WHAT WENT WRONG? Wizards of the Coast Employee Handbook
Vložit
- čas přidán 30. 07. 2023
- Wizards of the Coast (makers of Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons) has, in the past, prided themselves on being there for the fans and fostering the gaming community through their employees. Today we take a small peek at how those employees were directed as we explore the Employee Handbook.
You saw me thank a few folks for their support, THIS is where you can find out more :
/ @gamemasters
Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants :
amzn.to/43oGaCt
Giantcraft :
www.dmsguild.com/product/1685...
Aside from saying "get another job" what direction would YOU give a gaming employee if you wanted to foster a successful business?
Let me know in the comments below!
Oh, and please give this video a thumbs up 👍!
Thank you kindly for watching!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
📧 For marketing/business/sponsorship inquiries, email manager@gamemasters.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
👍 Support 👍
|⚈ Patreon: / gamemasters
💵 Direct Donation: paypal.me/GameMastersHere
⤻ Amazon Wishlist: www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
🦋📺 Social Media 🦋📺
💻 Website: www.gamemasters.com
🐦 Twitter: / gamemasters
🌝📙 Facebook: / gamemasterscom
🤖 Reddit: / gamemastershere
😎 Discord: / discord
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GameMasters is first and foremost designed to bring entertainment to gamers of all walks. We have a heavy focus on Dungeons & Dragons but we also feature other games. Our CZcams Channel has various videos covering everything from movie reviews to D&D advice, from D&D product reviews to assorted geekery, shorts, and more!
Links shown above pointing to various products or services may be affiliate links that go to support this channel when purchases are made. Review copies that we get in have zero influence on our opinion of said product or company, if we like the material, we will say, if we don't, we will say.
#gamemasters #giants #wotc - Hry
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
And remember: Pinkertons have absolutely zero legal authority, and it's actually illegal for them to enter your property or take any from said property.
I am aware, but there is still that... "what if" in the back of my mind, only because of what had recently happened.
Totally get that. Just frustrating this even has to be discussed.
And if they try to force there way onto your property…
Well, the 2nd Amendment exists for a reason.
This is a Chilling Effect suppressing journalism. A real shame.
Pinkerton's are also not immune to castle doctrine. Take that information as you will.
From the dates mentioned this book also predates the arrival of Cynthia Williams and Chris Cao . . . WotC has really changed direction and emphasis under their leadership and not for the better either! It's a brave video and I applaud you for sharing it with us.
aye, it does 100% predate them, while remnants of the contents of this book exist on WotC's website, I don't see that their actions as of late back up what was found within these pages.
@@gamemasters No it doesn't -- Chris Cocks became president of WotC in 2016 -- this is from his era. Cynthia Williams was already there too, but it is from before she became president of WotC in 2022.
It seems pretty clear that neither of them read this. Or if they did then they immediately threw it the trash and set it on fire.
@@penguinlust6749 The entire reason the monetization squeeze is happening is thanks to upper management being made aware of how their company makes money. In the old days they just let the nerds do whatever they wanted; Rosewater remarks the ONLY time he interacted with any of them was when they broke the game with Necropotence.
It's obvious they're getting much, much more top-down direction nowadays... That's the problem with success, as soon as an MBA smells money, their fangs come out and lots of human beings lose a LOT of their blood.
I think WOTC's new mission statement is "To crush our customers, to drive them to buy only licensed content, and to eat them alive with microtransactions and pay to win!"
"And to hear the lamentations of their wallets!"
WOTC laughing the whole time... till they see there customers leave for other games. 😢
You mean a return to TSR days, right?
@@GunManGunHanddo you plan any other TCG that you enjoy and would recommend?
1. Your spot on and I hope they take time to reflect on this book
2. What a gorgeous artifact. Keep it secret, keep it safe. Especially from the Pinkertons
it's in a secret spot.. not even in the house any longer :)
I may seriously be over-reacting about it (what I can show from the book), but... I also think that WotC really needs to look at their core mission statement and then look at the decisions they have made and see where they either don't align or... do. and THAT is really to focus of this video.
I would say it's very rare.
; )
@@travisdonaldstanley6420 heh perhaps. i've no clue how many were printed or how many were handed out.
They can’t forget something they never read or believed, unfortunately.
It’s the employee handbook not the executive handbook 😭if only they actually cared.
very true!
Hi there, great channel. So i was a WotC employee, retail, for ~6mo over the holiday season back in 1999. We did get handbooks but nothing as spiffy as what you have there and the closest it came to the larping you describe was when it mentioned that any questins about our Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) we should ask our District Manager (DM). If the joke was intentional it was the most deadpan delivery in history.
Anyway, they stole about $4.5m from their retail employees that season. Im perfectly willing to talk more about that but if youre feeling a bit paranoid i do t blame you.
Thanks for the flashbacks, have a good one.
I am 100% willing to listen to every word! Hit up my discord, (link in the description), I'd love to hear the tale, because 1999 was one of my biggest years selling MtG, D&D, but moreso Pokemon (which at that time was still under the WotC umbrella).
WotC doesn't have retail employees, lol.
@@hlaw2830 That depends on whether you consider the sales & Marketing departments as retail. It isn’t like selling bulk production runs to big chain bookstores. Two decades ago, they likely had guys who went out to small hobby shops to get product on shelves.
@@almitrahopkins1873 The definition of "retail" is not an opinion, WotC does not have retail; and, D&D was _huge_ in the 1980s, hands on with a small shop would have been in the 1970s, with TSR; plus, Magic the Gathering and Pokemon were _insane_ in the 1990s, so WotC was already _well_ established before acquiring D&D. Hasbro paid, adjusted for inflation, over $600,000,000 for WotC in 1999, does that sound like a small company struggling to find shelf space?
