"Tabletop RPG Workers Say Their Jobs Are No Fantasy" (article from WIRED)

[Ralif Redhammer]

I dunno, just look at what's going on with Blizzard-Activision. Shares are down, what, almost 30% this year as a result of the ongoing mess? While they made some limited inclusion efforts, certainly WoW was still burdened by years of problematic tropes and elements.

With Paizo, the backlash is against the company, not their inclusion efforts. I don't think many people that value inclusion are saying "oh, they shouldn't have had an inclusive game if they weren't an inclusive company" - it's "they should have had an inclusive game and an inclusive company." Sure, it makes them look worse, but the behind-the-scenes garbage was always going to be a bad look for them.

Not sure.

Could also result in a bigger backlash. If Paizo were your garden-variety reactionary stuck-in-the-sixties company, nobody would bat an eye on reports they, say, mistreated women, or people of color. More importantly, that company would not risk losing any customers, because any modern-thinking human would already be not purchasing their stuff.

Paizo, on the other hand, likely has a significant amount of customers attracted to their forward-thinking signaling. Realizing that was merely marketing might make them reconsider their product loyalty.

 

[MGibster]

I have half a dozen friends who think they are great novelists. They contend that the only reason they are not New York Times Bestselling authors is that the industry is against them in one way or another. My wife and I have, on occasion, been asked to proofread their works.

I am more than happy to admit that I cannot write a game as well as people like John Wick, Jonathan Tweet, or Kevin Siembieda. I've come up with some humdinger campaign/adventure ideas, but even then I cannot execute those ideas as well as most game designers. I don't think you could just drag your average gamer off the street and get something as good as a Wick produced game. But I do think the market does keep wages down, in part, because there are so many people who would be willing to work on RPGs. Maybe they're not as good as John Wick or Erik Wujcik, but still drives wages down. I think it's a similar problem a lot of artists have.

:-( And I'm reminded that Erik Wujcik passed way more than 10 years ago.

 

[CapnZapp]

I am more than happy to admit that I cannot write a game as well as people like John Wick, Jonathan Tweet, or Kevin Siembieda.

On the flip side, you don't have to!

Assuming (for the sake of argument only, of course) you are willing to work for the satisfaction to see your particular Elf in print (i.e. for free), you don't need to surpass the people you consider the best in the field. You only need to meet, or even be slightly subpar to, the (paid) employees that do a below-average job.

I don't know anything about you, yet I seriously doubt I would be able to tell the difference if you somehow got Random Dev X's job, where X maybe isn't the trio you like, but a random staffer below them.

In the field of writing ttrpg supplements, the difference between "fan" and "athlete" is not nearly as large as some people try to make it.

Cheers

PS. Paizo held a competition called All-Stars or something a few years back, and I think we agree the best entries were easily marketable as if they were paid.

 

[CapnZapp]

At this point I think I need to clarify:

Am I saying rpg developers aren't deserving fair pay? No.

I am merely trying to discuss the fact they aren't. There are actual reasons for that, other than "evil overlords preferring slave labor". I am not saying I like it, just that it is.

Do I excuse Paizo's behavior? No.

Just that I don't feel it is meaningful to look at this from a traditional labor market angle and get upset about bad working conditions*, as if this was just another "industry" just like any other.

Regards,
Zapp

*) pay, remember, not harassment