WotC WotC Removes Digital Content Team Credits From D&D Beyond

According to Faith Elisabeth Lilley, who was on the digital content team at Wizards of the Coast, the contributor credits for the team have been removed from DDB.

The team was responsible for content feedback and the implementation of book content on the online platform. While it had been indicated to them that they would not be included in the credits of the physical books for space reasons, WotC apparently agreed to include them in the online credits.

It appears that those credits have now been removed.

I just discovered that I have been removed from book credits on D&D Beyond for books I worked on while at Wizards of the Coast.

Background:

While at Wizards (so after D&D Beyond was purchased) - with numerous books, my digital content team and I worked directly with the book team on the content, reading through rules drafts, suggesting changes, giving ideas, and catching issues. We had a full database of the content and understood exactly how it interacted.

Given that we were contributing to the content in the books, I felt it reasonable to request that team be added to the credits, but was informed the credits section was already too crowded with the number of people involved and many of the marketing team had already been dropped from credits. I felt strongly that anyone actually contributing to what is in the printed book should be credited though, so we agreed a compromise, that the team would be added to the credits page on D&D Beyond only, as there is no issue with "not enough space" on a web page.

I've added screenshots here that I had for some of the books.

At some point recently, those credits pages have been edited to remove the credits for me and the content team. Nobody reached out to let me know - it just happened at some point, and I only just noticed.

We've even been removed from the digital-only releases, that only released on D&D Beyond, such as the Spelljammer Academy drops.

I'm not angry or upset, just yet again, really disappointed, as somehow I expected better.

EDIT TO ADD MORE CONTEXT

It's not just getting the books online. I worked with Kyle & Dan to improve the overall book process from ideation to delivery across all mediums (you should have seen the huge process charts I built out...)

The lead designers would send over the rules for each new rulebook and we'd go through it, give feedback, highlight potential balance issues, look at new rules/design that was difficult to implement digitally and suggest tweaks to improve it etc etc. We even had ideas for new content that was then included in the book.

We'd go through the whole book in detail, catching inconsistencies and miscalculations, and I'm proud to say that we dramatically reduced the need for clarifications or errata on those books.

I'm not saying anyone on the design or book team was careless - far from it, they're consummate professionals - I am just illustrating the role my team and I had in contributing to the content, quality & success of the physical books, let alone the digital versions.

We should have been in the credits section of the physical printed book. We were part of the creative process. That was something we were actively discussing when I was informed I was being laid off.

Adding the team to the credits pages just on D&D Beyond was, as I mentioned above, a compromise while we figured things out.

My team were fully credited on the Cortex: Prime and Tales of Xadia books when D&D Beyond was still part of Fandom, before the Wizards acquisition.

In fact for those books we made sure to credit the entire digital development team, including developers, community managers and so forth - everyone who helped make the book successful.

I know that Wizards has hundreds of people involved and previously hit issues with the number of people in credits for D&D books, so pulled back from crediting some roles.

Would it be so bad to have to dedicate extra space in a book to the people whose contributions made the book successful?

I really don't think it would.

 

[LordEntrails]

That wasn't an attack. it was an assessment based on your flippant response.

Then you should understand why this matters and not dismiss it by wondering why signing up for a website did not merit you credit.

You can feign offense all you want, but you were blatantly dismissive of the issues at hand and I merely called you on it.

I disagree that your behavior was not altruistic like you pretend. Believe what you want.

 

[Faith Elisabeth Lilley]

Why the personal attack? Does my opinion not matter to you if I'm not a creative? And if it doesn't, why not just state that rather than attack me?
(Not that it matters, but you are wrong, I am, among other things, a creative.)


Exactly. In my main industry it's generally illegal to provide meaningful proof of prior work. Because that work is owned by the previous employer and is considered proprietary. And with the litigious nature of things these days, employers will only provide dates of employment, and not usually even job titles. Certainly not proof of any project or work I did that may or may not exist in the public realms.

Faith, thanks for posting here and interacting. I do hope you are able to resolve this to your satisfaction and it's admirable that you are looking out for those who worked for you.

