layoffs?

[justanobody]

D&D Podcast #30

As of Tuesday December 2nd there was a reorganization here at Wizards of the Coast, the details behind which you can largely read about in Bill Slavesik's latest Ampersand column going up on Friday ~mumble mumble~ (couldn't hear it at full volume). Sadly Dave Noonan was affected by this reogranization.

~snip~

Julia Martin also affected by the reorganization. She was a veteran of D&D since before Wizards of the Coast, having worked the game back at Lake Geneva back at TSR.

I guess there is no one left except Bill from TSR at WotC, and find it funny that the info you can find about the reorganization is only for subscribers....

I will leave the rest of the podcast for its own thread and leave this hear about the layoffs.

Is Scott Rouse no longer the Brand Manager?

Kerin Chase(SP) Brand Manager on D&D

 

[MadMaxim]

I also just listened to the podcast and it was confirmed that Dave and Julia were affected by the re-organization. I feel sorry for all of the people who lost their job at Wizards of the Coast. I hope that you all find new employment some other place and I wish you all the best of luck

I've been reading all the pages so far (this is a VERY long thread to keep track of) and it seems speculation concerning the layoffs is based either around Wizards' usual cuts around this time of year or the current financial crisis (or a combination thereof). It's weird but, of course, there has to some legitimate reason for Wizards to let this many people go. I'm not saying it's sensible or fair, but there has to be a reason that we're not going to ever really know about...

 

[Mark]

true, but they may be people who USED TO be part of revenue stream calculations.

Now they just cant afford it and download for free.

Actually, they are part of the revenue stream, in the form of a drain on a company's bottom line. There are formulae for such calculations.

As for hard data, it exists*

My point being, which I think you guys are helping to make, is that there seems to be no actual correlation between illegal downloading and sales in that there no way to claim they would have made purchases of things they download. It might be that they would have, but the proof just isn't there if they don't actually do so. I'm not proponent of illegal DLing, so don't get me wrong, but I am under no illusion that piracy has little to do with sales, one way or another.

 

[Mokona]

Nope. But many people work hard. Not everyone has the same benefits. This makes certain people more, some times much more privileged that others. This situation draws bad feelings and I am sure you can understand it.

It is called jealousy!

"Understand" can mean "to accept sympathetically". I am not sympathetic to people who haven't yet reached the highest levels of success being jealous of CEOs.

Creatives are the people who innovate, the people who find new solutions. Historically, it has been the creative that has driven the economy as society's entrepreneurs and artisans. Unfortunately, creatives today rarely have the business acumen or the financial foundation to be self-employed or maintain control of their product. So they turn ownership over to exploiters, the businessman.

There is no rule that says businessman are not also creative. In fact, anyone who has ever worked for a good manager or leader knows that top positions can drive massive positive change in an organization. Strategic vision is not necessarily the domain of line-level employees but it does drive corporate success.

Sometimes it is the lower levels of a company that drive stagnation and failure such as paying excess union employees to sit around and do nothing all day.

Call me a cynic, but I don't think there's any realistic push in the upper echelons of our economic/social system to "do less wrong", but just to "hide it better".

Yes, you're a cynic. Most people try to be honest and assume others will do so as well. This fact allows the dishonest to succeed because honest people aren't constantly suspicious of everyone they meet. Enron had some dishonest people, perhaps including the CEO, but it also had thousands of honest employees who never caught on to the problems.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My point being, which I think you guys are helping to make, is that there seems to be no actual correlation between illegal downloading and sales in that there no way to claim they would have made purchases of things they download.

Actually, I'm saying that

1) there are formulae that exist to help businesses calculate lost sales due to various forms of IP theft- it helps them do their accounting. As for their correlation to reality, they tend to be on the conservative side- actual losses when discovered by raids (both physical and electronic) tend to be a bit higher.

Not all pirates offer stolen IP for free. Some sell it at "deep discounts" to fund criminal or terrorist activities. An artist of my acquaintance saw a Russian Mob website outsell legitimate purchases their self-released first recording 4-1. It cost them thousands of dollars. Some Chinese manufacturers have been caught running their factories during scheduled down time to release 100% perfect copies of products they're licensed to produced...both Western and Chinese, btw.

and

2) there are several studies (privately funded and gov't) that show correlations between drops in sales in a given area and the ease of piracy within that area. Most notable were those studies that showed marked declines in music sales around universities as PC and mainframe speeds increased, and previous studies showing similar declines in sales of printed material in areas served by high-speed, high quality copy centers (Kinkos, Alphagraphics, and even some institutional copy centers). The latter data was significant in lawsuits that engendered the current reluctance of some of those businesses to copy even things we know we're allowed to copy (under express language dealing with the product or Fair Use Doctrine).

 

[Banshee16]

Sorry to hear about the layoffs.....particularly before Christmas, they're no fun. I'm experiencing it this year for the first time myself, so I can empathize.

Take a deep breath, try to enjoy the holidays, and just remember that as long as you and your family are healthy, everything else can be solved.

Banshee

 

[Mark]

there are several studies (privately funded and gov't) (. . .) similar declines in sales of printed material in areas served by high-speed, high quality copy centers (Kinkos, Alphagraphics, and even some institutional copy centers). The latter data was significant in lawsuits that engendered the current reluctance of some of those businesses to copy even things we know we're allowed to copy (under express language dealing with the product or Fair Use Doctrine).

When you are back in the office (so to speak), I'd love more details or links where to get more details specifically on this particular matter. Thanks.

 

[justanobody]

I wonder if it has more to do with piracy or just the simple fact that technology today is making it still cheaper for high quality print to be done at home rather than pay for something printed at a "professional" place like Kinkos (profesional? them? ) that would cost more than to buy it printed and bound from a bookstore from an actual publishing house.

Sounds a lot about the milkman complaining when grocery stores started selling milk and people could go get it themselves without needing the milkman anymore.

Sometimes a service is just no longer needed like the milkman or the "copy shop".

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Its not so much in links as in physical reproductions of speeches, classes, etc. IOW, handouts.

However, I'm sure you could find such info cited in the major copyright infringement cases or in RIAA press releases.

A recent study was discussed in the Harvard Crimson.
The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Prof Says No Sales Loss from Piracy

While Oberholzer-Gee's study (the main topic of the article) concluded that there was no such linkage, the article (in the interest of good journalism), noted that his results ran counter to the vast majority of past studies, citing University of Texas at Dallas Professor Stan J. Liebowitz's study published in 2006 in University of Chicago’s Journal of Law and Economics. (FWIW, UC is is pretty much the pinnacle of academic work on the interactions between law and economics in the USA.)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I wonder if it has more to do with piracy or just the simple fact that technology today is making it still cheaper for high quality print to be done at home rather than pay for something printed at a "professional" place like Kinkos (profesional? them? ) that would cost more than to buy it printed and bound from a bookstore from an actual publishing house.

Sounds a lot about the milkman complaining when grocery stores started selling milk and people could go get it themselves without needing the milkman anymore.

Sometimes a service is just no longer needed like the milkman or the "copy shop".

Except with piracy, all of the people IP production- in your analogy, the farmer, the guy who feeds the cows, the vet who keep the cows healthy, the guy who maintains the milking machine, etc.- are the ones who are losing revenue, not just the "milkman."

High quality home copiers make it easier to print everything, illegally acquired material included. Despite this, Kinkos still makes money and University copy centers still operate.