WotC most certainly had retail reps in the 1990's. I owned a game store (aptly called Game Masters) and I had several retail reps from Wizards of the Coast come and visit and take my orders (both in person and over the phone) from the early 90's to the early 2000's. It was also that a game store could buy product direct from WotC (but today you must go through a distributor). True enough, they themselves didn't have a physical retail location to walk into, but they referred to their reps as retail reps, sales reps, and wizards.
Thank you for this I hope the WOTC people remember DnD is not a Role Playing Game DnD is the players there would be no DnD without players.
Well, there have certainly been a good core group of vocal players as of late and to a degree I think WotC _is_ listening, but it's what they do with what we've been being vocal about is what concerns me, I'm not 100% sure they actually are hearing what it is that we are saying.
@@gamemasters They're hearing it, but all of the evidence right now, all evidence points to their reaction being "We've got to get rid of these troublesome loudmouths and replace them with a steady supply of disposable consumers who will take what we give them." I've written them off at this point. Now, I'm worried about how this attitude is going to affect (infect?) the rest of the companies in the hobby.
Well as of late it feels a lot more like we as the players are just an inconvenience between them and our money getting to them faster.
Have you considered playing ttrpgs that aren't related to wotc at all?
most of us don't have to deal with that company
@@ppppppqqqppp of course I have. I've got lots of videos on here of non-wotc ttrpgs, Mork Borg, Pirate Borg, and a few others from Free League. Also covered some solo play rog books, a few dice games, etc.
It took me a LOT to realize that this thing is real and not an elaborated joke
it is very much 100% real.
If the Pinkertons show up at your house dial 911, they are trespassers with no legal right to demand any property you possess or enter your home.
Yep!
I wish I could remember where the quite comes from, but every time I hear more about Wizards/Hasbro it comes to mind: "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."
Edward Abbey, an ecological philosopher. :) good quote too!
I'm gonna steal this one right here.
@@stormycatmink please be my guest
I suspect a large part of the problem is this handbook is all superceded by the Hasbro handbook which is 8723 pages long, and contains a lot of 'Thou Shalt' and 'Thou Shalt Not' . Rule #1 being Thou Shalt Make The Shareholders More Money.
I've mentioned this before; I have zero issues with a company making money, but the way they have been going about it recently.. well.. when the stock goes from $120 a share down to about half that and hovers at that $60 to $65 price point.. they are not even fulfilling that #1 rule. The way I see it, there are far better ways to make money for shareholders that would please not only them but also the folks that have the extra cash to spend.
@@gamemasters it's clearly them taking the lazy path to increase shareholder profit.
there are ways to do this that require the current insanity that we are living through.
It's more likely that this book is the handbook v1.0 and with the hiring of the Microsoft rejects the rejects wrote handbook v1.1 which ignores all sanity and rashionality to drive greed. Profitability of a business is one thing but when you change your business model to increase price and decrease production costs then on top of that push for a subscription for what you are already paying for and receiving less from. that is obscene greed and needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
@@gamemastersIt's amazing how economically illiterate people are these days, isn't it? I bet there are people out there who think Bud Light's being driven by greed and profit, lol. The problem is the opposite, that they _aren't_ being driven by greed and profit, because if they were they'd have to make something worth my fun tickets... but it's been so long that I'm working on publishing my own system.
@@hlaw2830... That's all. Just ...
Weird. I would have thought they used the Necronomicon as an employee handbook.
Naw, that’s the executive level handbook…
@@Muljinn True. Even among *_THE ELITE,_* they have hoi polloi.
One main problem is that employee handbook is probably for designers. I don’t have any problem with them. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the resistance that came from within the company during this whole debacle was mainly from the design team. If anything I believe that design has taken those words to heart and, in general, they have tried to take in the kind of people who would take those words to heart. But design is not the only team in that company, far from it. Let alone senior leadership who is way more beholden to hasbro than any wotc policy or culture.
I do get the need to hire cut-throat people to protect the company and to ensure that they are increasing profits in non-wasteful ways. I don’t believe these are inherently bad things.
But, first, they should be competent and hard working people. This crap is what happens when you get incompetent lazy people trying to take the past of least resistance as quickly as possible.
And second, someone must be there to keep them under control. Someone who holds the values of the company first. Otherwise they end up taking the company in the opposite path of what you have spent decades portraying it as and building a reputation for.
And people will remember and judge a company for the worst things it has done and they will judge the company as a single entity. This is not exclusively out of ignorance but necessity. The company takes action as a single entity, regardless of the opposition within. And, if the company has been willing to do terrible things, it is only logical to expect that it will do just as bad, if not worse, in the future.
VERY well said.
I really don't want to talk ill of WotC, in fact, I _want_ the company to thrive, I really do enjoy the products they produce (when they are good). I just see that things could have (and should have) gone a much different way that would have kept faith and respect with the people that are actually (or were actually) giving Hasbo/WotC cash day after day and through their short-sighted actions... that handing money over has slowed.
I think a better outro would have been...
"May WotC have the forsight to NOT send Hired Goons to my door!" :D
Lol perhaps... perhaps...
Well I hope he got his pump gun ready, just in case!😉
He'll have to make a future-dated video that starts off, "If you're seeing this, it's too late..."
@@mistercomment1622Rifles are more effective.
@@hlaw2830 Depends on the situation and environment, but sure.
The Pinkerons can't LEGALLY obtain your propriety unless you hand it to them.
What they'll do illegally, it's another matter entirely.
... not giving me much hope here...
@@gamemastersYou're forgetting the best part of it : u know it's possible so u can be prepared.
It's the US, not Europe.
@@crush3146 Stand-your-ground law against threat of robbery is still illegal in most states. And it's not like the agents in the past case were literally threatening anyone with violence, they know what they're doing, even if it's unsavoury.
