP - they can do what they like with it.

OT: Before I caught up on the recent history of WotC and D&D, I was a little disappointed that WotC hadn't jettisoned the whole lot with 5e and introduced an entirely fresh and modern setting (world building is now a well established craft after all).

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[DeJoker]

Well, it's also not accurate with regards to how internal complaints are handled, as well. This is something that I am more than a little familiar with (at least in the United States).

Suffice to say that if an employee makes a complaint (whether it's harassment, hostile work environment, issues involving compensation, failure to comply with local, state, or federal law, or all sorts of other issues), then their employer won't respond, "Well, since you didn't tell us how we are supposed to solve the problem, we don't have to take the complaint seriously. C'mon, if you don't give us the solution, what are we supposed to do? Amirite?"

Ah so now this has gone from a product issue or process issue to a Human Resources issue ?? Sorry you are comparing apples versus oranges and that you cannot do -- well you can do it and you obviously have -- but that has as much solidity to it as helium.