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.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

There is an Idea that everyone has to apply without a picture and a chiffre instead of a name. The only real way to not be effected by bias. It is really difficult, even with your best efforts, to not be effected in a positive or negative way, based on you own experiences.

 

[polyhedral man]

There is an Idea that everyone has to apply without a picture and a chiffre instead of a name. The only real way to not be effected by bias. It is really difficult, even with your best efforts, to not be effected in a positive or negative way, based on you own experiences.

See, that's a great solution and very practical. When our department was hiring, that's what they did. One person printed CVs and put a plaster on names. And put them in the pile to be reviewed.
Nice, simple, effective. At least for the first round of selection. Then you have the interviews, and in that case it's much more challenging to remove interviewer bias. But still, being open about not having all the answers is still better. Rarher than pretend that a flawed concept like diversity hires will solve more problems than the ones it will cause.

 

[Raduin711]

What a fun thread to necro.

The problem is that with no control, no effort being put forth to diversify, the result will NOT be people being hired by merit alone. Those doing the hiring will avoid hiring the diverse hire in favor of someone "more like me" or "more like the rest of the team" or "someone who will be more cohesive with the rest of us" which are really just excuses to follow your own biases and hire the white guy. Meanwhile the (potential) diversity hire will go door to door, showing a resume equal to their cis white colleagues, and keep getting turned down for the same reason, over and over. Next thing you know, all the white guys get hired and everyone else gets a pat on the back, and told "tough break" while all the white guys in their ivory towers congratulate themselves on how skilled and meritorious they are because they worked so hard to get where they are. (And they did work hard... but they didn't see the people that they shoved out of the way.)

Unfortunately, institutional racism isn't the kind of problem we can fix by getting everyone to agree "I've got nothing against (black people, trans people, latinx people, gay people, indian people etc.)" or ridding ourselves of the worst and most obvious examples of overt bigotry.

I think one facet of this that gets overlooked is that diversity is work. When someone has a similar background to you, it makes things easier. Things get challenging when someone you work with comes from another culture, or has a different perspective or has aspects of their life you don't understand. And this work... does not always convert into $$$ for businesses. Whether my dishwasher is a trans gal or a white guy doesn't really matter to how the dishes get washed. And hiring the trans gal means that it's possible someone who works for me might take issue with it, or someone might use the wrong pronouns, and oh, think of the headaches... so let's just hire the white guy and pretend like I picked at random. Tough break, trans gal.

So we either let "It's a meritocracy! No, really, I promise!" rule the day, or we do the thing where we actually make businesses hire diversely. This can't be the end of the story, either, because now we just need those businesses to recognize that the work that their diversity hires are doing actually has merit. Like I said, diversity is work, so now we have to actually do that work. Some businesses are going to do it, some aren't, but at least now they have $$$ incentive to try to get value out of their diversity hires.

Maybe what happened at Wizards is that they failed to see that value in Orion Black. Or maybe he wasn't doing such a great job. I don't know. But I don't see this as an example of how diversity hiring is bad.

 

[dave2008]

What a fun thread to necro.

The problem is that with no control, no effort being put forth to diversify, the result will NOT be people being hired by merit alone. Those doing the hiring will avoid hiring the diverse hire in favor of someone "more like me" or "more like the rest of the team" or "someone who will be more cohesive with the rest of us" which are really just excuses to follow your own biases and hire the white guy. Meanwhile the (potential) diversity hire will go door to door, showing a resume equal to their cis white colleagues, and keep getting turned down for the same reason, over and over. Next thing you know, all the white guys get hired and everyone else gets a pat on the back, and told "tough break" while all the white guys in their ivory towers congratulate themselves on how skilled and meritorious they are because they worked so hard to get where they are. (And they did work hard... but they didn't see the people that they shoved out of the way.)

Unfortunately, institutional racism isn't the kind of problem we can fix by getting everyone to agree "I've got nothing against (black people, trans people, latinx people, gay people, indian people etc.)" or ridding ourselves of the worst and most obvious examples of overt bigotry.

I think one facet of this that gets overlooked is that diversity is work. When someone has a similar background to you, it makes things easier. Things get challenging when someone you work with comes from another culture, or has a different perspective or has aspects of their life you don't understand. And this work... does not always convert into $$$ for businesses. Whether my dishwasher is a trans gal or a white guy doesn't really matter to how the dishes get washed. And hiring the trans gal means that it's possible someone who works for me might take issue with it, or someone might use the wrong pronouns, and oh, think of the headaches... so let's just hire the white guy and pretend like I picked at random. Tough break, trans gal.

So we either let "It's a meritocracy! No, really, I promise!" rule the day, or we do the thing where we actually make businesses hire diversely. This can't be the end of the story, either, because now we just need those businesses to recognize that the work that their diversity hires are doing actually has merit. Like I said, diversity is work, so now we have to actually do that work. Some businesses are going to do it, some aren't, but at least now they have $$$ incentive to try to get value out of their diversity hires.