Artistic tastes vary of course, but seeing the nice cover to this handbook reminds me how much I miss the old books-that-look-like-old-books cover designs used back in the 3e and 3.5e days, starting with the release of the core books in 2000.
3.5 was the pinnacle of AD&D
I miss the classic artworks on the 2E and AD&D books. Yeah, they were sometimes really bad, but there was charm in that.
@@gamemasters I have the original 3 "Chainmail" books and the blue first edition Dungeons & Dragons booklet. They are kept safe.
@@sack9764 ja agreed. only version that has the OG feel, in its narrative and mechanics. "true" D&D, fixed
nice! I have a reproduction of them, but not the originals. Those would be rock and roll to have in a collection tho!
You know... if a scanned PDF of that book got leaked somewhere... WotC would never be able to keep up with the dissemination.
Nah, that's nothing they should ever worry about (from me).
@@gamemasters I don't suppose I could borrow it for a few days? I'll pay shipping!
Lol
This dude is somewhere under wotc. He definitely not showing up on milk cartons or on the news. Prayers for the family may they get him back!
LOL no, don't be saying that!
Outstanding. Thank you.
it was.. an interesting read for sure...
You provide a solid timeframe for this handbook prior to a number of terrible things the company took part in but this handbook also reaks of that insincere positivity and togetherness that you saw during that first summer/fall of the COVID pandemic. The Gal Gadot singing 'Imagine' and Ellen complaining about being a prisoner in her mansion trite.
I'm wondering if the pandemic had anything to do with this book. We do know that portions of it have migrated directly to their website, so I just assumed that due to working from home, distancing, etc. that they (wotc execs) decided to simply do away with the physical and instead direct new hires to an online document? Just a guess.
Some of that’s just generic corporate culture. “We’re not just a business, we’re a family.” Nonsense but it does work on employees to an extent.
Great video! Please do the next one in a lake.
Thanks! Will do! (If I can find a lake... will a pond or swimming pool work?) I did do one not too long ago while I was sitting on a roof... czcams.com/video/FK3kWr2jRKU/video.html
I would really enjoy reading the full book, I would love to see how they use to do it vs how they do it now. R.I.P. old Wotc.
pretty much what I presented is what it says, just in my own words so as to avoid full on copyright issues (even tho there is no actual copyright date listed within).
That Yoda quote or paraphrase rather, was legendary!
pleased that you caught that, I am, yes!
Thanks for the video! Liked and subscribed!
i like that you liked! I love that you subscribed!
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
The important thing to remember about employee handbooks is that they are ultimately for the lower level employees who are expected to do what they are told, not the people who make the decisions for how the company is actually run. Heck, I once worked for a company that gave three different versions of the "The number one priority is.." speech, depending on who was listening. There was the "official" version (safety) which existed solely for legal protection, the customer version (accuracy) which was given if a customer was present, and the only one that actually mattered if you wanted to keep your job (speed). And that last one wasn't "be fast but still correct", it was literally "forget accuracy, just don't be so blindingly wrong that the customer gets suspicious and/or we aren't able to cover it up".
that's a good point.
Lots of gamers are also gun enthusiasts.
Sending Pinkertons out could really end poorly.
I'm curious about the graphic design within this book. Additionally, there is a stunning piece of art created by Srdjan Vidakovic for the cover of one edition of this book.
yeah, the one by Srdjan, it is my understanding, never made it to actual print (beyond a proof copy), but indeed that cover is mind blowingly awesome. As for the graphics within the book, the graphical popups that you see in the video come directly from the corresponding sections and can be found on WotC's website (note : images are being used as fair use under commentary).
Wizards had a ton of geugrous artwork in the office, on all the websites/apps. That was one thing I enjoyed, Everytime you logged in you saw a timut piece that was gorgeous. The reason you saw it was the server was named timaut.
When I worked for wotc I never saw the employee handbook. Then again I was a contractor. I got the pleasure of working for wotc without benfits including holidays and vacations. Also they need to add that wotc spies on you as an employee. Yes they had cameras and monitoring software everywhere.
as for the cameras and monitoring software, pretty much any large company is going to have that. BUT that doesn't make it suck any less. Sorry you had a less than stellar experience working for them :(
@@gamemasters I had a great time working at wizards. I had my best manager ever in my long 23 year career at wizards. My bittners towards wotc was how they let me go. I was fired without any warning or severance. I had to borrow and sell my comics to make just rent.
@@maggiethecomiccollector I've heard that tale from a few people. It's just such a lack of respect.
@@gamemasters I think the worst was we got a product manager who was fired after six weeks. If you didn't deliver in the first month you were fired. It was so common that long term employees didn't talk much to you until you had been for a few months
I sure hope an online PDF of this book finds it's way online some day! yarr harr!
lol
Mail it to a friend in another country. Lets see what Pinkertons can do in Europe. Not that it matters much the C suite handbook is far more important:
Part 1. Making money for the shareholders
Part 2. Make plausible promises shareholders might believe
Part 3. Make it a Monopoly
Part 4. We want all the money
Part 5. Unsustainable growth
Part 6. Rinse and repeat.
lol sad, but true.
The Pinkertons cant get your propriety unless you hand it to them.
That's the mistake that guy did.
The issue for me is that Hasbro was not mentioned in the properties line and in September 1999 Habro has owned WotC which I will say that the Handbook itself is a kickback to what DnD 3.0 and 3.5 books looked like which 3.0 was published in 2000 and 3 years later came 3.5 so I am curious that "actual" release date of this Employee Handbook.
As best I can date it, 2020 or early 2021. I figure it was created for a management seminar, but then covid hit and shut everything down so WotC moved some of the content online (you can still find some of it on their website), but they had already produced some physical books. It doesn't date back too far, but funny enough, there is no actual copyright date inside.
