D&D 5E Mike Mearls is back on the D&D RPG Team

Three weeks ago, WotC's Jeremy Crawford told us that Mike Mearls was no longer working on the tabletop RPG, and hadn't since some time in 2019. Today, the (newish) D&D head Ray Winninger said on the company's Twitch livestream that Mearls is now back full-time on the tabletop game.

Mike Mearls is back full time on the RPG again. He was splitting his time working on some computer game stuff for us, but he’s back.

He still doesn't appear to be back on social media since his final tweet back in 2019.

 

[darjr]

No, Cat, this is just your way of moving goal posts to give breathing room to monsters. No thanks.

 

[3catcircus]

What a strange world you live in where all social actions are classified merely by whether they are against the criminal code in your local jurisdiction or not. Are you Robocop?

That's just it - social actions don't have to be a mutually agreeable activity. Someone being offended by someone else's words or actions doesn't necessarily equate to a crime being committed. No one has the right to stifle anyone else just because they are offended.

A lot of things offend me - doesn't mean I should be allowed to prevent someone from doing them, or trying to ruin their lives for doing it.

 

[3catcircus]

Not a bad analogy at all. You should read up on what darjr is referring to: Missing stair - Wikipedia

Broken stair is the phrase he used - I'm familiar with the missing stair concept.

More importantly - the original use was referring to a rapist - actual provable criminal activity.

 

[Morrus]

That's just it - social actions don't have to be a mutually agreeable activity. Someone being offended by someone else's words or actions doesn't necessarily equate to a crime being committed. No one has the right to stifle anyone else just because they are offended.

A lot of things offend me - doesn't mean I should be allowed to prevent someone from doing them, or trying to ruin their lives for doing it.

CRIME NOT DETECTED! PROCEED CITIZEN!

SOCIAL MORES DO NOT APPLY TO ROBOCOP!

 

[3catcircus]

No, Cat, this is just your way of moving goal posts to give breathing room to monsters. No thanks.

It's not moving any goalposts. It's objectively establishing that the same goalposts are applied to everyone equally, regardless of personal affrontery.

 

[3catcircus]

CRIME NOT DETECTED! PROCEED CITIZEN!

SOCIAL MORES DO NOT APPLY TO ROBOCOP!

I much prefer the ED-209. "You have 30 seconds to comply." But that's the M.O. of the tragically offended, and it's overkill.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

That's just it - social actions don't have to be a mutually agreeable activity. Someone being offended by someone else's words or actions doesn't necessarily equate to a crime being committed. No one has the right to stifle anyone else just because they are offended.

A lot of things offend me - doesn't mean I should be allowed to prevent someone from doing them, or trying to ruin their lives for doing it.

People actually do; the right of free speech does not equal the right for no consequences of your speech.

So for example, if someone says something anti-inclusive, you may end up getting banned from a forum. Just an example

 

[Lem23]

I much prefer the ED-209. "You have 30 seconds to comply." But that's the M.O. of the tragically offended, and it's overkill.

Well, someone certainly seems to be tragically offended that others want to keep out abusers, rapists, etc from our midst.

 

[Marandahir]

I don't think we know or can know the full story about what this all, but I've always appreciated Mearls' creations since 3.5e and throughout 4e. I was deeply concerned about the Zak thing, but I also don't think we know the full story of Mearls' involvement.

It sounds like he was moved to the game dev team and now has been moved back, and that's separate from the leaving twitter. But we're speculating on many fronts here.

I'm not going to boycott D&D for not firing or not quietly moving him off team, but it does put up my antennae for anything bad in the future.

 

[Lem23]

I'm not going to boycott D&D for not firing or not quietly moving him off team, but it does put up my antennae for anything bad in the future.

That's pretty much where I am. It's something that could be just down to an inept attempt at dealing with the situation (though I'd be happier with an apology if that is what happened), but I'll keep an eye on things to decide whether I'm going to boycott in the future. If a pattern emerges, then I'm out.