WotC WotC President Cynthia Williams Resigns

Ruin Explorer · Apr 18, 2024

dbolack said:
I am, honestly, sincerely dubious this would generate good press of any lasting value. The people that want this are very likely not ( in a meaningful way ) customers and many of them haven't been since TSR was the brand. Aside from being seen as keeping their word ( which most of ya'll expect them not to do anyway ) - what really is the value of doing this at any faster pace?

It's mostly the bolded bit and its implications.

And I disagree re: "not customers", that's a truly short-sighted way of looking at it. You're confusing the people who would be pleased with the people who really, really want this. The reality, most of D&D's playerbase who heard about this would react positively, even though 90% of them might never play a game based on the new CCBY SRDs, and it would change perceptions of WotC in a fairly long-term way, and make it harder to argue them as an "oppressive force" (unless whatever screw-up was something truly horrid like another OGL 2.0).

Plus, keeping your word is seen as important, and you sneer because you say people don't expect them to do it, but how do you not understand that obviously makes it even more important to do it? If someone doesn't think you'll keep your word, but not only do you, but you exceed what was really promised, then that changes minds, especially over time as people mull on it.

I'm not saying that they "NEED 2 MAKE IT PRIO #1" or something, indeed it might even be worth holding on to it as "ammo" lol, as I've said, but my point is pretty clear - it would benefit them significantly PR-wise.

Umbran · Apr 18, 2024

Henadic Theologian said:
No one wants to say this because its sad, but the suddeness suggests its likely health related, she could be very sick.

She, or a member of her family. Like, if we had the wherewithal, how many of us wouldn't drop our jobs like hot rocks if a spouse or child got an ugly cancer diagnosis, or something?

Henadic Theologian said:
(I'm no fan WotC under her leadership, but she's still a person).

Agreed.

_Michael_ · Apr 18, 2024

This is someone who engaged in quasi-fraudulent activity by trying to retcon the OGL to make it something it was not in order to broaden revenue streams and push out competitors and partners. This was purely a decision to monopolize the market by causing corporate attrition so that other companies would simply give up and not bother trying to compete or participate in the new OGL chimera due to the finicky licensing requirements and increased costs the new revision would have brought about. Moreover, there's nothing to suggest it's health-related other than timing. We're not discussing her personal life here (or shouldn't be out of simple courtesy and respect for her privacy, I don't think...), we're discussing her public tenure as CEO and the damage done to the OGL that she presided over. The title of the thread indicates this is about her resignation and the related tenure she retired from. If it's health-related, that sucks. However, that has nothing to do with her poor stewardship of WotC and causing a huge corporate schism whereby their biggest competitor is now mopping up and poaching talent with their own version of the OGL. Unless, of course, her decisions were affected by her health, in which case, that's an entirely different discussion.

Yes, she's a person, but then again, so are all the people running the companies that the Nü-OGL was marginalizing and threatening to push out of the market entirely. What about their jobs? Their families? The fact is, under her leadership, WotC had a corporate aneurysm, the effects of which will be felt for many years to come. There's no insult being leveled here, and I'm not saying she's a terrible person. Her corporate decisions, however, had consequences, and far-reaching ones at that. They absolutely should be examined with a critical eye.

Oofta · Apr 18, 2024

_Michael_ said:
This is someone who engaged in quasi-fraudulent activity by trying to retcon the OGL to make it something it was not in order to broaden revenue streams and push out competitors and partners. This was purely a decision to monopolize the market by causing corporate attrition so that other companies would simply give up and not bother trying to compete or participate in the new OGL chimera due to the finicky licensing requirements and increased costs the new revision would have brought about. Moreover, there's nothing to suggest it's health-related other than timing. We're not discussing her personal life here (or shouldn't be out of simple courtesy and respect for her privacy, I don't think...), we're discussing her public tenure as CEO and the damage done to the OGL that she presided over. The title of the thread indicates this is about her resignation and the related tenure she retired from. If it's health-related, that sucks. However, that has nothing to do with her poor stewardship of WotC and causing a huge corporate schism whereby their biggest competitor is now mopping up and poaching talent with their own version of the OGL. Unless, of course, her decisions were affected by her health, in which case, that's an entirely different discussion.

Yes, she's a person, but then again, so are all the people running the companies that the Nü-OGL was marginalizing and threatening to push out of the market entirely. What about their jobs? Their families? The fact is, under her leadership, WotC had a corporate aneurysm, the effects of which will be felt for many years to come. There's no insult being leveled here, and I'm not saying she's a terrible person. Her corporate decisions, however, had consequences, and far-reaching ones at that. They absolutely should be examined with a critical eye.

First, we have no idea if she had anything to do with the OGL decision. Second it was a terrible idea but they also backed off based on feedback, something many companies would not have done. It's not like reversing course did them much good with the vocal minority. Third, what's the expiration date on complaining about a policy they thought about implementing but reversed course and then some? It's been a year and a half ... are people still going to be calling them the devil incarnate for making a bone-headed move in 2 years, 5 or 20?

