Ryan Dancey & AEG Part Ways Following AI Comments

Ryan Dancey, the Chief Operating Officer of boardgame publisher Alderac Entertainment Group, no longer works for the company, following statements on social media where he claimed that AI could make most of the company's board games, and that D&D and Magic: the Gathering were the only new forms of gameplay in his lifetime. After another poster on LinkedIn claimed that "AI wouldn't come up with Tiny Towns or Flip Seven or Cubitos because it doesn't understand the human element of fun", Dancey responded that he had zero reason to believe that AI could not do such a thing.

"I have zero reason to believe that an Al couldn't come up with Tiny Towns or Flip Seven or Cubitos. I can prompt any of several Als RIGHT NOW and get ideas for games as good as those. The gaming industry doesn't exist because humans create otherwise unobtainable ideas. It exists because many many previous games exist, feed into the minds of designers, who produce new variants on those themes. People then apply risk capital against those ideas to see if there's a product market fit. Sometimes there is, and sometimes there is not. (In fact, much more often than not).

Extremely occasionally (twice in my lifetime: D&D and Magic: the Gathering) a human has produced an all new form of gaming entertainment. Those moments are so rare and incandescent that they echo across decades.

Game publishing isn't an industry of unique special ideas. It's an industry about execution, marketing, and attention to detail. All things Als are great at."

- Ryan Dancey​

The Cardboard Herald, a boardgame reviews channel, responded yesterday on BlueSky that "As you may have seen, [AEG] CEO Ryan Dancey stated that AI can make games “just as good as Tiny Towns or Flip 7 or Cubitos”, completely missing the inexorable humanity involved.We’ve spent 10 years celebrating creatives in the industry. Until he’s gone we will not work with AEG."

Today, AEG's CEO John Zinser stated "Today I want to share that Ryan Dancey and AEG have parted ways.This is not an easy post to write. Ryan has been a significant part of AEG’s story, and I am personally grateful for the years of work, passion, and intensity he brought to the company. We have built a lot together. As AEG moves into its next chapter, leadership alignment and clarity matter more than ever. This transition reflects that reality.Our commitment to our designers, partners, retailers, and players remains unchanged. We will continue building great games through collaboration, creativity, and trust."

Dancey himself posted "This morning [John Zinser] and I talked about the aftermath of my post yesterday about the ability of AI to create ideas for games. He's decided that it's time for me to move on to new adventures. Sorry to have things end like this. I've enjoyed my 10 years at AEG. I wish the team there the best in their future endeavors.

I believe we're at a civilizational turning point. That who we are and how we are is going to change on the order of what happened during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions; and it's past time we started talking about it and not being afraid to discuss the topic. Talking about AI, being honest about what it can and cannot do, and thinking about the implications is something we have to begin to do in a widespread way. Humans have a unique creative spark that differentiates us and makes us special and we should celebrate that specialness as we experience this epic change.

For the record: I do not believe that AI will replace the work talented game designer/developers do, nor do I think it is appropriate to use AI to replace the role of designer/developers in the publication of tabletop games. During my time at AEG I developed and implemented polices and contracts that reflect those views. It's important to me that you know what I believe and what I don't believe on this particular topic, despite what you may have read elsewhere."

Whatever your position on generative LLMs and the like, when the COO of your company announces publicly that all of the company’s games could have been made by AI, it’s a problem. UK readers may recall when major jewelry chain Ratners’ CEO Gerald Ratner famously announced that the products sold in his stores were “trash”, instantly wiping half a billion pounds from the company’s value back in the early 1990s. The company was forced to close stores and rebrand to Signet Group. At the time the Ratners Group was the world's biggest jewelry retailer. Ratner himself was forced to resign in 1992. The act of making a damaging statement about the quality of your own company’s products became known as “doing a Ratner”.

Dancey was VP of Wizards of the Coast when the company acquired TSR, the then-owner of Dungeons & Dragons. He is also known for being the architect of the Open Game License. Dancey has worked as Chief Operating Officer for AEG for 10 years, and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company, second-in-command after the CEO, John Zinser.

 

[chuckdee]

It certainly isn't going to help Dancey in the job search within the games industry . . . or maybe it will! Dancey isn't the only person in the industry (seemingly) eager to replace creative workers with AI. He should probably apply back with Hasbro . . .

