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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8984391" data-attributes="member: 7006">An important part of all of this is that this conference actually WILL accomplish what those attending and commenting set out to do.  It will just happen gradually over time, not be an instantaneous switch that gets thrown.This conference will get added to all the information that WotC and Hasbro is learning about constantly.  About what their participants find important.  Over time... as this stuff is repeated and made more insistent and talked about and railed about... and they make additional changes to hiring practices that start to bring in more people who agree with these things being talked about and railed about... change will happen.That's how change always happens... usually with younger people and as they grow older.  They hear something, they realize that something is true and important, they incorporate those thoughts into their way of thinking... and eventually down the road they get hired into a position within a company where they can actually create change that aligns with their values.  But that doesn't happen overnight.Most companies that have existed for long amounts of time are run by people who have also been around for long periods of time.  So the social issues they grew up with and found to be important and which they still base their work and sense of self around... are considered "old hat" by the younger generations.  And the things that younger people find important are looked at askew by older folks because they seem odd or unnecessary.  I mean, I'm 50... and when I was read the transcripts about the people asking (or demanding, depending on how you look at it) for WotC to provide lists or services for mental health issues... I freely admit I had the same instinctual reaction that [USER=6801845]@Oofta[/USER] did-- "How is this WotC's responsibility?  These people voluntarily got themselves involved with the D&D community, allowed their financial stability to be based on interacting with the D&D community, and now are mad that that said community gives them crap?  Why is that WotC's fault?"But then of course I realized that the reason why I had that reaction is because as a member of Gen X... that sense of self-reliance and dealing with issues on your own was how I grew up.  I was a "latch-key kid" like so many others of my generation where I was constantly just dealing with issues on my own.  My parents were busy working... so any problems I had I needed to just figure out how to fix myself.  And this is where my head now just instinctually goes over everything.  "How can I fix my own problem?"  But just because I grew up that way and developed that way of thinking... does not mean in any way, shape, or form that the generations who came after me grew up in that same way.  Of course they didn't!  Because I took everything I learned from that experience and tried to make thing better for my kids and the others who came after me.  So as a result, this idea of just "doing it myself" OF COURSE is not something our younger folks would think was right or the best way to see things get handled, because that's not how they grew up!  They are growing up where mental health and getting help is at a priority moreso than at any point in our history-- and thus everyone working together to prioritize mental health is at the forefront of their beliefs.And all the "olds" who work at WotC for whom that way of thinking seems odd?  It's going to take time for them to finally change their ways of thinking (if they even do) or to leave or lose their positions of authority in the company and be supplanted by younger folk who DO hold these ways of thinking.  And thus in 20 years time, this issue will just have become standard operating procedure.  I mean heck... diversity in hiring practices used to be something novel that a company might get on their soapbox and preen their feathers over-- "Hey, look at us!  Look at what we do!"  But now?  You'd be hard-pressed to find a company for whom diversity in hiring ISN'T just standard operating procedure and who would have eyes rolled in their direction if they tried to act like it was some big deal.  That's progress.It didn't happen overnight... just like mental health initiatives for companies to their contractors and freelancers won't happen overnight... but we know for sure the company WILL listen to what was said.  And at some point down the line enough people who agree with the stance will be put into positions where they can actually make the change.  And that's how this almost always works.</blockquote>

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