D&D 5E Spelljammer Errata

[Cruentus]

Well, in their latest investor communication, they mentionned that their market is 85% North American, it's logical that 85% of the complaints would come from there, isn't it? That, plus bad support for localization, means that cultures that would be offended by things present in settings will simply... not have access to the offensive material and probably wouldn't react the way NA customers would.

But NA "culture" is not monolithic (including as it does Mexico and Canada, as well as the USA). There are hundreds of cultures represented in the United States alone. Do you just pick the largest "cultures"? This ties back to my previous question in the post above...

 

[EpicureanDM]

No, their boss, Ray Winnegar.

The same Ray Winniger who presided over WotC's race-related controversies over the past couple of years involving black WotC freelancers? The guy who was Crawford and Perkins' boss during that time and who put those guys in charge of 5.5e, the D&D's most important project since the release of 5e? That Ray Winniger?

 

[Ixal]

Well, in their latest investor communication, they mentionned that their market is 85% North American, it's logical that 85% of the complaints would come from there, isn't it? That, plus bad support for localization, means that cultures that would be offended by things present in settings will simply... not have access to the offensive material and probably wouldn't react the way NA customers would.

Not really.
85% of the complains from NA would make sense for things like individual books being damaged or other complains about specific copies.
But the complains are about content which is the same for everyone and if the problem is that the written material offends specific cultures outside of the US then that would be where the complains come from.
But yet, all big complains in the past come from the US itself. So it looks like WotC has more trouble writing for its home market than for foreign ones.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Which is why old settings should be retired entirely, so they can make new settings that fit in the box they're allowed to play in. Or, if lore is that meaningless, then just present the rules and make people tell their own stories entirely. That's the only way to avoid these issues completely and still make money.

If you want older settings to be retired . . . why not just pretend that they have? Think of each and every update to them as an entirely new setting. Ignore their existence just like you would for a new setting that doesn't interest you (like Strixhaven, I'm assuming).

Then . . . let the people that like the updated versions of the setting enjoy them as much as they would a new setting.

Or does that not work for you? In which case, I really don't understand why you want your older favorite settings to not be updated.

 

[MNblockhead]

You think 99% of tables are wholly rewriting the lore of races? Based on what?

More like ignoring the lore. I know that their are folks who are REALLY into Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc. lore. Because I participate in Internet discussion groups. I just have never seen it in actual play. Even a lot of the adventures published don't really seem to enforce the lore. The only exception I can think of in 5e is Ravenloft where if you are not human, you could expect negative reactions from the towns people.

 

[Alzrius]

Well, in their latest investor communication, they mentionned that their market is 85% North American

Would you mind sourcing this? It's possible I overlooked it, but I can't seem to find that statistic in Hasbro's Q2 2022 Investor Presentation or their Q2 2022 Earnings Management Remarks.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Not really.
85% of the complains from NA would make sense for things like individual books being damaged or other complains about specific copies.
But the complains are about content which is the same for everyone and if the problem is that the written material offends specific cultures outside of the US then that would be where the complains come from.
But yet, all big complains in the past come from the US itself. So it looks like WotC has more trouble writing for its home market than for foreign ones.

I think people from "outside of the US" simply don't readas much D&D materials. With a market so US/Canada centric, if they published something offensive to Bavarians, they MIGHT have complains coming from US-based readers who identify themselves to Bavarians, but very few complaints from Bavaria, where most people are outside of the D&D market in the first place. And probably playing Das Schwarze Auge.

 

[Dire Bare]

So I have a question then. If you are a company like WOTC, how many sensitivity readers are you hiring? How many cultures do you reference or ask for editing/reading for problematic rules/background writing?

If you only select 2 or 3, because, remember, people are calling for full time sensitivity readers (and I think its a great idea), how do you decide who gets representation? How do you know whether you might offend a non-represented culture in something you've written?

I honestly don't know the answer to this question, I'm genuinely curious. As someone who worked in emergency management in a large city, with dozens and dozens of cultures and languages represented (that we knew about), it became a real challenge to do things the right way across cultures in case of an emergency, and we tried. How does a game company approach this and not further offend someone else?

@MNblockhead has already answered this . . . you hire folks who have expertise in diversity and cultural issues. They're out there.

But even then, things will be missed, mistakes will be made. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to be better.

 

[Dire Bare]

The same Ray Winniger who presided over WotC's race-related controversies over the past couple of years involving black WotC freelancers? The guy who was Crawford and Perkins' boss during that time and who put those guys in charge of 5.5e, the D&D's most important project since the release of 5e? That Ray Winniger?

Yes. That Ray Winnegar. Who else? @Alzrius suggested Winnegar's boss, Cynthia Williams. She should definitely be concerned and involved.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Would you mind sourcing this? It's possible I overlooked it, but I can't seem to find that statistic in Hasbro's Q2 2022 Investor Presentation or their Q2 2022 Earnings Management Remarks.

It was in the earning call transcript. You can find it there : Hasbro, Inc.'s (HAS) CEO Chris Cocks on Q2 2022 Results - Earnings Call Transcript (though checking, it seems that their stat is based on D&D beyond customers, not book sales).