Wyrmwood lays off 50% of their workers, films the aftermath, and puts the whole thing on YouTube for content... including a response to Rascal’s request for comment.
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Why is it "surely" setup and satire. What evidence suggests that? I legitimately would love to hear why this isn't a bitcoin bro just awful at running a business and too misguided to see it?
You clearly see things indicating this to make that claim so please, explain.
I’m no expert on American employment law by any stretch, Jack, but I’m relatively sure the National Labor Relations Act covers Massachusetts & Pennsylvania, which I think would make it legally dubious to post this stuff on such events without the consent of the people in the films… or… it’s faked 👍🏻
I used to work there. Halfway through my time there they passed out consent to be on camera forms to everyone with the HR forms. But also do not underestimate how absolutely dumb as hell the admin of this company is.
This also is a great example of how just because the company has consent to film doesn't automatically mean it's some dodge everyone is in on. It just means when the ridiculous ownership decides to document their idiocy, other people said it was okay to document that at an earlier point.
I've worked in a prosecutors office in the past and been an attorney for nearly 20 years, Pete. I'm absolutely sure most people are not aware of such regulations nor are they dissuaded by them. A possible violation that could be enforced if pursued is not evidence it's not real. Instead...
It could easily be explained by some rich guy used to being in charge who thinks the rules don't apply to him. And employees unaware of regs or afraid to enforce them.
He was fired as CEO a while back but for some reason he ended up being the CEO again within like a year??? Which made no sense because he didn't change or fix the issues people had with him. So many things wrong are all because of Doug (CEO) IMO
He wasn't fired, he stepped down after throwing a tantrum because the staff wanted better conditions and signed a petition for it. I don't think it was explicitly said, but it's vaguely implied he just wanted someone else to deal with bringing them into compliance 🙄
The comment of wanting to hire a portion of the people back makes me wonder if they’re getting the same salary/pay they had when they were laid off or dropped down to a lower pay.
Can’t support that business mindset/business model/business anymore.
Family members worked at a grocery store. As they approached a time with the company wherein they would get a raise or benefits, employers would increase the standards impossibly high so that they would fail. They would also be asked to train their replacements.
In their case they legit just fucked up and started scaling things up too fast due to the huge kickstarter success when they launched the modular game table.
They have issues since then with not having enough work and capital to continue supporting so many employees
Having been in a similar situation, it's definitely hard to leave a company you obviously should if you can't afford to spend a while unemployed. Food and shelter are held hostage, and we need ransom money.
I don’t know how they film and post that video and say to themselves “yeah, this is a fantastic idea”… but as I wrote that I realized it’s probably pretty standard for narcissistic patriarchal bullshit. Sad I ever gave them money back when they used to sponsor CR
That is just what they do. Their whole channel is showing stuff like this, so, no this is not what you are calling it. NOT showing it would look worse since they show literally everything else on the channel already
This isn't surprising in the least from a company whose leadership whined in an all-hands meeting (also filmed for YT) about having to follow OSHA policies because it was killing the vibe. Libertarian nonsense in full swing.
This. I enjoyed watching their youtube videos up to that point, but they lost me with that one... And everything I've heard about them since has only further lowered my opinion of them as a company.
I hope that reputation doesn't follow the laid-off staff though.
I feel like the comment about who the "boss" of a company is does a lot of work to deflect mismanagement and justify poor treatment. All of us in gaming know that a hand dealt doesn't always equate predestination.
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Two of my gaming group never liked Wyrmwood because of dodging practices in the past, so out of respect, my wife and I rarely if ever bought from them. I'm glad we stuck with our friends on this.
We had been tempted by their modular table many times, but never had the money for it. Won't get it now
Ever turn they just keep showing how conceited and narcissistic they are in how they treat others. I have one of their GM screens from a very old kickster, and I sigh every time I use it, knowing what they turned out to be. 'Tech-bro' wannabe's, the kind you'd get on wish dot com.
They have posted a video where they claim to have emailed the reporter here asking if they can record the interview and Doug is just going off about fake news and how journalists are liars calling @rascalnews.bsky.social a blog that wants people to pay them for nothing.
Yeah I was super freaked out to even be tangentially supporting them. Found out they were doing some stuff with dispel dice and then found disepl cut ties so that was a relief. An absolute dog shit company and hope. Folks get the message and stop going to them
all those small tabletop type items were so damn cool. but then they started pushing their prophecy and higher end custom stuff to no end and basically stopped caring about the small stuff. it was obvious their rapid growth totally distracted them from that stuff. made me think they stopped caring.
Better money in the big stuff instead of Nickel and dining as it were. It's a damn shame cause the stuff did look neat but it seems while the crafters cared the company rotted from the roots
sure, i admit there would be more money in the big stuff, but to the youtube people who watched routinely, we know about it. you showed us last time, and 2 weeks ago and 3 weeks ago. there was more variety and creativity in the small stuff. just my personal opinion of course. it's so one note now
obviously the philosphy and politics and everything aside, the thing i didn't really like is how much they tried to market and advertise their prophecy and other higher end custom stuff using wyrmlife. when i first found out about them, it was dice trays and vaults. and was so tempted to buy (1/2)
Layoffs are tough. There is no *good* way to do a layoff--there are just less bad ways. It is just harder when your entire brand is transparent, though.
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The guys playing viewers like a fiddle for views on YouTube. It’s got to be all setup and satire, surely?
Why is it "surely" setup and satire. What evidence suggests that? I legitimately would love to hear why this isn't a bitcoin bro just awful at running a business and too misguided to see it?
You clearly see things indicating this to make that claim so please, explain.
A few years ago, I bought a dice tray from them and now I really wish I didn’t.
Just a side note, the guy with the cap…they should just let him go because the vibes he is putting out is not a good one.
Can’t support that business mindset/business model/business anymore.
They have issues since then with not having enough work and capital to continue supporting so many employees
Still a really shitty move to lay off so many people with no notice though seeing as they knew this could happen for years
I'm reading the article and how he acted - and I genuinely don't think I'd have thought to write a FANTASY article like that. Holy moly.
I hope that reputation doesn't follow the laid-off staff though.
did they follow the WARN Act??
and they qualify for a mass layoff (laid off 80, minumum is 50)
But with the WARN act they should have been paid for about than 46 days ( 8 weeks)(which is about the week calc for the legal 60 days)
We had been tempted by their modular table many times, but never had the money for it. Won't get it now
Fucking inexcusable shit.
It's really sad to see how horrid a company can be.
It's really not that hard to act like a decent person with an ounce of empathy, truly.
Dude is an ultradouche.
Seems that's served me well in this instance.