WotC Greg Tito On Leaving WotC: 'It feels good to do something that doesn't just line the pockets of *****'

We reported earlier that WotC's communications director Greg Tito had left his 9-year stint managing the Dungeons & Dragons brand for a political appointment as Deputy Director of External Affairs for the Washington secretary of state's office.

Greg Tito Leaves Wizards of the Coast

Greg Tito, formerly the communications manager in charge of overseeing messaging for the Dungeons & Dragons brand, is departing Wizards of the Coast for a career in the public sector. Tito announced that he would be joining the Washington secretary of state's office starting this week, ending an...

www.enworld.org

In a surprising turn of events, Tito criticized his former employers, saying "It feels good to do something that doesn't just line the pockets of a**holes." He later went on to clarify "Sorry. I meant "shareholders".

Tito is now Deputy Director of External Affairs for the Washington Secretary of State office in Olympia, WA.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Well put. Thanks for a well-reasoned response.

with additional context of the history of that organization used.

Okay, so what specifically happened in this particular event that makes this additional context relevant? The fact that folks make mention of this without tying to this an issue with the situation being discussed is what 'the other side' considers irrelevant and adds heat to the discussion. I bring this back to 'stick to the facts'.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Sure. But Wizards would still have the right to request the return of their product, regardless of how many hands it had passed through?

It's a similar argument to: my car is stolen. The thief sells the car to an unsuspecting dupe. I request the car back from the dupe. What's the outcome?

The difference is the part where literally anything was stolen.

Street date breakage isn't theft, it's breech of contract by the store, not the customer.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I genuinely don't feel anything about what happened.

If something belongs to you, sure. Collect.

Ownership of the cards here was in question though,...hence why I assumed lawyers would be more useful than Pinkertons.

"I get you're associating Pinkerton with some sort of militaristic, 'boot on the throat' activity here." I do not...that's a bit of you projecting, I am going to respectfully suggest. No, I was only thinking that if we're not sure, legally, who the cards belong to, a collection agency is the wrong way to go.

Fair enough. Someone showing up at your door rather than a letter from a lawyer? I can see a case for either side. Part of what Hasbro was dealing with here was time sensitivity, which may be what precipitated calling a collection agency. But I get what you're saying.

That aside, in this particular case, those items got into this person's hands by accident. It was a mistake (or whatever) on the part of whoever passed on the cards. As the creator of those cards, with incentive to not have those released to the public, I have a choice to make here. I can understand the slower 'lawyer' route... but expediency here is extremely important, so I get the collection agency path as well.

 

[Staffan]

Sure. But Wizards would still have the right to request the return of their product, regardless of how many hands it had passed through?

It's a similar argument to: my car is stolen. The thief sells the car to an unsuspecting dupe. I request the car back from the dupe. What's the outcome?

But the product does not belong to Wizards. The store has bought it, either from Wizards or a distributor. When they did, they likely agreed that they wouldn't sell it before a certain date, but that box of cards still belongs to the store. The store then sells it to someone else. That's a perfectly legitimate sale. Wizards may have a civil claim against the store for breaking the street date, and the store might have trouble getting stuff before the street date again later, but that's all between Wizards and the store and has nothing to do with the buyer.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

The difference is the part where literally anything was stolen.

Street date breakage isn't theft, it's breech of contract by the store, not the customer.

Not seeing the relevance of this. The store had their product pushed out where they didn't want it to be. They wanted it back.

 

[Oofta]

Well, the title of the article you linked to is

Magic publishers sent Pinkerton agents to a YouTuber’s house to retrieve leaked cards​

"Retrieve" =/= "investigate."

And? You don't send lawyers to retrieve something, you hire lawyers to threaten someone with a civil lawsuit. Technically you are correct, they also retrieved the product (WotC replaced it by the way) but it was part of an investigation to find out how it was released.

 

[Staffan]

Fair enough. Someone showing up at your door rather than a letter from a lawyer? I can see a case for either side. Part of what Hasbro was dealing with here was time sensitivity, which may be what precipitated calling a collection agency. But I get what you're saying.

That aside, in this particular case, those items got into this person's hands by accident. It was a mistake (or whatever) on the part of whoever passed on the cards. As the creator of those cards, with incentive to not have those released to the public, I have a choice to make here. I can understand the slower 'lawyer' route... but expediency here is extremely important, so I get the collection agency path as well.

The proper choice would be to tell the buyer "Hey, those cards you got from the store? That wasn't supposed to happen. We'd like to buy them off you. How does $X sound?" Or $Y amount of product, or whatever else would be reasonable. That's the usual way to proceed when one party legitimately owns a thing another party wants.

Not seeing the relevance of this. The store had their product pushed out where they didn't want it to be. They wanted it back.

Yeah, and I want enough money that I never have to work another day in my life. That doesn't mean I'm entitled to it.

 

[Oofta]

The proper choice would be to tell the buyer "Hey, those cards you got from the store? That wasn't supposed to happen. We'd like to buy them off you. How does $X sound?" Or $Y amount of product, or whatever else would be reasonable. That's the usual way to proceed when one party legitimately owns a thing another party wants.

Yeah, and I want enough money that I never have to work another day in my life. That doesn't mean I'm entitled to it.

They tried to contact Dan multiple times and he did not respond so they sent someone to knock on his door. They replaced the cards with an available deck. Beyond that I'm not getting into property law because I am not a lawyer but there was never any accusation of illegal activity on WotC's part.

 

[Staffan]

They tried to contact Dan multiple times and he did not respond so they sent someone to knock on his door. They replaced the cards with an available deck. Beyond that I'm not getting into property law because I am not a lawyer but there was never any accusation of illegal activity on WotC's part.

If you want something another person owns, and that person doesn't want to talk to you, I guess you're not getting that thing. That doesn't mean you get collection agencies or lawyers involved.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Not seeing the relevance of this. The store had their product pushed out where they didn't want it to be. They wanted it back.

A store pays for merchandise before they receive it. That merchandise once it in the store's hands is the store's property, not the producer's.

However, the store might be under contract not to break street date as a condition of their purchase of the merchandise.

If that store breeches their contract by selling before street date (breaking street date), then it is a civil matter between the store and the producer and has no bearing on there person who bought the product early -- that product is still their free and clear and there's no legal right on the producer's part to get the product back in any form except under discovery for use as evidence for the civil suit--which can be done via subpoena rather than hired goons.

Hired goons are for when you default on a loan be it with loan shark or loan shark with FDIC backing.