so tomorrow the NDA I signed on the 2024 players handbook ends which means I can review it in full and show everything if you're surprised that wizard of the coast sent me early access to one of their books I was too but it leads to some important questions am I a hypocrite what exactly is my problem with Wizards of the Coast anyway do I have any evidence at all to back up my criticisms or am I a crackpot screaming into the void about nonsense they gave up the ogl right so serious question are we good now or if I disapprove of watsy why am I still making videos and money talking about Dungeons and Dragons in fact can any influencer be trusted to fairly review the phb 2024 after receiving early access these questions are important let's start with the last one I will not earn any money from my reviews of Wizards of the Coast Products 100% of the ad revenue from this video from tomorrow's review video and from the video the day after is getting donated to charity there's more information on the Charities I'm donating to in yesterday's video and there is a fund razor beside this one if you want to save a life today the reason for this is simple if I profit from early access to a watsy book how can you ever trust me to be honest if I make money thanks to privileged access to material from Wizards I have an incentive to appease them if negativity gets more views on YouTube I actually don't believe that's true but many people do don't I have an incentive to lie and say it's terrible even if I thought it was really good hopefully by donating 100% of the earnings we can raise some money for a great cause while remaining fully independent the same will be true of any other books watsy choose to send me this video is for charity so there is no Financial incentive for what I'm about to do which is calmly and honestly explain the issues I have with Wizards of the Coast this is because I believe there are credible reasons why you might not wish to support watsy I don't think it would be appropriate to review a waty book without discussing these issues in tomorrow's review I will only discuss the book today we're going to discuss the company just a little bit I believe there is credible public evidence that Wizards of the Coast mistreat and discriminate against some of their employees that is an astonishing claim you can't just say stuff like that without having evidence it is what I believe so I will share with you the publicly available evidence which led me to that conclusion and you can make up your own mind you might disagree and that is fine it's good and it's healthy I'm just giving you the information that led me to draw my own conclusions so you can draw your own glass door is a website where employees can leave reviews about their employer I'd like to share accounts from Wizards of the Coast current and former employees from glass door you can look these up yourself to make a judgment on the company if you want these reviews have partly informed my view of the company in the interest of full disclosure I have spoken to current employees at the company several times over the last 18 months which have also informed my opinion I want to leave those aside I will only discuss public information in this video every account I show is public and from the last 12 months I will attempt to summarize them but will include the full text on screen run run as fast as you can toxic workplace culture where many people are pitted against each other many managers are fleeing including the CEO because they don't really have any power to run their teams Silo leadership awesome product to work on with many creative and passionate people but leadership is toxic and driven with Amazonian ideals rather than customer-driven decisions very poorly managed with zero management accountability extremely poor working conditions going downhill incompetent leadership heavy internal politics lots of ego stroking busy work rampant discrimination Open brackets race gender close brackets happens and gets quietly brushed under the rug not recommended you will not be supported you will be burnt out company is a disaster avoid terrible leadership and management was a good place to work but now I'm not sure sure bad environment poor leadership great things often ruined employees are afraid they will be the next layoff while Executives collect millions in performance bonuses the most recent review at time of recording discusses specific instances of bullying within the company and instances where employees were lied to about bonus compensation and health care benefits it goes on to identify the treatment of employees at Wizards of the Coast as so poor it is grounds for constructive dismissal an illegal practice where employees are mistreated to such an extent they basically have to quit there are many more negative reviews you can review them if you want more information but this is a crop from the past 6 to 7 months there are also some positive reviews this project manager says amazing content and leaves five stars for literally everything in the company this person leaves a mixed review citing great people or awesome products but antagonistic management and this game designer Praises their own team but acknowledges other teams are not as healthy this would track with other reviews that say the company is siloed it appears to be the case that at least some people in some departments are happy with their treatment we should also consider here that glass door is unlikely to be the place that happy satisfied employees go therefore we might expect more negative reviews than positive just because that's how humans are that that said I believe the number of reviews citing the same issues regarding mistreatment burnout siloed and isolated departments and poor management lead to a credible case that a significant number of people feel mistreated and unhappy if one person posted a negative experience that's a shame but sometimes it happens a patent to me is indicative of a serious problem but maybe we should reflect on other companies in the industry right is this a watsy only problem well looking at the piso glass door from the last 12 months it seems potentially yes piso has far far more positive reviews than negative in fact over the seven reviews from the last 2 years six are very positive and one is negative this seems to counter the argument that glassor will always lean negative because it isn't the case at least at