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.

 

[Rabulias]

How about some credits for the D&D Beyond worker who had to remove the credits? Too meta?

 

[Vince Snetterton]

When a company time and time again demonstrates reprehensible behaviour, no one should be surprised when the people running that company (remember, we are talking about a very small amount of decision makers running that division at hasbro) do more awful things.

 

[Makath]

Just another WotC unforced error. Wouldn't surprise me if is just the result of some upper management power dynamic BS.

 

[jerryrice4949]

When a company time and time again demonstrates reprehensible behaviour, no one should be surprised when the people running that company (remember, we are talking about a very small amount of decision makers running that division at hasbro) do more awful things.

I think this is a pretty hyperbolic take. WoTC draws an inordinate amount of scrutiny as the largest TTRPG company but many companies in this hobby are just as bad or worse at times. Not to mention that these threads always focus on the negative and omit the positive things the company has done and continues to do. It is the typical black or white thinking the internet is famous for. Company is all bad or all good.

The truth is corporations are always self interested and so are individuals. I stopped long ago judging the morality of companies and entertainers except in the most extreme circumstances or I would never shop anywhere, see a movie or listen to music.

 

[Vince Snetterton]

I think this is a pretty hyperbolic take. WoTC draws an inordinate amount of scrutiny as the largest TTRPG company but many companies in this hobby are just as bad or worse at times. Not to mention that these threads always focus on the negative and omit the positive things the company has done and continues to do. It is the typical black or white thinking the internet is famous for. Company is all bad or all good.

The truth is corporations are always self interested and so are individuals. I stopped long ago judging the morality of companies and entertainers except in the most extreme circumstances or I would never shop anywhere, see a movie or listen to music.

The OGL is already stricken from your memory? And Pinkertons?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think this is a pretty hyperbolic take. WoTC draws an inordinate amount of scrutiny as the largest TTRPG company but many companies in this hobby are just as bad or worse at times. Not to mention that these threads always focus on the negative and omit the positive things the company has done and continues to do. It is the typical black or white thinking the internet is famous for. Company is all bad or all good.

The truth is corporations are always self interested and so are individuals. I stopped long ago judging the morality of companies and entertainers except in the most extreme circumstances or I would never shop anywhere, see a movie or listen to music.

And if those other companies do bad stuff the public hears about, they can legitimately get called out too. Why should WotC, or any corp, receive any special benefit of the doubt?

 

[jerryrice4949]

The OGL is already stricken from your memory? And Pinkertons?

Nope. When is the last time you looked at the Hasbro Foundation website or reviewed some of their other charity work? Never? Because that wouldn’t fit with your narrative. They are a large corporation. Both good at times and bad at times. Often at the same time.

I am at a place in life I take the Ted Lasso approach. Be curious and not judgmental. I think this particular thing was a jerk move and I would like to understand why they did it. I save my outrage for bigger issues.

Maybe people should be more introspective. Yeah the OGL was bad. By the same token if I judged myself solely on the worst couple things I did in the last 5 years I would look like an ahole. Thankfully those around me choose to look at the totality of all I do. I apply the same perspective to others. Things are complicated and rarely black/white or all good or bad.

 

[jerryrice4949]

And if those other companies do bad stuff the public hears about, they can legitimately get called out too. Why should WotC, or any corp, receive any special benefit of the doubt?

They should but I generally think you missed my larger point.

 

[FrogReaver]

Except that's not the case here.

• We contributed you the physical books.
• We were credited only on D&D Beyond.
• The credits were recently removed.

First, I don't know standard practices or anything so couple of questions -
1. Why wouldn't you be credited in the physical books if that's where you contributed?
2. Was everyone who worked on the physical books credited on D&D Beyond?

My content team and I were actually working on these books pre-print, and actively contributed to what's in the printed books.
As senior producer at Wizards, I led multiple teams, but a core part of my role was working directly with my counterpart on the book team.
I was actively discussing the position of the team within the organisation and how to get them into the credits of the printed books. I say was because, like so many, I was laid off (as were many on the team since).

As for removing the credits now - like, why?

I don't know, but I can speculate about some potential good reasons.

And if there's a good reason? Why not talk to those people in advance? It's not like they don't have our contact details.

Companies don't typically provide details about current decisions to former employees. The relationship has ended.

Though if enough customers ask and/or are annoyed by a decision they may explain themselves publicly.

Removing credits on the digital only content like Spelljammer Academy? That just feels petty.

It's not clear to me how digital only content factors into the above?

 

[FoolishFrost]

This is why I went to project black flag… I want companies to, quiet bluntly, steal wotc’s talent, eat their profit margin, and hopefully make an example to stop other companies, such as the management morons at unity, from copying this kind of… I don't know what to call it anymore. Comic book villainy isn't right, because the comic villains GAIN something with their actions.

I grew up with the concept of enlightened self-interest. Take care of the unit, and the unit protects you. I also grew up with MAD. Mutually assured destruction. That also kinda works. I don't like it, but it has a cruel logic to it. Now… its just “will the cost to me for screwing over the other guy be low enough I can still enjoy the pyhric victory?”

I don't want to see the baseline creatives out of jobs. I want the megalomaniac who are kicking them in the heads gone.