D&D 5E Orion Black No Longer a D&D Designer [UPDATED!]

WotC employee Orion Black announced yesterday that they were no longer working for the company or on D&D, citing the corporate culture at the company.

"It's July 3th and I no longer work for Wizards of the Coast. I no longer work on D&D, the little that I did. This is going to be a long thread and my last for quite a while, so bear with me.

I took the job for two reasons. The first was for the dream. To escape poverty doing what I love, writing and making games. The second was to make D&D welcoming to the millions who are scorned by it.

A lot of people had hope for D&D that they carried with me. While some people were upset to see me work for a corporation that overshadows indie, others hoped that I would be able to make real change. I tried. I failed. And I lost a lot.

Liking a tweet or post, RTing, or even following people who speak ill of WotC can lose you your job in an instant. That's why you never see it happen. @Zbeg is 100% correct. It's a silencing tool. I can say more now.

Kindness doesn't replace respect. Working within your comfort zone doesnt support change. Most people in that group were not ready for me to be there, a nonbinary Black person who would actually critique their problems. Idk what they expected.

I worked hard for a very long time. I got a lot of smiles and vocal support, but it was followed by inaction and being ignored. My coworkers were frustrated for me, and still are now. I confided in them often, cried on shoulders on a few occasions.

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.

I firmly believe that I was a diversity hire. There was no expectation for me to do much of anything. I probably disrupted them by being vocal and following up. It didnt matter if I was supported by seniors and positive.

I think genuine people proposed me as an option and it was accepted because it would look like a radical positive change. It would help quiet vocal outrage. And because I had to stay silent, it was a safe bet.

I started to lose all of my confidence. I started to lose trust in myself. After finding out that I wasnt getting an extension or FTE, I resolved to just finish things out and take care of myself. To stop fighting and to just survive, quietly. But it just kept getting worse.

They would talk about how they're going to start working on treating staff better, retaining contractors, actually answering questions. How much they were invested in diversity and change even though they hired two cis white dudes into two big leadership positions during this. One of whom claimed that he doesnt know what he's doing. No naughty word. I never want to hear "maybe they just hire the best person for the job" again.

I found out that some of my work was stolen, which destroyed me. It lined up with a project they were going to do and I had sent it in to someone in leadership months ago. The project was announced and this person who contributed "forgot" that we had a meeting where I gave them my ideas, and then a follow up document the day after. I knew nothing was going to be done about it. Someone else told me that the person said sorry that they forgot. That's it.

I was really losing my ability to do much of anything. I have depression and anxiety and ADHD, all of which I manage pretty well. But those parts of me were under the pressure of being ignored, disrespected, "forgotten", and not being able to say a word to the world.

Then, as social unrest continued global due to BLM, the D&D team comes out with their statement. It was like a slap in the face. How much they care about people of color, how much changing things (that I and others had been pushing for months, if not longer) was just going to happen now. It took weeks of protesting across the globe to get D&D to do what people they hired have been already telling them to fix. You cannot, CANNOT say Black lives matter when you cannot respect the Black people who you exploit at 1/3rd your pay, for progressive ideas you pick apart until it's comfortable, for your millions of profit year over year. People of color can make art and freelance, but are never hired. D&D takes what they want from marginalized people, give them scraps, and claim progress.

I spent my time in that building worrying about how much people hated me for working there. I spent a lot of time thinking about how much it hurt to work there. I had and still have supporters, and many. Thanks to you all for being my voice and speaking out when I could not. But I felt so isolated and alone. If not for some coworkers who checked in on me, who were going through the same things? I would've quit. Every angry statement about D&D felt personal because I couldn't fix it. Because I failed, whether it was my fault or not. I felt like I was being trashed by everyone because I could not disconnect what I set as a personal responsibility from the state of the game. That part IS my fault.