Could you educate me (and others that have voiced the same interest); in the RPG industry, what is the typical standard for receiving credit on a work? I'm guessing it is varied not only by publisher, but also by type of contribution. But is there a generally accepted expectation such as; Either, an image or artwork used, a 100 words, an editorial review, draft layout, or perhaps even 100 hours of playtest and feedback? (I know those examples are inaccurate if not poor, but hence why I'm asking for your input.)

Standard within the industry is, at a minimum, to credit all individuals who have contributed to the content within a book.
That includes designers, writers, artists, editors.
It's also highly expected to credit the production staff, which includes producers, project managers, art directors etc.
Some companies take a very inclusive approach and include marketing, social media etc as they are part of the team that made the book successful.

The reason this is so important is because this is the how it is.

I know that sounds a little odd, but bear with me.

Anyone who works on a book will have their name in the credits for it. That's how the industry works.

If you're a professional in the TTRPG industry and you're applying for a job with a publisher, they'll want to know that you can do the job - they can't afford for you to not be any good. Moreover, they will want to check that your work is of the quality and vision that aligns with their own business and products.

So what they do is ask for books you've worked on.

Then they go check them - partially to check the references check out, but also, as above, to check quality/vision.

As everyone involved understands this is how it works, it's important for people to have those credits.

Yes, it's a self-propagating loop, but this is how it works.

Taking the credits away impacts the careers of those involved - it makes it seem like they are lying about their experience or exaggerating their contributions.

 

[mamba]

I can’t see the credits page on beyond since I don’t own that content. Were there different people listed in the beyond section? Or same names we are seeing in the removed screenshots?

the beyond section has been removed, it no longer exists

 

[FrogReaver]

the beyond section has been removed, it no longer exists

I have no idea what you are trying to say here

 

[Nikosandros]

I have no idea what you are trying to say here

The "D&D Beyond" section of the credits has been removed completely, so there are no names in it at all.

 

[mamba]

I have no idea what you are trying to say here

Here is what the Credits (Shattered Obelisk...) look like on DDB now

and here is what they looked like before

The DDB section has been removed

 

[FrogReaver]

I know that sounds a little odd, but bear with me.


Anyone who works on a book will have their name in the credits for it. That's how the industry works.

If you're a professional in the TTRPG industry and you're applying for a job with a publisher, they'll want to know that you can do the job - they can't afford for you to not be any good. Moreover, they will want to check that your work is of the quality and vision that aligns with their own business and products.

So what they do is ask for books you've worked on.

Then they go check them - partially to check the references check out, but also, as above, to check quality/vision.

As everyone involved understands this is how it works, it's important for people to have those credits.

Yes, it's a self-propagating loop, but this is how it works.

Taking the credits away impacts the careers of those involved - it makes it seem like they are lying about their experience or exaggerating their contributions.

Thanks! This makes much more sense to me now. I can see how in any industry where the expectation is most any work on something is credited that not having the credit would send the message that you didn’t work on that product. This is different than other industries where there is no expectation of credit.

Standard within the industry is, at a minimum, to credit all individuals who have contributed to the content within a book.
That includes designers, writers, artists, editors.
It's also highly expected to credit the production staff, which includes producers, project managers, art directors etc.
Some companies take a very inclusive approach and include marketing, social media etc as they are part of the team that made the book successful.

The reason this is so important is because this is the how it is.

A couple of questions here.
1. My understanding is that you and your teams credits weren’t in the physical books, but just on digital beyond material. Can you elaborate on that any?

2. To your knowledge was everyone else that worked on all the d&d books credited appropriately?

 

[Velderan]

I have no idea what you are trying to say here

If you're referring to the content that @Echohawk posted links to that still have the D&D Beyond team credits, I can only see the credits for one of those products and it looks like names I've seen in a few of the screenshots for products with removed credits.

 

[FrogReaver]

Here is what the Credits (Shattered Obelisk...) look like on DDB now

View attachment 374519

and here is what they looked like before

View attachment 374520

The DDB section has been removed

Okay so I responded to a post that had 9 links of credits where that section was still there per the post. I tried to look at them and I can’t see them because I don’t own the book on beyond. I was inquiring about them. Nothing to do with what you are talking about.

 

[FrogReaver]

If you're referring to the content that @Echohawk posted links to that still have the D&D Beyond team credits, I can only see the credits for one of those products and it looks like names I've seen in a few of the screenshots for products with removed credits.

Thanks!!