D&D General What Does New Coke Tell Us About Designing for D&D

[Distracted DM]

That part often seems forgotten in these discussions. It always comes down to maximum profit or you want creatives to work for free.

Yeah, there's the in-between of Running a Successful Business. I guess it's easy to forget that that's an option in today's world? The vast majority of small businesses do it.

Yet it rarely is, especially once a business grows past a certain size. Besides, people can be passionate about something and still want to get paid.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your reply; I didn't say they didn't want to get paid.. my sentence was literally:

A goal can be "make a living doing something I'm passionate about."

Making a living = getting paid. Unless you mean the "get rich" slang "getting paid?"

 

[Oofta]

Yeah, there's the in-between of Running a Successful Business. I guess it's easy to forget that that's an option in today's world? The vast majority of small businesses do it.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your reply; I didn't say they didn't want to get paid.. my sentence was literally:

Making a living = getting paid. Unless you mean the "get rich" slang "getting paid?"

When a company gets past a certain size many, if not most, people may like their jobs but it's rarely something they're "passionate" about. Do you really think that the accountant who's job is critical to the company or the janitor or the guy figuring out logistics is "passionate" about what they do?

Some people may be passionate about what they do and as far as I can tell the people working on the writing books and create artwork for D&D are passionate about it. That doesn't mean the majority of people who support those tasks (and yes, that includes management) are.

EDIT: I also don't think you need to be "passionate" about something in order to do a good job at it or to provide a good product. I would also say that if you think most small businesses aren't out to (ethically) maximize profits I would say you've never worked with small businesses before.

 

[mamba]

EDIT: I also don't think you need to be "passionate" about something in order to do a good job at it or to provide a good product.

it generally helps however

 

[KYRON45]

The following is a meaningless diatribe and should be ignored:

I'm great at my job but don't care that much about it.
A well trained labrador could do it. (he says while typing on a company computer)
Profits are a red herring and every time these conversations head in this direction i want to pull my hair out.
The creatives have no control over the money side of things. I'll never understand why players seem to care about it at all.
Buy the stuff or don't buy the stuff.

We now return you to whatever the in progress conversation was....

 

[Oofta]

it generally helps however

Does it? I've enjoyed my career in IT and I'm good at it. Passionate? Eh, not really. To me being "passionate" is just another buzzword thrown around to say "I like the decisions they've made" that is only applied to things people like. A lot of vulture capitalists are passionate about what they do as they destroy companies by doing leveraged buyouts and forcing the company into bankruptcy when they're done. I doubt many people believe the end result is virtuous.

 

[MGibster]

I think we need to differentiate between a cash grab and profit motivation. A cash grab is a cynical attempt to make a quick buck with no care regarding the quality of the product, no concern for the customer, and no thought to the long term impact on the company. I think most of us will agree that a cash grab is bad.

Profit motive is when the company desires to increase their wealth via doing business whatever that business happens to be. There's some overlap here. You can be motivated by profit and engage in cash grabs, but they're not the same thing.

 

[Distracted DM]

EDIT: I also don't think you need to be "passionate" about something in order to do a good job at it or to provide a good product. I would also say that if you think most small businesses aren't out to (ethically) maximize profits I would say you've never worked with small businesses before.

I think our miscommunication might be on the "maximize profit" term. I notice that you added "ethically" to your use of term; note that I didn't include "ethically" when referring to "maximize profit" like you did. That's probably the miscommunication.

I also didn't say that someone couldn't provide a good product/job if they weren't passionate about it? I don't understand where you got that from, I just said that a goal could be making a living doing something you're passionate about. Maybe I misspoke somewhere?

 

[Staffan]

That's how you do it. You don't change the taste, instead you create an iconic character that boosts the brand.

 

[The Soloist]

View attachment 399571

Oh no! You killed Redgar... again!

 

[Oofta]

I think our miscommunication might be on the "maximize profit" term. I notice that you added "ethically" to your use of term; note that I didn't include "ethically" when referring to "maximize profit" like you did. That's probably the miscommunication.

I also didn't say that someone couldn't provide a good product/job if they weren't passionate about it? I don't understand where you got that from, I just said that a goal could be making a living doing something you're passionate about. Maybe I misspoke somewhere?

I simply don't believe a desire to maximize profit is inherently bad. As far as the entire conversation goes (and I'm not saying you personally use the term this way), some people seem to think that the only "correct" way is to be passionate about what you do. In other words the "passionate" is really an appeal to authority type of fallacy, a way of justifying your opinion of why one company is better than another.

With very few exceptions every company wants to maximize profits but will have certain ... boundaries if you will ... on what they will do to maximize that profit. Do they put short term profiteering over long term stability? Promise and receive payment for services they have no intention of delivering? Do they break the law if they think they can get away with it or if the penalties don't exceed the profit? There are all sorts of business practices I would take issue with, including many completely legal practices. I don't see WotC/D&D doing anything I would consider crossing those ethical lines so therefore I don't have an issue with a suit telling investors that they want to maximize profits. Because that's what investors want to hear.

Show me what they are doing that is unethical in order to make a profit and we can have a conversation. Admitting that they're a business in a capitalistic society that is out to make money? Next issue please.