The major changes at WOTC

[dagger]

I dont mind the prices, especially since I will be able to use the book for 10 or more years.

 

[wdodd]

I'm skeptical when the "report" says that the police department is going to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit. The police don't file lawsuits. And the DA wouldn't sue either unless they could show that the taxpayers were defrauded of tax dollars (like the Tyco Intl CEO in NY).

I am not a lawyer, but I think the DA can file criminal charges and WoTC can also file a civil lawsuit against the employee.

 

[Kichwas]

As a complete lover of maps and atlases I (I still have my Atlas of the Dragonlance world) I am awaiting the Kingdom of Kalamar Atlas.

I am so all over that book...

Rainfall charts, industry, dialects, military stats, weather patterns, and more.

This is the kind of stuff I eat up for a world.

As for a Hasbro hack being a gamer...

As I've worked on the corporate side of the toy industry and I'm a gamer I wouldn't put it past possibility. A friend of mine gamed with a VP of Bank of America back in the late 80's, and a certain very famous movie actor is regularly seen in local gaming stores and comic shops...

Of course statisticly speaking it's much more likely he thinks DnD is something evil, just ask his local Priest/ Rabbi/ Pastor/ Imam/ Guru who know more about God (tm) than his own copy of the bible...

But anyway...

WotC is just an arm of Hasbro, been that way since Atkinson sold out. We're all just going to have to deal. Eventually they may make WotC as obscure as they did Avalon Hill. That will probably happen right about at the point that WotC runs out of fad games. So we all better hope the kids keep buying M:TG, Harry Potter, and those baseball cards they sell.

 

[Henry]

First of all, sweeping generalizations over an unsubstantiated news report is hazardous to your fiscal health. Morrus takes the right path in warning everyone (as did gamingreport.com) that these are not confirmed.

Second, only ONE person has been implicated, even if it is true. Not every manager there - just one. A high-level one.

Third, new management IS successful if it can inspire people to achieve without chewing on their butts in a consistent manner. The trend of the previous 10 years to assume that all management is corrupt and evil is unsettling to me. Most of these men and women are working stiffs, just like you and me, following the Primordial Mission Statement: All Babies Must Eat. To assume otherwise is folly and makes the assumer appear obnoxious.

 

[A2Z]

Re: .

I find it ironic that we the consumers have been putting up with astronomical prices, and poor quality (29.99 for lords of Darkness and its a soft cover book) Vaporware products (Master tools, nope E tools nope...download maybe? nope lets wait awhile longer.) Not to mention some of the attitudes thats been given by ceratin WOTC employees. And all this time several of thesee shining stars of humanity have been socking away ill gotten gains, and screwing us the consumer. Its a far cry from the heart wrenching "Save D&D" speech we heard a couple years back. Things have basically been going down hill since the comapny was sold off to Hasborg. Personally I'm just waiting for the next big WOTC fiasco.

I'm still waiting for the first fiasco. Seriously, were are the problems you're complaining about? And which WotC employees have been giving you attitude? You act like you've been personally attacked by the company.

 

[wsclark]

The rumors are generally true

John Tynes posted this bit of info over on the RPG.net Open Forum in the thread Corruption at WOTC!

Yeah, it's about right

I can't vouch for some of the details but yeah, in general it's correct.

On the other hand, I don't know that the major events cited are related--that is, Vince could be leaving for any number of reasons unrelated to recent events. And the retail stores have been an issue for Hasbro from the start, since Hasbro is not in the retail business itself.

So in other words, these are three things that are more or less true, but that doesn't mean they're all connected.

John Tynes
Seattle, WA

You can find the thread here: Corruption at WOTC!

 

[seankreynolds]

I wouldn't be too worried about having a businessman now in charge of the business of producing games. To be hoesnt I would rather have it that way. To become a top level exec at Hasbro the guy had to go through some pretty impressive hoops I imagine (assuming his Dad doesn't own the company ).
Now that an actual non-gamer, business-oriented person is in charge...

Vince, the exiting exec, was not a gamer either. WotC hasn't had a gamer in a senior exec position since Peter Adkison left (ok, I don't know all of the execs, but I don't think any of them are gamers. Vince certainly wasn't, and he in fact didn't understand games and found ways to avoid playing them, even on "game days" where the whole company was supposed to play WotC games to better learn the products WotC sold).

I personally didn't care for Vince much (among other things, he badmouthed TSR for a long long time after WotC moved them out to Washington), and I won't be sad he's gone. I don't really know anything about this Hasbro guy, but I doubt he's a gamer, either.

And from what other sources tell me, I believe the Federline embezzlement thing is true.

Man, I'm glad I got out when I did.

 

[Piratecat]

Re: Hadn't heard....

What's this about a rumor of someone at WOTC with their hand in the kitty?

Ewwwwww.

 

[seankreynolds]

Re: .

I find it ironic that we the consumers have been putting up with astronomical prices, and poor quality (29.99 for lords of Darkness and its a soft cover book) Vaporware products (Master tools, nope E tools nope...download maybe? nope lets wait awhile longer.) Not to mention some of the attitudes thats been given by ceratin WOTC employees. And all this time several of thesee shining stars of humanity have been socking away ill gotten gains, and screwing us the consumer.

Dumbass, the people that work on the D&D products don't make the decisions for pricing, canceling products, and certainly aren't in a position to funnel company money anywhere. The people who do make those decisions are an order of magnitude more invisible than the people who work in R&D (Anthony Valterra is--I believe--the only one who has made an effort to talk on the internet ... anyone higher than his level probably doesn't even know enworld exists). By suggesting that the R&D people are "socking awary ill gotten gains," you are insulting honest people, directing attention away from those that _are_ responsible, and are being an ass.

Stop insulting the wrong people.

 

[realmprotector]

I just received word from the PR department you can check it out HERE