+1
I'we never been particularly passionate about my chosen career field. My passion was art history and literature. But i got degree in mechanical engineering. Not because i'm very passionate about it, but cause that art degree was worthless at the time (still is, best you can do with it is teach art in high school or if you are really lucky, become assistant/professor at university), i had affinity for mechanics and electronics, was good at it, and it offered solid career options. Same with jobs. Joined army cause it offered solid pay that was on time ( believe it or not, at that time in my country, regular pay was benefit), high job security (hard to get fired) and some other minor benefits. No passion, but i was very good at it. And on every job after. Even now, most of my job is boring, but it gives good pay and solid benefits and i'm damn good at it. I work to live, not other way around. Job is there to pay for things i really love.
I reserve my passion for things outside of work. Things i'm passionate about, i'm willing to do for free, even pay to do them.
When it comes to games and designers ( worked in product design), it's not about being passionate. It's about delivering solid product your customer base is willing to pay. If we go by the numbers, WoTC is doing it just fine.
I think there's this myth that your vocation, what you do to make a living, should be this miraculously fulfilling and dream job where you follow your bliss. It can be a corrosive attitude when people wake up one day and realize that they're fine with their job, even enjoy it most of the time. I also think it's insulting to say that you have to be borderline obsessed with your job in order to be excellent at it.
I did a quick search and found an article (Why Following Your Bliss Won't Lead To Bliss) that states it better than I can. The bolded is pretty much my attitude towards work.
Are you willing to suffer for your career? It’s more necessary than many people today will admit. “Do what you love” sounds easy… except for the fact that love is hard and sometimes is an illusion.
I’ve argued that there are plenty of good reasons to resist those noble slogans about doing what you love or pursuing your passion or following your bliss.
I’m not as anti-love as it may seem at first glance. If you’re doing work that you enjoy and you’re happy and the bills are being paid, then you are to be envied.
I’m more concerned with speaking to that naïve and gullible side within each of us, which is tempted to fall for the myth that, once you find work that you think you love, you’ll never actually feel like you’re working.
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“Do what you love” wrongly implies that there is some job or task or cause that you will always love and will always want to report to duty for.
“Follow your bliss” implies that bliss will be a magical amulet to protect you from hardship.
In any case this has little to do with D&D. I just reject this notion that the only good games are those that are passionate about making the game.