Unfulfilled Promises

[kingandy]

January has come and January has gone, and Maelstrom has failed to materialise. Allegedly the mailshot has/willsoonbe gone out, but that's just not good enough. We were promised January. I demand my money back!

It's something I've found myself saying a lot lately, but is no less true for it: if you give somebody something for free they get annoyed when you take it away. And even if you know it belongs to you - you were being generous letting them use it for a time - you feel bad about depriving them. Especially when they look up at you with their big, brown doe eyes and say "Oh please Andy, I won't be much longer, I just have to finish chatting to everyone then you can have your computer back..."

Really, it's like kicking a puppy. Which is why I found myself watching the X-Men movie last night. Sigh.

Comments

Re:

[kingandy]

I know, I know. It still hurts though.

I'm mostly annoyed about the website... We demand instant gratification! None of this "Hard Copy" kerfuffle.

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

Not everything has to be done on the web. Not everyone has web access for a starter and there is something to be said for having thr hard copy in front of you. There really is.

Re:

[kingandy]

Don't you come around here, with your "facts" and your "logic"! We don't need your kind...

Seriously though, I'm not suggesting you rely entirely on the web. Just slap a big-ass PDF up there for those of us who are capable. You know you want to.

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

Nope. Any PDF would have to be at stupidly low res compared to the printed version or be too big for almost anyone's download speeds. Not going to happen.

Just hang in there for 3 or 4 more days, thats all it is.

Re:

[samharber.livejournal.com]

Some of us have corporate bandwidth to waste.

And boy, do I enjoy wasting it.

Re:

[kingandy]

If Omega can manage it, so can you. Fie! Fie, I say!

We love you really. I'm just saying, we could love you more.

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

And that is a very very different type of rulebook to Maelstroms. You will see. You will love us much more.

Re:

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

I am always amused at the optimism of LRP organisers.

[ghostbritain.livejournal.com]

That's just a poor excuse, and you should know it.

As far as i can tell, 90% of your audience have web access and read Pagga.
And as many bells & whistles your rule book has, the larger majority of those who wish to attend would be more than happy with html text version they can cut & paste, download, print off etc.

The argument 'not everything has to be done on the web' is fair enough, but i'm guessing it's going to be a right royal pain personally posting out the finely engraved and platinum gilded rules that are, i expect, illuminated on the cured skins of unborn calves.

I'm not a computer nerd, but even i know that setting up a basic html link with text takes no actual time. And is user friendly, and doesn't disappoint, and doesn't invite comparisons to both 'Matrix:reloaded' and 'StarWars:The Phantom Menace'.

[delvy.livejournal.com]

It is, quite simply, not a poor excuse. Do you know what it is we are producing? Are you familiar with the background, the cosmology or the rules mechanics? The artwork, the photos and the text of the documents?

As the saying goes "Rome was not built in a day."

And, with the greatest of respect, you do no have any rights to demand the rulebook. You have nothing invested in it. You have paid nothing. In four months about thirty people have spent all their spare time and more trying to create a new, exciting and vibrant Fest system. This takes time, no matter how much effort goes into it; some of us only just managed to cling onto real lives.

90% of our audience do *not* have regular access to the internet despite what some people seem to think; in fact it amazes me that some users believe everyone else spends as much time on it as they do. Websites take development. We are creating a professional site for Profound Decisions; you might want the rules slapped up in a cheap and cheerful fashion but we are not going to provide that. We are trying to present a high quality product, above and beyond those that have gone before. I am sorry if you find that offensive.

Mr Raff, if you're listening, that was the end of my very long ad polite tether. I'll go and calm down now.

And as Mr Wilkin said. "It's only a fucking game"

Re:

[samharber.livejournal.com]

Must resist.... urge to provoke response....

Your right... we have no right to expect anything. However... this game has provoked an unprecedented level of expectation. It seems to be far exceeding even GDs pre and post event hype.

Its all the more amazing considering the short space of time its been done in.

However..... (theres always a however)

Most of us need to acquire costumes, sort out backgrounds etc, and we don't have a huge amount of time. I've got even less time, because I need to sort out stuff for Everichon a few weeks before.

So.... please understand our eagerness/impatience (delete whichever causes you most annoyance).

Perhaps we could bribe you?

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

And you will have the information you need by next weekend. Soon enough.

Re:

[kingandy]

Chill, chill. Nobody's ungrateful for the immense work and effort that's gone into this. Nobody's suggesting just plonking the thing on a website and leaving it at that, relying on word of mouth and broadband intarweb connections to support the Volcano God.

We're just surprised that, given we have previously assumed the rulebook will ultimately be in some sequential, paper-based format, it's unavailable for download at all. Certain obfuscated hints have led us to believe it is in a format unrenderable by the inkjet printer or computer screen, leading to the hypothetical gold-ebossed calf-skin nature of the thing.

