I'm not an official spokesman for Issaries, Inc. but I have offered to help Greg Stafford with jump-starting some efforts to increase the popularity of Hero Wars in the US. In particular, while we were in Germany for Tentacles in May, Greg, several GTA members, and I chatted about what could be done for the game.
Nothing has been finalized yet, but here is a safely accurate summary of a few things that are in the works:
People who volunteer to RUN games at cons and
game shops will get rewarded with membership
in the GTA as one of the perks. What the actual
system will be like is still undecided.
Issaries wants to give people the chance to
earn some "sweat equity" by running games and
helping recruit new players. How much people
will get rewarded, etc. has NOT been decided
yet, so please don't ask. We'll announce it
when we know more of how the program will work.
Chances are it may be very similar to how other
companies reward volunteers, like SJG's "men
in black" or the "demo monkees" at Cheapass Games.
David Cake sez:
"There is nothing at all wrong with the GTA
rewarding those who spend the money. That's
what the GTA is for, it's a cause we all support,
and I was glad to have a way to feel like I supported
Issaries. But it can seem a bit mercenary,
and a bit like an artificial class system."
To which I sez:
Without trying to get into a marxist sytle
debate (at least not without Trotsky...)
"Artificial" class systems are inevitable.
I've never really heard of a "natural"
class system anyway. Any time a group of
Gloranthans gets together basic group
dynamics will start to take hold. The GTA
isn't a class system anyway. It merely
divides people into three groups, based solely
on how much money they have given, and it
also has a "lifetime achievement" category
welded on for David and Sandy.
In particular, take a look at the Heroes list. Over 80% of them are solely monetary patrons (bless 'em) and aren't writers (or similar). The number of Runemasters only slightly less so.
Email me, and let me know why it's "mercenary". This is getting to be a bit much for this list, even though I'm enjoying the posts.
Rick
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