Quote from: Spinachcat;1137939LOL. What a fucking loser...but I can't believe WotC would let go of such a key talent!! It seems so perfect for them.

So what can we do to help the freak brigade storm the walls of WotC and demand it's rehire?

Anything that helps WotC fall faster and deeper into the go woke, go broke trap  is good news.

On this we agree---if WOTC lives by the sword they can go ahead and fall on their sword. If they show people they will wreck the game to root out subliminal messages, it only encourages the outrage brigade.

Traditionalists probably can't do it alone.  We need the outrage brigade as allies of convenience.

Quote from: VisionStorm;1137917Guy/"nonbinary"...(thing?) couldn't advance in a largely dead end job at a soulless corp, so obviously racism was at play and WotC clearly exists only to exploit MaRgInAlIzEd PeOpLeS, as opposed to this being likely the same experience anyone else at the lower end of the totem pole went through and working at a soulless corp not being the dream job anyone like them thought it would.

Ignoring the obvious and glaring mental illness of the person linked in the OP, this was my immediate take as well. This person was consistently and constantly outplayed and apparently never even realized it.

Newsflash for the snowflakes out there: Corporate environments are intensely political. And no, I'm not talking about your left-wing social / identity politics (nor for any brand of right-wing politics, for that matter). Leave that shit at home. I'm talking about the closer to home, more personal sort. Whether you realize it or not, you are in constant competition for your job. At all times. And no matter how much you advance, it'll never stop being true. The most surefire way to survive: complete your tasks with the utmost commitment to excellence, and make sure everyone knows you're a key contributor. The latter takes tact and some skill. You don't want to make it about you, but about the job you're doing for the company and its product(s). Nothing else matters. I mean that in the most literal possible sense. Which is why your identity politics don't belong in that environment.

Now you might think that's really shitty. And I'd be inclined to agree with you (except for the identity politics part)! But it's also motherfucking reality. You learn to play the game or you get the fuck out.

Welcome to life working under the yoke of the mega corp in other words 'reality'. Being a new employee, and then expecting to be a 'mover and a shaker' and 'change' a corporate entity?? Yeah, good luck with that...

I think most folks have experienced this type of crap over the course of their life. But guess what? You just deal with it and go work for somewhere else. It's not rocket science...

If that was a full time employed gig and I only had to produce 2 assignment in 5 months?  Sign me up!
All that extra free time I would work on my OSR whatever project with lots of whitespace and big font.
Throw that on Drive Thru, mention I was a WOTC designer in the blurb and watch the money roll in.

Quote from: rocksfalleverybodydies;1137969If that was a full time employed gig and I only had to produce 2 assignment in 5 months?  Sign me up!
All that extra free time I would work on my OSR whatever project with lots of whitespace and big font.
Throw that on Drive Thru, mention I was a WOTC designer in the blurb and watch the money roll in.

And if he was a real designer that is exactly what he would have done.

Unfortunately, I suspect Wizards/Hasbro will  not get the right message out of this. The right message would be to stop trying to engage in appeasement with this crowd, because nothing will ever be enough. The reactions on Twitter make it clear that most of the people who responded to this are all people that hated D&D and want to see it gone. WoTC/Hasbro needs to figure out that is NOT their audience.

Contractor doesn't have much to do and doesn't get renewed or kept on permanently, this looks like business as usual, contractors always need to be assuming they won't get renewed and have their next gig in mind.

Also, a contractor trying to influence culture at their employer is on a hiding to nothing, companies hire contractors because they need a specific skillset for a specific time and don't want the expense of having you on the payroll (exception, there is money in the budget for contractors but none for full time people), they don't want you to have a great impact on the culture, just deliver on your contract.

Was they a diversity hire (woke grammar doesn't really work)? Maybe, but they were still willing to pay them for being there and keeping the seat warm. Should have taken the money and quietly worked on something of their own devising.

Quote from: SavageSchemer;1137945Ignoring the obvious and glaring mental illness of the person linked in the OP, this was my immediate take as well. This person was consistently and constantly outplayed and apparently never even realized it.

Newsflash for the snowflakes out there: Corporate environments are intensely political. And no, I'm not talking about your left-wing social / identity politics (nor for any brand of right-wing politics, for that matter). Leave that shit at home. I'm talking about the closer to home, more personal sort. Whether you realize it or not, you are in constant competition for your job. At all times. And no matter how much you advance, it'll never stop being true. The most surefire way to survive: complete your tasks with the utmost commitment to excellence, and make sure everyone knows you're a key contributor. The latter takes tact and some skill. You don't want to make it about you, but about the job you're doing for the company and its product(s). Nothing else matters. I mean that in the most literal possible sense. Which is why your identity politics don't belong in that environment.

Now you might think that's really shitty. And I'd be inclined to agree with you (except for the identity politics part)! But it's also motherfucking reality. You learn to play the game or you get the fuck out.

These truth bombs still catch out women all the time.

After decades in the "workplace" they still complain about the "boys club" - perpetually oblivious to the truth that men are endlessly vicious, petty, ruthless, backstabbing bastards to each other on a regular basis in any competitive occupation.

And when they start to get a taste of it; the cries of sexism ensue...

News Flash: Men are horrible to each other. And can be very equal opportunity to whom they are horrible to.

