Kate Welch is WotC's New D&D Designer

WotC has a brand new D&D designer, and it's Kate Welch! She plays Rosie Beestinger, the Lightfoot Halfing Monk in Acquisitions Inc's "C Team". She starts work on February 2nd. That's all I know for the moment, but more info if I hear it!

[video=youtube;fRsURJf4SjQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRsURJf4SjQ[/video]
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[Corpsetaker]

Who cares if she's a woman, a man, both, or neither? I'm just worried about WoTc hiring someone with no gaming experience to help design the game. Sounds like this could be one of those "hiring the friend of a friend" kind of thing, no company is beyond that.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Attractive woman gets hired in male dominated hobby? Sadly it was inevitable. I have to admit I actually had high hopes when the thread started, but....people gonna be people I guess.

Sadly, as long as humans have eyes, the more attractive women, and men, will have an advantage. It is how our brains and subconscious work. And as a side note to all this, and this has nothing to do with Kate's show since I have not watched it, in all the explosion of gaming streams and podcasts and twitch shows, etc, I personally have yet to see one where any of the women, either playing or DMing, are unattractive. Did all these attractive women suddenly decide to go public with their gaming? Or did some of them have no experience prior, but thought "hey, men are willing to watch me play this game and spend money on subscriptions" or whatever and are simply using their looks to make an income like so many women have throughout human history? Sorry for the cynicism, but I am just human, after all.

 

[SuperTD]

I personally have yet to see one where any of the women, either playing or DMing, are unattractive. Did all these attractive women suddenly decide to go public with their gaming? Or did some of them have no experience prior, but thought "hey, men are willing to watch me play this game and spend money on subscriptions" or whatever and are simply using their looks to make an income like so many women have throughout human history?

Well, why don't we take a look at some of the most popular show rather than speculating about the women's motives.

Critical Role - All of the players played in a private game for 2 years before it was ever streamed.

Dice Camera Action - Both female players have played D&D for years.

High Rollers - This is a game run by the Yogscast - one of the female players was one of the biggest female streamers they had, played D&D a long time ago and was coming back to it. The other is the partner of another player, and has played D&D before.

Rollplay - There's a huge variety of shows and players on this channel. The main show I watched had a rotating cast of other streamers, was a mix of men and women and a lot of both sexes were new to D&D. Some came back if they enjoyed it, some didn't. The women on the other shows that had a consistent cast had usually played RPGs for years. This channel was also founded way before D&D streaming was popular, so their was little to gain from showing up with a pretty face and hoping to make some money.

I'm sure some women did decide to go public with gaming as it became popular. I know for sure that some were new to D&D, but to assume their motives were entirely based around money rather than "this sounds fun" is a little unfair.

You're right in that the streams that are popular do tend to have attractive people (not just women, have you SEEN Travis Willingham?! ) and also a mix of genders. But I think this is part of why they become popular - the games that you want to watch have a diverse cast rather than a bunch of dudes.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I personally have yet to see one where any of the women, either playing or DMing, are unattractive.

Maybe you just see the inner beauty in everyone. Great quality to have.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Who cares if she's a woman, a man, both, or neither? I'm just worried about WoTc hiring someone with no gaming experience to help design the game. Sounds like this could be one of those "hiring the friend of a friend" kind of thing, no company is beyond that.

In most industries it's considered a smart move to bring in somebody bright and creative from another field to inject some new thinking.

Would you want such a person making all the decisions? No. But as a team member it (can) work great.

There's definitely something weird going on here. I don't know if it's just sexism, or the people most disappointed with 5e wishing for somebody with a proven track record designing 3e/4e-like games. Or just an assumption that MM & JC are going to make bad decisions. The justifications offered for the scrutiny, criticism, and skepticism in this thread don't stand up.

EDIT: To be fair, the corollary is probably also true, that those of us who think 5e is a turn for the better are going to assume that Mearles & Co. are making good decisions for good reasons.

