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]

Basing hiring decisions on age, race, nationality, sex, religion, attractiveness etc. is a horrendous practice, which should be stamped out. Agreed. We only differ the methods of doing so.



If someone (legally qualified to work there) in the US cannot get a job, it's because they suck. Man, woman, bi sexual, Muslim, Buddhist, black, Latino, whatever. Doesn't matter. And if not, you can always drive snow mobiles in Antarctica. But calling a calling a white guy who grew up in a mining town trailer park more privileged than Malia Obama because of the color of their skin is total BS.

Yes, in some places skin color might mean something, but one parents' social-economic status means a h*** of a lot more.

Actually basing hiring on any of those is illegal.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

It's not codified, legal privilege. (Maybe that's what you've been misunderstanding?) It's that a white man, when compared to a woman or minority of otherwise identical appearance, background, etc., will in general be assumed to be more competent, smarter, less dangerous, more honest, harder-working, etc. Demonstrated repeatedly in countless studies.

That's their privilege. An undeserved assumption of superiority. It's measurable.

Which should be combated and specific acts and instances of sexism should always be dealt with accordingly on a case by case basis. Systemically favoring women and minorities in specific circumstances, however, does not create equality, it only creates a greater degree of inequality and further resentment.

 

[Sacrosanct]

And one other thing, as someone with a lot of experience in hiring and managing people. It is a proven undeniable fact that a diverse workforce is significantly more efficient and effective than a homogeneous one. Pretty much every experienced manager knows this, because the data has been out a long time. So a manager who hires a minority isn't necessarily being driven by reverse racism motivations, but is making the hire based on what will make the team the best, objectively.

 

[bedir than]

To quote a wise man "the diverse group is the strong group."

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[Sacrosanct]

Looked it up.

Privilege: "a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group."

I could argue that the term does apply to individuals, but I won't. That would be too easy. Instead, please explain what special right, advantage, or immunity is only available to white males that does not take an individual's circumstances into account.

I was typing my post as you replied, but I directly addressed this with some example.

 

[ad_hoc]

If someone says that they’re worried about the hiring practices at a company being descriminatory toward white men, then I don’t think pointing toward the high number of white men that work there is at all discriminatory. It’s looking at the evidence for or against the concern.

We could discuss equal opportunity employment and affirmative action and employment demographics versus population demographics, but I don’t think we’d get anywhere....so I’ll just reiterate that as someone familiar with Kate, I’m excited for what she’ll bring.

It's also impossible to be sexist or racist towards white men in a white dominated patriarchal society.

White men have all the advantages from the start.

 

[Mistwell]

Looks like WoTc are just following their trend of employing those without experience. Reminds me of the whole N-Space, Sword Coast Legends fiasco. They hired a company that is mainly associated with mobile phone games to create a PC game.

They should hire you for HR....for consistency sake.

 

[Sacrosanct]

It's also impossible to be sexist or racist towards white men in a white dominated patriarchal society.
.

This is also flat out untrue. Sexism and racism is a belief. Anyone can hold those beliefs against anyone else. And anyone can be a victim. It's important to understand the privilege white males have in our society, but it's counter productive to say that it's impossible to be sexist or racist towards white men. That's a statement just as ignorant as to say that white privilege isn't a thing.

 

[BMaC]

In the old days, neckbeards designed products for other neckbeards. This is no longer the case with 5e. No matter how progressive and empathetic an all white, male staff may be, increasing your market beyond white males is easier if the product is not designed solely by white males. This is hard-nosed capitalism in action not affirmative action.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

You clearly have no idea what privilege is, if you think it's limited to just that. Just in this thread, the very act of questioning the hire based on her sex (or someone being a minority) when no one does that for white men IS privilege.

I'm not questioning the hire because she's a women. I'm question it based on the words "Affirmative Action" being present in the Physical Requirements section of the job description.

