Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Jeff Grubb on WotC and layoffs
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Shayuri" data-source="post: 5753715" data-attributes="member: 4936"><p>It's worth pointing out that in a standard stakeholder-owner/management relationship, these layoffs are exactly what stakeholders WANT their proxies (ie - company officers and board) to do. They raise stock value, or at least keep it stable if revnues are falling. Improving stock value is the job description of the officers and board. That's it. Not preserving human equity. Not even providing quality product. </p><p></p><p>This is not my defense of the corporate model, by the way. Just my observation. In my experience, the dissonance we feel that focuses so heavily on the corporate officers and boards is often (not always) misplaced. The real culprit is impersonal, and hard to direct blame at.</p><p></p><p>Street-level employees typically work at a company like an RPG company (as distinct from, say, fast food) because they have some desire, or passion, for what the job entails. They write, and design, and work like demons, and have a ball doing it because it's what they love.</p><p></p><p>The officers and board have little to nothing to do with any of that. What they do is largely accounting. They work in a world of numbers, where every staff member; every paycheck written, is a financial liability that reduces stock value. The odds are strong they don't know anyone by name outside their own circle. The employees are represented by a set of statistics that compare their value to the company (frequently very hard to quantify) with their liability to the company (very EASY to quantify). </p><p></p><p>Under those circumstances, it becomes easier to see why great people are laid off. It is, as the mobsters say, "just business." The owners of the company, the stockholders, are <em>completely</em> removed from the actual people who make the company run. Or, to put it better, from the <em>labor</em> that makes the company run. They don't know, don't care...they didn't invest in Hasbrow/WotC because they admire the work of Monte Cook and Ryan Dancy. They invested because its performance, by whatever metric they chose, looked good and they want a piece of that pie. In short...accounting.</p><p></p><p>The model is very effective at collecting large amounts of investment capital, which in some cases is an absolute requirement for a new venture...but it results in the schizophrenic, quasi-psychotic kind of corporate mentality whose pitfalls are well documented.</p><p></p><p>And it's why good people are laid off at Christmas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shayuri, post: 5753715, member: 4936"] It's worth pointing out that in a standard stakeholder-owner/management relationship, these layoffs are exactly what stakeholders WANT their proxies (ie - company officers and board) to do. They raise stock value, or at least keep it stable if revnues are falling. Improving stock value is the job description of the officers and board. That's it. Not preserving human equity. Not even providing quality product. This is not my defense of the corporate model, by the way. Just my observation. In my experience, the dissonance we feel that focuses so heavily on the corporate officers and boards is often (not always) misplaced. The real culprit is impersonal, and hard to direct blame at. Street-level employees typically work at a company like an RPG company (as distinct from, say, fast food) because they have some desire, or passion, for what the job entails. They write, and design, and work like demons, and have a ball doing it because it's what they love. The officers and board have little to nothing to do with any of that. What they do is largely accounting. They work in a world of numbers, where every staff member; every paycheck written, is a financial liability that reduces stock value. The odds are strong they don't know anyone by name outside their own circle. The employees are represented by a set of statistics that compare their value to the company (frequently very hard to quantify) with their liability to the company (very EASY to quantify). Under those circumstances, it becomes easier to see why great people are laid off. It is, as the mobsters say, "just business." The owners of the company, the stockholders, are [i]completely[/i] removed from the actual people who make the company run. Or, to put it better, from the [i]labor[/i] that makes the company run. They don't know, don't care...they didn't invest in Hasbrow/WotC because they admire the work of Monte Cook and Ryan Dancy. They invested because its performance, by whatever metric they chose, looked good and they want a piece of that pie. In short...accounting. The model is very effective at collecting large amounts of investment capital, which in some cases is an absolute requirement for a new venture...but it results in the schizophrenic, quasi-psychotic kind of corporate mentality whose pitfalls are well documented. And it's why good people are laid off at Christmas. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Jeff Grubb on WotC and layoffs
Top