Maybe he can start a new company, he can call it AI Slop Games!

His statement specifically said he wasn't looking to replace them though...

 

[LordEntrails]

Necessity? Depends on your needs.

Did I not state the needs I was talking about? Sure, there are exceptions to what I stated, but in general...

There are very good, even necessary reasons, for some folks within the US to learn a second language even if they never leave home. Depending on your career and where you live, Spanish is very useful and possibly even necessary.

That's one reason I said knowing additional languages were a good thing... But it seems like we agree, a good thing but not usually a necessity.

If you are traveling . . . what is your purpose? How long is your stay? Are you sticking to cities or traveling into the rural areas? English is widely spoken, but only gets you so far in many places.

In general I said. But no, it doesn't matter how long I stay. Sure rural/urban matters some, but from experience not a whole lot. Besides, have you tried one of those real time language translators? You can get them on your smart phone, usually free. I have, they work well enough to buy groceries or order food in the most rural of places. I wouldn't have technical engineering discussions using one, but in those cases you plan ahead, and hire a professional technical translator, because I wouldn't trust a casual second language learner to translate such anyway.

And even if it isn't necessary for your traveling needs . . . it can improve your interactions with the locals if you can speak their language somewhat decently. YMMV!

Sure, I said that in the post you are critiquing.

 

[Marc17]

Just read about 20 pages read quick, some comments...

Talking about game stores in the late 90's, the WotC Mothership in the Seattle University District was a thing to see: battle tech center where you climbed into a pod with all the mech controls and fought was really fun, then there was the war room that hand networked desktop computers for lan parties and game tournaments (I used to do Age of Empires tournaments there), another room for console games, another room for tabletop, and a really good store. I was at a party once and a friend was waxing on about how much they loved that game store inside the WotC Mothership and how the person running it had everything, and another friend asked what year which was answered, and my other friend said "that was me! I was the manager." (He later opened up The Dreaming a comic and game store down the street.), and a giant Hurloon Minotaur statue (scroll down).

IME, nobody is ever looking to hire a Computer Scientist, however, there are lots of jobs for server admins, programmers, desktop and application support that also require a four year degree.

Recorded music and radio are blamed by my family for killing the family business for pianos (along with the great depression).

 

[HatWearingFool]

Again, this is apples to oranges to me. I'd like to see your citations that recorded music wiped out people having musical careers.

It didn't wipe out musical "careers", but it cut down on the number of "amateur" musicians that used to be around to provide entertainment. If you wanted music/entertainment you hired or asked someone local. Once households got access to recorded music you didn't need people in the area to learn music.

Or how the printing press wiped out careers in writing, journalism, etc. Or the figures on how many people had performing careers before and after mass media (sure seems like there are a lot more actors now than in 1920). Where's your data that supports any of this?

The artists that made illuminated manuscripts can hardly be compared to writers or journalists. They were foundational to other art forms as well. But if you must have proof that the printing press wiped basically wiped out the illuminated manuscripts I guess I'll point out how they basically stopped being made after the creation of the printing press...

Illuminated manuscript | History, Production, & Facts | Britannica

Illuminated manuscript, handwritten book decorated with gold or silver, brilliant colors, or elaborate designs or miniature pictures. The term ‘illumination’ originally denoted the embellishment of the text with gold or silver, giving the impression that the page had been literally illuminated.

www.britannica.com

"In the great era of the illuminated manuscript, the art of the illuminator often played an important role in the development of art. The portability of the manuscript made it a simple means for the transmission of ideas from one region to another, and even from one period to another. On the whole, the development of painting in manuscripts paralleled the development of monumental painting. After the development of printing in Europe in the second half of the 15th century, illumination was superseded by printed illustrations."

What we're talking about is an entire creative industry being replaced by AI. No artists, no writers, no screen plays, etc. Those careers would largely be eliminated.

it's not the same.

We hardly every see an entire industry die. Portrait painters survived the creation of cameras but it's safe to say their industry was devastated.

 

[HatWearingFool]

who cares, that is likea KKK member denying they are racist, and yes that happens too

Well I'd say a large part of the western world would say they like capitalism and might even call themselves such (although most aren't). So I think what the majority of people think about something has some bearing on whether or not we should care.