But I wound up as I am now because of all of this and much, much more. I am depressed. I am unable to write. I constantly question if anything I create is worth anything. I feel like I let everyone down, and no matter how much people tell me I didnt, that doesnt change. I feel guilty for not being what y'all needed me to be, what I wanted to be, and betrayed for how I was treated at that company. It's an exceptionally kind place on the D&D team. People are very nice to each other in a very genuine way that I truly enjoyed. However, that doesnt replace respect. That doesnt delete how I was treated. It doesnt change the fact that I honestly never want to play a trpg again and am definitely not working in that field anymore.

I know that I'm probably losing a ton of opportunities writing elsewhere because of what I've said here, as well as what I've sent in internally. It may mean that I will return to poverty, which makes me feel like a failure to my race, my family, and my partner who I want to provide the world. But under all these things, I have my integrity. I worked my ass off. I did my best for as long as I could. And I didnt let them treat me like that without telling the world what needs to be said.

Trust actions, not words. Not "look at how much we freelance so and so", because freelancing is exploitation of diversity with no support for the freelancer. Not "here we finally did what we KNOW we should've done a long time ago", because they only care about how optics turn to dollars. EVERYTHING involving D&D will continue to farm marginalized people for the looks and never put them in leadership. They wont be put on staff. They will be held at arms length. I hope they prove me wrong.

A lot of BIPOC and other marginalized people are trying to make their way by using D&D. Dont shame them for that. Think about how much, and when you wield your anger, that it is done righteously.

That said, I dont recommend to anyone, working for the D&D department of Wizards of the Coast."

Orion's Tweet about this. They also cite this statement, The Wizards I Know, by Zaiem Beg.

WotC's PR person, Greg Tito, commented publicly on the issue.

This should not have happened the way it did & I'll continue to fight so it does not happen again. I'm sorry if I let you down, Orion. You deserve better.

In response to an observation that this required more than just a PR statement or donation, and that it required diversity at the executive level he continued:

I have said almost these exact words for years, and more recently to executives put in charge of a community they don't understand. I am in the awful position of saying things I believe without the company making even a single, simple action of real change.

UPDATE! WotC has issued a short statement:

We sincerely apologize to Orion Black for the negative experiences they had as a contractor with the D&D franchise team. Their statement is being taken seriously and is an opportunity for us to improve the experiences of all those who contribute to our company and community. We're not perfect and we know there is more work to do. The ongoing dialogue with our community is critical to make meaningful change. We remain committed to making D&D a more inclusive community by supporting voices from people of all backgrounds.

 

[Schmoe]

I don't know enough of the specifics to really judge the merits of Orion's complaint about how they and their work were personally treated. Being in a contractor role often comes with different expectations from FTEs, and unfortunately they quite often get less respect from the hiring company simply by virtue of the work relationship. That has nothing to do with identity, and everything to do with employment status.

That being said, as someone who has worked at a multi-national company trying to improve diversity and inclusion (I was literally the diversity and inclusion representative for our site), some of Orion's complaints sound all too familiar. It is very difficult to make real change in a company, and it requires actual investment and action by leadership. Nice words don't cut it - you have to review and overhaul performance reviews to ensure fairness, be systematic and remove bias from promotion processes, be open and transparent about what is being done, expose where things aren't working well, provide mentorship and coaching for the less privileged people, and so much more. And even that isn't necessarily enough. I could easily believe that WotC has not made the hard investments that Orion had hoped to see. If so, maybe executives there will take some of the criticism to heart.

 

[whimsychris123]

Either you draw a line over everything and state - this is fantasy and none of it is meant to represent issues we face IRL, or you admit that it all is problematic and has to be addressed. Cherry picking issues while ignoring others reeks of hypocrisy.

We have no choice but to cherry-pick. Look, in my game, I avoid content like violence against children or rape. You may choose differently, of course, depending on how dark you make your games, but you have to admit that including these elements will make many gamers understandably uncomfortable. Most of us draw some kind of line of what is acceptable in our fantasy games.

