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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5404309" data-attributes="member: 59082">Yup, me too. Your point is one that many have missed in this thread as they've accused Merric of being a "hater." He isn't a hater - actually, his complaint is borne out of his love for D&D and, to a lesser extent, the current company that produces it. Thanks for the link, that's a very interesting read - especially about the free-wheelin' early days of WotC! That said, this isn't quite the same thing. The Tynes piece describes the "buying in" of WotC and Adkison, a kind of fall from an idealistic geektopia to a corporate monstrosity; WotC of 2010 has been that corporate monstrosity for over a decade now; the issues Merric has raised aren't quite as profound as the ones Tynes spoke about - they are more on the level of "WotC has been handling D&D poorly" not "WotC has undergone a Kafkaesque metamorphosis."The metamorphosis already happened; as Tynes illustrated, it began in late 1994 with ill-fated (and perhaps unwise) Truth or Swill game and was solidified with the sale of WotC to Hasbro in 2001. You could say that there is nothing new with that, with the enantiodromia that seems unfortunately inevitable when any kind of idealism is codified; it becomes rigid, calcified, and eventually produces its opposite. So an idealist young geektopia becomes a big corporation; this can be seen most clearly with the contrast of the innovative Everway game in 1995 with the, to quote Tynes, "grotesque" Pokemon trading card game in 1999, which is when, I think you can say, the pact with the Devil was finalized.Pact with the Devil, you say? Isn't that hating? No, it is just calling a spade a spade: WotC is a corporation, which almost by definition is primarily interested in making money for its shareholders, with any other concerns like "creativity" and "innovation" a distant second place - and only ever in service of the primary concern. This is how the metamorphosis of WotC has been enantiodromic: a reversal from a geektopian company focused on creating games for fun and enjoyment to a corporation that makes profit through the vehicle of games. The difference is subtle, but it makes all the difference in the world.</blockquote>

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