I am a pretty calm person but my blood is boiling with what is going on with Hasbro, the toy/game company. Recently it came to light that Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast subsidiary (makers of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering) is refusing to run simple child predator background checks on its staff of judges. These are people who are put in a position of authority over children at the tournaments they host around the world including one in a few weeks at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.
Here is a video from one of the gaming vloggers who broke the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp7EtTwRecc&t=39s
Since the posting of the video concerned citizens identified numerous convicted child predators in the highest ranks of the judges staff. And to make it worse, the head of the judges pool is an alleged spouse abuser! Here is a video discussing just the first ones identified: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lnD21sHuWA
Essentially, Wizards of the Coast is allowing these people to travel to other states and countries under their program thereby bypassing the protections Megan's Law affords for notifying parents.
Now here is the part which really gets me. Wizards of the Coast recently became a major promoter of the Seattle Pride Parade: Epicstream
I have no issues with this, they have a first amendment right to voice their opinion and advocate for their beliefs. But what they also did is try to ban gun owners from participating in the event while bringing in anti-gun groups to march with them including the radical Alliance for Gun Responsibility. They are the chief group pushing for more background checks, bans, and confiscations in Seattle: https://gunresponsibility.org/2018-legislative-agenda-laws/
So, we have a company here who is for background checks and bans for gun owners but not for child predators. What sense does this make? Even worse, they recently banned the vlogger in the first video above for previously speaking out against some people who were targeting youth for money claiming it was harassment. They also have said he is not welcome at the Indiana Convention Center where he was scheduled to appear. There is a petition to get him and a pro-player who stood up for him reinstated: https://www.change.org/p/hasbro-wizards-of-the-coast-must-reinstate-travis-woo-jeremy-hambly
If you want to take action by calling Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast on this issue, please be polite. The people running the service center do not agree with their company stance but are forced to deal with the outcome of these management decisions.
I would love to hear ideas on how we could encourage them to run the judges scheduled for the Indianapolis event through screening. Hundreds have called them about the issue and they simply refuse to do so. The details for the event are here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/organized-play/2018-grand-prix-details-2017-07-20
Here is a video from one of the gaming vloggers who broke the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp7EtTwRecc&t=39s
Since the posting of the video concerned citizens identified numerous convicted child predators in the highest ranks of the judges staff. And to make it worse, the head of the judges pool is an alleged spouse abuser! Here is a video discussing just the first ones identified: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lnD21sHuWA
Essentially, Wizards of the Coast is allowing these people to travel to other states and countries under their program thereby bypassing the protections Megan's Law affords for notifying parents.
Now here is the part which really gets me. Wizards of the Coast recently became a major promoter of the Seattle Pride Parade: Epicstream
I have no issues with this, they have a first amendment right to voice their opinion and advocate for their beliefs. But what they also did is try to ban gun owners from participating in the event while bringing in anti-gun groups to march with them including the radical Alliance for Gun Responsibility. They are the chief group pushing for more background checks, bans, and confiscations in Seattle: https://gunresponsibility.org/2018-legislative-agenda-laws/
So, we have a company here who is for background checks and bans for gun owners but not for child predators. What sense does this make? Even worse, they recently banned the vlogger in the first video above for previously speaking out against some people who were targeting youth for money claiming it was harassment. They also have said he is not welcome at the Indiana Convention Center where he was scheduled to appear. There is a petition to get him and a pro-player who stood up for him reinstated: https://www.change.org/p/hasbro-wizards-of-the-coast-must-reinstate-travis-woo-jeremy-hambly
If you want to take action by calling Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast on this issue, please be polite. The people running the service center do not agree with their company stance but are forced to deal with the outcome of these management decisions.
I would love to hear ideas on how we could encourage them to run the judges scheduled for the Indianapolis event through screening. Hundreds have called them about the issue and they simply refuse to do so. The details for the event are here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/organized-play/2018-grand-prix-details-2017-07-20