Alderac Entertainment Group has parted ways with Ryan Dancey who served as their Operational Director and Chief Operating Officer for over 10 years.
Dancey’s exit occurred after he received considerable social media backlash from comments he posted on his LinkedIn discussing the use of AI in game design. The bulk of the outrage directed at Dancey was due to his response to a poster on one of his LinkedIn threads that argued “AI wouldn’t come up with Tiny Towns or Flip Seven or Cubitos because it doesn’t understand the human element of fun.” Dancey refuted the claim by saying the following: “I have zero reason to believe that an AI couldn’t come up with Tiny Towns or Flip 7 or Cubitios. I can prompt any of several AIs RIGHT NOW and get ideas for games as good as those.”
After the incident, AEG CEO John Zinser talked with Ryan Dancey about the posts and decided to let him “move on to new adventures.” This had to be a particularly difficult move for Zinser to make, as it marks what is essentially the end of a major chapter in AEG’s storied history. Dancey had played role in AEG’s development for many years, sometimes behind the scenes, even before his appointment to the position of COO. Zinser also took to social media to reaffirm AEG’s commitment to building great games by working with human designers as a core value of the company.
In Dancey’s LinkedIn post that discussed “aftermath” of his AI commentary, he further clarified his stance on the subject:
“For the record: I do not believe that AI will replace the work talented game designer/developers do, nor do I think it is appropriate to use AI to replace the role of designer/developers in the publication of tabletop games. During my time at AEG I developed and implemented polices and contracts that reflect those views. It’s important to me that you know what I believe and what I don’t believe on this particular topic, despite what you may have read elsewhere.”
In 2023, Ryan Dancey was instrumental as a community leader in the fight against Hasbro’s attempt to revoke OGL (see “Ryan Dancey’s Petition to Hasbro Nears 25,000 Signatures“).
Source: ICv2
