WotC New WotC Statement on Orion Black

[humble minion]

Sometimes "better fit personality-wise" is corporate speak for "will make himself and everyone around him miserable if we hire him."

Yep. As i said, it can be a double-edged sword. Problem with this sort of 'best personality fit' argument is that it's so broad and fuzzy. There needs to be a level of analysis involved. If someone on a hiring board chooses candidate A on the 'best fit' argument, then there needs to be further detail than that. Exactly what aspects of the workplace culture does the losing candidate not fit with? And are those aspects desirable? There are certainly valid personality-fit reasons to prefer one candidate over another, but they need to be articulated as you've done, otherwise your company is at the mercy of the prejudices (conscious or otherwise) of whoever it is you've got making the hiring decisions. And those prejudices can range from "wow, she's hot, i bet she'd be a good cultural fit IN MY PANTS hurr hurr" to "we're the sort of company where everyone is vegan and does yoga - someone who likes hip-hop, wears loud colours, and eats bbq isn't going to be comfortable here", both of which have obvious landmines. I'm in a technical field - in my sort of job it's senior technical people who give the ultimate thumbs up/down which is then generally ticked off by management unless there's a REALLY good reason, because management understandably believe that tech people can evaluate tech skills best. I suspect for WotC hiring creative staff it's senior creatives or creative project managers making these calls. But the thing about workplace culture - the people in these senior roles are the result of your workplace culture. If your culture has flaws, or blind spots, or prejudices, then your seniors are going to carry those into their hiring meetings. 'Best fit with the culture' is a very broad statement that can cover a multitude of sins, best to break it down and detail it more.

But this is a decision based on a business need. The hiring manager might be more interested in the candidate who demonstrates a better understanding of the company's current culture, narrative assumptions, etc., etc. On the other hand, if the hiring manager wanted someone who was going to bring a totally fresh perspective that's also a decision based on a business need.

This is also true, but in the specific case we're talking about (WotC and Orion Black) we have a company that has in the recent past talked a great deal about consciously wanting to be more inclusive and include more diverse creative views in future, after not being great at this in the past. In that context, if their hiring/firing decisions, or what goes on from day to day in the operation of their creative department, are based on the assumption that the 'best fit' is the candidate that best fits the CURRENT culture and narrative assumptions, then that's more than a bit of a problem.

The US Supreme Court said no to quota hiring more than 40 years go (though it may be mandated or allowed by the courts in some cases). These days Affirmative Action revolves around targeted goals rather than hard quotas.

Well, i could certainly debate whether 'banned by the US supreme court' is the same thing as 'bad', but of course at the end of the day WotC is a US company and has to abide by US law.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

So just finished reading Orion Black's whole statement...

I'm just going to say, that the problems they describe are ones that are fairly typical of Seattle corporate culture. Their definitely not good, but when reading them I was honestly not surprised at all as someone who lives and interacts with people in this area. It is far more important to look conventionally liberal on issues, and even have formats available to discuss race, but actual action is exceptionally rare. Other problems Orion describes, like not being assigned much work, are actually common problems completely untied to race at all; many companies hire someone to fill a job to maintain their budget, whether or not that work needs to be filled. Even when those employees try to self-start and push their projects, the new workers are ignored in favor of those who are more established.

I doubt that all of the problems Orion Black describes are really do to "corporate culture" as opposed to true racism within the company... but my first reading of this felt much more like someone who is used to creative freedom suddenly hitting the limits of cold business bureaucracy.

Sadly the types of changes Orion seemed to want to make are those that happen very gradually in larger companies, and largely to the mechanisms of power gradually being passed on to people who care more about them. I'm sure they were extremely frustrated he wasn't listened to, but I would frankly be amazed if a new employee was able to make substantial changes with a company they were only an employee with for about a year or two.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

take out the non-binary and racial aspects of the story

No. Absolutely not. To do so would be completely unacceptable.

it basically sounds like a rant from a disgruntled employee.

We must not have read the same statement. He didn't come across that way at all to me, just as someone who was hurting and speaking the truth as they know it.

But I also think whistleblowing is necessary, just not at all the way this one was handled.

I'm skeptical that any method would have been found acceptable.

If there was any proof on his part that he truly was discriminated against there'd be a lawsuit pending already.

That isn't how this stuff works. We aren't jurors. Hard evidence is hard to come by. A lack of hard evidence doesn't mean it didn't happen, or that reasonable people shouldn't believe him.

Unfortunately I think he's going to find it hard to find work in the RPG industry after this.

They literally said, explicitly, in their statement, that they have no intention of working in rpgs again.

But Orion seems to get the benefit of the doubt and not WoTC.

As they should.

Please be mindful that hostile environment has a specific legal meaning and Orion didn't mention any examples that rise to that level.

We aren't in court. The legal meaning is irrelevant, we are discussing things in their colloquial meanings.

No, I don't think Orion's handling this very well at all.

I'm completely certain they don't care about your disapproval. They're handling this exactly as they intend to, judging by their various statements.
They're risking blacklisting and a return to poverty in order to bring light to a toxic and potentially racist leadership culture at the most important company in tabletop rpg gaming. I don't think that concern trolling and tone policing them is good thing.

This whole mess could have been avoided if WotC hadn't made such a big deal about diversity and inclusion when they hired Orion Black as a designer in the first place.