A lot of people subscribe to capitalism so you should probably care if you want to say they are evil by default just because they believe that greed and pursuit of profit have been harnessed by capitalism to improve the world. You can disagree with that, but comparing them to the KKK is probably not going to help discourse with them.

I'm not a fan a capitalism (especially how it has managed to tie itself to markets which I am a fan of) but I realize that telling people who fans, that some of their base beliefs are "evil" isn't how I'll win them over.

 

[mamba]

Well I'd say a large part of the western world would say they like capitalism and might even call themselves such (although most aren't). So I think what the majority of people think about something has some bearing on whether or not we should care.

I doubt most would call themselves capitalist, and I doubt most would consider unrestricted capitalism to be a good thing. Not wanting communism is not the same as considering pure capitalism to be a good thing. Outside of some billionaires and their bought for politicians I am not sure you will find many people that would agree with that

 

[Bill Zebub]

I have difficulty buying your guarantee. I'll argue that people who are responsible includes all the people who actually built the products, and who provided the materials the products were made of, that they have a multitude of motivations, and that granting pride of place to one motivation among many deforms our understanding of how things actually work.

Wait...are you suggesting I did that?

 

[HatWearingFool]

I doubt most would call themselves capitalist, and I doubt most would consider unrestricted capitalism to be a good thing. Not wanting communism is not the same as considering pure capitalism to be a good thing. Outside of some billionaires and their bought for politicians I am not sure you will find many people that would agree with that

I can't actually find any numbers on how many Americans identify as capitalists; seems most polls just ask if you like capitalism... not surprisingly the number of people especially among the youth that feel capitalism is working out is headed downwards.

The only number I could actually find was 1 in 5 aged 18-29 identify as such.

"So we started by examining a troubling 2016 Harvard University survey that found that 51 per cent of American youth aged 18 to 29 no longer support capitalism. Only 42 per cent said they back it, while just 19 per cent were willing to call themselves “capitalists.”

So I will concede it's probably not the majority, but if it's at 19% amount the disaffected youth, I'd say it has to be significant portion of the population. But I have no idea what that portion is.

 

[Sacrosanct]

It didn't wipe out musical "careers", but it cut down on the number of "amateur" musicians that used to be around to provide entertainment. If you wanted music/entertainment you hired or asked someone local. Once households got access to recorded music you didn't need people in the area to learn music.

Ah, I see. We are talking about careers. Jobs. And you seem to be including hobbyists. My uncle Jim who played the fiddle at family events was never a professional--his job was never at risk and didn't "lose a career" as a fiddler because of recorded music (he was a truck driver by career). None of those people playing the fiddle at family gatherings lost their career; that wasn't their career in the first place. I'm still waiting for any sort of data that shows professional musicians declined sharply after recorded music.

The artists that made illuminated manuscripts can hardly be compared to writers or journalists. They were foundational to other art forms as well. But if you must have proof that the printing press wiped basically wiped out the illuminated manuscripts I guess I'll point out how they basically stopped being made after the creation of the printing press...

Illuminated manuscript | History, Production, & Facts | Britannica

Illuminated manuscript, handwritten book decorated with gold or silver, brilliant colors, or elaborate designs or miniature pictures. The term ‘illumination’ originally denoted the embellishment of the text with gold or silver, giving the impression that the page had been literally illuminated.

www.britannica.com

"In the great era of the illuminated manuscript, the art of the illuminator often played an important role in the development of art. The portability of the manuscript made it a simple means for the transmission of ideas from one region to another, and even from one period to another. On the whole, the development of painting in manuscripts paralleled the development of monumental painting. After the development of printing in Europe in the second half of the 15th century, illumination was superseded by printed illustrations."

Again, the printing press did not end the professional careers of people who wrote books and other written works. It actually expanded the careers. Print media took off. People who wanted to write and illustrate books had more career opportunities. That is literally the opposite of what we're talking about here.

We hardly every see an entire industry die. Portrait painters survived the creation of cameras but it's safe to say their industry was devastated.

Apples to oranges again. I ask you again, show me data that showed professional painters losing their careers after cameras were invented. Considering we're talking about people like professional painters having their careers eliminated via AI right now, it seems unlikely that cameras eliminated that career 150 years ago...