When you start including slavery, a black-skinned race of villains, descriptions like "savage," these ideas often bring up real-world issues for marginalized people. It may not for you, but it does for others. You may be able to explore this type of content with your gaming group, even if your group includes BIPOC, but WotC must think about the general population, not just the four-to-six gamers at your table. Thus, they have a duty to their diverse population of customers to consider everyone's experiences of their content.

 

[Lem23]

1. You cannot sell left wing politics to conservatives and the further left you go, the fewer moderates you can sell it to. As WOTC uses their product lines to push their politics on their consumers, they alienate and lose more and more customers.

You're being very unfair to conservatives here, lumping them in with the extreme right bigots, misogynists, racists, homo- and trans-phobes. Treating people as people is not "left wing politics," it's simple human decency. To claim that these ugly positions are "conservative" is a gross attack on actual conservatives, and my conservative gamer friends would be appalled to be lumped in with such people.

 

[jerryrice4949]

The person you're replying to is right.

There's absolutely no evidence WOTC has expanded its demographics significantly. WOTC released a bunch of completely fabricated numbers to claim that they're capturing particular demographics, but it's trivial to tell that the numbers are disinformation. No WOTC product comes with a requirement to self identify, and no WOTC product has the ability to track and report how many different people use it. So WOTC has no way of knowing its demographics, all it can know is units sold, and it has no idea how many people that represents or anything about their demographics.

That said, D&D has definitely improved its market penetration, but no one knows who those players are.

On the topic of the person you've responded to, he's right. WOTC has two fairly major problems.

1. You cannot sell left wing politics to conservatives and the further left you go, the fewer moderates you can sell it to. As WOTC uses their product lines to push their politics on their consumers, they alienate and lose more and more customers.
2. They're being targeted for outrage culture now, people are looking for anything they can find to attack WOTC for non-compliance with left wing politics. Which causes some number of left wingers to stop being customers as well with each new outrage. I mean seriously, early this week the WOTC campaign was to ban 1st and 3rd edition Oriental Adventures for being racist. Ban a pair of books that've been out of print for decades. They're under a microscope.

To put it another way, this is another Edition War. Across both of its product lines, Magic and D&D. They're making the exact same mistakes they made in the last edition war. They're focusing on one particular group, catering to everything they want to see WOTC produce, and operating under the assumption that the out-groups (Conservatives, most Moderates) are few in number.

They're going to walk off the same cliff they did with 4th edition. They're going to release some product, and it'll massively undersell because the out-groups left, and they're going to be stuck with an unrecoverable situation.

So they have not expanded their demographics but they have increased their market penetration but we don’t know to whom? Seems like a circular argument to me.

 

[humble minion]

So they have not expanded their demographics but they have increased their market penetration but we don’t know to whom? Seems like a circular argument to me.

Yep.

Purely from observational evidence - the demographics of my university roleplaying club in cough1997ishcough vs the demographics i see playing D&D in my weekly (pre-COVID) game night at a university-adjacent gaming bar in 2020 - the female representation has increased enormously.

 

[jerryrice4949]

As a team lead involved in hiring, I understand, but do not agree with, that approach. "Personality and psychological factors"? What would those be, exactly? That a person had the courage of their convictions to speak up? That I might expect them to question my actions or decisions, or those of others in my team? That they might voice alternative points of view?

It might not be your intent, but the implicit threat in your words seems designed only to chill the conversation. I repudiate it.

I am going to exit this thread.

My words are not intended to chill anything but thanks for ascribing motives.

I value diversity, inclusion and cultural change. This is generally not accomplished by dropping a bomb on Twitter. Though maybe this will be the exception but I doubt it.

If I am hiring someone I want to know they can approach me or other members of the management team when change is needed, things need to be addressed, Issues arise etc. not post grievances on Twitter. So yes I would be les likley to hire someone who disparages their current or past employer on Twitter. Not because of what they said but where they said it.