The only people who made a big deal of them being hired were racists mad about it and normal people excited about it. Wotc announced the hire, just like they have with most talent hires that aren't DnD vets returning to the fold in the last few years.

I love how many people are rushing to the defense of a non-human corporation, which has had multiple complaints about being an old boys club. The amount of "well that's just how it is" complacency and forced civility is sad.

Make a scene. Be outraged. Burn bridges. Being quiet and respectable is how this crap is allowed to keep continuing.

Damn right. Civility is, frankly, a tool of those who benefit most from the status quo.

Right now we have Orion's say-so.

We also have Tito not only apologizing to him, but genuinely risking his job to make public statements on twitter about how the company needs to change, how he has been telling leadership that for ages, and how what went down with Orion isn't right.

I wouldn't be surprised if some likes got taken back to avoid corporate reprisal, but I also saw many wotc employees names in the likes for Tito's tweets, and Orion's.

Not to mention that this isn't the first time anyone has made the same kind of claims about wotc's leadership.

Twitter is way worse.

No, it isn't. By far.

At worst, the comments on a tweet from a public figure can be as bad as the old wotc forums were for the last year or two they were open.

The only way I could possibly take this idea seriously is by hyperfocusing on the nazis on twitter. That's it. I mean, maybe if I were really sensitive to swearing?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So just finished reading Orion Black's whole statement...

I'm just going to say, that the problems he describes are ones that are fairly typical of Seattle corporate culture. Their definitely not good, but when reading them I was honestly not surprised at all as someone who lives and interacts with people in this area. It is far more important to look conventionally liberal on issues, and even have formats available to discuss race, but actual action is exceptionally rare. Other problems Orion describes, like not being assigned much work, are actually common problems completely untied to race at all; many companies hire someone to fill a job to maintain their budget, whether or not that work needs to be filled. Even when those employees try to self-start and push their projects, the new workers are ignored in favor of those who are more established.

I doubt that all of the problems Orion Black describes are really do to "corporate culture" as opposed to true racism within the company... but my first reading of this felt much more like someone who is used to creative freedom suddenly hitting the limits of cold business bureaucracy.

Sadly the types of changes Orion seemed to want to make are those that happen very gradually in larger companies, and largely to the mechanisms of power gradually being passed on to people who care more about them. I'm sure he was extremely frustrated he wasn't listened to, but I would frankly be amazed if a new employee was able to make substantial changes with a company he was only an employee with for about a year or two.

Post #68 in this thread is a moderator warning about misgendering

Mod Note:

Folks, Orion Black uses the gender-neutral "they" pronoun. It would be really nice if folks would use it, thank you.

Perhaps you missed it. Nonetheless, having been made aware of this, please do not repeat this error. It’s considered a microaggression to do this deliberately, which means it violates ENWorld’s rules to do so.

This goes for everyone participating in this thread, because I’ve noticed a couple other similar mistakes posted after the warning. If you can’t watch your language well enough, perhaps this isn’t the thread for you.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I hope this isn't the lesson WotC learns from this. Diversity and inclusion are important to WotC because it's important to many of their customers. And quite frankly, I think we're all better off by having diverse points of view contribute to settings and rules. So things didn't work out with Orion Black, that happens sometimes.

I'm not saying WotC shouldn't hire diversely. Only that when they do, maybe they shouldn't make a press release about it. In other words, keep hiring announcements in house.

 

[Olrox17]

No, it isn't. By far.

At worst, the comments on a tweet from a public figure can be as bad as the old wotc forums were for the last year or two they were open.

The only way I could possibly take this idea seriously is by hyperfocusing on the nazis on twitter. That's it. I mean, maybe if I were really sensitive to swearing?

I can’t think of a worse place than Twitter for having civilized conversations. Maybe 4chan? I don’t actually know, never posted there, only know their reputation.

Twitter’s structure lends itself very well to shouting, outrage, extreme positions and factionalism. The Wotc forums, at their very worst moments (edition wars, not enough moderation) might’ve been as bad as Twitter is normally, but they were usually much better than that.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I can’t think of a worse place than Twitter for having civilized conversations.

Twitter is my main form of social media. I find it to be civilised. It depends entirely on who you choose to follow, so it's not like ENWorld where, by default, you see everyone's posts.

To give an example of the positive and interesting aspects of twitter, see this thread about a cursed Roman ring and its connection with JRR Tolkien:

 

[Haldrik]

Twitter is my main form of social media. I find it to be civilised. It depends entirely on who you choose to follow, so it's not like ENWorld where, by default, you see everyone's posts.

To give an example of the positive and interesting aspects of twitter, see this thread about a cursed Roman ring and its connection with JRR Tolkien:

If you have a Twitter account, do you have any control over who responds to your comments?

 

[Mecheon]

If you have a Twitter account, do you have any control over who responds to your comments?

You can block folks, or make your account private so only people you follow and follow you can comment

(90% of the time you see someone who's private commenting on one of your tweets, they're probably just tagging someone else into it to look at it though. Twitter's a weird place)

 

[Zardnaar]

Stopped watching broadcast TV 10 years ago, don't use twitter. If you don't like different opinions don't use social media.

Life is good.

Twitter's a complete waste of time.

Hell just started using Facebook and Reddit in lockdown. Had a FB account for a decade figuring out the basics.

I mostly post about food in a local group about restaurants.