/*
** For those who don't know, the Janitor is the president of the company.
*/
Friends:
Hi, this is Mavra, aka Peter, the janitor at Wizards of the Coast. Several of
you have written me with your concerns on the name change of our game Jyhad to
V:TES, and the subsequent removal of the word Jyhad from the contents of the
game. This letter is a response to those letters, and the letters I haven't
yet received.
This was a tough decision as you can probably imagine. And in truth, I think
it was one of those times we as a company genuinely faced a no-win scenario.
Making the change seriously risks killing the game and pissing off our
customer base. We have never suffered from the delusion that this would
somehow help the sales or popularity of the game.
Keeping it the way it is, I believe, is immoral. It's as simple as that. I
can't have a game like this in my catalog and look our Middle East distributors
straight in the eye.
I know a lot of you don't feel that there's anything immoral about using the
word Jyhad in a game. But our products are reaching new customers and
countries that never cared about traditional roleplaying games and such, and
may of them disagree. Of course I didn't see this as a problem originally,
but I have a middle-class WASP background and spent many years thinking the
United States was the center of the universe and that the thoughts of people
in the Middle East didn't really matter. Fortunately I met Beverly and she
taught me how much of an ass hole I was for thinking that way, and so at the
age of twenty-eight I grew up and got a life.
Folks, we just can't pull this kind of crap anymore. We're a big company now,
selling games all over the world, way outside the niche markets we started in.
We have a duty to represent ourselves as a mature company that is sensitive
to the political, religious, gender, and ethnic issues that are facing society
today. This change is in response to that duty.
We could lose millions of dollars over this decision.
I don't care. We have to do what we think is right.
Mavra!
(Peter D. Adkison, Janitor, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.)
In <3omane$h...@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> aa...@cats.ucsc.edu (Thomas R Wylie) writes:
>
>/*
>** For those who don't know, the Janitor is the president of the company.
>*/
>
>Friends:
>
>Hi, this is Mavra, aka Peter, the janitor at Wizards of the Coast. Several of
>you have written me with your concerns on the name change of our game Jyhad to
>V:TES, and the subsequent removal of the word Jyhad from the contents of the
>game. This letter is a response to those letters, and the letters I haven't
>yet received.
Ah, the public relations damage must be pretty bad...
>This was a tough decision as you can probably imagine. And in truth, I think
>it was one of those times we as a company genuinely faced a no-win scenario.
>
>Making the change seriously risks killing the game and pissing off our
>customer base. We have never suffered from the delusion that this would
>somehow help the sales or popularity of the game.
Finally! An admission of guilt!
>
>Keeping it the way it is, I believe, is immoral. It's as simple as that. I
>can't have a game like this in my catalog and look our Middle East distributors
>straight in the eye.
>
>I know a lot of you don't feel that there's anything immoral about using the
>word Jyhad in a game. But our products are reaching new customers and
>countries that never cared about traditional roleplaying games and such, and
>may of them disagree. Of course I didn't see this as a problem originally,
>but I have a middle-class WASP background and spent many years thinking the
>United States was the center of the universe and that the thoughts of people
>in the Middle East didn't really matter. Fortunately I met Beverly and she
>taught me how much of an ass hole I was for thinking that way, and so at the
>age of twenty-eight I grew up and got a life.
>
>Folks, we just can't pull this kind of crap anymore. We're a big company now,
>selling games all over the world, way outside the niche markets we started in.
> We have a duty to represent ourselves as a mature company that is sensitive
>to the political, religious, gender, and ethnic issues that are facing society
>today. This change is in response to that duty.
If Wizard$ of the Coa$t is a mature company now, shouldn't it try to do its best
to satisfy the most important party - its loyal customers ?
>
>We could lose millions of dollars over this decision.
..and perhaps put many more dealers and retailers out of business in the
process ? Isn't that immoral too ?
>
>I don't care. We have to do what we think is right.
>
>Mavra!
>(Peter D. Adkison, Janitor, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.)
OK, fine. How about doing something more substantive for existing
Jyhad player/collectors than just "allowing" mixed edition decks in
tournaments ?
I am seeing a trend in posts suggesting that Wizard$ of the Coa$t have
some sort of a card trade-in program. I think your company should
seriously think about doing something like that. I hate to say it, but
I could probably accept a good rare/uncommon library cards trade-in
program (which can be set up so that the financial loss to WOTC be
minimal, i.e. require some cash payment) as a solution. Beside, it
would help remove all the cards in circulation with the offensive (sic)
"Jyhad" word on them, which is the moral thing to do, right ? :)
- Montri Chew -
"...all alone in the night."
aa...@cats.ucsc.edu (Thomas R Wylie) writes:
>
>/*
>** For those who don't know, the Janitor is the president of the company.
>*/
>
>
>Friends:
>
>Hi, this is Mavra, aka Peter, the janitor at Wizards of the Coast. Several of
>you have written me with your concerns on the name change of our game Jyhad to
>V:TES, and the subsequent removal of the word Jyhad from the contents of the
>game. This letter is a response to those letters, and the letters I haven't
>yet received.
...
>I know a lot of you don't feel that there's anything immoral about using the
>word Jyhad in a game. But our products are reaching new customers and
>countries that never cared about traditional roleplaying games and such, and
>may of them disagree. Of course I didn't see this as a problem originally,
>but I have a middle-class WASP background and spent many years thinking the
>United States was the center of the universe and that the thoughts of people
>in the Middle East didn't really matter. Fortunately I met Beverly and she
>taught me how much of an ass hole I was for thinking that way, and so at the
>age of twenty-eight I grew up and got a life.
...
>We could lose millions of dollars over this decision.
>>I don't care. We have to do what we think is right.
Tell us about the "millions of dollars" you could lose over this decision. We,
the owners of the cards you printed could collectively lose the same kind of
money if your game fails and the cards become worthless.
What kind of an ass hole might Beverly think you are when you decide to pay
for your social sensibilities with other people's money? Or does Beverly
think only the two of you are qualified to have an opinion on this matter?
You see, this issue is a little more complicated than just a question of a
businessman having a social conscience letting his company take a financial
hit. When you take this little leap of faith that you're doing the right
thing you're pulling me into the chasm with you and I don't happen to agree
with your particular moral decisions. But I've spent plenty of money on
cards that WotC sold before it was explained to me that my investment was in
peril of anyone's newfound angst at the idea of calling a card game "Jyhad".
As for "how you would look at Arab distributor in the eye", I'll answer that
one. Stand on your own two feet, look him in the eye, and EXPLAIN the
situation: the name was chosen before its implications to Arabs were realized
and now your customers have a very significant investment in it. I don't
know if this will satify him but the question is if it satisfies you. It
should. If he asks.
Fred