Maybe what happened at Wizards is that they failed to see that value in Orion Black. Or maybe he wasn't doing such a great job. I don't know. But I don't see this as an example of how diversity hiring is bad.

It is funny how a lot of people assume the white guy is hired based on merit while the "diversity" hire is not.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

What a fun thread to necro.

The problem is that with no control, no effort being put forth to diversify, the result will NOT be people being hired by merit alone. Those doing the hiring will avoid hiring the diverse hire in favor of someone "more like me" or "more like the rest of the team" or "someone who will be more cohesive with the rest of us" which are really just excuses to follow your own biases and hire the white guy. Meanwhile the (potential) diversity hire will go door to door, showing a resume equal to their cis white colleagues, and keep getting turned down for the same reason, over and over. Next thing you know, all the white guys get hired and everyone else gets a pat on the back, and told "tough break" while all the white guys in their ivory towers congratulate themselves on how skilled and meritorious they are because they worked so hard to get where they are. (And they did work hard... but they didn't see the people that they shoved out of the way.)

Unfortunately, institutional racism isn't the kind of problem we can fix by getting everyone to agree "I've got nothing against (black people, trans people, latinx people, gay people, indian people etc.)" or ridding ourselves of the worst and most obvious examples of overt bigotry.

I think one facet of this that gets overlooked is that diversity is work. When someone has a similar background to you, it makes things easier. Things get challenging when someone you work with comes from another culture, or has a different perspective or has aspects of their life you don't understand. And this work... does not always convert into $$$ for businesses. Whether my dishwasher is a trans gal or a white guy doesn't really matter to how the dishes get washed. And hiring the trans gal means that it's possible someone who works for me might take issue with it, or someone might use the wrong pronouns, and oh, think of the headaches... so let's just hire the white guy and pretend like I picked at random. Tough break, trans gal.

So we either let "It's a meritocracy! No, really, I promise!" rule the day, or we do the thing where we actually make businesses hire diversely. This can't be the end of the story, either, because now we just need those businesses to recognize that the work that their diversity hires are doing actually has merit. Like I said, diversity is work, so now we have to actually do that work. Some businesses are going to do it, some aren't, but at least now they have $$$ incentive to try to get value out of their diversity hires.

Maybe what happened at Wizards is that they failed to see that value in Orion Black. Or maybe he wasn't doing such a great job. I don't know. But I don't see this as an example of how diversity hiring is bad.

No, diversity hiring is good, to achieve a better representation of the whole population. Since it is now biased towards white males, a bit of diversity hiring is necessary. But having a blind audit before makes sure you don´t hire someone just because of diversity. It is also important to stress, that you don´t start overrepresenting small groups just for the sake of it. Then it starts to reverse and you are discriminated because you are white and male. Yes, we are overrepresented as a whole, that does not mean that someone who is the best qualified should be denied a job, because of it...

... that sounds worse than it was intended... so read my first sentence again. You need to actively work to achieve parity for a while at least.

 

[Mercurius]

No, being a token diversity hire means that the company hired you only to make themselves look like they were putting effort into diversity efforts when in reality they wanted nothing of the such. You assume quite clearly that a person who is a diversity hire cannot have talent, which is racist in itself.

Hold the pitchforks before jumping to that conclusion. I don't see that assumption in his post. He didn't say that a diversity hire "cannot" have talent. I think he is pointing out that the word "token" (which you removed from your second usage) implies that such a hiring is not primarily about their skill set, but what demographic category they fill. Meaning, whether or not they have talent is secondary to their ethnicity, gender, etc.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

What a fun thread to necro.

Ugh, no.

You mean everyone using something in the news they don't really know about, in order to assert opinions they already had?

 

[MGibster]

From a business perspective, creating a diverse work environment is desirable because it's good for the bottom line. A diverse workplace will help a company attract quality candidates and help it retain excellent employees. But creating a diverse work environment is a process rather than a quick and easy change.

• Foster an environment where all employees feel comfortable being who they are.
• Ensure applicant screening is non discriminatory and expand recruiting efforts to include underrepresented people.
• Make sure merit increases and promotions aren't given in a discriminatory manner.
• Create an open door policy where employees feel comfortable bringing things to the attention of management.

I'm not in the RPG business, but as a consumer having a diverse array of writers and artists means they might offer me something new an exciting. That seems like a good thing to me.

 

[Umbran]

What a fun thread to necro.

Mod Note:

A brand new account is created, makes this post to raise a thread on a contentious topic from months ago, and makes no other posts on the board? Seems suspicious to me.

Rest of you folks, however, seem more than willing to argue. Let's nip that in the bud, hm? Thread closed.