WotC New WotC Statement on Orion Black

[Umbran]

I agree in the past, but the current actions and responses being taken do have more of a corporate stamp. Hence getting the product name wrong in the disclaimer. That would include micromanaging staff now.

I think haste is sufficient to explain the phenomenon seen so far. Micromanagement takes longer timescales.

 

[Deset Gled]

Orion's account paints a fairly grim picture of corporate culture at WOTC, hence their flippant response. Here is the previous thread about it:

Yeah, I read the first post in that. The problem is that some of it is just so vague, and it's hard to separate real complaints from cultural* ones.

Stuff like "I realized at one point that leadership had given me 2 assignments over about 5 months. It was mostly me asking project leads for work, searching out opportunities. Leadership didnt really care about me or my growth. I had to.". You may call that a grim picture. To me, that sounds like exactly how I expect a large company to interact with a contractor. Stuff like "Every angry statement about D&D felt personal because I couldn't fix it." sounds like Orion just wasn't a good fit for a company like Hasbro. There's nothing wrong with that on either side.

OTOH, stuff like "I found out that some of my work was stolen, which destroyed me." is a much more real and specific problem. But it's also a very vague statement. Was it work he did as a contractor that was used and he wasn't paid for? Was it a colleague taking an idea (and if so, how much of the idea was stolen and how well formed was it when it was stolen)? This could be really bad, but it could also be a giant nothingburger.

I asked for more information largely because I felt like that thread really didn't have a lot of answers. It seems like there still aren't.

*Edit: I meant business culture here. Realized on a re-read that this could be taken quite differently.

 

[Helldritch]

I'll just say that lip appologies are better than utter silence? For the corpo that is...
I would've expected more but at the same time, they are being prudent and don't want to have a lawsuit on them.
It's a shame.

 

[Haldrik]

Thanks. That's not too far off from the bits and pieces I had put together.

Honestly, sounds to me like a story with no bad guys and no good guys. WotC could do more for diversity and may have partially hired Orion for diversity's sake. OTOH, Orion's complaint's about not being able to publicly post things that aren't aligned with the company and not getting enough attention as a contractor sounds like someone who might be a little naive about working with larger corporate entities. The biggest rifts seems more like a business culture mismatch than anything else.

To me it sounds like all good guys, tangled in a bad situation.

 

[ZeshinX]

I'll just say that lip appologies are better than utter silence? For the corpo that is...
I would've expected more but at the same time, they are being prudent and don't want to have a lawsuit on them.
It's a shame.

If a lawsuit was (or still is) a legitimate avenue to explore, airing one's grievance(s) publicly is not a particularly professional start. Frankly, once seeing Orion's response to WotC's apology, that more acutely showed me they were inexperienced and not particularly adept at managing their emotions vs their professionalism. No doubt time and future experiences will temper that conflict for them. Clearly the consequences matter little to Orion, given the described hell they've been dealing with (for much of their life I suspect), and I can't say I blame them if they were at all as described.

 

[Haldrik]

If a lawsuit was (or still is) a legitimate avenue to explore, airing one's grievance(s) publicly is not a particularly professional start. Frankly, once seeing Orion's response to WotC's apology, that more acutely showed me they were inexperienced and not particularly adept at managing their emotions vs their professionalism. No doubt time and future experiences will temper that conflict for them. Clearly the consequences matter little to Orion, given the described hell they've been dealing with (for much of their life I suspect), and I can't say I blame them if they were at all as described.

I dont know, but I wonder if this happens to be a situation where different subcultures have different expectations, leading to misunderstandings and conflicts. What might be taken for granted in one group might be a shock to an other group.

 

[MGibster]

Orion's account paints a fairly grim picture of corporate culture at WOTC, hence their flippant response. Here is the previous thread about it:

You thought that was a grim picture of corporate culture? Orion's account is very one sided and a large part of their difficulties seem to stem from unrealistic expectations on what their role was, how much influence they would have on the direction the company was moving in, and anxiety issues. Sometimes relationships don't work about because of compatibility issues. It's entirely possible neither Orion nor WotC are the bad guys here.

Although I have to say it's kind of amusing for anyone to call WotC for not apologizing to Orion on private first. They made it public.

 

[ZeshinX]

I dont know, but I wonder if this happens to be a situation where different subcultures have different expectations, leading to misunderstandings and conflicts. What might be taken for granted in one group might be a shock to an other group.

Pretty much sums up the experience we all go through at points in life. From youth to adulthood, from school to the professional world, etc. A common enough theme among many being idealism vs reality. Another being how one chooses to deal with those changes.

I recall my first forays into the professional corporate world from school and menial labour jobs. It was a shock to the system, no doubt about it, and I did not always act in a professional manner when reacting to that change. Indeed, it took me a while to understand what was even meant by being professional (and is still a learning process to this day).

I make no claims to truly understand the depths and complexities of what Orion has had to, and continues to have to, deal with and endure....it's all around a tragic, but not unique, situation. Orion will take whatever lessons they feel are useful and valuable to them when they're ready to accept them. Same with WotC.

 

[jerryrice4949]

Added Orion's response to the OP. Not a great look by wizards to do the public apology before contacting the person you're apologizing to.

You are assuming they had not already spoken with Orion before Orion’s tweet and just disagreed on some principles which there was no point in rehashing. I am reminded of Greg’s tweet where he was sorry about “how” it happened but not necessarily about what happened. Sometimes you just agree to disagree but still feel bad it did not work out well for everyone.

 

[LordEntrails]

OTOH, Orion's complaint's about not being able to publicly post things that aren't aligned with the company and not getting enough attention as a contractor sounds like someone who might be a little naive about working with larger corporate entities. The biggest rifts seems more like a business culture mismatch than anything else.

To me, that sounds like exactly how I expect a large company to interact with a contractor. Stuff like "Every angry statement about D&D felt personal because I couldn't fix it." sounds like Orion just wasn't a good fit for a company like Hasbro. There's nothing wrong with that on either side.

Agreed. IMO is sounds like an amateur with little experience not having realistic expectations and wanting their 'dream job' to be run in a manner that matches their dreams, and not the existing culture.