The Red Dragon's Interview is up!

[Joshua Randall]

Wormy made fun of wargamers and the struggle they had in the new gaming environment, but this cartoon only makes fun of real world people

This statement is incredibly ironic, given the history of Wormy and its creator.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The problem though is that while some may think any publicity is good publicity, given the choice good publicity is better than bad publicity. In the short term bad publicity does draw the attention but in the long term it hurts more than it helps.

In the long term, nobody will remember the poop-joke controversy. Except as a reason to mock some "fans".

This is not a perfect analogy but look at Britney Spears. For awhile there she was acting out and doing all kinds of things as she was melting down and was getting huge amounts of publicity (I know because I was at the point that I wanted to get rid of my TV due to the saturation coverage). Just because everyone at that point knew her and what she was doing didn't mean that that was the right kind of publicity, rather instead of paying attention to her as an artist, we were all watching her as a sideshow and a target of ridicule and the respect of her as an artist went down instead of up.

Back to WotC. Sure this cartoon drew attention to 4th edition, but at what cost.

At what cost? I suppose the cost the artist and writing team demand, right?

You are simply wrong if you believe that this cartoon creates "bad press".

Bad press if people say:
"You know, WotC created a webcomic that is racist* and supports taking cocaine."
"WotC has offered a batch of products for pre-order, took the money, and then said they couldn't hope to deliver. It is even said the brand manager knew beforehand that it wouldn't work out".
"WotC has decided not to spend the 1,000,000 $ they promised to the terre d'homme.
"WotC Brand Manager has been repeatedly accused of sexual harassment, but one of his superiors was cited. 'What - she is hot, she had it coming.' "
That's bad press.

"Oh, look, WotC has put out a cartoon that used poop jokes and mocked both fans and haters." is not bad press.

Britney Spear bad press is not "Oh my god, she made a poop joke in public! How could she! How can we take her serious as an artist, and how can we let her raise a child now."
It was more "Oh my god, she has an alcohol/drug abuse problem - what will happen to her child?"


*) Though personally, I can even laugh about racist joke, even though racismn is one of the few things I could punch people in the face for, if it ever came to it.

 

[Evil DM]

Hi folks,

I am sorry but my humble english ist not that good to fully understand the cartoon as well as any references to WoTC's decisions.

What about that scandal where an elf and his horse-wagon is hit by ***

Second what about the dragon feeding himself within a burning house?

Adventureres reaching the dragon and yelling "XP!" ... well that is a DnD clisché isn't it?

I think the only one I understood was with the troll writing at the computer!

Did I miss anthing?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Evil DM.

 

[Obryn]

It's like Rawr-the-Gnome-Killed-My-Childhood all over again!

justanobody - Please, drink a beer or three. I'm willing to bet that Scott has a vastly better idea about his target audience than you do.

-O

 

[ExploderWizard]

Back to WotC. Sure this cartoon drew attention to 4th edition, but at what cost. In the short term people are paying attention, but in the long term there are now more people who think WotC doesn't respect their customers.

The people who hold this opinion had before that comic was ever produced. The comic is simply gamers making fun of gamers. Dork Tower and KODT do it all the time, its not a new thing. If the public believes that D&D products and offerings have value then they will buy them, and if not, they won't. Anyone deeply offended by a web cartoon certainly has a right to feel that way but I am betting that those people probably had a rather strong opinion about WOTC already before seeing it.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

In the long term, nobody will remember the poop-joke controversy. Except as a reason to mock some "fans".

<Snip>

"Oh, look, WotC has put out a cartoon that used poop jokes and mocked both fans and haters." is not bad press.

Britney Spear bad press is not "Oh my god, she made a poop joke in public! How could she! How can we take her serious as an artist, and how can we let her raise a child now."
It was more "Oh my god, she has an alcohol/drug abuse problem - what will happen to her child?"

This is but one thing. But it does represent part of an overall pattern. This individual thing alone is not in and of itself a major problem, but rather it gets added to the overall image people are coming away with. With Britney there were dozens of acts that alone did not have a major impact on her reputation. If she made a poop joke in public people would have notice and it would have been ok if that was all she did but she did lots of things and together they had an effect that said "Oh my god, she has an alcohol/drug abuse problem - what will happen to her child?"

WotC is not there yet but this is just more more piece in the puzzle that is their reputation. We shall see if when the puzzle is complete whether this is just a beauty mark or it is a representation of a larger problem.

 

[billd91]

The people who hold this opinion had before that comic was ever produced. The comic is simply gamers making fun of gamers. Dork Tower and KODT do it all the time, its not a new thing. If the public believes that D&D products and offerings have value then they will buy them, and if not, they won't. Anyone deeply offended by a web cartoon certainly has a right to feel that way but I am betting that those people probably had a rather strong opinion about WOTC already before seeing it.

Yes, Dork Tower and KoDT do make fun of gamers. But Dork Tower does it from, primarily, outside the industry. KoDT, having predated any of Kenzer and Co's forays into D&D-like games, is also coming from outside any particular edition or partisan background. Had WotC's red dragon cartoon come from outside the company, people would be less annoyed and it would not give us an impression of WotC PR being generally insensitive.

 

[Jack99]

Did anyone who actually plays 4e feel insulted? If not, then WotC has not insulted it's customers. People who play other editions, or other games like Pathfinder, are not customers per say. They might have been, once upon in a time, and might or might not be again in the future. But atm, they aren't.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

This is but one thing. But it does represent part of an overall pattern. This individual thing alone is not in and of itself a major problem, but rather it gets added to the overall image people are coming away with. With Britney there were dozens of acts that alone did not have a major impact on her reputation. If she made a poop joke in public people would have notice and it would have been ok if that was all she did but she did lots of things and together they had an effect that said "Oh my god, she has an alcohol/drug abuse problem - what will happen to her child?"

No,I think it was the fact that she had a drug/alcohol problem that made people worry about her child or her fitness as a parent. Just as they would if it was a woman in their neighborhood (but that woman is not talked much about in the media.)
Actually, I should stop using this example, because I barely know stuff about Britney. I remember seeing her with shaved hair and something about a rehab clinic, but I might actually be confusing the various "young" stars that exist these days.

WotC is not there yet but this is just more more piece in the puzzle that is their reputation. We shall see if when the puzzle is complete whether this is just a beauty mark or it is a representation of a larger problem.

It is a beauty mark in the sense: "Look, we're market leader in Role-Playing Games. And we still don't take ourselves to serious to make jokes about our franchise." can be a beauty mark. I suppose it's beauty on its own.

Of course, it's also all calculated, harsh marketing, and thus totally serious business, too. They could also create some serious news coverage on their design and be laughing behind their back:
"Look, we're claiming that we have Designers and Developers. And these fans believe it! As if there was even a difference! Good that nobody knows our guys are just making it up as we go. Hey, let's lance a post that Rob and Mike changed their posts, just to keep people interested in our serious business. The fans will probably all over it, congratulating them for their choices or saying it spells doom for the future of D&D. Not that the two guys still have the same pay, and still do exactly the same stuff they did before - reading Indie games, stealing some mechanics and then re-branding them for D&D."

 

[ExploderWizard]

Did anyone who actually plays 4e feel insulted? If not, then WotC has not insulted it's customers. People who play other editions, or other games like Pathfinder, are not customers per say. They might have been, once upon in a time, and might or might not be again in the future. But atm, they aren't.

I play 4E. It is not my favorite edition and I am not in what I think WOTC's "target audience" is, but I don't feel offended by that cartoon. I can honestly say that the cartoon (and any others that may be released in the future) do not impact my decisions about what products I choose.