WotC Hasbro CEO optimistic about AI in D&D and MTG’s future

[FitzTheRuke]

We can't stop progress, burying our heads in the sand and ignoring it is not going to change anything other than we'll be surprised when we're impacted.

Seems to me like "burying our heads in the sand" is quite the opposite of what anyone is doing or suggesting.

 

[Jer]

Yeah, they sent the Pinkertons! I was amazed that they still existed, I'd thought they all became police.

Pinkertons are for when someone you want to intimidate hasn't done anything illegal so you can't call the cops on them.

In the US if you get something delivered with your name on it you are under zero obligations to the sender or anyone else to return it if they've made a mistake. You get sent something by mistake it's a free gift.

That's why they didn't call the cops on him. He'd done nothing wrong. But the Pinkertons could show up and allege that he'd done something wrong to get him to turn the material over when legally he didn't have to do anything at all.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Hasbro is a large corporation that will always do what's best for the share price. Just because they say that their policy is no AI art now doesn't mean that they won't change that policy in the future. So being wary of what they're saying and making sure they know your response to it is perfectly acceptable.

It's kind of like carrying bear spray when you're going to be around bears. You hope that the bear won't show up and threaten you, but you need to be able to react when they do.

And that’s a stupid argument. It means no matter what is said or done, it doesn’t matter to you unless it’s the thing you don’t want.

 

[Vaalingrade]

In the same interview, he mentions that the MTG Universes Beyond model is something they're bringing to D&D. That could either be great (there are definitely some properties I'd love to get sourcebooks for) or terrible (there are definitely some properties that would just be corporate synergy and make little sense for the actual D&D community).

That feels like its own thread, though.

I can't wait for a Harry Potter 5e rip that's largely hallucinated from DracoSnape fanfiction stolen from redditers.

 

[Scribe]

So they can't be trusted to say no to AI art because they've said no to AI art and they considered but did not implement a policy change people did not like.

No, they cannot be trusted period, because they are a corporate entity which has demonstrated that they will do whatever they can get away with to make a buck.

 

[mamba]

Even then, that's between the purchaser and the retailer; the publisher (i.e. WotC) has absolutely no right to demand that the product be returned, let alone by sending thugs who use threats and intimidation to retrieve it.

the retailer and the youtuber who got the pack knew each other, I doubt that was an innocent mistake

 

[Zardnaar]

And that’s a stupid argument. It means no matter what is said or done, it doesn’t matter to you unless it’s the thing you don’t want.

Yup some of the pro WotC posters are saying what he did is illegal.

It's not. It's a not even a civil matter let alone illegal. It's a screw up in the distribution chain. WotC sells their product to a distributor retailers sources it from them.

Release dates aren't exactly legally binding although WotC can do what they like to distributors that break release dates in terns of supplying them.

 

[Zardnaar]

the retailer and the youtuber who got the pack knew each other, I doubt that was an innocent mistake

1. Can you prove that (no). Innocent until proven guilty is the standard here.

2. Even if true not illegal the shop could be sanctioned by distributor however.

Unless wotc supplied them directly it's not even anything to do with them. They could bitch and moan to the distributor. There already sold their product its not even theirs anymore.

 

[mamba]

That's why they didn't call the cops on him. He'd done nothing wrong. But the Pinkertons could show up and allege that he'd done something wrong to get him to turn the material over when legally he didn't have to do anything at all.

the problem wasn’t him having the cards but him posting youtube videos about them when they were not officially available yet. No idea what he could be charged with, if anything, but I am sure WotC can come up with something ‘creative’, just like they did with the OGL

 

[Zardnaar]

the problem wasn’t him having the cards but him posting youtube videos about them when they were not officially available yet. No idea what he could be charged with, if anything, but I am sure WotC can come up with something ‘creative’, just like they did with the OGL

Not illegal all they can do is enforce any penalty clauses in their contracts.