D&D General No, Hasbro Is Not Selling D&D

Micah Sweet said:

If I'm wrong, I apologize. What was your intent?

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Pretty sure all Morrus was saying is that you've been pretty consistent with that messaging.

Ruin Explorer said:

The reason it's as bad as it is now though is because we've had multiple WotC incidents which were real, so I hope you're not suggesting the YouTubers are really "to blame" for that.

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Controversy with Wizards of the Coast and their handling of the Dungeons & Dragons brand isn't anything new and sure didn't start this past year or two. This has nothing to do with actual controversy and everything to do with YouTubers who are chasing every click they can by intentionally framing any news in the most sensationalist way possible and pouncing on every rumor so they can claim to be the first to report it.

This has gone on for years in other industries - YouTube channels focusing on the tech industry or media like movies or video games have done this for almost as long as YouTube's existed. The reason it works is the same reason why psychics work - People remember the hits and not the misses. Doesn't matter if they report on 9 rumors in a row that turn out to be nonsense so long as that 10th one happens to be somewhat right.

And that's not counting all the people with a personal agenda who are already inclined to believe any negative story about a company. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, doesn't matter if it's plausible or not, if a story can be twisted in some way to paint their most hated company in a bad light, it MUST be true and should be spread as far as possible! It's mostly Wizards of the Coast these days but not exclusively. But Wizards of the Coast could announce literally anything and there's a contingent of people who will immediately come up with some spin to prove that the company is failing and will collapse any moment and D&D will revert ownership to Luke Gygax somehow and there will be parades and everybody gets free candy for life...

It's frankly exhausting. "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on." And having to explain to people, both personally as friends on social media and professionally as a reporter on the TTRPG industry, that no, the current rumor that makes no sense isn't true because of all the way it makes no sense and having to have clear debunking sources ready because just pointing out how a rumor is ridiculous is never enough because somebody on YouTube said so.

Abstruse said:

It's frankly exhausting. "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on." And having to explain to people, both personally as friends on social media and professionally as a reporter on the TTRPG industry, that no, the current rumor that makes no sense isn't true because of all the way it makes no sense and having to have clear debunking sources ready because just pointing out how a rumor is ridiculous is never enough because somebody on YouTube said so.

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So much this. and not just with RPG news, but everything these days. I hate hyperpolarization and algorithmic echo chambers about everything from politics to music to TTRPG news with every fiber of my increasingly-grumpy being.

Micah Sweet said:

Too bad. I'm one of those who think D&D would be better off with another publisher, at least as far as the quality of the game is concerned.

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I think there are companies I'd rather see in charge of D&D than Hasbro/Wizards. I also think there are very few companies who could drive up to Hasbro with a big enough dump truck full of money to buy it off them. And the intersection between those two sets is non-existent.

Staffan said:

I think there are companies I'd rather see in charge of D&D than Hasbro/Wizards. I also think there are very few companies who could drive up to Hasbro with a big enough dump truck full of money to buy it off them. And the intersection between those two sets is non-existent.

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I mean, if we're talking about "I just got three wishes from a genie and have to spend them on the TTRPG industry" scenarios, I'd love to see everything about D&D in the public domain. Rules, settings, characters, everything. It will never happen. Like "the universe will literally experience heat death first" levels of never.

Ruin Explorer said:

The reason it's as bad as it is now though is because we've had multiple WotC incidents which were real, so I hope you're not suggesting the YouTubers are really "to blame" for that.

That's why this didn't happen with D&D content on YouTube earlier. The essential inducements from YouTube/Google are the same now as they were, say, three years go. You want clicks. You want eyes on your video. You want people seeing your Patreon or Kofi links or the like. Going negative and jumping on every rumour has always been a way to get some clicks, but generally when a product/IP is avoiding controversy, it's not that successful, and indeed, if people keep manufacturing fake negative stories, those get fewer and fewer clicks over time, and so people become less likely to promote.

But again, Hasbro/WotC has screwed up repeatedly and significantly, with the truly incredible OGL incident about a year ago (not long, even on the internet). Most recently of course we have Hasbro seemingly firing just as large a percentage of employees in WotC, which is making a ton of money, as in their actual loss-making divisions. Because of this, negative stories re: Hasbro/WotC are very unfortunately highly credible and attract a lot of clicks.

If WotC do well and Hasbro can avoid undermining them, this will eventually die down. People will make up fake stories or misunderstand things, they'll get clicks, but when people find out it wasn't true, they're less likely to click next time. Give it another year or two of WotC doing good, assuming the 2024 edition is really solid (let's hope - the last two playtests were not - or were at least a mixed bag) and we'll probably be back to where we were re: positive D&D content.

But if 2024 sucks or is poorly marketed, or if WotC or Hasbro do something horrible, well, it'll keep going, because it's being fuelled by negative stories that actually happend.

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While (a) yes of course that's true--and obvious, also (b) it's not just D&D but pretty much everything in fandom. All of it. It's what YouTube incentivises, and controversy sells. Even if you have to make it up. So no, I don't think it's going to die down without YouTube itself changing.

Staffan said:

I think there are companies I'd rather see in charge of D&D than Hasbro/Wizards. I also think there are very few companies who could drive up to Hasbro with a big enough dump truck full of money to buy it off them. And the intersection between those two sets is non-existent.

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Sad but true.

Timespike said:

I mean, if we're talking about "I just got three wishes from a genie and have to spend them on the TTRPG industry" scenarios, I'd love to see everything about D&D in the public domain. Rules, settings, characters, everything. It will never happen. Like "the universe will literally experience heat death first" levels of never.

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Well, if society were to collapse technically everything would be in the public domain. Unless IP holders devolve into street gangs defending their territory through force of arms.

Hmm...might be a game idea there.

A theory is that an AI news aggregator got ahold of a recent RFC video and made this article, which ballooned into more videos and articles, fueling a cycle of misinformation. This is why it's important to use trusted news sources. I'm afraid these sort of topics will become more frequent (and covering more important issues.)

I took the idea that Hasbro was trying to sell off D&D with a huge grain of salt, but didn't dismiss it out of hand. I still remember so many people here that said the idea that Wizards would try to shyster its way out of the OGL being unconceivable.