Zardnaar
Legend
Honestly, I will also cop to initially questioning her qualifications and hiring.
First, because she has played with Chris Perkins in the Acquisitions Incorporated stream and is thus a friend of a friend. There is the hint of nepotism.
But I like to *believe* I'd also think this if they hired someone like Jerry Holkins or Jared Knabenbauer.
Second, because WotC is the biggest name in the industry, you'd expect them to hire someone with LOTS of qualifications. Someone with a wealth of freelance credits and their name in a dozen books and multiple products for sale on the DMsGuild. I expected to know the past work of the new hire. To be able to go through their catalogue of work. Someone without even an AL credit was a surprise. (Especially when her past projects were listed here and writing wasn't listed.)
Again, I want to believe this isn't a reflection of gender. When Paizo hired Crystal Frasier and Amanda Hamon Kunz I never batted an eye (beyond the "Wait… Crystal Frasier doesn't already work for Paizo? How many credits does she have again??")
When Ms. Welch reminded people she has been working as a game designer for the past seven years and was an experienced writer, that partially put my mind to ease. 50% of the doubt evaporated. Really, the big skill needed is being able to compose a coherent sentence.
Then I remembered that game design in 5e is an iterative process based with designers & developers plus playtesters and that she'd be working with the creators of the game. And the remaining doubt faded. Good ideas are more important than good mechanics, as the later will been done collaboratively. After six months of behind-the-curtain advice, she'll probably be a better 5e game designer than someone who has been homebrewing since the books dropped.
(Ditto lore. I have no idea how much D&D she knows. But that wasn't much of a concern as WotC literally has someone whose job is wrangling lore. So no concerns there.)
I don't think having doubts is inherently sexist.
But continuing to have strong doubts after being reassured or the irrelevance of the concerns is pointed out suggests at another factor at play....
Yeah I know Paizo has several women designers, never bothered me any because I knew they had done good work. And their staff post on their own forums (imagine that).
Playing with Chris Perkins would get you contacts I suppose, I would not call that nepotism though as contacts with jobs are actually more important than qualifications (unless someone is blatantly unqualified). Maybe she used Chris as a reference IDK. Employers often tend to hire people they like sometimes at the expense of qualifications even (I have seen this in real life, truck driver got hired with no license). Its really hard to be blatantly unqualified in RPG design if you are remotely creative though as you could be an ideas person for example although the ability to write would be important.
I can just think of better candidates however or at least well known ones like DMGuild writers (PT Black), Crystal/Amanda. Social media presence is important these days maybe that factored into it and that may be more important to sell the game than write it (which they can already do).
I think she will be alright. Worst case scenario she leaves in a year or two and does something else.
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