"Equality" in the workplace is a myth.

It never existed. The real truth is that Feminists and other snowflake hires are have no real interest in it either.

Quote from: rocksfalleverybodydies;1137969If that was a full time employed gig and I only had to produce 2 assignment in 5 months?  Sign me up!
All that extra free time I would work on my OSR whatever project with lots of whitespace and big font.
Throw that on Drive Thru, mention I was a WOTC designer in the blurb and watch the money roll in.

And thus we bear witness to the only real reason to ever become a contract writer to WOTC:

 To give yourself a D&D design "stamp" on your RPG writing CV that will help you sell the product you really wanted to make all along.

Also, the Boys Club is fundamental to the success of any organisation.

You need a group of key people who fundamentally trust each other and can cut through corporate wankery. You need corporate memory. You need competitive people who push each other to do better and achieve more. You need blokes with sharp elbows.

You don't need someone whose mental illness precludes them from being able to determine their own gender or whose only support seems to be coming from the inmates of Arkham asylum - including people who think "fae" is a personal pronoun. (Twatter really is cancer.)

Every one of his complaints is one that I (a cis white hetro male) have experienced or was experienced by a cis white hetro male colleague. TL;DR: even the most "progressive" corporation is, at the end of the day, still a corporation, and it will grind you down regardless of your position on the victimhood pyramid.

Quote from: Jaeger;1138015These truth bombs still catch out women all the time.

After decades in the "workplace" they still complain about the "boys club" - perpetually oblivious to the truth that men are endlessly vicious, petty, ruthless, backstabbing bastards to each other on a regular basis in any competitive occupation.

And when they start to get a taste of it; the cries of sexism ensue...

News Flash: Men are horrible to each other. And can be very equal opportunity to whom they are horrible to.

"Equality" in the workplace is a myth.

It never existed. The real truth is that Feminists and other snowflake hires are have no real interest in it either.




And thus we bear witness to the only real reason to ever become a contract writer to WOTC:

 To give yourself a D&D design "stamp" on your RPG writing CV that will help you sell the product you really wanted to make all along.

Men tend to be nicer to good looking women, they tend to be compedative in the workplace, but if they see a good looking woman that they want to date, biology comes into play, a woman can use her good looks to get ahead of the competition in the workplace, and many often do. Work place romances often occur, and some of those go sour and devolve into work place harrassment or accusations of the same. If you are the boss, you would have to be wary of some of the female employees that work for you, if you are male, they will use their gender to get ahead, they may try to romance you, seduce you, or blackmail you if they can claim that your are sexually harassing them if you don't give them what they want. On the other side of the ledger there is actual sexual harassment, where the boss pressures his female employee to date him, or have a relationship in order to keep of advance their careers. This can complicate the workplace quite a bit.

Quote from: Scrivener of Doom;1138020Also, the Boys Club is fundamental to the success of any organisation.

You need a group of key people who fundamentally trust each other and can cut through corporate wankery. You need corporate memory. You need competitive people who push each other to do better and achieve more. You need blokes with sharp elbows.

You don't need someone whose mental illness precludes them from being able to determine their own gender or whose only support seems to be coming from the inmates of Arkham asylum - including people who think "fae" is a personal pronoun. (Twatter really is cancer.)

Throw in women, then you got to worry about sexual harassment, accusations of sexual harassment, and workplace romances where one partner is high up the corporate ladder than the other. Beautiful women can be powerful influencers of men, they tend to get promoted more quickly if they can grab hold of their boss's "heart strings." Failing that they can use blackmail and threats of sexual harassment lawsuits, there are so many ways this can go wrong.

Quote from: Jaeger;1138015These truth bombs still catch out women all the time.

After decades in the "workplace" they still complain about the "boys club" - perpetually oblivious to the truth that men are endlessly vicious, petty, ruthless, backstabbing bastards to each other on a regular basis in any competitive occupation.

And when they start to get a taste of it; the cries of sexism ensue...

News Flash: Men are horrible to each other. And can be very equal opportunity to whom they are horrible to.

"Equality" in the workplace is a myth.

It never existed. The real truth is that Feminists and other snowflake hires are have no real interest in it either.

What does any of that have to do with rpgs or even the subject at hand? This guy was complaining about race on his Twitter, nothing about women or feminism.

Rollback to Earth 1.0
When people didn't like something, they simply wouldn't do it.
"Adapting" to young dictators demands will be the end of gaming as we know it.

Imagine playing a TRPG in North Korea!

So their major complaint was they were not involving them in a larger number of projects. That they only assigned two projects to them and they had to go around asking to help on others.

But, given WOTC's release schedule, and the fact they worked on their most recent big book, I am not sure that's all that unusual there. They didn't work there that long, and working on two bigger projects seems...about what all the non-big-names do there, right? I suspect it's likely how things work there. You get a couple of bigger assignments and aside from that you're expected to ask to help others with their bigger assignments. Unless you're a top name.

As for niceness not being a substitute for respect, respect is earned. You don't just walk in the door and get it - all you get from walking in the door is the expectation people will treat you like a coworker. They have no noteworthy accomplishments to their name in that industry. Being treated nicely is a pretty good thing, and while not a substitute for respect, it's certainly a substitute for disrespect when you have not earned respect through deeds. They appear to expect respect for..existing?