Henadic Theologian · Apr 18, 2024

_Michael_ said:
This is someone who engaged in quasi-fraudulent activity by trying to retcon the OGL to make it something it was not in order to broaden revenue streams and push out competitors and partners. This was purely a decision to monopolize the market by causing corporate attrition so that other companies would simply give up and not bother trying to compete or participate in the new OGL chimera due to the finicky licensing requirements and increased costs the new revision would have brought about. Moreover, there's nothing to suggest it's health-related other than timing. We're not discussing her personal life here (or shouldn't be out of simple courtesy and respect for her privacy, I don't think...), we're discussing her public tenure as CEO and the damage done to the OGL that she presided over. The title of the thread indicates this is about her resignation and the related tenure she retired from. If it's health-related, that sucks. However, that has nothing to do with her poor stewardship of WotC and causing a huge corporate schism whereby their biggest competitor is now mopping up and poaching talent with their own version of the OGL. Unless, of course, her decisions were affected by her health, in which case, that's an entirely different discussion.

Yes, she's a person, but then again, so are all the people running the companies that the Nü-OGL was marginalizing and threatening to push out of the market entirely. What about their jobs? Their families? The fact is, under her leadership, WotC had a corporate aneurysm, the effects of which will be felt for many years to come. There's no insult being leveled here, and I'm not saying she's a terrible person. Her corporate decisions, however, had consequences, and far-reaching ones at that. They absolutely should be examined with a critical eye.

All very true, she was a bad leader no doubt, not just the OGL scandal, but MtG physical card quality dropped dramatically, the decision to make Spelljammer & Planescape over priced Slipcases, the general price hikes, Theros just got wrecked, and more. There is a reason 90% of the fan base, both MtG and D&D side seems happy about this online.

Henadic Theologian · Apr 18, 2024

Oofta said:
First, we have no idea if she had anything to do with the OGL decision. Second it was a terrible idea but they also backed off based on feedback, something many companies would not have done. It's not like reversing course did them much good with the vocal minority. Third, what's the expiration date on complaining about a policy they thought about implementing but reversed course and then some? It's been a year and a half ... are people still going to be calling them the devil incarnate for making a bone-headed move in 2 years, 5 or 20?

She's not a mere mid level manager, she's the President of WotC, so no matter if it was her idea or not, the buck stops with her, so she could have stopped it at any time.

Alzrius · Apr 18, 2024

Oofta said:
Third, what's the expiration date on complaining about a policy they thought about implementing but reversed course and then some? It's been a year and a half ... are people still going to be calling them the devil incarnate for making a bone-headed move in 2 years, 5 or 20?

The expiration date is when the residual harm caused by that move ceases to have an impact on the industry. So, when the balkanization caused by having multiple different open licenses ceases to be a thing, and all the companies that stopped using the OGL because they don't trust it anymore decide that it's now safe to use again.

mamba · Apr 18, 2024

Oofta said:
First, we have no idea if she had anything to do with the OGL decision.

agreed, we do not know one way or the other

Oofta said:
Second it was a terrible idea but they also backed off based on feedback, something many companies would not have done.

not so sure about that

Oofta said:
It's not like reversing course did them much good with the vocal minority.

no reason to forgive and forget right away, as far as I am concerned WotC is on probation, that means I am paying attention to their next moves concerning the SRD

Oofta said:
Third, what's the expiration date on complaining about a policy they thought about implementing but reversed course and then some? It's been a year and a half ... are people still going to be calling them the devil incarnate for making a bone-headed move in 2 years, 5 or 20?

the expiration date is when I am convinced they learned their lesson, so far they have not given me much reason to think that…

Let’s first see what happens with the 3.x SRDs and the 2024 one, then we talk

Henadic Theologian · Apr 18, 2024

mamba said:
agreed, we do not know one way or the other

not so sure about that

no reason to forgive and forget right away, as far as I am concerned WotC is on probation, that means I am paying attention to their next moves concerning the SRD

the expiration date is when I am convinced they learned their lesson, so far they have not given me much reason to think that…

Let’s first see what happens with the 3.x SRDs and the 2024 one, then we talk

No we do know, she was the President of WotC, no way she was not invovled in that decision. If it came from below, she had to have approved it, if it came from CEO Chris Cocks (I doubt he did, he never made any such moves as President), he'd have consulted her on it and she could have pushed hard against it, or it was her idea to begin with.

You can't get around the fact that she was WotC President at the time, not sone figure head. Its kind of insulting to suggest she had nothing to do with the OGL scandal because it means she was just a figure head and I don't believe it for a minute.

_Michael_ · Apr 18, 2024

Oofta said:
First, we have no idea if she had anything to do with the OGL decision. Second it was a terrible idea but they also backed off based on feedback, something many companies would not have done. It's not like reversing course did them much good with the vocal minority. Third, what's the expiration date on complaining about a policy they thought about implementing but reversed course and then some? It's been a year and a half ... are people still going to be calling them the devil incarnate for making a bone-headed move in 2 years, 5 or 20?

This:

Henadic Theologian said:
She's not a mere mid level manager, she's the President of WotC, so no matter if it was her idea or not, the buck stops with her, so she could have stopped it at any time.

That they even thought about implementing it was a betrayal. They also didn't just back off, they tried to soft-pedal it, and then clung to certain parts when it was clear it wasn't a winning idea. All of this lead to their biggest competitor (Paizo) coming in and mopping up, not to mention poaching talent among the disillusioned and disenfranchised.

WotC WotC President Cynthia Williams Resigns

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