Apparently, back in the Dancey/Adkinson days at WoTC, the company went out of its way to be open with other gaming companies, to explain what they were doing; the product of all this was the OGL and D20 and the whole idea of Open Gaming.

It was nice, for a while, having the top dog not acting like it needed to fear either other gaming companies or its customers; especially after the TSR days, when Lorraine Williams alternated between treating RPG customers as idiots who needed her to "tell them what to like" and potential enemies out to destroy her; and treated other game designers/companies exclusively like the latter.
It was also amusing, watching lesser companies act like they had big secrets to cling to, all worried about Secret Corporate Ninjas coming to steal away their "Preciouses" before the release dates, etc.

Sadly, those days are passed and now WoTC is clearly back into the idiotic secret-corporate-ninja-phobia phase.

I've heard, on occasion, people try to defend this mentality. To imagine that there's really something that justifies this mentality of secrecy and open aggression against other companies and often even one's own fan base. Is there really any such justification?

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;295504To imagine that there's really something that justifies this mentality of secrecy and open aggression against other companies and often even one's own fan base. Is there really any such justification?

Other than stupid inbred corporate mentality, you mean?

Nope.

It's just capitalism at work in a declining economy. Nothing to see here.

Quote from: droog;295530It's just capitalism at work in a declining economy. Nothing to see here.

Agreed.  Pundy, don't be a dirty hippie commie!

As I've said before, the D20 license created partners and the OGL created competitors and the GSL is half-assed.    Hasbro/WotC has clearly decided that it has no desire for real partners and everyone else is either a foe or a vassal.

But the formula for D20's success was openness. And it was enacted in a strong economy.

So what they're doing now is exactly the wrong thing, at exactly the wrong time.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;295504I've heard, on occasion, people try to defend this mentality. To imagine that there's really something that justifies this mentality of secrecy and open aggression against other companies and often even one's own fan base. Is there really any such justification?

RPGPundit

I was in the local Nord's Games (a LGS chain) today because they had moved to new space in the mall. I thought they might have some stuff on sale.

While looking at their older stuff, the employee there began telling me about 4E and how it was selling really great. I politely told him that I wasn't interested in 4E, to which he replied:

Quote from: Nord's Games employeeOh, well it really is an awesome game that is selling out all over the place. I know that there are some gamers who don't like it but that is due to all the negativity thrown out on the internet by people who have never played the game. 4th Edition is much better than 3rd Edition ever was.

Now, I couldn't tell if this was a 4E Zealot or just a fan of the game because what he said sounded like WotC corporate propaganda. It did make me annoyed to be schilled like that, especially when there was more 3rd Edition and OGL games in the store than there were 4th Edition games and I hope that they want those sold as well.

If you have a variety of products to sell and you just showcase one to the detriment of all others, aren't you shooting yourself in the foot?

This is something that turns consumers off of buying, it doesn't help them make more purchases.

Quote from: RPGPundit;295560So what they're doing now is exactly the wrong thing, at exactly the wrong time.

As droog said, it's capitalism in a declining economy.

Seeing things sinking, they panic and turtle up. It becomes all about saving what you've got rather than getting anything more. Man the battlements! The Other Corporation is coming to get us! Nobody is making more pie, let's fight over the last crumbs of this one!

Even if the particular company hasn't seen its sales decline due to the general economy, they still catch onto the general panicked mood. Thus for example in 2007 Holywood movies grossed $13.8 billion, in 2008 $13.9 billion - but they're more worried about piracy than ever.

Remember also that the higher up the social ladder you go, the thinner the air. It makes you a bit dizzy. Up on the corporate ladder, they stop meeting actual customers for their products, and are surrounded by flunkies who tell them not the truth, but what the flunkies think they want to hear. So they get a very warped view of the world.

Plus, as unproductive managers, worrying about corporate ninjas keeps them busy. Honestly, what else are they going to do with their work day?

I know my post upthread is a little off-topic, but how can you say that WotC is worried about Corporate Ninjas when they regularly and routinely lay off their best and brightest, who then go on to create smaller RPG companies?

I could be a lack of experience.  WotC 2009 is not WotC 1999.

I don't think it's anything new... it seems to be part of the growth cycle of a company.
A swollen middle management that knows/cares nothing about the product thrashes around trying to keep the corporate overlords and gnashing 'investors' at bay.

William Holden gives a great speech about it in Executive Suite (1954).

Yes, as others have said, it does look like the death spiral is setting in at WOTC. It could take a while to unfold, but I have plenty of popcorn.

I'll go further. When WOTC ceases to produce DnD, Hasbro probably won't licence it out. Then Pathfinder and the retro-clones will BE DnD...and mutated cockroaches and rats with laser-lances will fight over the radioactive wasteland that the earth has become.

Quote from: jeff37923;295572how can you say that WotC is worried about Corporate Ninjas when they regularly and routinely lay off their best and brightest, who then go on to create smaller RPG companies?

It's part of the turtling up companies - not just game companies - do if they or the economy generally are declining. They sack heaps of people and have security escort them off the premises, making sure that they take no papers or memory sticks or whatever with them; forgetting that the greatest resource the person has is their own creativity and skills.

They begin to see their own employees as a threat, so they get rid of them.

The mentality is widespread. The other night there was a discussion on Insight about CEO payouts being excessive, and they had all these people in to have their say. They kept talking about shareholders. That is, if the CEO gets a big wad of cash, that's less cash for shareholders, oh no I lost some unearned income! Nobody mentioned the employees, the staff, the people who actually create the products the company sells.

There's no doubt that Greg Leeds at Wizards sees himself as more important to the success of the company than a hundred writers, artists or editors. Sack 'em! They're all against us anyway! Man the guns! Pirates ahoy! To battlestations, crew! Crew?... Crew? What do you mean I sent them all over the plank?!

Quote from: jeff37923;295565If you have a variety of products to sell and you just showcase one to the detriment of all others, aren't you shooting yourself in the foot?

Especially when you're sitting on tons of stuff that you know damn well people are clamoring to buy and which would cost you pennies to distribute.

Someone needs to send the fable about "the dog in the manger" to WOTC and ask if they think it sounds at all familiar.

I think it's the natural occurance of a monopoly.

I could be wrong though. As WOTC never really had authentic competititon. Vampire the masquerade?! Who plays that shit?! lol!

But buisness is like a relationship. At first it's great. There's excitement, growth, everyone's getting along great.

Then things start to get sour. They're always accusing eachother of conspiring against them. They start with-holding information, getting really secretive and whispering gossip about how they just want to leave.

WOTC is in that stage. That "love/hate" stage where it thinks that it's losing buisness because of third party companies producing d20 matirial. Couldn't be because they release too much crap that noone wants to buy. I liked Dragon magizine. And I did subscribe for several years. But most people wouldn't. Because it was expensive. That's what "mind's eye" and other articles are for.

People are just assholes like that. You know, if I had a buisness. I'd just try to make a profit. That's it. I wouldn't get paranoid and try to destroy the competitition, or go through ridiculous measures to insure people weren't stealing. I'd just run an honest buisness that appealed to people's wants.

But then I think that's how MC Hammer lost all his money.