D&D 5E D&D Beyond Cancels Competition

D&D Beyond has been running an art contest which asked creators to enter D&D-themed portrait frame. DDB got to use any or all of the entries, while the winner and some runners up received some digital content as a prize.

There was a backlash -- and DDB has cancelled the contest.

Thank you to all of our community for sharing your comments and concerns regarding our anniversary Frame Design Contest.

While we wanted to celebrate fan art as a part of our upcoming anniversary, it's clear that our community disagrees with the way we approached it. We've heard your feedback, and will be pulling the contest.

We will also strive to do better as we continue to look for ways to showcase the passion and creativity of our fellow D&D players and fans in the future. Our team will be taking this as a learning moment, and as encouragement to further educate ourselves in this pursuit.

Your feedback is absolutely instrumental to us, and we are always happy to listen and grow in response to our community's needs and concerns. Thank you all again for giving us the opportunity to review this event, and take the appropriate action.

The company went on to say:

Members of our community raised concerns about the contest’s impact on artists and designers, and the implications of running a contest to create art where only some entrants would receive a prize, and that the prize was exclusively digital material on D&D Beyond. Issues were similarly raised with regards to the contest terms and conditions. Though the entrants would all retain ownership of their design to use in any way they saw fit, including selling, printing, or reproducing, it also granted D&D Beyond rights to use submitted designs in the future. We have listened to these concerns, and in response closed the competition. We’ll be looking at ways we can better uplift our community, while also doing fun community events, in the future.

Competitions where the company in question acquires rights to all entries are generally frowned upon (unless you're WotC).

 

[Faolyn]

It's a very clear difference.

Working for free is when you do some work and don't get paid.

A contest is when you work for free and have a very low chance of getting paid.

It's a very clear difference.

A contest is when you submit an entry in the hopes of winning a prize, but the people who gave out the prize don't keep everyone's entries in order to make money from them.

 

[Hussar]

I really have to ask. In what way is not paying for work ever acceptable? And, do the America's Got Talent (or whatever country) people own your likeness in perpetuity after you appear? If someone does an original stand up routine on AGT, do they agree that AGT (and whoever there parent company is) can use those jokes in any other show for perpetuity? I have no idea what the AGT rights agreements look like.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I really have to ask. In what way is not paying for work ever acceptable? Outside of Television reality shows apparently. :/

When your parents help you move to your dorm room.

...I think that's about it?

 

[J.Quondam]

I really have to ask. In what way is not paying for work ever acceptable?

Exposure, man!
It grabs attention on the subway, so it should work in the RPG industry, too.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I really have to ask. In what way is not paying for work ever acceptable? Outside of Television reality shows apparently. :/

Even inside. I don't know about the US, but contestants in reality shows have been recognized as employees by courts in several countries, like Australia or France.

 

[TheSword]

It’s a good job we didn’t get this backlash 19 years ago or we would never have gotten to see Eberron.

I though this was a competition to draw a portrait frame? Isn’t that the artistic equivalent of “complete the sentence: I want to work for wizards of them coast because…” in less than 50 words. I mean, how much effort goes into a portrait frame?

 

[Hussar]

It’s a good job we didn’t get this backlash 19 years ago or we would never have gotten to see Eberron.

I though this was a competition to draw a portrait frame? Isn’t that the artistic equivalent of “complete the sentence: I want to work for wizards of them coast because…” in less than 50 words. I mean, how much effort goes into a portrait frame?

Again, missing the point.

But, let's boil things down on the Eberron competition. How many submissions did WotC get for that? Other than "lots". How much "exposure" did 99.9% of the entrants get? So, essentially, one person got exposure and a bunch of other people provided free work for WotC.

Just because you got something you like out of the deal doesn't make it justified. Why were those hundreds of other people who did work for WotC not compensated in any way, shape or form? WotC manages to get massive free publicity, generates huge good will (the value of which cannot be underestimated) for the cost of using one entrant and ignoring the rest. And this is considered a good thing?

Hey, here's a thought, how about we have a contest where entrants are payed 15 cents on the word for their entries? IOW, the contest holder, a for-profit company, actually has to pay industry wages for the work they are asking for. Isn't that fair? Why are creative types expected to provide work for free when exactly zero people reading this thread would EVER accept that at their jobs?

Tell you what, we'll have a contest at your office. Whoever is judged the best employee this month gets a 50% bonus. Everyone else doesn't get paid. That's perfectly legal right? Totally justifiable?

 

[Gnarlo]

So you can no longer see the real WKRP in Cincinnati, where rock songs of the 1970s were important not just for the jokes in the show, but sometimes the plots of whole episodes. Northern Exposure isn't even available in a bowdlerized form.

Check out the WKRP complete collection from Shout! Factory; they were able to track down and get the rights to about 90% of the music used during the show. There's a few missing ones like Pink Floyd, but they do a pretty good job of finding suitable replacements, and the rest is just soooooo good

 

[tommybahama]

I know! All those people in sweatshops across the world! Why didn't they just not take the job? Everybody has that power, right?

Do you use volunteer play testers? Do you pay them? If not, get off your high horse and stop being hyperbolic and using language that would get others a time out.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

Ah ha, I think this is the big difference between other contests and "digital art contests."

Usually, in digital art contests, the non-winning work doesn't get exposed to a wider audience, but is still owned by the company holding the contest.

It would be like if on America's Got Talent, they only showed the winners, but everyone else's work could still get used to make money by the company running it.

Can't believe I didn't think to speak on this myself, but this.