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Monday, June 6, 2016

Greg Bilsland to Leave WotC - Will the Last to Leave Please Turn Out the Lights?

Greg Bilsland is leaving WotC. He was one of the few left actively working on / with the D&D team. I feel like I'm reading an Agatha Christie novel in slow motion.

From Greg's Linked In:

Marketer, Digital and Content
Wizards of the Coast
July 2014 – Present (2 years)Renton, WA
Manage content and design for Dungeons & Dragons website, as well as directing editorial for D&D's digital magazine app and collective social media channels.

Here's his announcement from Facebook:
I’ll be leaving Wizards of the Coast on June 21st. It wasn’t a decision I made lightly—working on D&D was my dream job, and it gave my wayward, 24-year-old soul a bit of direction. I came to D&D just before the announcement of D&D fourth edition, and now I leave as the fifth edition tabletop roleplaying game reaches new heights and expands to new horizons. It’s been a wild, crazy adventure (as any good D&D adventure should be), but and now I’m off to pursue new endeavors—including starting my own business. I’m excited for all the unpredictable things that come with that, if a bit trepidatious. I hope to stay involved in gaming as much as possible with writing, editing, marketing—and whatever else may come my way. 
Gary Gygax said “random chance plays a huge part in everybody's life.” I think that’s as true about taking chances as it is about a roll of the die. So I’m rolling the die and taking a chance on something new.

11 comments:

  1. This is not a bad thing. People have exextensively criticized the WotC website for its odd design and everyone seems to hate what Dragon+ is, and it sounds like he's the key dev behind both. I wish him well, though....but he sounds like he's only pertinent to some bits that most people had issues with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's not a developer. He's in marketing. He didn't work on the design, layout, or development of the website or the app. He may be in the discussions but putting the blame on him is wrong.

      Delete
    2. @Kenny -- If you know anything about how marketing on the web works, the marketing groups control the design, not the development team. Now, if you also have a weak development team lead that doesn't point out the UI problems with design that marketing has built and approved (often without input from the technical folks), then the situation is worse... but remember that WotC is outsourcing almost everything now, so their is no internal design/development team there. Which means the marketing is controlling all the decisions related to the website and app UI....

      So, yes, the blame sits firmly in his lap.

      Delete
  2. Their web site is awful. Dragon+ is awful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe the younguns like the website?

    ReplyDelete
  4. First of all, best of luck to Greg!!

    I suspect Monk is correct. I know a thing or two about web design, and reactive sites with parallax scrolling are the shit. Grognards like us tend to prefer sites with a little less going on (I still visit some sites that look like they were designed in a text editor), but the kids are all about scrolling through a site on their phone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Never heard of him. Why is this relevant? A guy I know also quit his job. Happens every day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not to put word in Erik's mouth, but I think he is commenting on the already small size of the WotC team shrinking even further... but this isn't a layoff as far as I can tell, so I'm not sure it's any indication that WotC is intending to eliminate the position. I wouldn't be surprised if it were already posted on their job board.

      Delete
    2. I'm not even sure how much of a team is left in the D&D division at WotC.

      Delete
    3. What was the point of this comment? If the post doesn't interest you, just move on. We don't need to know how bored you are.

      Delete

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