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

Ultimately you will be able to dsownload it, but not in the form that it went to the printers in, and any other form takes time to produce. It is not as simple as cutting and pasting text in, especially when you have tables, or maps, or the suchlike; if only it were. *sigh*

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

I should also point out that I have had a minimum of five people per day asking me if it is out yet, if the website is up, etc, etc. On average about 10 per day. Since Decemeber. I make that about a total of 600 pokes, including some real whinges about it, as Mr Raff will himself confess. This was just the last I was willing to take lying down given that we are stuffing envelopes as quickly as we can. Heh, if I'm blowing off steam here, at least it's not at teh event.... or when writing plot docs, as I am at the moment. Which group you going with Mr Mason? ;-)

Re:

[kingandy]

I'm still officially undecided (I've been holding off until the rules come out and I get to find out all about the rich, verdant tapestry that you have woven), but I am being slowly drawn in by the veritable maelstrom of froth that is the Sunderland Massive (Clan Anaguma).

I get to wear japanese clothes! And honour! Wheeee!

Re:

[myki.livejournal.com]

I'm to understand I can say whatever I want as long as I end my post with the word "fluff"... with that in mind..

So what your saying is your haven't got it done yet? Tsk, in my day we'd off destroyed the world by now.

fluff

Hmmm doesn't seem to work... makes me sound like a cretin.. Oh well, all I need to know is... Should I start making my curtains material frock coat or not? To hell with the rules! I want to be dapper.

Re:

[ghostbritain.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. You've (or somebody like you) has hyped (or allowed it to be hyped) the system beyond all expectations.
People loved Omega, and then when they were still in mourning, Maelstrom was announced.
Then the froth started as people started suggesting things, and, frankly, it IS THE MOST ANTICIPATED LRP EVENT THIS YEAR, OR JUST ABOUT ANYOTHER YEAR!
Then you make promises that you don't keep.
So far, as i can see, it's entirely bells and whistles, and currently no substance.

You may as well be proclaiming that you've developed safe and reliable cold fusion, then not actually letting people see the lab test.

Re:

[kingandy]

Wait, never mind. I just remembered what's in the mailshot.

Alright, you win.

Re:

[delvy.livejournal.com]

I was waiting for you to remember. Well done. I put the total data size of all that is contained in the mailshot at substantially over a gig. Even corporate nabndwidth would choke.

Re:

[ghostbritain.livejournal.com]

Wait, i've just thought!

Currently Maestrom only exits as a pagga board and as a word of mouth myth.

That is why i believe most of those who are interested in the system have net access.
Because it only exists on the web.

I for one have not been made aware of any other format it exists in.

Also, i'm not demanding a rule book, i'm suggesting that the website should be up, with a basic, temporary, version of the rules, which would instantly stop wankers like myself pestering you.

The only person i know who has any solid idea of the system is Katy Bacon, who sneeked a peek at Matts paper copy of the rules.

Now, if Matt has a paper copy of the rules, then i guess that the rest of us can as well.

I've nothing against fancy rule books, i own limited edition fancy WoD books that cost £50.
But really, they make no actual difference, and i would have been happy with a straight, normal copy.

Currently i'm reserving judgement on the whole thing until i can actually see the finished product. I don't want to turn up thinking it's the best thing ever (as all froth suggests) and then leave thinking it wasn't all that.

Re:

[kingandy]

"Currently Maestrom only exits as a pagga board and as a word of mouth myth."

True, but this does not comprise a goodly portion of the mailshot. The rules and associated snackies are being sent to everyone on the Omega mailing list, each and every customer who ever went to Omega, including the ones who've never heard of Pagga.

Re:

[blue-room.livejournal.com]

Mark W: dude, I've never met you so sorry if this comes across as rude but you really don't know what the f**k you're talking about.

90% of their audience on Pagga, do me a lemon, we're a minority in a minority. If they want to get the numbers they want they should have leaflets and posters in every RPG shop in the country and possibly even an ad in SFX. THATS how to advertise, Pagga is just a tool for people who already know about stuff and want to go to events, most people need a push to get off their arses and book. If it was as simple as you claim myself and Ed would be sitting on a beach in the south of france spending the profits of Pagga.con.

As for PDF's, wait until you see the rulebook, I'll be there waiting for the apology.

Re:

[kingandy]

Dude, I think you crossed a line with "The Phantom Menace."

Not even in jest.

Re:

[ghostbritain.livejournal.com]

Who said i was joking. Are you telling me it's not hyped? Massively? That people havn't been planning their communities and characters since, like, autumn? Or earlier?