"Hasbro was not mentioned in the properties line and in September 1999 Habro has owned WotC". Thats the reason Hasbro isn't mentioned as a WotC property, because it isn't.
I subscribed for this. I am so proud that I have not purchased a Hasbro product in over a year.
I thank you! Also, not buying for a year, I know that cannot be easy if you had previously been buying. Not getting Magic cards was a tough one for me, but that month turned into a year, then 2 years, then I slowly started selling my cards (some were worth a fair amount), next thing I knew, the last set I had purchased was somewhere around 2001, so it's been.. eh.. 22 YEARS since I've bought any magic cards.. Save for a few boxes that I got last year as an investment (only time will tell if that was worth it tho).
@@gamemasters I love it when creators put their money where their mouth is!
this handbook kinda reminds me of how the practical guide series looked
somewhat... sortav.. yes.
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
Nicely done
Thanks!
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
There is often a point in a hierarchy where the message given to the rank and file is not the message given to the top brass.
Rarely is this point highlighted, and rarely is it clear how the organisation intends to proceed when these messages come into conflict.
i think the general rule of thumb is for top brass to say; "that never existed"
@@gamemasters Rule makers are rule breakers :)
Luke: I don't believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.
Thanks for the video!!
Very interesting.
ya know, it really does seem like it should be a simple task; believe in what you put out there.
I can only guess that major thoughts changed over the past 3 years (and we know that certain key people are not in that were not there 3 years ago), I guess what I'm saying is.. it's sad to see what's going on at Hasbro/WotC
I have lost all faith in WotC and will not support them anymore. Thanks for the insight, WotC may have cared about the players at one time but I don’t believe they do now.
Wotc doesn't have one mind. Some employees still care and some never did. The question is who are in control and that hasn't changed since January.
I'll mimic exactly what @nicka3697 commented, I too feel that some employees do care, but some never have. Sadly, it's usually the higher up execs that are the ones that only see dollar signs. I won't begrudge a company for wanting to profit, that's not an issue (for me), but when they full on slap the faces of the ones with the money, there is a certain point where I have to give pause and go.. "why would you do that when you clearly could have done X and we would have been a-okay with that?"
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
-Henry Ford
That is one of the most glorious beards I have ever seen in my life.
haha! I'm attempting to reach Gandalf status!
Given the cover art and the artist that did it, the book is older then that. I think a dude out of TN (the Buro) did the covers and they were done around 3.5e time.... (thats why it looks like the rest of the 3.5 covers)
Ooh, that's some good sleuthing!!!
Im trying to limit myself or get out of dnd completely. I am right now getting used to pathfinder and already like it better. Wizard of the Coast for at least the last decade has provided something very clear. They hate their fans and view them as obstacles to them becoming rich.
and i can't quite figure that part out.. i mean... someone somewhere HAS to realize that that just isn't how it works... (fans being obstacles)
Unless that book states that the contents cannot be shared there is nothing legal wise they can do to you. If someone from wotc does contact you or threaten you in anyway immediately inform local authorities because they will be in hot water.
I did reach out to get legal advice prior to posting the vid, I was told 1) I'm providing commentary, 2) I'm using less than 10% of the written content in showing it on screen so that qualifies as fair use. I should be good.. but still.. there is that one small thing in the back of my mind that makes me go.. "what if..."
@@gamemasters Well if you are startled awake by a loud rapping at your front door its most likely the Pinkerton's. I then suggest an immediate phone call to the police and have them arrested! Lousy relics of the 19th century.
I strongly suspect WOTC was gaslighting their employees with that book. Once he say "the customer is right", the boss turns around and says "this is what the customer wants" followed by whatever lie he wants to tell. Not holding my breath for WOTC to get their collective head out of their ass and fix their relationship with me.
I gave up on WotC A long time ago. Still have my AD&D stuff from the 70's and 80's and still run a campaign using them for my friends.
I've come to the understanding that this book was under a different leader (I think it was Brian Goldner at Hasbro - who sadly passed away in late 2021) and at that time things were seen in a (mostly) positive way.
Ohh man thought you found the Necronomicon for a second.
Lol
I would personally love to be able to read the exact words used by them. Reason as James Lindsay has pointed out a number of times. The left may use words the rest of us use. but they use them to mean different things. so to hear those words you get a clear picture of if they mean the old meaning (what the rest of us mean) or the new Praxis meanings.
I'm working on a way. Just wanting to cover ALL my bases (legal and otherwise)
"Hopefully Wizards will soon return to a better business ethic..."
My friend, there is no such thing. That's akin to saying "a more compassionate murder ethic."
Who it's *for* is also materially important. These people are out for no one but themselves, and their bottom line.
I think you're right to be scared, and I salute your bravery in sharing this.
it's... .kindav along the lines of the saying: "Hold out both hands palms up, put hope in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first" (I just didn't flat out say it that way tho).
Pretty funny Freudian slip at 4 minutes, 13 seconds
heh.. it's a difficult thing for me to switch from off the cuff blathering to reading lol excess rofl
No company, no matter how atrocious, has ever produced an internal document that says, 'Let's all shit on each other as we scramble to the top, and loot and torment our customers until they start to notice.'
lol true. I really do believe that the message of this book was done with very good intent, again, keep in mind, it's not a new book, it's a few years old and was given out at a time when their ideals were, I assume, different than what they are today (tho I fully admit that it may have always been - "let's make them open their wallets and give it all to us!"), but at least at _some_ point we... the fans... _seemed_ to be important...
The thing is... there is a great devide between employee level "handbooks" and the higher level Managers, Directors and VPs in the company. It's a document aimed to the front line employee, and it is supposed to give a sense of "belonging to a team" and "dedication". It has nothing to do with what the C-suit people think of and their drive to make more money.
