WotC How much does Hasbro / WotC impact your feelings towards D&D?

[Piperken]

That too. But seriously, even ignoring the terrible labor practices. And the squeezing of other companies. And the lying. And the leveraging of their position to benefit their own products. And the (insert so many issues)....

COULDN'T THEY AT LEAST USE APPROPRIATE BOXES? I swear, you order a friggin' lip balm, it comes in a box that you could put a chair into.

Possessing one or more cats has turned out to be a viable solution to this dilemma. You get to re-reuse all those boxes, including the gobs of recycled, puffed air packaging, sometimes for months on end.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Possessing one or more cats has turned out to be a viable solution to this dilemma. You get to re-reuse all those boxes, including the gobs of recycled, puffed air packaging, sometimes for months on end.

Good point, but possessing one or more cats tends to create new dilemmas!

 

[Micah Sweet]

They produced immensely more guff - and yet you think the quality was higher? I think if you were to go back and reread the majority of AD&D products now with a critical eye rather than a nostalgic one you would be very very disappointed. Sure there were gems but I think we were even more used to mining products for ideas back then than we are now. My experience of it was that AD&D and it’s multitude of settings were good on ideas, poor on execution. But we gave them a pass because we had nothing to compare it to and we were all homebrewing and cobbling stuff together back then.

Now if a writer asks you to read the 5e adventure campaign book before play they get looked at askance and criticised for it. “How dare you ask me to read the book! I should be able to pick it up as I go!”

A thread is created pointing at the 2024 rules with a dozen or more zany combinations that seem to work in contradictory or unrealistic ways and there is a chorus of “WotC can’t write for crap”. Can you imagine if we combed the same quantities of crunch for AD&D and all set to analyzing it, the kind of stuff would would find. It would fill pages - I guarantee it. The difference is we didn’t hold them to that standard.

You're welcome to believe I'm delusional (which is what I'm getting from your rhetoric), but your opinion that the newer stuff is superior is just as subjective as mine. TSR's work demonstrated far more breath and scope than WotC's new stuff, particularly in terms of lore (which is my highest value metric). Insisting that I can't possibly be being as fair as you re is insulting. We just like different things.

 

[TheSword]

I think these are really disingenuous replies that honestly show very little respect for the community you are participating in.

What I see from this thread is that people feel differently. I think one can use the poll and posts to build empathy rather than reinforce stereotypes or negative bias.

I created the poll because I found myself getting upset at how much discussion about WotC was showing up in threads just about D&D. I wondered why some folks brought up issues with WotC and Hasbro over and over. This poll and discussion show that a large number of folks see their enjoyment of D&D largely impacted by WotC and Hasbro. To them, posts about rules or settings are not separate from the topic of the companies.

So even if I still get frustrated by such posts, at least now I have more of an understanding of it and can act out of empathy.

I’ve actually found this thread a bit of a balm against the seemingly continual negativity.

It’s good to know that the overwhelming majority aren’t letting it affect their enjoyment of D&D.

The comments on a few other 2024 threads also seemed to have got a bit more positive. Maybe now we’re actually getting into the meat of the new book.

It’s heartening.

 

[TheSword]

You're welcome to believe I'm delusional (which is what I'm getting from your rhetoric), but your opinion that the newer stuff is superior is just as subjective as mine. TSR's work demonstrated far more breath and scope than WotC's new stuff, particularly in terms of lore (which is my highest value metric). Insisting that I can't possibly be being as fair as you re is insulting. We just like different things.

People aren’t generally criticizing the 5e books and saying they poor quality because they don’t have lore. They’re criticizing them for bad writing, bad rules, and bad layout usually. Im saying those things were categorically issues in the 1980s to a greater extent.

Breadth and Scope? It’s sounds like you like the quality but your main criticism seems to be that they’re not doing enough which is a bit odd from someone who doesn’t play the current game.

 

[Scribe]

It’s good to know that the overwhelming majority aren’t letting it affect their enjoyment of D&D.

Even 1, at 43% are 'little to no' meaning 57% are impacted at a minimum so...

 

[Velderan]

Yeah, just like how my purchases from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Nestle, or Disney are tacit approval of all the behavior of the company engages in.

A few of those companies are companies I do my best to avoid giving money to, but that’s just the thing: nothing I am aware Hasbro or WotC has done comes close to what a company like Amazon or Nestle has actually done that crossed the line for me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

People aren’t generally criticizing the 5e books and saying they poor quality because they don’t have lore. They’re criticizing them for bad writing, bad rules, and bad layout usually. Im saying those things were categorically issues in the 1980s to a greater extent.

Breadth and Scope? It’s sounds like you like the quality but your main criticism seems to be that they’re not doing enough which is a bit odd from someone who doesn’t play the current game.

My criticisms of 5e are mostly lore-based (I feel they've gutted it) with a side of too many gamist leanings. I'm not buying 5.5 because they decided to double-down on the playstyle and design choices I already didn't care for, and because I have a (IMO) superior 5e alternative in Level Up.

 

[Parmandur]

A few of those companies are companies I do my best to avoid giving money to, but that’s just the thing: nothing I am aware Hasbro or WotC has done comes close to what a company like Amazon or Nestle has actually done that crossed the line for me.

Nestle crosses the lien for me, I will avoid them when I can (knowing thst they are an octopus that is hard to avoid).

I try to buy Fair Trade products whenever possible, so coffee and sugar mainly, and get the less-problematic chocolates (even the good companies admit they can't be 100% certain they have eliminated bad things in their pipeline, bit at least they tried).

On those levels...the PHB is being printed in the USA, which eliminates most of the thorniest morally problematic minefields in the publishing industry, and the creative are paid top dollar (even if they have to live with the insecurity of corporate life). Some 5E products have been printed in China, which is unfortunate, but most 3rd party publishers are printing in China much of the time from what I've seen. That puts most of the industry ethically behind Hasbro in the key area of morality their business engages in...but there aren't many I would refuse to buy from on principle (some weird exceptions apply).

These are not like the issues with Nestlé and child slavery, frankly.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Even 1, at 43% are 'little to no' meaning 57% are impacted at a minimum so...

I think this might be a good way to look at the data (as of this moment):

43% of voters feel little to no impact (1's).
63% of voters feel a little impact (1 & 2)
21% of voters feel a strong impact (4 & 5)
13% of voters feel a major impact (5's)