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WotC Updates D&D's AI Policy After YouTuber's False Accusations
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<blockquote data-quote="Abstruse" data-source="post: 9224248" data-attributes="member: 6669048"><p>It's incredibly frustrating for me as well. Here's the cycle:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Something happens involving TTRPGs or Hasbro's business</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">YouTubers create clickbait content using the most extreme read on the facts possible (esp. if it makes WotC look bad)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They then do a lot of "I'm not saying this is the case, but it's possible..." or "I'm just asking questions!" dishonest framing and handwaving of responsibility for what is pure speculation and often heavily biased speculation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">More mainstream "geek news" or entertainment websites want to report on it but don't have anyone on staff or regular freelancers who cover TTRPGs, so they assigned the closest they have (board games, CCGs, video games, etc.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">These journalists don't know anything about the story and, since it's not their beat, don't have the background knowledge of the RPG industry to understand the full context of events so takes the clickbait YouTube videos as fact.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The story that gets out is this overly-sensationalized only-barely-true version of events.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When it's my turn to cover the story (either here on EN World or just talking with people on Discord, Bluesky, Mastodon, or other sites), I explain the real story without the clickbait/ragebait. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I then get yelled at for "downplaying the real story" or often straight-up accused of being a shill for Wizards of the Coast with a couple of accusations I'm getting paid off to cover for them (I'm not saying I can't be bought, but it'd cost a hell of a lot more than WotC would be willing to spend)</li> </ul><p>You might have noticed at least the first part of this last week with the story of the Hasbro layoffs where YouTube channels were saying it was Wizards of the Coast laying people off (it was Hasbro and company-wide), that it was somehow connected to Dungeons & Dragons (it wasn't, it's just standard corporate crap to goose end-of-year profit numbers that Hasbro has done before and that a lot of companies do because it's a cheap trick to make the company look better in annual reports at the expense of being heartless to employees), and that it means that Hasbro is going bankrupt (they're still profitable, they're just not <em>growingly </em>profitable - profits aren't up over last quarter/last year, so they had to make it look like they are by cutting expenses which means layoffs).</p><p></p><p>"A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has its boots on." In a landscape that rewards lies that make people more angry at the things they're already angry at, this is becoming far worse.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Abstruse, post: 9224248, member: 6669048"] It's incredibly frustrating for me as well. Here's the cycle: [LIST] [*]Something happens involving TTRPGs or Hasbro's business [*]YouTubers create clickbait content using the most extreme read on the facts possible (esp. if it makes WotC look bad) [*]They then do a lot of "I'm not saying this is the case, but it's possible..." or "I'm just asking questions!" dishonest framing and handwaving of responsibility for what is pure speculation and often heavily biased speculation. [*]More mainstream "geek news" or entertainment websites want to report on it but don't have anyone on staff or regular freelancers who cover TTRPGs, so they assigned the closest they have (board games, CCGs, video games, etc.) [*]These journalists don't know anything about the story and, since it's not their beat, don't have the background knowledge of the RPG industry to understand the full context of events so takes the clickbait YouTube videos as fact. [*]The story that gets out is this overly-sensationalized only-barely-true version of events. [*]When it's my turn to cover the story (either here on EN World or just talking with people on Discord, Bluesky, Mastodon, or other sites), I explain the real story without the clickbait/ragebait. [*]I then get yelled at for "downplaying the real story" or often straight-up accused of being a shill for Wizards of the Coast with a couple of accusations I'm getting paid off to cover for them (I'm not saying I can't be bought, but it'd cost a hell of a lot more than WotC would be willing to spend) [/LIST] You might have noticed at least the first part of this last week with the story of the Hasbro layoffs where YouTube channels were saying it was Wizards of the Coast laying people off (it was Hasbro and company-wide), that it was somehow connected to Dungeons & Dragons (it wasn't, it's just standard corporate crap to goose end-of-year profit numbers that Hasbro has done before and that a lot of companies do because it's a cheap trick to make the company look better in annual reports at the expense of being heartless to employees), and that it means that Hasbro is going bankrupt (they're still profitable, they're just not [I]growingly [/I]profitable - profits aren't up over last quarter/last year, so they had to make it look like they are by cutting expenses which means layoffs). "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has its boots on." In a landscape that rewards lies that make people more angry at the things they're already angry at, this is becoming far worse. [/QUOTE]
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