I'll agree with you 100%, but even then... at a certain point, the words HAVE to have _some_ meaning to the higher ups... don't they?
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
How much of the recent disasters would you attribute to hasbro pressuring their cash cow?
That is a fantastic question.. I see a direct cause to issue, it boils down to greed. I'd love to know, however, how much push-back wizards has given hasbro over some of these decisions, vs how much "if you want to keep your job, you'll do this and grin" hadbro has demanded... I'd lean towards 100% that the issues are attributed to hasbro pressuring wotc.
35 pages? that's practically a book set for spelljammer!
ROFL
this has entered the algothrythm, i would start running before the private corporation militaries shell your house
nothing can be hidden under the sun...
What went wrong wasn't WotC, it is absolutely Hasbro.
I guarantee you, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hasbro was driving a lot of these controversial changes lately and especially the OGL debacle.
Hasbro is a cold multi billion dollar toy company that doesn't have a lot of experience in the RPG business. Yes, they have owned WotC for a bit now, but I don't think they really pay too much attention until WotC became their primary source of income.
WotC pulling out of fan conventions such as Gen Con and Origins was absolutely driven by Hasbro that doesn't see value in mingling with fans. In the toy industry big giant companies don't go to fan base conventions.
Most (but not all) of the bad changes that are occurring at WotC are due to Hasbro exerting more and more control over WotC.
I'll agree with your statement 1000%. No question that Hasbro has been the driving force for these changes.
@@gamemastersYou're too old for this, bruh, WotC acquired D&D in '97, Hasbro acquired WotC in '99, it's basically always been this way since the days of TSR. The problem is culture, specifically a culture of people who would try to ban books based on "real world cultures" from the game, in the name of "anti-racism," while failing to understand that courts of law ruled most of the core rule book Scandinavian culture back when the Tolkien estate sued TSR.
@@hlaw2830 Nuh. Problems come from Hasbro currently focusing it's corporate gaze on wotc, not from wotc trying to not insert "racist stereotypes: the fantasy race", altho wotc are quite lazy or bad with that it seems... maybe having a more diverse team would've helped them cover their blind spots.
Real world cultures can be represented, but carefully. Paizo seems to be better at that imo.
All in all, it seems like you are just doing the standard anti-sjw agenda push: see problem, call completely irrelevant thing the source to push an agenda (usually said agenda is anti-equality: framing anti-racism, feminism, tolerance of queers and others as harmful).
Problem of wotc is standard corporate "maximize profits at any cost".
Push for equality is a positive thing, unless you for some reason dislike it.
Pushing against equality would harm the ttrpg.
Pushing against blind corporate greed would help the ttrpg.
@@Alex-cq1zr If only there was an anti-SJW agenda push, it's the bane of quality entertainment products. So called anti-racists are the most racist people you'll find, they care more about surface characteristics rather than content of a persons character. As for feminism, well I doubt you'd welcome TERFS would you.
That was on eBay. Not a bad price either, for a piece of lore. 🎉
I've seen a few pop up over the past couple of years on ebay.
Thanks for this piece. Interesting sort of employee material. I've gotten similar sorts of documents, usually when there is some transition, or lots of new hires, and the "culture" must be codified.
That whole Pinkerton issue is unfortunate. Having conducted investigations in a variety of roles, vinegar is the last resort and honey is always the way to collect information and "assistance." Maybe if these investigators had played an RPG when they were young they would have been better in their role that day, and understood their "subject" a little better. Just makes everyone in the industry look foolish.
yeah, I really would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that order to be given.. like.. who exactly thought that was a smart idea? anywho.. yep, i too have seen employee documentation handed out (although not in a format as nice as this book) that tried to applaud the company itself.
It is a basic fact of human existence that being in charge of an organization, believing in a set of values, and distributing those values to all employees is not remotely sufficient to prevent actions that run completely contrary to those values and/or are stupid. Anyone who is surprised by this or any of the myriad other examples does not have the faintest idea how large organizations work.
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
Seeing that book makes me speculate that Wizards employees also had their own stat blocks.
ROFL!!!
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
They went from being D&D nerds to being soulless suits. This is why you never sell out.
dunno.. i mean.. someone got filthy rich off of selling out... WE may not like where it went but everything has a price.
Did all employees get their brown shirts?
that would be UPS.
THe goal lately for WotC seems to be: throw out as much product as we can.
If the customer can't afford it, it wasn't made for THEM.
i'm a touch concerned about all the books coming out month after month, but i know too that their release schedule got a bit goofed up earlier in the year.
@@gamemasters I'm a touch concerned that the books are 75-150 bucks now.
I would not be surprised if they found a way to require people to buy updated books somehow, to keep up with rules changes, not unlike taking collage courses and having to buy NEW textbooks and lab books for each class.
Any chance you can share the document via pdf ?
No, I'm most definitely not going to risk doing that.
@@gamemasters ok thank you for replying! I was wondering what the handbook said
@@sevvyluv4709 it's pretty much what I said in the video, I just reworded it so as to not be 100% violating copyright, except for that final page, I showed it in its entirety, which makes up less than 10% of the contents (so I'm good under Commentary and Fair Use).
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
That's just it, it is an EMPLOYEE handbook, not an EMPLOYER, CORPORATE, or INVESTOR handbook.
Employee handbooks the world over are always filled with the same high-minded platitudes and marketing-speak as they tell customers. After all, it's really hard to exploit the labor of employees if you just tell them to make sausage out of whatever and serve it up to customers as filet mignon. They get you believing that you're saving the world ro some nonsense, when all they are doing is getting the grass to grow greener, faster, and taller for the scythe.
In short, I am sure it is all very inspiring and enlightening, just like the statue outside of Blizzard Entertainment's offices, yet they've been screwing over their employees and taking their customers for a ride for years as well.
indeed that is the way I see it to. I really DO want to have hope for the brand. I want D&D to thrive, lord knows I've sunk enough cash into the books and I'd HATE to see that all for waste.
