D&D 5E Why I Think D&DN is In Trouble

[Shemeska]

Non-competes once you are no longer employed by the company don't work so well in California anymore (they used to work how you describe, but the law was changed to make it harder to use one), and in several other states. But we are talking about non-compete DURING employment, and that one is a no-brainer for most companies.

The non-competes are generally pretty standard for a lot of industries, but state by state if they're right-to-work states they may or may not actually be enforceable.

Restricting work on your own time off-job is pretty draconian IMO, and I'd probably pass up a job with those terms unless it was driving the money train into town.

 

[Morrus]

but state by state if they're right-to-work states.

Eh? That's a new phrase on me. Do you have states where people don't have the right to work?

 

[Warunsun]

Eh? That's a new phrase on me. Do you have states where people don't have the right to work?

"right-to-work" are some bizarre laws in the US. They started as a kind of anti-union legislation in some states. But in other states they also cover other things. It is basically the local government sticking its nose into private business for many different purposes.

 

[Morrus]

"right-to-work" are some bizarre laws in the US. They started as a kind of anti-union legislation in some states. But in other states they also cover other things. It is basically the local government sticking its nose into private business for many different purposes.

Well, that's as lacking in explanation as any paragraph could be! But it includes keywords which suggest to me it's a political topic, so I'll remain ignorant and we'll not discuss it here. Sorry for erroneously bringing it up!

 

[Ahnehnois]

Mainly because WotC hasn't been producing D&D for a couple of years, of course, so it would be kinda embarrassing if wasn't!

IIRC, the reports placed PF at #1 while 4e was still in active production and well before any 5e announcement. It's also important to understand that PF being #1 doesn't just mean that it's outcompeting a dormant market leader, but also all of the other games out there. Anyone could have used the OGL to create a 3e derivative (and there certainly are others), and anyone can make their own separate game. So PF's status is nothing to sneeze at; not everyone could have done what they have.

 

[Morrus]

It's also important to understand that...

It's not important to understand at all. Well, unless you're CEO of Paizo. To the rest of us, it's gossip.

 

[doghead]

If you're after online discussion counts, this monitors over a thousand sites:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/hotgames.php

Yay! Good data.

Out of curiosity, the lists look like they are exclusive but there are a number of exceptions:
* 13th Age tracks in both Hot Games (#3/127.3) and D&D Editions, Variations, and OSR Games (#6/127.3)
* M&M tracks in both Hot Roleplaying Games (#16) and Spotlight List: Superhero RPGs (#1)
* Marvel Heroic tracks in Hot Roleplaying Games (#34) and Spotlight List: Superhero RPGs (#4)
* Rotted Capes tracks in Hot Roleplaying Games (#40) and Spotlight List: Superhero RPGs (#5)
* Hero tracks in Hot Roleplaying Games (#41) and Spotlight List: Superhero RPGs (#6)

If the double ups were removed from the Hot Games list, it would change the percentages of those remaining somewhat, but not the ranking. If all (rather than some) of the D&D and Superhero games were incorporated into the Hot Games list, it would significantly change the rankings as well as the percentages.

I think.

thotd

 

[fjw70]

The non-competes are generally pretty standard for a lot of industries, but state by state if they're right-to-work states they may or may not actually be enforceable.

Restricting work on your own time off-job is pretty draconian IMO, and I'd probably pass up a job with those terms unless it was driving the money train into town.

If the off time work is the same as the on time work then I can see why such a clause would exist. Things could get a little murky.

 

[Mistwell]

Well, that's as lacking in explanation as any paragraph could be! But it includes keywords which suggest to me it's a political topic, so I'll remain ignorant and we'll not discuss it here. Sorry for erroneously bringing it up!

Whether one supports a right-to-work law might be political, but it's a concept that comes up often enough in the news that it might be useful to know what it means. Roughly 1/2 the U.S. states have right-to-work laws.

What it means, in general (though they vary) is that labor unions cannot mandate employee membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment. You can still have a union in those states, they just cannot make it a condition that you join the union to work at a company that has a union.

What this has to do with non-competes is that other employment laws (like the enforceability of a non-compete clause) tend to go in groups, often depending on whether a State is a right-to-work state or not.

 

[mlund]

Pretty much the definition of a villain is someone acting in his or her own interest without regard to anyone else.

However, I do agree that it's not unreasonable of WotC to demand that if an RPG designer working for them creates an RPG, it belongs to them. Nor is it unreasonable of Monte Cook to balk at such a demand, and quit.

Really? I think a villain does have an interest in the wellbeing of others, just a malicious interest. Of course there's a gray are between the level of indifference towards others that is normal and that which is callous. However, I think that a contract requiring employees to relinquish ownership of some topical IP they produce while you pay them and provide them with resources is not callously indifferent to the harm it will cause the employee.

The term missing here is "depraved indifference." Someone who pursues their own interests with depraved indifference to the direct and indirect harm his or her actions (or inaction) causes to other people is, even in the absence of malice, qualified as villainous.

- Marty Lund