Dire Bare
Legend
I made the mistake of scrolling down and reading some of the replies . . .
A lot of, "Oh really? Prove it!"
Sigh.
I made the mistake of scrolling down and reading some of the replies . . .
Ok so let me see if I understand what point you were making with your original reply (post #18);
You want WotC to focus on the game aspects of D&D and don't want them to build the brand? You are not(?) interested in cultural sensitivity and diversity aspects? You just want more quality adventures, campaign settings, players options, etc?
This raises the possibility that someone out there, somewhere, is an obsessive collector of Payless shoes.Someone thinks they are cool.
My take was a variation on that. I got that the creatives understood the issues and wanted to do right. What I didn't get was that the executives even understood there were issues to be addressed in the first place. In addition to the explicit mention abotu the executives being blindsided, I think the lack of any focus in the planning and internal agenda shows that those putting this together were unaware of the issues, (or worse didn't want to address them in an event with such gaming media).Another interesting post which highlighted issues that were not clear (at least not to me) before. It certainly seems like WOTC wants to do what is right, future actions will be the proof of that of course.
Just because they did this doesn’t mean they are not also doing that.Things like this scare me: "Wizards also made a significant investment in time and resources. Many executives, community reps, designers, tech teams, and other staff devoted all or most of this day to being present with us. They clearly also spent significant time on the logistics and worked with a PR firm for coordination. Staff will have to hold post-event meetings to review and collate all the information they gathered. For our industry, it represents an unprecedented effort."
That's 30 people, plus 100 online people. I don't care who they are, they don't talk for all or even a majority of gamers. Take this money, hire a few people for a full year to full time go on the various large forums, social media, watch youtube and tiktok, and interact. See what people are saying. Tell them direction, with official creditation behind you and access to the creatives what's going on.
The fact that they think this type of dog and pony show can work shows that they aren't in touch. There are far too many types of gamers out there that they are trying (and succeeding) in wooing that this small of a gathering for one day could ever hope to touch. They could spend this money much more productively if they didn't need s simple C-level success story that can be bullet-pointed and bragged about over golf.
I think it’s a mistake to write this off as people making D&D too much a part of their identity. This wasn’t a fan caravan that went off the rails. Everyone there has made D&D more or less part of their livelihood. The stakes are quite a bit bigger and a heck of a lot more personal
I was talking abotuthe money directly spent on this. With 30 people with hotel, food and such, with a PR firm, with renting out several places, this event easily cost more than $100K USD.Just because they did this doesn’t mean they are not also doing that.