D&D 5E So what happened at GenCon with relation to 5th edition?

[Sacrosanct]

Unless it's a "key hire", I don't know of ANY PR guys who announce all the regular hires and fires at a major large company. Personnel changes are not that important. In fact, there may have been personnel changes at your favorite smaller RPG companies other than WOTC that you never heard about, and nobody ever made a stink about them. WOTC gets some "special" treatment on the internet sometimes. Treatment which no amount of PR can address. They could give money away to cancer research and some would complain that they should be investing that money back in the fans, or another charity, or something else. No PR can help with people who behave that way, you just gotta ignore it...which is what they've done for the most part.

Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.

Seriously, every time the topic of employment comes up re: WoTC, no matter how many times you or I repeat the same thing, there is always someone who ignores the facts and attacks them with hyperbole.

 

[jgsugden]

We all know the score here, we're just characterizing it differently based upon our bias:

* WotC had a smaller presence than in the past, and several things we expected to see covered had little or no new information (new figure line, information on upcoming books, etc...)
* There was less swag from WotC than in the past, especially than last year.

WotC essentially made the announcement that they're not planning on making GenCon a focus in the future. Some people that attended with hopes of free signed books, lots of insight into upcoming D&D projects, etc... feel disappointed and wish they'd known going in that WotC had stepped back from last year's presence. Others are quite happy with their experience.

 

[DEFCON 1]

You'd think they would fire their PR guy then because who ever it is, they are doing a terrible job with WOTC's image on the internet. Aside from that though, you DO hear about the hirings. It was huge news when Monte Cook joined the 5e team again for that brief period, and other similar news stories appear.... albeit very infrequently. Seriously, they need to get a new PR guy.

Heh... if every company fired their PR person because of complaints from the internet, every PR department would be empty.

No company should gear their public relations towards trying to keep the internet happy. Because the internet are a bunch of lunkheads who would find things to complain about even when handed a stack of thousand dollar bills.

 

[Andor]

That is really odd. While they have been separate organizations for some time now there is no game convention in the US as strongly linked to any brand as Gencon is to D&D. Given that a large part of 5es focus has been on reclaiming the grognards, to ignore Gencon is simply bizarre for WotC. Hell, even ignoring D&D it's bizarre the CCG teams wouldn't have a booth. Was this about the Indianapolis 'religious freedom' bill?

 

[Sacrosanct]

That is really odd. While they have been separate organizations for some time now there is no game convention in the US as strongly linked to any brand as Gencon is to D&D. Given that a large part of 5es focus has been on reclaiming the grognards, to ignore Gencon is simply bizarre for WotC. Hell, even ignoring D&D it's bizarre the CCG teams wouldn't have a booth. Was this about the Indianapolis 'religious freedom' bill?

Eh, most grognards don't go to Gencon. Most gamers don't go to Gencon. I know the history is there, but WotC has claimed for a while now at least that they are focused on the brand. Cross-platform branding, like video games, Aps, cartoons, etc. And PAX is more suited for that. Also helps that PAX is local for WoTC (at least PAX Prime in Seattle)

The times, they are a'changing. Nothing more complex or nefarious than that.

 

[wedgeski]

That is really odd. While they have been separate organizations for some time now there is no game convention in the US as strongly linked to any brand as Gencon is to D&D. Given that a large part of 5es focus has been on reclaiming the grognards, to ignore Gencon is simply bizarre for WotC. Hell, even ignoring D&D it's bizarre the CCG teams wouldn't have a booth. Was this about the Indianapolis 'religious freedom' bill?

Even to a UK outlander such as myself, those connections are there and indelible, and I'm surprised that WotC pulled back from GenCon so far, so fast.

As part of the larger strategy, though, I can see it. PAX is enormous and has way more cross-genre coverage than GenCon, plus there's the ongoing connection to Penny Arcade itself.

 

[Beleriphon]

Heh... if every company fired their PR person because of complaints from the internet, every PR department would be empty.

No company should gear their public relations towards trying to keep the internet happy. Because the internet are a bunch of lunkheads who would find things to complain about even when handed a stack of thousand dollar bills.

I can confirm that I would have preferred a silk sack, the crushed velvet sack just didn't do it for me.

 

[mflayermonk]

$150 to play D&D sounds like a lot, but then Games Workshop routinely charges £60-90 per head for its events at Warhammer World. Meanwhile a smaller tournament would charge £10-15 per day, roughly, for Warhammer.

I think its $90 for the Gencon Badge + $150 for the D&D Pass so $240 total.

 

[AriochQ]

As a long time gamer, Gen Con and D&D were near synonymous in my mind. D&D is the reason Gen Con is what it is. I am extremely disappointed that WoTC has decided to abandon Gen Con in favor of PAX. From a straight marketing/money perspective, it makes sense, but it is probably also good business to have some sort of presence at Gen Con. Gen Con is your loyal core and you should try to keep them happy. Who do you think runs all those adventurer league games for the new people you are working so hard to attract? Yup...the people who go to Gen Con.

 

[DEFCON 1]

As a long time gamer, Gen Con and D&D were near synonymous in my mind. D&D is the reason Gen Con is what it is. I am extremely disappointed that WoTC has decided to abandon Gen Con in favor of PAX. From a straight marketing/money perspective, it makes sense, but it is probably also good business to have some sort of presence at Gen Con. Gen Con is your loyal core and you should try to keep them happy. Who do you think runs all those adventurer league games for the new people you are working so hard to attract? Yup...the people who go to Gen Con.

And they *are* keeping those Adventurer's League people happy by running nothing but Adventurer's League games continuously all weekend long. At any point during the convention, you can get into a D&D game. But as far as D&D panels are concerned... WotC isn't abandoning their loyal core by not having them... their "loyal core" already abandoned THEM by not showing up to the panels in the past years when they had them.

I don't know how many of you have been to a PAX... but as a regular PAX East attendee (and DM when WotC actually ran games all weekend a couple years ago)... I can tell you that I believe the MOST attended D&D panels WotC has ever had have been the Acquisitions Incorporated games. They hold those games in the largest theaters in Seattle/Boston and are always completely sold out and full. They get more people in to learn/experience D&D through the AI games than probably any other panel they've ever had ever at any convention ever. And that passion for gamers to watch people play/discuss D&D is probably a good reason why it carries over into other panels at PAX.

I don't know about PAX Prime... but WotC stopped running a booth to have gamers play D&D at PAX East two years ago. The D&D they present is all in panel and live-game form. And I expect this right here's the reason:

People mainly go to GenCon to play games.
People mainly go to PAX to learn about games (mainly video games, but still...)

Thus... WotC is now playing to both cons strengths. You can't really fault them for it. And we only have ourselves to blame if we never went to the panels on D&D WotC held at GenCon in years past.