piso back to the wanty employees several reviews note the company's poor treatment of the community these sentiments were echoed by one employee in an interview with commanders Harold early this year after the layoffs last Christmas quote faith in Hasbro is much much lower however this was dropping even before the layoffs happened the constant need to squeeze customers for everything they could while requiring employees to do more and more with fewer resources just showed that they were strictly about the money and yes companies have to make money but there was a clear disregard for the customers here cons concerns and feedback were constantly raised to leadership but it didn't matter only to just keep pushing the product the full interview is linked down below if you want to read further evidence of Wizard's mistreatment of the community is all over the Internet of course you may recall this viral email sent to several Community leaders during the ogl most famously it said at my time in watsy I have never once heard management refer to customers in a positive manner their communication gives me the impression they see customers as obstacles between them and their money a little more recently Wizards of the Coast sent the pinkertons to a community member's home Who quote threatened a Community member and reduced his wife to tears you may know that it is illegal for the US government to hire the pinkertons under the anti- Pinkerton Act of 1893 they are union Busters who defend corporate interests if you care about workers rights any activity with the pink is serious cause for alarm Hasbro are a company that hires the pinkertons and whose director of security risk management is a former director for the Pinkerton and whose current manager of global investigations is a former Pinkerton agent I do not believe Hasbro can make a serious claim to be on the side of workers rights with such a close association with the pinkertons at this point I'd like to address a common counterargument here which I think was phrased beautifully by Triant monk who is a Creator and friend I respect enormously we disagree on this particular issue that does not mean we dislike each other the argument I'm about to share is going to use Chris's video because it's a popular belief that Chris did an excellent job of explaining I'll let him take it from here there's layoffs occurring at Hasbro right now and I recently did a video where I expressed my sympathy for the employees who have or will lose their jobs is this the reason this layoffs and you know Chris Cox's response should we stop supporting D and D over this I guess the question would be if I was going to have a conversation with one of the D and team is this what I'd want to say to them yeah I I recognize you've been working hard and you're proud of the work you're doing and I think it's quality work I would like to support but I'm not going to support your work because your boss's bosses bosses boss is boss doesn't show you enough empathy during a time of layoffs and so to support you I'm going to boycott your products that way the seite will learn to empathize with you more and stop laying off people I mean it just seems like crazy logic to me to summarize to the best of my understanding Chris and many people believe that boycotting a product because of how a company treats their employees is silly the reason being that it's the management at watsy and Hasbro we disagree with and it's the lower level employees who make the book so why not buy the book to support them I want to start by saying the heart of Chris's point is valuable and correct we'll get to that in a moment but I believe the argument itself doesn't hold water for three reasons firstly it supposes that employees who make a product directly benefit from you buying it unfortunately this isn't the case as any of you who have worked in pretty much any business will know rarely do the people on the ground floor see any benefit from the success of an individual product or even the success of a whole company Matt cville noted in a recent stream Wizards of the Coast paid Freelancers 25 cents per word back when he worked there in 2000 they now pay 10 cents per word Wizards of the Coast and d and d have exploded in size and profitability and yet some people are paid over 50% less than 24 years ago I'll link the live stream where Matt talks about this stuff down below it's around the 40 minute Mark secondly this argument only looks at wizard of the coast employees from a designer's perspective it might be the case that a designer would rather you bought a book they worked on even if they were mistreated because they value their work being seen however we can't fall into the Trap of only considering famous employees at a company a designer is just as special necessary and worthy of respect as anyone in a company be it a software engineer a community manager an admin Administrative Assistant an art director an accountant a janitor all these people matter right arguing that one hypothetical designer might tolerate mistreatment or tolerate the mistreatment of others just to see their work published is to ignore the majority of people at the company okay so real quick uh literally minutes ago I finished recording this content and I and I went online after finishing and I saw that wizard of the coast have removed a bunch of Creator credits from their D and DB on products these are people who went over the book gave balance tweaks feedback and even suggested new content to be included they made the books uh what they are and now they've had all their credit stripped off them so even in this hypothetical situation where someone works really really hard and maybe uh endures a little bit of mistreatment or doesn't mind getting thrown away by the company because they get their credit on a watsy book and that's something to be really proud of and maybe they can use that to get more work in the future it's not even true you just get your name taken off it seems um this is pointlessly mean thing to do from Wizards of the Coast I can't understand what it it it it benefits them in any way uh completely unnecessarily disrespecting the people who who make their product anyway uh back to the main video finally this argument supposes that you the purchaser have no power to influence executive decisions it presents a fatalistic view of the world you can either buy the book or not but either way the mistreatment