WotC WotC Removes Digital Content Team Credits From D&D Beyond

According to Faith Elisabeth Lilley, who was on the digital content team at Wizards of the Coast, the contributor credits for the team have been removed from DDB.

The team was responsible for content feedback and the implementation of book content on the online platform. While it had been indicated to them that they would not be included in the credits of the physical books for space reasons, WotC apparently agreed to include them in the online credits.

It appears that those credits have now been removed.

I just discovered that I have been removed from book credits on D&D Beyond for books I worked on while at Wizards of the Coast.

Background:

While at Wizards (so after D&D Beyond was purchased) - with numerous books, my digital content team and I worked directly with the book team on the content, reading through rules drafts, suggesting changes, giving ideas, and catching issues. We had a full database of the content and understood exactly how it interacted.

Given that we were contributing to the content in the books, I felt it reasonable to request that team be added to the credits, but was informed the credits section was already too crowded with the number of people involved and many of the marketing team had already been dropped from credits. I felt strongly that anyone actually contributing to what is in the printed book should be credited though, so we agreed a compromise, that the team would be added to the credits page on D&D Beyond only, as there is no issue with "not enough space" on a web page.

I've added screenshots here that I had for some of the books.

At some point recently, those credits pages have been edited to remove the credits for me and the content team. Nobody reached out to let me know - it just happened at some point, and I only just noticed.

We've even been removed from the digital-only releases, that only released on D&D Beyond, such as the Spelljammer Academy drops.

I'm not angry or upset, just yet again, really disappointed, as somehow I expected better.

EDIT TO ADD MORE CONTEXT

It's not just getting the books online. I worked with Kyle & Dan to improve the overall book process from ideation to delivery across all mediums (you should have seen the huge process charts I built out...)

The lead designers would send over the rules for each new rulebook and we'd go through it, give feedback, highlight potential balance issues, look at new rules/design that was difficult to implement digitally and suggest tweaks to improve it etc etc. We even had ideas for new content that was then included in the book.

We'd go through the whole book in detail, catching inconsistencies and miscalculations, and I'm proud to say that we dramatically reduced the need for clarifications or errata on those books.

I'm not saying anyone on the design or book team was careless - far from it, they're consummate professionals - I am just illustrating the role my team and I had in contributing to the content, quality & success of the physical books, let alone the digital versions.

We should have been in the credits section of the physical printed book. We were part of the creative process. That was something we were actively discussing when I was informed I was being laid off.

Adding the team to the credits pages just on D&D Beyond was, as I mentioned above, a compromise while we figured things out.

My team were fully credited on the Cortex: Prime and Tales of Xadia books when D&D Beyond was still part of Fandom, before the Wizards acquisition.

In fact for those books we made sure to credit the entire digital development team, including developers, community managers and so forth - everyone who helped make the book successful.

I know that Wizards has hundreds of people involved and previously hit issues with the number of people in credits for D&D books, so pulled back from crediting some roles.

Would it be so bad to have to dedicate extra space in a book to the people whose contributions made the book successful?

I really don't think it would.

 

[Clint_L]

I have done so and responded and asked. You might have missed those responses from me.

You have done everything in your power to make this thread about you.

You began by doubting the importance of the issue raised in the OP, comparing it to your own, unrelated industry, and, laughably, to electricians.

Despite expressing incredulity, you seem to have made little effort to educate yourself, and when the importance of the issue was explained to you, have basically ignored the facts given to you.

The person at the center of the controversy has meticulously explained the issue to you.

Yet you persist.

This is not about you not getting it. This is you refusing to listen, for whatever motives, and hijacking. Prior to your intervention, this thread was focused on helping get the DnDBeyond team's writing credits restored, because, your willful incredulity aside, that is important. Will you permit the thread to be about that, or must it continue to be about your protestations?

Please consider that there are actual people in this community who have suffered professional injury, and that many others in the community are attempting to assist.

Edit: Oh, I see you have finally responded to the detailed explanation given you by the person at the heart of the issue. By adding your unsolicited advice about how to get a job in an industry you manifestly know nothing about.

 

[Incenjucar]

Ultimately, credits are a benefit that creatives have fought for and demanded for literally thousands of years. Trying to take that credit away has always been a move to disempower or otherwise negatively effect the artist. Artists don't need a worse situation.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

This is the response I was looking for!

Honestly, though, there is not the focus in the hiring process on accreditation in software development you are suggesting. Saying this as someone who has been heavily involved in hiring processes across nearly two dozen companies over 30 years.

That doesn't mean that TTRPG employment isn't different. I've been clear about that this whole time (I hope). The fact that it is a hobby industry pretty much means that the rules are different though. I sympathise.

Having said that, there is a time and place to mention that you did work on Project X, and you'd be happy to get personal references praising you in that role.

Personal connections in an interview are pretty crucial. Again, saying this from a place of having conducted interviews for almost the entirety of my career.

Selling what you have and who you are in an interview is what gets you a job. If you don't have access to your credits roll, work around it (you shouldn't have to, but work with me). You worked there and made connections. Tell your interviewer what you did, and who they can talk to if they want more details.

@Faith Elisabeth Lilley Not of that was meant to be patronising. I'm just offering my experience on the subject. Good luck to you.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Guys? Why do you respirate oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide? Plants don't do this. Give me several good, detailed reasons why this is. And no , 'that's how our biology works' isn't an answer I will accept.

Good one. Keep trying... uninformed drive by one liners are the epitome of humour as you've discovered.

 

[Incenjucar]

I also strongly advise anyone who thinks all industries should simply work the same spend time with people in those industries, including people of different ages, degrees of experience, and locations. We are all prone to thinking our perspective is the default, but reality is so much more complex than any one person's imagination. Listening to people who are part of a given piece of the world is crucial to understanding it.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Ultimately, credits are a benefit that creatives have fought for and demanded for literally thousands of years. Trying to take that credit away has always been a move to disempower or otherwise negatively effect the artist. Artists don't need a worse situation.

Can you dig a bit deeper into this for the rest of us?

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I also strongly advise anyone who thinks all industries should simply work the same spend time with people in those industries, including people of different ages, degrees of experience, and locations. We are all prone to thinking our perspective is the default, but reality is so much more complex than any one person's imagination. Listening to people who are part of a given piece of the world is crucial to understanding it.

For sure! But break it down so others can understand.

 

[Maxperson]

But that seems to be enough for all other industries.

Yep. All industries are not the same. Expecting all things to be the same in all industries is a pipe dream.

I agree that having credits provides a straightforward answer to the question though. But as others have said, getting access to credits isn't necessarily easy (see here and here), which negates your point pretty strongly.

All it takes is looking in the product, which is why the lack of the credit in the paper product was such a big deal in this case.

My point is not negated at all.

 

[Incenjucar]

Can you dig a bit deeper into this for the rest of us?

Break down what part? Art history? The patron system? Why pottery and other goods get stamped? An example like Atari not giving credit to keep power over their employees until 1983? Plagerism and claims of having been the creator of someone else's work? Companies refusing to acknowledge someone's contribution? Artist strikes that included demand for credits? It's a vast topic area.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Break down what part? Art history? The patron system? Why pottery and other goods get stamped? An example like Atari not giving credit to keep power over their employees until 1983? Plagerism and claims of having been the creator of someone else's work? Companies refusing to acknowledge someone's contribution? Artist strikes that included demand for credits? It's a vast topic area.

Those are all interesting (and I'll look them up), but maybe focus on the parts that affect gaining employment in 2024?