D&D 5E Mearls' "Firing" tweet

[Sacrosanct]

You know what this reminds me of? The uproar when they starting making the artwork more diverse. Or included an NPC who was gay. Any representation that is not a straight white male sure seems to upset people. Which shows just how much more progress is needing to be made as a group.

I think I've become conditioned over the past few years that any time I hear someone say, "Being shoved down my throat", I want to scream.

 

[Gradine]

Well said.

It always boggles my mind a bit when people assume that someone else is just being a good person to impress people. Like, what is the working theory, there? Do they just think that everyone is a selfish POS that only pretend to care about others to win imaginary brownie points?

It's a question of empathy, isn't it? Think about the type of person who makes those types of comments. They're already likely in the position they're in the first place due to either a lack of empathy, or an inability to understand or accept other peoples' point of view, or insistence that their reality, their own experiences, are the only ones that can be true. Why would a person like that stick their neck out for somebody else if not for some possible personal gain? And how could a person like that comprehend anyone else doing the same for any other reason?

 

[epithet]

I would agree in today's society. I'm not so sure it was that irregular for them to admit that back 20 years ago. It was fairly common knowledge that minorities had easier admissions in the early 2000's than non-minorities. That information had to come from somewhere and maybe demographic admissions info is public record somewhere or maybe admissions officers did say those things or maybe both.

I remember when I went to college in '89 there were charts that put you in a category based on your your GPA and SAT. There was nothing coy about it, the affirmative action program was up-front. Category A was eligible for automatic acceptance without any qualifier, category B was "discretionary" for white males but automatic for minorities, category C was discretionary for minorities but white males would not be accepted. This was at UT Austin, and it became exhibit A for the (in)famous lawsuit against UT for "reverse discrimination."

It wasn't just UT, either. A number of my friends got accepted at northern state schools like Iowa with free tuition because these schools wanted a certain number of hispanic students. They didn't hide it at all, they came right out and told the recruits that they were wanted because of their ethnicity. In writing.

 

[Warpiglet]

At the bottom of it from a business perspective, it is probably better not to tweet and just let a company have a stance as part of their business and corporate culture.

I provide mental health care for a living. I took down my social media pages. I do not engage in political discussions on line. Why?

Because in the space of 2 hours I can see and help two very different individuals. I can see someone with one set of values or another. I work well with both because the appointment is about them and not me. If I made pronouncements rejecting one thing or another I could alienate clients who misunderstand or simply do not like what I happen to believe. It is enough for me that the medical center has a policy and stance in several issues.

With Mearls, I cannot disagree. I personally find it stupid to judge a designer based on demographics as this appears to be what he is railing against. I also cannot see how productive it is for representatives of a company to make statements off the cuff. You might get a few people cheering (who liked the company anyway) while risking being misunderstood and pissing other people off.

Twitter and social media ruin businesses. Gotta be careful. In fact, just saw a tweet by a CEO of company that makes clothing piss off a huge demographic (everyone that watches a certain news network). While narrow-minded (ironically!) it was a terrible business move that is going to cost people jobs.

You don't have to be wrong to be imprudent! I mean I agree with the general sentiment but again, you don't have to be wrong to be imprudent!

I hope this nonsense blows over. And I hope the haters are wrong and we get a designer who produces some fresh and useful material.

I also hope people give twitter and such a rest. I laugh daily about twitter feuds and he said she said nonsense. Unlike many celebrities, I am under no delusion about the importance of my moment by moment thoughts to anyone but me. The next time you plan to rage twitter, consider not doing it!

 

[epithet]

If Affirmative Action made it so much easier for minorities to get jobs over white men, why are positions of power in almost all industries still dominated by white men?

It's like all the other months getting to a leap year and complaining, "How come February gets all the extra days?"

Because it's a trap.

The best example I can think of was the regulation in the 90s that required the Texas GSC to award a certain percentage of state contracts to "historically underutilized businesses." This had a couple of effects. The more amusing one was that a lot of good ol' boys put their business in their wife's name to get extra points on their bids (which sometimes resulted in the wife taking it in a divorce,) but the big repercussion was that the old gringos at the GSC carefully selected the very worst contracts and set them aside for minority business owners. It made it easier for a black guy to get a state contract, just not a contract he'd actually want.

One of the most difficult things you can try to do is to legislate morality. Most of the time, the immoral folks will just take it as a personal challenge.

 

[Imaro]

Because it's a trap.

The best example I can think of was the regulation in the 90s that required the Texas GSC to award a certain percentage of state contracts to "historically underutilized businesses." This had a couple of effects. The more amusing one was that a lot of good ol' boys put their business in their wife's name to get extra points on their bids (which sometimes resulted in the wife taking it in a divorce,) but the big repercussion was that the old gringos at the GSC carefully selected the very worst contracts and set them aside for minority business owners. It made it easier for a black guy to get a state contract, just not a contract he'd actually want.

One of the most difficult things you can try to do is to legislate morality. Most of the time, the immoral folks will just take it as a personal challenge.

Interesting... I wonder what the percentage of contracts given to minorities (and then what percentage out of those awarded were "desireable") before the regulation in the 90's...

 

[billd91]

The whole gatekeeping thing is something that never made sense to me anyway. I mean, even beyond how it's just fundamentally wrong in most cases, but especially with TT gamers. Historically, we have been the victims of gatekeeping for most things in "normal" day to day life. Sports, social functions, etc. I mean, geeks have traditionally been outcasts. So why in the world, after knowing what it feels like, would they want to do the exact same thing to other people?

The only thing I can think of is those people are so desperate to control others and impart pain on someone like they where hurt, that they engage in that behavior. I'm no psychiatrist, but to me that seems like broken human behavior. Sadly, these past couple threads (and especially Reddit discussions) have proven Mearls to be correct in spades, and shows why a tweet like his is needed. Leading from the top is what he's doing.

To paraphrase from a political cartoon by Jules Feiffer back in the early 1990s that relates to the idea, "For that one bright, shining moment, I was the oppressor."

 

[JacktheRabbit]

aaa

 

[epithet]

One thing I haven't seen anyone else mention is that maybe, in order to make their adventure products more accessible to DMs without a lot of experience, they hired someone without a lot of DMing experience to participate in the design process. I mean, let's face it -- the adventure paths aren't really being marketed to the grognards. If we buy them, it's because we like the maps, or the jungle encounters, or the elaborate traps. We steal ideas and resources for our own campaigns, but the ones who will run the adventure as it is written are mostly at a vastly different level of experience than Crawford, Mearles, and Perkins. I'm just as likely (actually, a lot more likely) to use something Chris Perkins put in Dungeon Magazine 20 years ago that whatever they put in the latest and greatest 5e adventure hardcover.

For all I know, this lady could have been DMing awesome campaigns since she was in junior high. If not, though, she could still bring a lot to the D&D design team beyond the girl cooties.

Although I guess in fairness I shouldn't rule out the possibility that she was hired just so that Shelly Mazzanoble would have another girl to play Barbies with. (That was sarcasm. I hope it was unnecessary to point that out, but hope is for suckers.)

 

[JacktheRabbit]

aaa