2023 has been the year of massive layoffs. Few gigantic companies have kept all their staff and have started to lay off people in droves, something that has been particularly noticeable in the world of video games. And, of course, in the end, it is something that has also affected board games, with Hasbro at the forefront, which has laid off 1900 employees in just one year. It is worth remembering that they are now the owners of Wizards of the Coast or, in other words, of Magic and Dungeons and Dragons. And chaos has taken over social media.
AI Dungeons Dragons
Fans are jumping on the bandwagon with AI, and with good reason: even though we buy role-playing and card games to play, we also enjoy the artwork, and there is not much interest in having machines create it. Wizards of the Coast recently faced backlash for using artificial intelligence to create an image, and fans are not willing to let their guard down.
That’s why, to the layoffs they have added a job application in which they offered between $71,000 and $116,000 to a digital artist who “can use magical tools in Photoshop” or “Refine and modify illustrative art for print and digital media through retouching, color correction…”. And of course, all the alarms have gone off in the homes of role players, especially after seeing a new image for 2024: AI in D&D? Not on our watch.
However, all these accusations have been dismissed by Wizards of the Coast themselves, who posted on the D&D Beyond Twitter account “We are aware of the concerns of the community regarding the use of generative AI in a piece of art that we recently showcased. We have confirmed with the author that generative AI was not used, which is consistent with our style guidelines for artists that restrict it.”
After everything they have gone through in D&D to let people know that they will continue to use original art, it seems unlikely that Hasbro has forced them to throw it all away and ask for it from MidJourney. Are we angry and eager for AI not to take over the market? Of course. But maybe we should be looking more at department store toy catalogs and less at role-playing books, which, for now, have decided not to take advantage of unsuspecting people by charging them a fortune. At least one thing is clear: 20-sided dice will never be replaced by artificial intelligence. Hopefully.
