WotC New D&D survey from WotC as part of the 50th anniversary year.

[Scribe]

That's a great start, but they also fix the mess they made of settings.

I set the bar low, there is zero chance they can do right by the various settings, a vocal segment of the playerbase won't allow it.

 

[Mistwell]

Per Corey Doctorow: Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two sided market", where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them.

I have no doubt in my mind that the people in charge of D&D are going to enshittify it in order to get bonuses and reward stock holders.

Right, they abuse the USERS and CUSTOMERS. An internal layoff of frankly a small fraction of their employees isn't abusing the users or customers. Same definition said differently - squeezing every dime is a phrase that usually means they abuse their customers often through oversaturation. I'm not being pedantic here - I have never heard of any use of that phrase to mean what you're claiming here.

I get you don't have any doubt about it (I do) but that's not at all what you said and I can only reply to what you said and then you objected to. I gave numerous examples of what the term squeezing every dime means, and meant for D&D. You then said the example you had in mind was layoffs. Which doesn't match this new definition either.

 

[Reynard]

Right, they abuse the USERS and CUSTOMERS. An internal layoff of frankly a small fraction of their employees isn't abusing the users or customers. Same definition said differently - squeezing every dime is a phrase that usually means they abuse their customers often through oversaturation. I'm not being pedantic here - I have never heard of any use of that phrase to mean what you're claiming here.

I get you don't have any doubt about it (I do) but that's not at all what you said and I can only reply to what you said and then you objected to. I gave numerous examples of what the term squeezing every dime means, and meant for D&D. You then said the example you had in mind was layoffs. Which doesn't match this new definition either.

Yes. Laying off the design team is abusing the customers because they are getting less for the same (or even more) money. It is no different at WotC than at Uber Eats: when you cut the team in order to save money, you are engaging in enshittification.

 

[mamba]

WotC made a mistake by doing it - it's easy to guess the chain of events - some exec thought it was cool/badass to hire the Pinkertons, didn't even consider this might be "bad optics",

so you object to WotC sending the Pinkertons to that guy but would have been fine with some other rentacop?

 

[mamba]

Asking if I've recommended a WoTC product is weird. I already said yes on D&D, and isn't that the same thing?

you could have recommended MtG I guess, but yes, made me wonder too why there was a distinction

 

[Mistwell]

Yes. Laying off the design team is abusing the customers because they are getting less for the same (or even more) money. It is no different at WotC than at Uber Eats: when you cut the team in order to save money, you are engaging in enshittification.

Laying off a couple members of one design team does not mean customers are getting less for the same money. And stop moving the goal post here - it's not general "I don't like what Hasbro/WOTC is doing" you said they were "squeezing every dime out of D&D" and that doesn't match the examples you had in mind.

Come on man if you meant something else by it then just say that. If you just don't want to admit that, OK cool then I guess this conversation isn't productive. But in the history of D&D, this isn't what "squeezing every dime out of D&D" has looked like anywhere close to its worst level. We know from the history of this game what it looks like, and it's not this.

 

[ichabod]

I didn't like the questions about becoming more or less popular. I mean, I live alone and spend all day on my computer. I have no idea what's popular.

 

[Reynard]

Laying off a couple members of one design team does not mean customers are getting less for the same money. And stop moving the goal post here - it's not general "I don't like what Hasbro/WOTC is doing" you said they were "squeezing every dime out of D&D" and that doesn't match the examples you had in mind.

I'm not sure why it is so important to you to be right here, but since it is: you are correct, I was using enshittification in a relatively broad sense. WotC is not YET doing everything it can to squeeze every cent out of D&D, but they have begun and it will likely continue until they kill it. Of course, I am not a wizard, so this is just my opinion and if you disagree with it, congratulations.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

you could have recommended MtG I guess, but yes, made me wonder too why there was a distinction

Perhaps it included 3rd party D&D products in their definition of D&D.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Nope, I have a fancy education, but I'm a corporate drone.

Sure? The non-intimidation route didn't work, they tried reaching out to the guy several times and he blew them off until the Pinkerton came by and asked him to speak to the WotC rep who traded his illicit stuff for free replacements. Intimidation isn't illegal, they weren't threatening to break his kneecaps or anything.

Liberate yourself friend, get a job as a landscape and get some fresh air. No one should have to live as a drone.