WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Jahydin]

If there really are any sensitivity experts working for WotC I suspect they will be among the first to be laid off if the tech & entertainment are any hint. DEI & HR departments have been the primary lay offs for Netflix to Twitter to WB, etc..., which has lead to a lot of criticism of these corporations.

They certainly do!:

Dungeons & Dragons Confirms "Sensitivity Readers" and Announces They Will Change The Nature Of Race Mechanics Moving Forward

Wizards of the Coast and their Dungeons & Dragons team confirmed they have used "sensitivity readers" in their latest campaign books and announced they will be changing the nature of race mechanics moving forward.

boundingintocomics.com

 

[Malmuria]

No, on a practical level a lot of 3rd party setting books are in fact better, because at least those setting books didn't forgot or not bother to put the actual setting in.

So your standard for "visionary" leadership would be making more detailed setting books? I mean, that's a fine thing to want, but its not exactly visionary from either a business or game design standpoint.

 

[Azzy]

I'm aware of this but...

The creators and certainly a subset of fans who didn't buy into the forced Spelljamer/Planescape multiverse did not accept that part of the lore. And it is my opinion that it was lazy on the part of the WotC designers to bring that lore forward as is into 5e.

Just like you have people here complaining about the Cataclysm, you can certainly have people here dissatisfied with Tiamat = Takhisis.

To say that WotC is lazy to bring established lore (something that most of the old guard complain about when WotC doesn't) just because you (and I) don't like a particular piece of established lore is a laughable stance (and hypocritical of any of the old school players that have complained about how WotC has changed lore of established settings).

 

[innerdude]

oh... oh no, I could not disagree more. We need to bring in the casuals AND apease the hardcore fans, but when you have a choice it has to be the new customer.

Nearly every business case study ever shows this to be objectively, provably wrong on every level.

If you are running a business, your most profitable customers---and the ones most likely to expand their purchasing with you---are existing customers.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to appeal to both. But appealing to the hardcore fans is the correct choice if one or the other must be prioritized.

 

[Faolyn]

Nearly every business case study ever shows this to be objectively, provably wrong on every level.

If you are running a business, your most profitable customers---and the ones most likely to expand their purchasing with you---are existing customers.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to appeal to both. But appealing to the hardcore fans is the correct choice if one or the other must be prioritized.

The hardcore fans, though, are just a very loud minority--and by appealing only to them, you stop the far greater number of casuals from spending their money.

It's dumb to ignore the existing customers--the existing fan base needs to have their interests listened to and written for--but it's also dumb to say that the new players should be ignored in favor of the older ones.

 

[Malmuria]

Nearly every business case study ever shows this to be objectively, provably wrong on every level.

If you are running a business, your most profitable customers---and the ones most likely to expand their purchasing with you---are existing customers.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to appeal to both. But appealing to the hardcore fans is the correct choice if one or the other must be prioritized.

TTRPGs are a pretty niche product, and there is a limit as to how many "hardcore" fans will purchase multiple setting and splat books a year. $1M kickstarters for 3pp do signal a certain amount of interest, but not enough for a company with $1B+ in revenue. What wotc did with 5e, intentionally or not, is expand the base of fans, which was more successful for its particular kind of business.

There are also a lot of assumptions being made as to what "hardcore" fans actually want. The majority of dnd players came in with 5e; that fact alone doesn't make them "casual" customers. So while fans who started with 2e might yearn for copious setting lines, it's not established that the diehard dnd fans who came in with 5e care about the same thing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The creators

They were contractors and were never the sole creators. The guy you hire to dig your pool doesn't have the right to tell you not to have a pool party there or not to add a water slide years later.

and certainly a subset of fans who didn't buy into the forced Spelljamer/Planescape multiverse did not accept that part of the lore.

The fact that a subset of fans disagreed with what TSR was officially saying about the setting doesn't matter.

I don't believe Greedo shot first, but Disney isn't going to redo Star Wars (again) to suit me.

Expecting WotC to toss out official canon because a noisy contingent of Dragonlance fans doesn't like it is deeply, deeply irrational.

Just like you have people here complaining about the Cataclysm, you can certainly have people here dissatisfied with Tiamat = Takhisis.

Alleged lore purists going "whoa, what is this Tiamat heresy that, lo, WotC hath foisted upon us" requires ignoring that it's been that way since the beginning.

Deciding that WotC doesn't respect Dragonlance canon because they're following TSR's Dragonlance canon is quite the intellectual leap.

 

[Zardnaar]

What the old saying 80% of your product is bought by 10-20% of your customers.

There's a reason businesses value their regulars.

 

[gban007]

Nearly every business case study ever shows this to be objectively, provably wrong on every level.

If you are running a business, your most profitable customers---and the ones most likely to expand their purchasing with you---are existing customers.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to appeal to both. But appealing to the hardcore fans is the correct choice if one or the other must be prioritized.

Depends on how you define hardcore fans. I think prioritising existing customers is the correct choice if have to prioritise, but I don't think that means have to prioritise hardcore fans, which may only be 10% of your profit, even if on a per customer basis they are more profitable than others.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I gotta say I agree with them on this point. Each campaign setting should have whatever cosmology is appropriate for that setting, not being forced into the Great Wheel nonsense.

They wrote for 1E. The PHB ends with the chart of the Great Wheel. This is not something that's "forced" onto AD&D settings -- it's the default standard.

TSR didn't sneak up behind them and toss the multiverse over their heads like a hood: It was there all along.