Secondly, just because white men are in poverty does not mean white men don't gain the benefits of privilage. I've actually given presentations in corporate meets about what privilege, so I know what I'm talking about. But i don't blame you, because I had no idea just how much privilege I had as a white man in this country until I lived overseas where I was one of the only white people around. Then it really hit home.

I also work over seas. In order to receive UN and EU grants, me must employ a certain ratio of males/females and whites/"at risk" ethnicities (which is a terrible phrase). We are practically begging non-whites to join us. Turns out, not many qualified women/blacks/Latinos are interesting to moving to Turkmenistan, which means any who apply are practically handed the job on a silver platter, but almost useless when they arrive in-country.

Thirdly, you think it's outrageous that someone would dare tell a man they couldn't rise higher because it's so rare of that happening so it stands out (give me a couple examples, by the way). But that happens every day to minorities. To put it in D&D terms, you sound like those 4e fans who complained they were being treated unfairly and forsaken by WoTC when 5e came out, and fans of every edition prior just rolled their eyes because they all had been through it themselves when their edition got shelved.

I've never heard anyone in the US tell anyone else he/she could only rise so far in a position because of race/sex/religion/etc.. Maybe it happens. Regardless, I'm not sure affirmative action and increased inequality is the best way combat it.

Fourthly, privilege is a lot of things, including but not limited to:

*you are assured that when you find a gaming group, there will be several people part of that group like you (same gender and ethnicity) - Caring about the color or someone's sex or race is racism, which is exactly what you're suggestion we do.
* every time you turn on the TV, or open a newspaper, you are assured someone like you is on the front cover or plays the major role in the show - See my comment above.
* minorities convicted of the same offenses (from traffic tickets to murder) as a white person suffer much harsher penalties than white people do. This is a a fact. -
There are conflicting studies on this, at least in the US.
* you are assured that you can enter pretty much any town in America and find a church of your faith (for those who are religious) As a practitioner of the Georgian Orthodox faith, I disagree.
* You have never done something right and immediately had someone say you're a credit to your race/gender Working outside the US, I revive comments like that all the time. Americans are not well-liked here in the Middle East. Furthermore, I have seen many men credited as such by feminists when discussing gender issues.
* no one questions a promotion you may have gotten - I would argue this is due more to the existence of affirmative action than to act real intention to discriminate.
* you've never had people stare at you or follow you around because they think you're gonna steal something - I used to wear a trench coat and long hair in high school. Whenever a I walked into a shop, all eyes were on me.
* you've never had people cross the street just to avoid you on a daily basis Happens on a daily basis.
* you're probably able to walk down a busy street without people harassing you on a daily basis - Actually, it does.

Bolded comments are mine

The list goes on and on. Just open your eyes. If you want a huge example of white privilege, it's why Obama had to be perfect or people lost their minds in outrage (one of his biggest scandals was saluting with a coffee cup for Christ's sake), but Trump, as a white man, has been able to do all of these outrageous things and yet the same people who lambasted Obama are all "eh, no big deal, nothing to see here." That's not just a republican vs democrat thing, that's a black vs white thing. Every woman and every minority who has had to work harder because of their race or gender knows exactly what I'm talking about because they do it every day.

If that is the case, action should be taken. That is why there is a court system in the US and anti-discrimination laws. I agree that they need to be rewritten, but they are there to be taken advantage of.

Look man, I grew up poor white trash in poverty. But you know what? All it takes is for me to have one nice set of clothes and carry myself professionally and no one knew my background and I got to enjoy all the great benefits of being a white guy. Women and minorities don't have to ability to put on a suit and have people forget they are a woman or a minority. And if you think widespread discrimination doesn't exist to this day, you must be living under a rock.

No is arguing widespread discrimination doesn't exist. We are arguing about the best way to decrease the overall level of inequality overall. For me, that meant leaving the US and flying to places in the world that make the amount of inequality and discrimination in the US look like a joke.