is happening I firmly disagree with this the first lie that cruelty tells is that it is necessary but it is not necessary watsi don't have to behave this way and they can change I don't think that change will come if people ignore these issues or hide from them I also don't think that change will come from people giving them money the idea that giving Hasbro more money would make life better for most people working there isn't true Wizards of the Coast are a billion dooll company but in some areas they pay people less than they did 24 years ago the ogl magic 30 the Pinkerton recent layoffs the employee tesy we've just read through all of these things are recent despite massive earnings taken by Executives the idea that choosing to withhold your money can't change the way things are done is not true a boycott plus a Twitter post tagging a company and politely explaining why you aren't going to buy a product is very powerful that is my opinion and many people disagree that is fine once again that is healthy we need different perspectives in life right we are allowed to disagree on things and still respect each other I want to add here that although I disagree with Chris's conclusion his argument is a wonderful case for empathy towards people on the ground floor of Wizards of the Coast he is dead on the money with that as he so often is boycotting and raising awareness is successful screaming death threats over the phone to a 17-year-old kid on minimum wage doesn't do anything that is crazy logic if you're unsatisfied with a company put pressure on the powerful not the intern who's probably one of the people you are in theory trying to defend from those people in power speaking of people who work at Wizards of the Coast it's important to recognize that everyone and I mean everyone I have met from waty either in a professional or personal setting has been lovely they are kind generous in intelligent and hardworking people they're also funny and energetic even the people who are pretty miserable about how they're getting treated or about how the community is getting treated they're still vibrant it's not like they're locked in 24/7 misery even if they are fearful for their jobs I actually think that struggling against poor management and mistreatment can encourage a kind of camaraderie and lead to Stronger friendships within teams a sort of us against the world type of situation the fact I reive a copy of the phb 2024 was a pretty huge deal a huge Mark of kindness and respect from wat's Community team I'm certain it' be much easier for them to just ignore this channel they didn't and I'm grateful they kind of Kick Ass in a sense all the charity money this video raises is on them we also shouldn't ignore the many positive things Wizards of the Coast have done if they release a good product it's not wrong to acknowledge that D and D Beyond now offers third party content which is a great move from watsy creators like ghostfire gaming and the dungeon dudes hito press and Matt cville are now reaching a wider audience and everyone benefits they get money watsy gets money the community gets great stuff it's fantastic we should celebrate it of course the best way to support creators is to buy from them directly but it's a good move for de and Beyond to work with other Publishers some members of watsy are also incredibly Brave remember the ogl was stopped by watsi employees of course it was mostly because you kicked off thanks for that by the way but it was people inside the company who fought first these are people who had the courage to risk their careers to defend the community these people are heroes and they work at Wizards of the Coast if you berate a randomer at watsy you might actually be yelling at someone who saved this entire Community I've found it much more empowering and joyful to focus on S celebrating those people than getting angry at the people in the company who did nothing to help us it's rare in life that everyday people get a chance to be an actual hero I've never had such an opportunity to push a kid out the way of a car or leap on a grenade but these people kind of did I know the people within watsy who stood up for the community find strength in that decision every day to this day they know they are heroes and that is kind of badass knowledge to walk around with even if other people in their team and thankfully management don't know what they did it's kind of like being part of an anonymous Society of badasses it is a privilege to help people missing out on that chance because you were scared or numb to other people's suffering is maybe understandable but it's a sad thing to have missed out on at this point you might be like okay everyone's a victim on the ground floor but what about management I've just listed a load of accounts from people who reviewed them and seemed to despise them well no I'm not going to tear into management again I believe the people who mistreat others within the business aren't doing so well themselves I don't think any kid grows up dreaming of exploiting others or being largely disliked by everyone around them it can't feel good to see reviews like this talking about you I think most people would rather be liked and be a force for good if possible so if you can recognize that it is sad for the person doing this stuff as well stand up to them if you meet them in your life be they a boss a spouse a parent or a friend but take a moment to recognize that deep down it's unhappy people who behave this way we don't need to chase Revenge we don't need to punish them in a way they kind of punish themselves and now here's a Twist I would love Wizards of the Coast To Succeed the more people who play Dungeons and Dragons the better for the whole Community but my definition of success does not equal High profits and executive bonuses although it could include those things even if watsy turnover multi-billion dollar record profits if this is the experience of people working there and things like the ogl magic 30 and the pinkertons and layoffs are the results then to me that's not success that is failure I've done my best to explain my personal belief that management at Wizards of the Coast mistreat some employees and the community and provide the credible public evidence that led me to that conclusion I've also tried to explain that not everyone or even most people in the company are bad and even the people who are quite literally the problem should