Jessica Rice publicly attacks Tonya Woldridge, an employee of a commercial rival, in profane terms. She later reveals it is because Woldridge blew the whistle on disputed allegations Price made in a private workplace forum. Are Chris Cox, CEO of Wizards of the Coast, and Brian Goldner, Hasbro CEO comfortable with this behaviour? Click for full size. Original tweet (archive)

Paizo is a small company that makes Pathfinder, a niche competitor to Dungeons and Dragons aimed at people who prefer old fashioned, complicated rules to newer more streamlined ones. It is best known for the IP behind the Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, PC games. After the dismissal of the Paizo Customer Service and Community Manager, Sara Marie Teter, an online mob of angry extremists have been demanding change, resignations and and an independent investigation into the supposed, “wrongful termination”, despite the fact that the dismissed staffer does not appear to have alleged wrongful termination. The mob, whose anger has been fuelled by fired, former Paizo staffer Jessica Price, has focused its ire on another female member of staff. Worse, one of her explicitly stated motives was that the victim disclosed content from a “private” workplace forum run by Price. Price is now an author on multiple Wizards of the Coasts (WotC) products. MHN contacted WotC and parent company Hasbro to ask for an explanation.

Jessica Price is a contentious figure in the niche world of science fiction, science fiction and gaming. She is known for regularly criticising former employers including Microsoft (archive), Paizo (archive) and ArenaNet (archive).

Most recently, she has attacked a former Paizo employee, Tonya Woldridge, Paizo’s Director of Community – and it is not okay. The vicious attack is problematic not because of its profane nature, nor because it looks remarkably like cyber-bullying, but because her express motivation (archive) is that Tonya Woldridge made what would, here in the UK, be a legally protected disclosure about potentially illegal and immoral conduct by Price. Similar whistleblowing protections also apply in some states of the United States. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not alleging that Price has violated any US law. I am merely alleging that she is morally guilty of bad behaviour against a former colleague because of that colleague’s behaviour.

Jessica Rice makes clear her motives for her vicious attacks on Tonya Woldridge. It is because Woldridge blew the whistle on disputed allegations Price made in a secret workplace forum. Original tweet (archive).

So, Jessica Price had started a private forum for women in the gaming industry, which included other companies – potentially, competitors. In the forum, she and other employees had shared frustrations and grievances about Erik Mona, the Publisher at Paizo – her employer. He is a very senior member of staff. Why is this a problem? Well, ironically, Price has summarised it in the first post above – “whisper networks”. People in a private forum might raise legitimate concerns, they might exaggerate, they might have an axe to grind. Regardless, there is no due process and there are serious and legitimate issues about company confidentiality, and workplace bullying. An employee who discovers that a colleague has been badmouthing them to competitors in a secret forum might well feel bullied or harassed. Here in Europe, there would almost certainly be concerns about processing special category personal data without consent, contrary to the GDPR.

Here in the UK, under s43B Employment Rights Act 1996 as amended, Woldridge’s decision to tell Mr Mona about the (unspecified) allegations about him was not only loyalty to her employer, but it might well amount to whistleblowing – to a disclosure protected by employment law. Had it occurred in the UK Woldridge could well have held a good faith belief that Price was breaking the law or her legal obligations of confidentiality owed to Paizo, her employer. It is important to understand that Woldridge would be protected even if she was mistaken.

The position in the United States is complex, because there are a mixture of state and federal laws that protect whistleblowers. I am not saying that Price has broken any United States law. However, she is certainly morally guilty of retaliating against Woldridge, a female colleague, for a disclosure made of potentially unlawful activity, for example breaching her employer’s confidentiality in a private forum.

Since then, a small mob of harassers on Paizo’s forums have been hounding Woldridge and demanding an independent investigation into the so-called, “wrongful termination” of Sara Marie Teter (archive). What is bizarre about this is that, as far as I am aware, Teter has not alleged the termination was wrongful, instead maintaining a dignified silence. A small crowd of extremists has been asking for an independent investigation of allegations that have not in fact been made. Below, I reproduce the start of the thread by Jessica Price (archive) followed by an individual on the Paizo forums called Derry L. Zimeye who seems to be following their lead and supporting a hashtag called #PAIZOACCOUNTABILITY (archive) –

Jessica Price announces the dismissal of Sara Marie Teter in strident terms, the beginning of a thread that whips up a flash-mob against a commercial competitor of her client, Wizards of the Coast.

In this thread, Derry L Zimeye calls for an investigation into the, “wrongful termination” of Sara Marie Teter. Aside from the inherent presumption the termination was wrongful, it has not even been * alleged * to be wrongful by Teter herself.

