So, to finish up the Chronicle City Games saga, it has transpired that they have announced a winner.
Four winners, in fact.
It seems that, because of the delay in announcing the results, they added three prizes: two vouchers for $25 worth of Chronicle City games (only) and a $50 voucher for any games. The $50 voucher was reserved for the annoying prick who prodded them into announcing a winner. That is to say, me. I feel odd being rewarded for being the guy who spoke up, but since it was in an effort to help out other people (I was serious when I said that speaking up would likely take me out of the running), I don't feel too badly.
They were also very gracious in apologizing for the delays. I am surprised, as I haven't had the best luck in dealing with small businesses (or large ones, who often seem to feel that just throwing money at disgruntled customers is sufficient), but I am also greatly impressed.
So, in sum, that was a good resolution. Congratulations to Matt Bridgeman-Rivett on his good luck. Now to sit down and figure out what games I want!
Showing posts with label warning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warning. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Drive-By Commenters
On my last post, the drive-by commenter who calls him- or herself "NUNYA" posted that I should leave hardworking game shops alone, no matter how much they might renege on their promises to the people they use to promote their business, that I should "cut them some slack". Honestly, I do think that is fair. I am willing, after all, to cut slack to people whose Kickstarters are running excessively late (OK, I am thinking about two Kickstarters in particular, one gaming, the other something else). Why am I not so willing to give slack to a hardworking game shop?
I don't have a complete answer to this. I am trying to work through the issue, and maybe change my approach to one or the other thing.
First, there is a qualitative difference between running a raffle and putting together a creative work. A raffle only requires a way of randomizing (and I might suppose that a game shop would have some such method available to them), while a creative work requires a lot of very difficult, time-consuming work. As an author (published, actually, albeit as a co-author) and game designer (unpublished, but with an actual local following, even among gamers I've never met in person), I am very aware of this.
Second… no, actually. That first point is all I need. No matter how many conventions the people involved might have attended in the pursuit of their own interests, it shouldn't take four months to get five minutes together to randomize a winner, then perhaps another couple of minutes to post the results on Facebook, and finally email the winner (I exaggerate the amount of time slightly, but if the whole thing takes them more than an hour of work in total, they're doing it wrong). That is many orders of magnitude easier than putting together a published creative work.
That's not to say that NUNYA brought up the Kickstarter matter, but I hope that s/he isn't going around saying anything negative about, say, James Maliszewski's issues with getting Dwimmermount produced, given the extreme forgiveness that s/he is willing to give to a derelict game shop who took work from freelancers in exchange for a (currently unfulfilled) raffle entry.
Also, I updated in the last entry, but I do want to reiterate that Chronicle City Games, after my recent prodding, has said that they will post a winner tomorrow.
I don't have a complete answer to this. I am trying to work through the issue, and maybe change my approach to one or the other thing.
First, there is a qualitative difference between running a raffle and putting together a creative work. A raffle only requires a way of randomizing (and I might suppose that a game shop would have some such method available to them), while a creative work requires a lot of very difficult, time-consuming work. As an author (published, actually, albeit as a co-author) and game designer (unpublished, but with an actual local following, even among gamers I've never met in person), I am very aware of this.
Second… no, actually. That first point is all I need. No matter how many conventions the people involved might have attended in the pursuit of their own interests, it shouldn't take four months to get five minutes together to randomize a winner, then perhaps another couple of minutes to post the results on Facebook, and finally email the winner (I exaggerate the amount of time slightly, but if the whole thing takes them more than an hour of work in total, they're doing it wrong). That is many orders of magnitude easier than putting together a published creative work.
That's not to say that NUNYA brought up the Kickstarter matter, but I hope that s/he isn't going around saying anything negative about, say, James Maliszewski's issues with getting Dwimmermount produced, given the extreme forgiveness that s/he is willing to give to a derelict game shop who took work from freelancers in exchange for a (currently unfulfilled) raffle entry.
Also, I updated in the last entry, but I do want to reiterate that Chronicle City Games, after my recent prodding, has said that they will post a winner tomorrow.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
That's Unfortunate
Back in August, Chronicle City Games set up a raffle for $100 worth of gaming materials (any publisher, not just Chronicle City). The entry "fee" was to provide them with a list, including contact info, of game stores local to the entrant, information that has monetary value to them.
That sounds like a win-win type of deal, right? Except that it has now been over three months and they have not named a winner. I have personally emailed them a number of times and was assured that such an announcement would have been made on 29 October. That date passed, and I waited patiently. Then, on 17 November, I sent them another email, gently reminding them of their promise. This time, there was no response to the email, nor was there an announcement. It's been over two weeks that I have been waiting, and so now I just want to warn people about the deceptive practices of Chronicle City Games.
So, I'd like to ask that you not shop Chronicle City Games.
We'll see. In any case, it may not be that their practices are deceptive, but that they have only made a professional blunder. The claim is that "November was a double whammy of conventions (the last this weekend just gone)". That doesn't explain why the 29 October date came and went, but I am still willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
FURTHER EDIT: If this matter interests you, please read the next two posts in this blog, as there were further matters that followed on. The short version is that the company not only made good on their promises, but actually exceeded them as a way to apologize for their failings.
That sounds like a win-win type of deal, right? Except that it has now been over three months and they have not named a winner. I have personally emailed them a number of times and was assured that such an announcement would have been made on 29 October. That date passed, and I waited patiently. Then, on 17 November, I sent them another email, gently reminding them of their promise. This time, there was no response to the email, nor was there an announcement. It's been over two weeks that I have been waiting, and so now I just want to warn people about the deceptive practices of Chronicle City Games.
We'll see. In any case, it may not be that their practices are deceptive, but that they have only made a professional blunder. The claim is that "November was a double whammy of conventions (the last this weekend just gone)". That doesn't explain why the 29 October date came and went, but I am still willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
FURTHER EDIT: If this matter interests you, please read the next two posts in this blog, as there were further matters that followed on. The short version is that the company not only made good on their promises, but actually exceeded them as a way to apologize for their failings.
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