be pied rather than hated you might draw a different conclusion from the available information that is great you might agree with me but decide that you don't really mind how a company treats its employees it's not actually your fault or your problem and you will not let it influence your purchasing Choice that's also fine that is your right we've discuss this today because I believe it's an important matter to address when reviewing material released by Wizards of the Coast in just the same way that reviewing a seal fur coat or an ivory necklace would be a hollow review without talking about how it was made but all this leads to another question which was summed up beautifully in this comment that was left on this channel how are you still supporting this toxic company there are tons of other games whose producers aren't sending thugs to people's homes for their own mistakes don't insult their entire community in such vicious ways and don't treat their staff as chatt why not support literally any other ttrpg company this is a very fair question my answer is simply that Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons and Dragons are completely different things this comment is correct there are hundreds of wonderful Publishers who create content for D and D or alternative game systems you could play Forever Without ever touching material from Wizards of the Coast if you wanted if once he went out of business tomorrow your game would still continue people would still play they are not the same thing that's why I've never changed my channel name I don't think there's anything wrong with d and d I think it's a great game I love talking about it and I love playing it I don't think talking about it is the same supporting Wizards of the Coast it's worth reflecting here that this Channel's Community has also raised masses of support and money for other creators I mean look at what you guys did for dc20 did you know that this Channel's community saved dc20 from bankruptcy last March so maybe we do earn money for watsy by talking about D and D but we earn a lot more for third party creators and charity that's a worthwhile trade especially cuz I love making videos I also want to take a moment to clarify that there is not anything wrong with other content creators working closely with watsy if they choose in just the same way I don't believe I'm supporting wsi's management by making a video about underrated multiclasses in D and D I'm I don't believe other creators are saying that the mistreatment of the community is fine just because they took money to talk about the new phb it would break my heart to think that other creators thought I didn't like them or I didn't respect them just because they covered a wizard of the coast book or took a sponsorship not only because I really value our friendship but also because it's not true I do like them I do respect them and as far as I'm concerned hell yeah take their money have a great time get on d& DB get on watsy sponsored live plays make friends with everyone you can within watsy and without it is a very bad faith take for viewers of those channels to assume that just because a content creator does a sponsored video they're suddenly going to jump into bed with watsy or not fight for the community if they have to many creators have fought for the community dozens of times before I mean Christ how many times have they got approve themselves before you can get over the fact they're taking a sponsorship to feed their family that said for me personally any resources what he choose to send my way I will not profit from and I won't take sponsorships from them either not that they are offering sponsorships to this channel by the way I was able to make tomorrow's video and the walk through on Friday thanks to their generous offer of early access to the book so I will donate the ad Revenue to charity from that that is once again in part because I want you to have the confidence that if I give it a terrible review it's because I think it's terrible likewise if I give it a positive review either way I get no financial compensation so hopefully the review is more trustworthy I do not demand or even expect other creators to do the same this is a very personal decision also I don't have any children I don't have any dependents all the stuff I enjoy doing is free and you have supported this channel to a frankly unbelievable degree walking away from money is an option that a lot of content creators on YouTube literally don't have I also might change some of these decisions if I believe that whaty have changed for the best I hope to never completely give up on the chance of someone making a change for good it is never too late to change or to apologize or to start fighting for what matters if they do I will proudly celebrate them tomorrow the full text of the book will be available because the Embargo is over they're actually selling them at Gen Con people will be sharing stuff everywhere so everything you could want to know about the phb 2024 is going to be available if you're interested you can check out my review to see what I think you might disagree with some or all of what I've talked about today and that is fine it is fine to disagree on stuff I hope that whatever decision you make with your money in any purchase you can make in the confidence of an informed decision today we talked about some of the ethical concerns I believe it's important to consider when buying from Wizards of the Coast tomorrow we're discussing the content of the phb 2024 if you want to donate to charity because you're amazing you can use the link next to this video where YouTube will cover 100% of the transaction costs so all the money goes to Children International a wonderful charity that supports infants through to young adults across the world there are also links in the description for the Charities CDH UK and the sick children's trust Charities I have personal experience with and who are awesome you can hear more about my story with CDH in the video linked up here I'm at Gen Con right now so if you want to say hey swing on by the blood drive together we are saving lives and if you give blood not only can you download this blood dragon STL for free you're entered into a draw to win physical prizes worth up to $2,000 just remember to stay hydrated before you give blood it is hot in Indianapolis and that's all I've got like And subscribe and I'll see you tomorrow