I get it. I condemn WOTC for their halfhearted statements & their treatment of Orion/many others. And of course no action on Mike Mearls to be seen.

It fucking sucks that this company can't or won't listen to their current fanbase, and are still pandering to old gen. [THREAD...]

It's tough. I got called out for defending #dnd before so I've done a lot of thinking and it always leads me back to the same few places (sry long thread).

1) New players often have their hearts set on learning D&D first. And that's because they usually know or have seen [...]

someone else who plays or wants to play. So I could educate them about the intricacies of why D&D is systemically flawed, or show them other TTRPG and laud their greatness.

But the fact of the matter is that that person was looking to play D&D because it was recognizable. [...]

They might be ok with trying another game, would probably enjoy it too. But I bet they would still be curious about D&D because it's the big name game.

So why wouldn't I try to introduce a new person to it and teach them to be better? Show the flaws, so they can be mindful [...]

2) If ALL the progressive people who seek change start to boycott the entire game of D&D, that will literally leave it to the old gen and their whack ways. On top of that, there will still be new players who want to play and guess what they'll be left with?

*Those people* [...]

And guess who will continue to line the pockets of WOTC? Those people.

There are gonna be a significant number of people who don't join the boycott so WOTC will easily make up the profits lost. Companies listen to where the money comes from, and that isn't gonna be you. [...]

And you know what's the fastest way to guarantee that WOTC never changes? If everyone demanding change shuns them and goes silent.

Everyone complaining left so they can continue to be a cesspool, and also guess what? There are STILL gonna be new people who want to play D&D [...]

3) So we've covered why WOTC won't lose profits from you. But you know who will? Independent streamers, creators, & channels that still rely on D&D because it's the mainstream ticket.

Yes they could do other things. But that doesn't change the fact that D&D is the Big Name [...]

and with D&D comes the D&D fandom, which is larger than any other TTRPG fandom. Independents have to put more effort and budget % into customer retention and acquisition. If they just suddenly lost even 20% of their customer base (for something that's not their fault), that [...]

could be enough to give them serious problems. And some of these businesses are so small that they probably don't even have Twitter or know why they would suddenly be losing customers.

And you're gonna say that they somehow deserved this too? I don't think so. [...]

4) Maybe it doesn't for you, but D&D makes a lot of people really fucking happy. It brings them excitement. It livens up their lives. It's a game they play to bond and socialize.

And sure yeah I'll introduce them to other TTRPG and they'll probably love them. But they also [...]

love D&D and probably will still want to play it despite everything else. So, what should I do? Condemn them for, what, doing something that makes them happy??

If I tell them about the issues and they don't want to play, cool. But if they still do, why not let them? [...]

5) Wizards of the Coast is not D&D just like the NFL is not football. You can boycott the NFL but it'd be fucking ridiculous to boycott playing football along with it. WOTC is a business that owns the license to D&D but you can play the game without paying WOTC or using any [...]

of their shit. It is possible. You could even pirate that shit if you wanted to be vindictive.

I'll say it again: D&D is a game. An entity in itself. An entire industry spawning far beyond WOTC, beyond Critical Role, beyond any of this awfulness we are seeing. [...]

tl;dr if you're gonna boycott D&D, fine. But think about why you're doing it. If you're doing it for personal reasons and because the game/WOTC genuinely doesn't make you happy, yeah fuck that shit.

But if you loved D&D and don't want to boycott it, that's ok too. [...]

Oh and:

If you QRT me and then tell me you're not interested in an "intelligent conversation" (direct quote) when I reply and ask questions about your POV,

just, like, don't QRT me lol. Sorry to reply with intelligence after you called my name? [...]

I don't have sparks for arguing with people or fending off the haters so I'm just gonna dip out of Twitter after posting this. I said my piece. I'm still gonna do what makes me happy. You do what makes you happy.

I do hope WOTC listens and changes and gets better.

The End.

For people who don’t know what’s going on, I’m sure a Twitter search of “ #dnd” or “D&D” or "Mike Mearls" will pop up with a lot of discussion/conversation.

Basically WOTC sucks and has ignored significant outcry over some major issues.