@@gamemasters I think as long as Hasbro has their claws in it, it will continue to degrade. Nothing kills the creative spirit like mass-corporatism.
sadly, I think I have to agree with you.
Wizards of the Coast has become just such a huge dumpster fire. It is truly astonishing how quickly this company has lost the goodwill of D&D fans, and the future isn't looking any brighter. All the "fan friendly" moves they have made recently, are moves they've been forced into backing into. The one consistent things these past few years is that they always try at first to get away with stuff they know is garbage, but they hope that somehow they'll be able to sneak it through. When they get called out on it and it blows up in their face then they try to walk it back and claim that it was all just a big misunderstanding. This is now a pattern that has occurred not once or twice but several times.
agreed, it is a pattern that we are seeing happen multiple times. I'm surprised that we haven't seen anything in the last 25 days or so.. I figure someone with super deep pockets stepped in and said; "guys.. keep you mouth's shut and don't make any decisions." Honestly, that _can_ work to an extent; simply ignoring a bad situation, but folks... remember... and while it won't go away, at least nothing new is being added... yet...
Wonder how much March of Machines flop was effected by the Pinkertons.
That is a mighty excellent question. I've wondered that myself, but also too, I understand that the set itself wasnt very good at all. Makes me wonder how well it would have sold had that guys door NOT been knocked upon...
@@gamemasters Right. There had to be a connection, even if small.
I doubt very seriously Hasbro or WoTC can do anything to you for having this book unless you were/are an employee of theirs and you're breaking NDA or you acquired this item through illicit means. Also, this item rings more as an event hand out for a management seminar than a standard issued handbook. Which is why it's more about the philosophy of the studio than actual operational expectations, practices, benefits, conduct and limits.
I've a feeling you are correct, I see this as less of an "official handbook" (as mentioned, it doesn't provide vacation info, sick leave, overtime compensation, etc.) and more of a PR management hand-out. I might have zero zero to worry about, but.. I'd not think that buying cards would be an issue either.
(and no, this book was not obtained by any illicit means, it was provided to me by an x-wotc employee).
Hopefully Larian didn’t overpay for the license, it looks like they’re going to get their money’s worth though. Going to be playing bg3 for a VERY long time, and after that modding more into it. Should keep me busy enough to not give wotc more money for a very long time.
I'd love to play some baldur's gate 3, but woof... I just simply lack time at the moment. :(
hey just a tip. The company Wizards of the Coast doesn't exist anymore, it's a subdivision of the online marketing division of Hasbro now. So that handbook was probably the last one before the company was dissolved. so Wizards of The Coast doesn't exist anymore now you are dealing with Hasbro.
hasbro bought wotc in 1999, as best I can tell, this book was made late 2019. I figure it was made to hand out to employees but then covid19 hit in early 2020 here in the states and the books kindav went.. "dormant". Some of the information in here is now listed on their website and I'm guessing they went online with it because it's cheaper.
@@gamemastersmore specifically yeah okay they became the 'games division in 2001' but they became online internet products division in 2020. this is a significant change in their operations at that point which is about the point you're commenting on here. You are discussing this is before they became evil well I'm telling you when that happened. when they became the online products people instead of part of games.
I've just given up completely on DnD for the moment. I may play an earlier edition with friends. So long as WOTC is around, I will never again buy a new DnD product.
I get that. I'll continue to give reviews of the books as they come out. My about page says something along the lines of ; we used to be able to walk into an store and see what a book was all about, flip through its pages, those stores are closing up left and right, but I want my channel to be those eyes that let's people see if it's worth it.
😮I hope you put that book in a safety deposit box and gave the key to a trusted friend. Uhm, in case Pinkerton shows up.
it's in a secure place. I mean, it would be really weird for someone to show up.. but then again.. I said that same thing about magic cards...
@@gamemasters Let's hope WotC has learned from that particular debacle and don't send the Pinkertons after you to 'recover company property'. But to be fair, I am loath to hold my breath about it any more than you no-doubt are. Glad you are keeping it safe elsewhere. A wise choice if WotC's conduct is any indication...
It really is a shame how Wizards has moved forward. I was a huge D&D player but now I don't play it at all. I am really excited to get my physical copy of Streets of Peril (TTRPG) and will likely focus on that. I play Magic but I buy only a few packs and singles here and there anymore. I used to be a die-hard FNM person. Yep, my money goes elsewhere now.
i too have not bought any magic in a looooooooong time. Still a fun game to play, but too expensive for my casual style.
You should have scanned it and shared it anonymously online.
no, I won't go down that road.
The handbook is cool, and it doesn't give away many secrets of the company.
well, there are no secrets in it... it's really just more common sense stuff really.
You should upload a free PDF to everyone
no, I won't delve into that mire.
The recently release 1.5 edition of the Employee Handbook states: "Listen to the fans and their feedback. If it's negative feedback then it's most certainly given by racists and can be ignored."
Seems unlikely, as WotC did not just ignore pushback against racist stereotypes in dnd.
They did use "we are actually trying to keep dnd safe" excuse in one of those desperate attempts to handle ogl situation, but that's just a company desperately coming up with excuses.
So yeah, i doubt your comment is a good faith critique of wotc.
There are things which wotc can be critiqued on a lot. Corporate greed (the force behind microtransactions and such) comes to mind.
It seems WotC has not been as bad before recent "gotta rise profits". They did allow some bigoted stuff to be released (and did fix some of it after community called them out) and 5e is still a system most often played in a way it isn't designed for, resulting in endless band aids like new op subclasses to classes which should be strong... if you have the book's recommended 5-8 combats and 2 short rests per long rests (was 5e designed for dungeon crawls?) but it wasn't as huge as the ogl backstab to the community.
