Ex-WotC Employees Weigh in on the No M:tG RPG Debate

[Ahnehnois]

It's a shame a decent amount of the players are still at WotC.

An odd statement in the context of (among other things) complaints about frequent layoffs.

 

[Sunseeker]

Sounds unfortunately like what you get when you cross artists with corporate America.

 

[Sunseeker]

That bit is great. The mechanics are different, therefore they can never be used together!

Exactly. Sure, we're not going to have a MTG: D&D where you summon monsters and battle players, but that's not what people wanted anyway, all anyone wanted was little more than we got for any of the other dozen book series written in the D&D universe, a "Guide to ....(Phyrexia, Domanaria, etc..) with D&D styled stats for D&D versions of MTG characters and monsters, and general location information.

 

[TheFindus]

So, do I understand this correctly regarding responsibilities and who did what:

Ron Richardson says that R&D people were treated well by members of the brand team, but designers were not?
So is he talking about Ryan Dancey (former brand manager), Liza Stevens (former M:tG brand team), Joseph Hauck (former M:tG brand team) or Anthony Valterra (former brand manager)?

Also, did I understand this correctly that the upper management overruled decisions made by other people. Who are they talking about? Liza Stevens, who was WotC's VP?

Is my understanding correct here?

I feel that since the former employees are talking about this very openly, why not blame the specific people involved instead of the rather obscure entity "WotC"?

 

[TwoSix]

An odd statement in the context of (among other things) complaints about frequent layoffs.

Ooh. Yeah, I phrased that badly. I certainly don't begrudge anyone their current employment! Only sad that they can't be forthcoming about what would surely be an interesting topic.

 

[Dausuul]

Doesn't surprise me at all. The culture at Wotc has always been rather tumultuous in the upper echelons from what I've read. NOTE: I most certainly wasn't there so take this as reckless rumor if you like, but... Personal relationships that any employee handbook would definitely say, "This is just right out," and despite wild corprorate success nobody was making any money. This sort of tale fits right in with information that I've seen before. It was pretty wild west as WotC came into its own and that has to continue to get passed along as a, "Well, this is just how things have always got done here," kind of corporate memory.

Well, keep this in perspective. The arc of a runaway startup success is pretty well-defined:

1. Startup company is founded on a shoestring and a dream. At this point it's just a bunch of friends doing a thing.
2. Startup company hits the big time. All of a sudden, money comes pouring in as fast as product can be shoved out the door. Cheers and celebrations. People quit their day jobs.
3. It is observed that to keep up with demand, the company needs to hire more people. A lot more people. Right freakin' now. Since there is currently no HR department and no hiring procedure, and no time for such niceties anyway, everyone brings in their friends. Most of said friends get hired on the spot.
4. Soon the company has grown to quite respectable size, but because it's grown so fast, there's no kind of structure. Everyone is just sort of doing their thing and working crazy overtime. Non-work relationships atrophy. People hook up with co-workers. Again, given the lack of HR, there's no one to say no to inappropriate relationships. Accounting and budgeting are, shall we say, less than rigorous. Responsibilities are ill-defined, and problems that should be caught early slip through the cracks and fester.
5. Chickens come home to roost. Growth slows, as it always must sooner or later, while expenses soar. Crises break out. Company politics rears its ugly head. Key people burn out or quit, and all of a sudden the company's future looks a lot less rosy. Money is still pouring in, but it's pouring out just as fast, maybe faster.
6. One way or another, corporate America (or corporate wherever) steps in to straighten everything out. Either the company brings in experienced executives to take the helm, or it gets bought up wholesale. The company's freewheeling culture is squelched, rules are imposed, responsibilities divvied up. The transition to a mature, established company begins.

You can't really judge Wizards today, post-stage 6, by what it was in stage 4.

 

[Manabarbs]

Mark Rosewater (Magic head designer, formerly Magic designer, formerly Magic developer, formerly various associations with Magic's media strategy, formerly Rosanne writer) did a podcast on how Wizards' culture has changed over time, albeit from the perspective of somebody who has and still does like working there.
A transcript is here -
http://dtwtranscripts.blogspot.com/2013/06/62813-episode-40-wizards-of-coast.html

 

[Mark CMG]

I cannot imagine anyone wanting to take a risk that they'd eventually get more folks crossing over from RPGs to Magic the card game than they'd get Magic card game players crossing over to RPGs. ANY time a Magic player is spending not playing Magic the card game is revenue lost. As for a Magic RPG being a potential gateway to Magic the card game, I think simply the artwork on the cards is meant to be the lure.

 

[marketingman]

Would just the mere concept of crossing the streams set up a issue with the copyrighted M:tG being tainted by the use in an OGL environment.
Dilution of the brand by adding unnecessary challenges to companies magkng M:tG under the OGL of the D&D brand legal nightmares for Hasbro.. Also looking at sales of monster manuals would it be cost effective taint both products especailly looking back with all these years of hindsight.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Would just the mere concept of crossing the streams set up a issue with the copyrighted M:tG being tainted by the use in an OGL environment.
Dilution of the brand by adding unnecessary challenges to companies magkng M:tG under the OGL of the D&D brand legal nightmares for Hasbro.. Also looking at sales of monster manuals would it be cost effective taint both products especailly looking back with all these years of hindsight.

Huh?

That has nothing to do with the OGL.

Forgotten Realms and Eberron content, for example, has nothing to do with the OGL so why would you (mistakenly) assume a MtG RPG would have anything to to with the OGL?