Several other forum posters have engaged in what looks like mobbing of Tonya Woldridge stirred up by Price’s posts. Poster Corie Marie started a thread, entitled, “The Community Is Hurting” (archive), which seems to be an attack on Tonya Woldridge,

“All the while, the Director of Community has been mostly silent […] it seems like the Director of Community should be there to support the community […] Plainly stated, the community is hurting and the Paizo team member that should be the one to help us heal seems to be mostly missing.”

In another thread, a user called, Kobold Cleaver claims they are, “Sending kindness around” (archive). They then thank many Paizo employees but omitted Tonya Woldridge. When another user pointed out the omission, they claimed it was accidental, but did not rectify it. Kobold Cleaver also supported the bizarre hashtag campaign, supporting demands for an investigation into a supposedly wrongful termination that has not thus far been alleged to be so by the terminated employee.

Mostly, Paizo’s response to this has been mature and courteously engaging. CEO Jeff Alvarez and Publisher Eric Mona have shown respectful leadership. Tonya Woldridge has politely replied to the, “Community Is Hurting”, thread introducing herself and responding kindly and graciously to detractors. Even, so, MHN feels that one ball Paizo has dropped has been to permit forum users to hound Woldridge, worse, intentionally or not the users concerned seem to have been set in motion by Price.

After a draft of this article was sent to Paizo, Tonya Woldridge engaged courteously and kindly with some of her critics. Whilst this is a mark of strength and decency, it leaves the same toxic users in the community where they could harm other, less thick-skinned, individuals. Whilst well intended, MHN opines it is the wrong approach and fails to protect the community.

Derry Zimeye, Corie Marie, Kobold Cleaver and their supporters need to be banned from the Paizo forums and from other Paizo activities for what they have done. Price needs to be recognised for her inappropriate conduct throughout the industry. This is not the first time I have written about her. My previous article, here, relates her classy celebration of the death of a severely disabled YouTuber known as TotalBiscuit. From cancer. Despicable. Price was also sued over statements about a worker at Frog God games.

Jessica Price has recently been listed as an author on Wizards of the Coasts products such as Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Is this behaviour Hasbro wants to be associated with? Is that really on brand? Lots of people want to work for Wizards of the Coast, and they need to show leadership in shunning her despicable activities. Conventions need to take note of Price’s history of conduct within the industry.

MHN is extremely keen to trace the real world identities of Derry Zimeye, Corie Marie and Kobold Cleaver. Information may be sent to the usual address. To be clear, this may include pre-transition identities. MHN generally respects a person’s identified gender. However, that is not a shield to protect those who are behaving wrongly. The unjust attacks on the livelihood and reputation of an innocent female member of staff warrant scrutiny. Many people engage in abusive behaviour online behind the shield of anonymity and a screen name. They are less enthusiastic when their employers and educational institutions are asked for their comment.

Paizo is right to listen to the community. However, it is wrong to fail to protect serving staff and it needs to take action.

I put this article to Price. Via her attorney William Moran II, of Hawgood Moran she heatedly denies any unlawful conduct. I am happy to confirm I am not alleging unlawful conduct. Mr Moran also opines that my media inquiry to Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro amounted to tortious interference. I respectfully disagree. I have a moral duty to check my facts. The subjects of my articles have an interest in receiving those allegations and correcting them. I am far from reckless or malicious – I have incorporated Ms Price’s concerns into my article.

Observing that, for example, Ms Price calling her former colleague a, “toxic, abusive snake” or celebrating a cancer sufferers death might damage Wizards of the Coast’s reputation and then asking if they will retain her is quite different from his allegation that I, “demanded that Ms. Price be fired under threat of reputational injury to her employer”. Mr Moran is an experienced lawyer who acted in the case of Edwards v Schwartz, a widely cited judgement where he helped a West Virginia client dispute personal jurisdiction. Jurisdiction was found over a letter, but not related online posts. I do not feel that assists given the content of the case. Even if there was personal jurisdiction, my letter and draft article contained facts and reasonably held opinions and to the extent there were mistakes, was in my opinion, privileged. Furthermore even if personal jurisdiction was established, Price would have to show my letter caused Ms Price to be dismissed.

MHN approached Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner and WotC CEO Chris Cox for comment and they failed to respond. Those who would like a response are encouraged to write politely and courteously to brian.goldner@hasbro.com, jen.deangelis@hasbro.com, chris.cocks@wizards.com, nathan.stewart@wizards.com and eugene.evans@wizards.com.  Paizo has very professionally and property stated they do not comment on personnel matters.