So yeah, what made wotc go into bad company territory in my eyes is corporate greed (and that attempt to use inclusive language after doing the ogl backstab... seemingly to try and somehow salvage the situation... corporate inclusivity is useful for equality, but damn is it shitty compared to actual, not "we only support you if it's profitable", inclusivity )
At least wotc doesn't seem to be "s3xual harassment: the company" levels of bad.
Still, not a company i would buy stuff from any time soon
Im looking at a hard cover, full color, glossy print bound book.....and thats an INternal memo, effectively.
My blood is blioling just looking at that thing.
THAT is one of the reasons there is a massive price hike on wotc products. They are making this for office memos.
ALL That should be in a duotang, folder or just be stapled together.
That employee manual COST to make and that cost is being passed on to the customers. Im guessing at a minimum $30-40k
Not only does the pink haired brigade at wotc Hate the consumer base, but the company itself. Who green lit this extravegance?
in another comment we calculated this book to have an associated cost of less than $3.00 per book to make. (I work in the print industry and that would be MY cost to make one - and I don't have access to the amount of printing that WotC would require which means their printer's cost would be even lower as they are buying the paper in much larger bulk quantities). Also, keep in mind, this book is not a recent thing, it was produced a few years back, back when things were "happy".
All of that is to say, I don't think you blood needs to boil over this book, there are many other issues at hand that is boil-worthy.
scan it into pdf format and put it out there publicly...wotc won't do anything once its public
No, I'm not going to risk any activity that is flat out illegal. Even tho it doeant list a copyright date, it is still under copyright protection.
@@gamemasters Bs...if the doc doesnt have a confidential on it its a business doc. It has no financial value therefore has no ability for wotc to claim damages. I'm calling bs on your claim that this is a genuine doc. Prove its real.
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
In other news, the creator of the CZcams channel Gamemasters recently vanished after being visited by Pinkerton agents under contract to Wizards of the Coast.
i'd reply.. but i'm not supposed to.. wait.. i just did... lol
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
Wizards moved from making good products to making most money, good thing there is Flesh&Blood now
that's a card game that I've not.. yet gotten in to. the artwork looks VERY wicked cool tho.
Welp, nice knowing you. The Pinkertons aren’t gonna be gentle.
lol noooooo!
Could always leak it anonymously. But now I suppose they know, gotta hope they won't be still so bold to send another PMC to a fan's house.
I'd love to know how many copies of this book are floating around out there, kindav surprised it's not been covered somewhere before.
As the Paladin, the best thing I can do to strengthen the team is to cut the head off the rogue stealing credit by stabbing fellows in the back.
fair play!
It'd be such a shame if this happened to end up on library genesis...
such a shame...
shame indeed.. but it won't be posted by me.
Glad I play Old School Renaissance. Not touching wotc stuff with a 10ft pole.
given enough time and enough people, with enough supplements, even OSR products will have issue at some point. This video isn't exactly specific to D&D by the way, it's more the practice of the company behind the game.
@@gamemasters I disagree, while yes some OSR products might be bad, OSR is not brand or single company it is a decentralized design movement. So yes there may be some bad products but you can ignore them and get good ones, anyone can make anything to their own taste and your success is based on quality and your ability to promote it.
I know this video is about WOTC but they have become garbage. I hope WOTC collapses, they deserve it for making bad content and for their actions.
What I mean is, if any one OSR product become popular enough, it will grow and along with growth will be more supplements, and that in turn will produce what we have now with non-osr, it's all a cycle.
@@gamemasters I see what you're saying but I still disagree. As I said before since it is decentralized you don't have one company controlling the hobby, OSR is the rejection of that concept.
Well it looks like they really forgot to read this for the few years or hasbro is doing a secret handbook book burning in there spare time
there have been a couple of comments that said this book existed in the prior leadership, before Hasbro really sunk their teeth in, that this was more of a WotC book with WotC ideals, but now things have shifted to Hasbro ideals and they are simply no longer the same. it kindav makes sense if that's the case. I'd find it hard to believe that WotC would just about face.
Can someone PLEASE find the full PDF of this book? I'm sick of their horse shit behavior which ruins the games they have lost and forgotten the initial purposes of. I want to know exactly how they think. They have angered myself and many others. They have continued to do cross-overs that are unnecessary and program their electronic games into gambling machines.
They've tried to steal our homemade characters and stories. They are now COMPLETELY IGNORING the needs and desires of their fans. Which NOBODY is anymore. We're entirely oriented towards the games themselves in regards to care. And they are slowly destroying the games we love in their pursuit of greed. Just go to the feedback pages and follow a singular hot topic. The amount of dissent they delete is absurd.
They have made many dissenters completely unable to post in their feedback anymore. They have shadow banned people's accounts. They have even stealth nerfed MTGA accounts, rendering them impossible to win games with. They are turning Renton office into what is comparable to a military base, including barbed wire and fences. Many of us are sick of this shit and want to return WOTC to what they were in the early 90's. Hasbro is turning the games we grew up with into shit and are making it impossible for new players to come into these games without a clear conscious or ability to discern if these games are worth the ludicrous amounts of money they keep rising prices to.
I won't disregard your view as it is 100% yours to feel (and there is a lot of what you say that I agree with).
I will cite that there are fans, as we can see rough estimates of how magic the gathering and how d&d are selling, I can't see non-fans buying that otherwise.
I can't speak to them doing anything with their forums (I personally don't go there often enough - perhaps I should heh), and I don't play MTGA (I feel it's just flat out goofy to pay real world money to collect virtual cards where you cannot recoup _any_ value from whereas at least with the real world product if you pull a $30 rare, you can drop it to eBay).