 

[gyor]

Well, clearly you didn’t bother reading my post you quoted. How do you know she didn’t meet the qualifications? Do you have some special insight into what she did in her previous jobs? Are you a business process analyst? Game designer?

I’m telling you, her work in GW2 means she was involved in the design process and is experienced in methodologies of project management and design. The very fact she is being questioned when we typically don’t do this to men is rotten.

Or it could do with the fact that it was made into a big deal by her and WotC. If it would make you feel better we could compare the before resumes of the men working on the D&D design team?

Usually I they are far quieter about their hirers.

I'll also put out that when you make gender and race a requirement a company opens themselves up to this kind of scrutiny, because people have had bad experiences with it in the past.

Mearls did Iron Heroes, I remember that much, I'll have to do some research for the rest.

 

[gyor]

I've been wildly underqualified, on paper, for most jobs I've had. Talk my way into it in the interviews. Or get talked into it, sometimes. Such as currently. :-/

The rampant sexism in this thread has been really discouraging. Even some of the supportive posts are dripping with paternalism, virtual pats-on-the-head, "I'm sure you'll do fine, honey." As if anybody's approval is wanted/needed/relevant.

I'm sure a lot of really great, qualified people applied (and legions of completely unqualified people) and she outshone all of them. She must have rocked the interview. Can't wait to see what she produces.

Well yeah it kind of is needed, because if the fans don't like someone on the D&D team they might not buy the product, fan approval matters just ask Marvel who learned this the hard way.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Well yeah it kind of is needed, because if the fans don't like someone on the D&D team they might not buy the product, fan approval matters just ask Marvel who learned this the hard way.

I disagree. Fan approval of the content they sell (as measured by...sales) is needed but approval of their hires is not. Anybody rabid enough to refuse to buy the content simply because they disapprove of the hires is not going to move the needle on sales.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Or it could do with the fact that it was made into a big deal by her and WotC. If it would make you feel better we could compare the before resumes of the men working on the D&D design team?

Usually I they are far quieter about their hirers.

I'll also put out that when you make gender and race a requirement a company opens themselves up to this kind of scrutiny, because people have had bad experiences with it in the past.

Mearls did Iron Heroes, I remember that much, I'll have to do some research for the rest.

Where are you getting this “gender and race a requirement” thing? To my knowledge, the job posting said nothing about that. So are you privy to info the rest of us don’t have? Or are you just assuming that the only way a woman could have gotten the job is if some kind of diversity initiative was in place?

Because that’s how you sound. Just pointing that out in case you didn’t realize.

And I’m not sure how you could say that a big deal of this was made by Kate herself? All she did was share the news of being hired and her enthusiasm about it.

Clearly the people making the decision aren’t as concerned with tabletop RPG design specifically as a requirement so much as general game design experience, which Kate Welch clearly has.

And finally, this was likely announced as news because a large portion of the gaming community is already familiar with Kate because of her involvement with the Acquisitions Inc. games.

She’s not your grandma’s grandma.

 

[Kobold Boots]

Meh - Yet another positive thread scarred by race, gender or politics.

Look - As a hiring manager and having been around hiring managers, and based on hierarchy of needs you're always going to prefer the more attractive person for any role so long as qualifications are there.

1. No one wants to surround themselves with fugly.
2. Fugly implies a lack of care. It's hard to be fugly if you're taking care of yourself properly.
3. If you're not taking care of yourself, why am I going to assume you're going to do your job properly? Fact is you're looking for a job. Why did you lose the last one?

End of day though, in order for me to keep my job, I need to have a person that's qualified enough to do a good job at whatever it is I'm hiring for. Because I have a team, when I'm hiring for a role, true skill is only going to win out to hire fugly if I have no way to shuffle things and compensate for skills gap should an attractive person show up that's less qualified but workable.

Especially true considering less qualified but entirely workable means less cost.

This isn't about male or female. It's about common sense. Kate's entirely qualified for the job. Unfortunately most people aren't smart enough to figure the world out and improve themselves instead of bitching about their own faults behind the trendy argument of gender bias.

Be well
KB