Over the weekend, I read this statement from Orion D. Black, detailing a litany of abusive and shitty practices that Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast inflicts on its employees. The statement describes a toxic, racist work environment that steals its employees work, hires only white men to high-level positions, refuses criticism, and fires those employees who make their criticisms public, to name but a few abuses. As a nonbinary Black person, they experienced the worst of this. The statement is brutally sad and heartbreaking, and therefore is required reading for anyone in the orbit of D&D.
I do not know what it’s like to be a black person or a nonbinary person, but the way I see it, that doesn’t mean I can’t show empathy. I believe them when they present these allegations, I am glad they spoke out, and I am horrified. I have seen the inside of white bro corporate hell, and in that sense, this statement felt deeply familiar. I have never had my own work stolen without credit (to my knowledge), but I am nonetheless familiar with the petty insecurity that drives such awfulness.
The unifying force of late capitalism is not giving a fuck. Owners don’t give a fuck about their employees, and they don’t give a fuck about social justice in any form, and they don’t give a fuck about anything but lining their own pockets in the cheapest, shittiest ways possible. While I am shocked to hear that the corporate culture of Wizards is so toxic and demeaning, I can’t say I’m surprised.
So yeah, fuck Wizards. There was time when, if you had asked me, I would have jumped at the chance to work at WotC. Needless to say, that time has passed. It’s worth a reminder that, while time has become a fluid construct for most of us these days, it was less than a calendar month ago that Wizards also pulled seven Magic cards that featured racist imagery, text, or both. The link includes scans of all seven cards – while some are undated, several are copyrighted 1994(!!). 26 years of not giving a fuck how racist you’re being is far, far too many.
Destroy white supremacy, destroy the patriarchy, destroy capitalism. I’m out.
Rob Writes About Whatever 