I will say that they have improved their outlook as of late, even addressing a printing issue with the Book of Many Things and fixing it on their own dime before it hits consumer's hands. So it seems that us being vocal this year _has_ turned their heads to listen.
I've added a 2nd video covering this book : czcams.com/video/83oxhATe9lM/video.html
As far as I concerned, they can put whatever words on a page they like. In 2015 I was hired as an intern at WOTC. I moved from the East Coast all the way to Washington. I then attempted to make contact with my HR rep. It only 3 days to make the move because I was excited to get started.
They ghosted me for two weeks. I was then called and told by someone who was in the room "when it down", I was fired because WOTC didn't need any more white men. Also that I was problematic in general, since my recommendation came from someone at Hasbro because "Hasbro are literal Fascists". The guy apologize to me and said the woman that did it was on a power trip and a bit off the deep end. He said that my resume was fine, but maybe brush up a but more on C++. I spent four months living out of my car and picking up shift work delivering pizza.
Whoever this mystery lady at WOTC was, I don't know. She might have been an outlier in 2015, but as far as I'm concerned WOTC has shown their true colors and completely sided with her. My childhood was shaped between WOTC and Blizzard, but both of them to go hell for all I care.
ugh. I hate that people get treated the way you did. It's just not right. I fully get that it could have been a dream job but due to someone else's ego, you got the short end of that stick. This is why I get vocal when I see something not right going on. I've had it happen to me as well.
Didn't you know? In corporate culture, ethics and rules exist only for employees, CEOs, boardmembers or other higher-ups.
"CEOs, boardmembers or other higher-ups, are exempt!" (I finished it for you hehe)
@@gamemasters Brainfart, I meant to type "not for" in between there. It's ye olde "rules for thee, not for me".
WotC returning to (or turning to) TSR days....
heh, do we really see that happening?
Well, all good things in the book so I blame Home Brew and their DM not banning Twilight Clerics LOL!
hmm. Can't say as I am even familiar with twilight clerics... so.. i guess that's a good thing?
@@gamemasters It's in Tasha's and it's even more OP than those Echo Knight Fighters!
I have never seen that book. it's interesting that it is in print. Though I like the motto, the question really is, do they have authority to do so. with the OGL it is obvious that the higher ups didn't understand that motto or mission statement. there are two divisions of thought there IMO. the actual game designers and hasbro. I believe in WOTC really wanting to make the best content. The problem is often due to who has the money. they are 'owned' by hasbro. so that will dictate how much money they have and also how much they can produce and when.
the OGL was from higher up. WOTC is not independent. they are owned. if they were to be on their own they would be free to do as their statement.Though there is a concern, as the past has shown, that WOTC may not be able to do ok on their own away from hasbro.
in short, hasbro is the bank. Wotc needs them. They are also under contract.
Its tough to be a part of due to Hasbro's managment. I like 5E I wish. the money would go to the designers and we would have more off a MCDM the more the more approach though there is a budget and it is dictated by the higher ups.
unfortunately it is the nature of it.
the only way we get a freedom to create aspect is going to be if Hasbro really took that belief to heart. the belief that the fans and creators matter. they do, but only through green lenses. So that is the rub.
I've a feeling that this book contained a WotC sentiment, but as the past couple of years have shown; once Wizards displayed the ability to make some decent cash, Hasbro stepped in with a greedy hand and the ideals in this book kindav were.. "forcibly dismissed".
Well, taht's the problem of selling your company out to a bigger player.
I'm 100% certain that all this shit was Hasbro
i'm thinking you are correct.
I feel that this employee handbook was created by WoTC and not Hasbro. I believe that Hasbro's employee handbook is more draconic and definitely has more legal language in it. This seems like it came from dewy hippie mind of Chris Perkins.
VERY likely.
Ever since the OGL crap they tried, I have not bought anything from them and canceled my subscription to D&D Beyond. I will still use the material I have but I won’t give them any more of my money. But then again, that’s just me. I know that there is alot of people that disagree with me but everyone has their own opinions and reasons for their views. IMO
I too will continue to use what I have but I also intend to get the new copies to review. My view : I want my channel to be the eyes that we once had when we could walk into our local game store and thumb through a copy to see if it was any good. A LOT of local game stores have closed up shop and the alternative is Amazon, and you simply cannot look through the book(s) to see if they are any good. I want to continue to bring that "service" to folks.
@@gamemasters i totally understand and respect that. You do a great job and I support your efforts and desire to the community. Keep up the amazing job you’re doing.
@@bigc1966 thank you for the kind words, they truly mean a lot to me. :)
@@gamemasters That is a very admirable mission-statement for your channel - and one I wholeheartedly agree with.
ya know.. I think I'll add that to my overall 'About' page too.
Man, they've fallen FAR from that 'It Takes a Multiverse' page.
yup. That's really what struck me to make this video. I'd LOVE to see a return to that day for sure.
hmmm.... official lipservice.
thanks for sharing.
hmm... lipservice on who's part? Certainly not mine? I've been quite vocal about my displeasure about what WotC has done and my disapproval of it.
@@gamemasters I'm pretty sure they're implying that Wizards didn't mean anything said in the book even back then.
It very much seems borne out of the "orcs and goblins are racist" shitstorm in a teacup in 2020. As such, I can't help but feel that the mission statement isn't about business ethics, but optics.
I guess I don't recall that being an issue back in 2020, but then again, I was very preoccupied with being at work and in a very different headspace back then, so likely I was just not paying attention to the finer details in that moment in 2020.
WotC has strayed so far from that last page and done so much damage to the community, that I will never support them ever again.
understood and 100% justified.
and Hasbro set that book to flame and substituted their own
heh now THAT is the book I wanna see!
For the algorithm!
woots!
Pinkertons! Pinkertons!
c'mon, give me a little hope?