WotC WotC - why are we still shocked with layoffs?

[Ghost2020]

First of all, my heart goes out to ANYONE losing their job at this time of year. In the U.S. it's especially rough as a lot of our health benefits are tied (held hostage) to our job.

WotC operates on a different scale than most gaming companies. It's large, 1,000+ employees. D&D, by and large, is the TTRPG industry, for better or worse. They're a subsidiary of an even larger company, Hasbro.
They operate on a corporate level with everything.

Yet we're still shocked when WotC\Hasbro has layoffs and bad press. Why?

They're a huge corporation, and they're acting like one. This happens all the time from them, yearly there are layoffs, corporate screw ups, executives with inflated salaries, board of directors wanting results, etc.

Why are we clutching our pearls when corporate sh!t heads act like corporate sh!t heads? Shame on us. We need to be better than this.


Do we walk away from D&D? Maybe. Maybe that's what it takes. Find an alternate D&D style game, there a ton out there. (Tales of the Valiant, Level Up Advanced 5e, Basic Fantasy, Pathfinder, Castles & Crusades, DCC, etc).

Also, there a ton of good people living their dream of designing rpgs and getting paid a decent salary.

We have a situation then. We want to support the creatives, the good people who just want to write, draw, design, and make good D&D products, and be able to make a decent living doing it. (Hopefully they understand that it's not a forever job.)
Also the third party people who supplement or depend on that product for their income, as they make products to support the 5e ecosystem.

We, however, don't want to support the big corporation. So how do we navigate this? I don't know. I wish I did. I don't need anymore 5e based D&D stuff, I have a bunch, more than I can possibly use. So I'm not a target demographic for anymore products.

I'd like to see a dent in the D&D monolith. That game has had a stranglehold on the industry forever, from a design standpoint, popularity, game play, expectations, etc.

Take WotC out of the mix, and then it's Paizo and it shrinks quickly from there. TTRPGs are a cottage industry type of product. Most game companies being extremely small, two dozen to a half dozen people, down to a single person with or without freelancers.

So, how do we support the creatives, even the ones at WotC, but not the corporations? Is it even possible?

Thank you for coming to my rant.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I'm not shocked. Corp going to Corp.

Why be surprised when the scorpion stings you?

My lament is that D&D ended up in their hands in the first place. A big Corp was never going to be a good steward. They said they'd leave WotC alone and did the opposite, but again if anyone believed they would let WotC guide their own path after being bought, well I have a bridge to sale you.

 

[Demetrios1453]

There are already multiple threads on this subject. You could have easily posted in one of them, instead of cluttering up the front page with yet another redundant thread. As much as I sympathize with those involved, we don't need thread after thread on the matter.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Yet we're still shocked when WotC\Hasbro has layoffs and bad press. Why?

Why are we clutching our pearls when corporate sh!t heads act like corporate sh!t heads? Shame on us. We need to be better than this.

I don't think anyone is shocked by the layoffs, nor are people clutching their pearls over it. They just don't like that it happens and are willing to say so.

And there's nothing to "solve" in this situation. Some people will choose to not play current edition D&D for any of the innumerable reasons that have come up over the last decade, and others will choose to. No one's wrong to do so whatever their decision was to be.

 

[Oofta]

First there's this idea that corporations are evil, or more evil than a more independent company. I simply disagree. Business large and small are driven by needing to make a profit. Some may be have more moral practices than others, but by and large what's considered "more moral" is in the eye of the beholder. But it's not like the size of a company makes them inherently better or worse.

Second, at least a couple of the people that were laid off have little more than praise for their previous employer https://www.enworld.org/threads/dan...mf-podcast-youtube-stream-notify-link.701659/. They enjoyed their time while working on the D&D team and had positive things to say, it sounds like they had generous severance packages.

Third, I think that it's better if people accept that while layoffs happen it's just a reality of business. My father ran a small drainage tiling business in addition to farming and at one point had to let go of the surveyor that he had employed. It wasn't anything personal, it was just that with new technology the guy wasn't needed any more. It wasn't great for my dad or the person he let go. A company doesn't owe an employee a job any more than an employee owes a company their loyalty.

So do with that whatever you want. Companies aren't evil because they lay off people, WOTC is one of the better employers according to ex employees than most other options. There's nothing to solve. If you really want to give creative people the best chance at gainful employment, spend money of TTRPG products, including WOTC which according to many is one of the best companies to work with.

 

[Retreater]

Do we walk away from D&D? Maybe. Maybe that's what it takes. Find an alternate D&D style game, there a ton out there. (Tales of the Valiant, Level Up Advanced 5e, Basic Fantasy, Pathfinder, Castles & Crusades, DCC, etc).

Also, there a ton of good people living their dream of designing rpgs and getting paid a decent salary.

The answer for me is "yes." I'd rather support smaller companies and independent artists. I also tend to like their style better than the stuff for mass consumer appeal.

 

[Ghost2020]

There are already multiple threads on this subject. You could have easily posted in one of them, instead of cluttering up the front page with yet another redundant thread. As much as I sympathize with those involved, we don't need thread after thread on the matter.

Thanks for stopping by though!
At least you took the time.

 

[Morrus]

Shame on us. We need to be better than this.

We need to be better?

 

[payn]

So, how do we support the creatives, even the ones at WotC, but not the corporations? Is it even possible?

No, it isnt for D&D and will never be again. So, I think these boycotts are bad ideas as they will only continue to punish the creatives in less opportunities for the big show. You need to also understand that D&D is part of a big family of products and divisions and can be impacted by organizational performance. Thats just how it is.

 

[Ghost2020]

We need to be better?

For being constantly shocked that corporations behave like this.

Ok.....some, not Morrus, others, whom may or may not include people reading this currently, in the future, or have read this, and those making articles in any number of media platforms, up to and including the author of the original post, and only if said feel like they would react differently in any said situation, those not wishing to be included are immediately released from any non-contractual or contractual commitments regarding the perusing of original or subsequent posts.