 

[Count_Zero]

I value diversity, inclusion and cultural change. This is generally not accomplished by dropping a bomb on Twitter. Though maybe this will be the exception but I doubt it.

The past few months, between #MeToo and #SpeakingOut has shown otherwise - The past few weeks have had a dramatic number of bad actors and broken stairs in comics, video games, and wrestling called out for their actions - including high profile names like Warren Ellis, Chris Avallone, and the Knight family (who you may remember from the bio-pic Fighting With My Family) respectively. Ellis is trying to not get sacked from his current projects before they finish, Avallone has been sacked from all the games he's worked on and his content is either being removed or has been removed, and the revelations about the Knight Family are part of similar allegations showing a tremendous amount of rot in the UK Wrestling scene so we've yet to see how that will pan out, but I'm hearing rumblings about wrestlers canceling bookings with one promotion and looking to work with others who have a clean track record, so this could lead to a dramatic shakeup there.

So, yes, dropping a bomb on Twitter can sometimes make a difference.

EDIT: One other thing - from the original TwitLonger post, that has been overlooked.

It doesnt change the fact that I honestly never want to play a trpg again and am definitely not working in that field anymore.

Orion isn't just leaving Wizards - he's leaving the industry and the hobby. He has no reason not to burn his bridges, because at this moment he's not coming back - not to the industry, and not to the gaming table.

 

[whimsychris123]

Addressing the issues of race. Problem is. Worrying vocal number of fans do not see issue with racist connotations or descriptions. They resist change in this. Because they do not associate with it. As they do not associate they do not think this area needs change or work.
Probably quite a lot of fans think like this.
This will also one day catch up with Wizards.

I remember when people grumbled about the sexually tame depiction of females in 5e. They felt that sexy drawings of women were part of the game, even part of the fantasy genre in general. Getting rid of them for "PC warriors," "angry feminists," or whatever tag people felt like giving others at the time was an affront to the D&D they knew and loved. Now nobody really grumbles about it and women have become much more a part of the game.

I believe similar progress can be made with issues of race. Some of the changes will receive some grumbling, but in a few years, people will realize that although there have been some changes to the game, they are still playing D&D and the changes only attracted more brilliant and creative individuals.

 

[Minigiant]

People have to come to grips that large corporations are out to sell product/services and make money.And in modern capitalism,that sales and money has to curve upwards if you are beholden to shareholders who want constant increases. So corporations at a certain point must expand the customer base..

For example, lets look at Warhammer. From the beginning, one could easily see it was clearly designed and marketed to middle class white males from Western Europe (mostly the UK). Which is fine because it was based in the UK.

However since it was originally designed for an audience of "middle class white males from Western Europe (mostly the UK)", once they ran out of "middle class white males from Western Europe (mostly the UK)" sales stagnated (or at least didn't in the levels they wanted it to). Selling IP for video and mobile games brought reach to he audience. However the game was still designed for "middle class white males from Western Europe (mostly the UK)". So GWW constantly hit wall after wall after wall. GW atttempted to fix this but they spent too long inthis place. And this is why they have a new backlash and controversy within its community over diversity. Games Workshop can only milk their old customers dry or add new ones. The latter is harder the longer you wait to do it.

WOTC has similiar issues with its games. It will take a lot of work to expand the base. Both from those inside and those outside who want to go inside.

And both insiders and outsiders fail to acknowledge just how much work it will take. And this create hurt feelings.

 

[Kaodi]

I'd say when you're getting to the level of "government security clearance", you are talking about "surveillance states". Certainly none of what you mentioned predates written language. Nor do I see how "the essential options for reacting to such discoveries" is relevant to the discussion.

Assuming this is General Electric we are talking about I would say that government security clearance is not unreasonable. The protection of infrastructure is a matter of national security - and I would not be surprised if they multiple ways in which someone may need high level clearance. Does GE do any work on military bases or at the Pentagon, for instance? Being privy to sensitive information is not merely a "surveillance state" sort of concern.