John I don't know how long you've been into Glorantha-based role playing but would you mind me airing a word of advice?: don't take any of these things so personally. Take the products when they come (because they are great), contribute to content if you can (but with a light heart) and don't let release timings affect your playing habits (releases are only tools at the end of the day).
I'm sorry if you feel offended by the directness of this post (and I expect we should have moved to another list by now anyway) but the issues you, and others, raise concerns about have always been there. Believe me, people involved in production for this, our hobby, always take notice of complaints of this kind and are not unaffected by them. I do suspect though that the hardness of the tone and the demanding nature of the complaints might weigh very heavily too, so how about a little understanding instead of a 'paying customer' point of view. Perhaps some pragmatism at the very least?
I think I can sense the frustration felt by you and others (and have felt it myself at times over the years) and I empathise but (in my opinion) you are not looking at things in the right way. Benedict is right - these productions are not done in the same way (or with the same aims) to which you are used, so I believe you need to take a different tack when you feel the frustration.
I'm not writing on behalf of anybody, this is my own opinion - shared with people I consider friends, peers and like-minders.
From: HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
[mailto:HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John Machin
Sent: 03 April 2009 00:34
To: HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Re: How about a sample conversion to HQ2?
2009/4/3 Benedict Adamson <yahoo_at_badamson.
<mailto:yahoo%40badamson.nildram.co.uk> nildram.co.uk>:
> To talk about assets and resourcing in this context seems, well,...
> bizarre.
They are words, and the things that the mean are relevant here. If they are bound up in specific contexts for you then I don't know what to tell you. Even artisanal projects can benefit from prioritisation of work, and re-examination of the priorities from time to time.
> By profession, I'm a programmer. I've also been a contributor to an open
> source software project, so I've seen the other side. I've seen people
> turn up, stated how things should or should not be, and criticised the
> hard work of others, but contributed nothing. At best these people are
> politely ignored. As they should be.
If Glorantha was an open source project then I might consider this point of view. It just isn't though.
Maintaining the external semblance of a "professional" or "closed shop" operation creates certain expectations. You might wonder if anyone thought this about the producers but I can assure you that *I* did. I was faintly horrified to hear that people were compensated only unofficially for their contributions of time and effort. I never connected this model of production with Moon Design because their visible practices did not seem to be those of a fan-based, volunteer-driven, artisanal approach to creating content. This weird hybrid confuses me, and I expect that it confuses others too.
I also find the implication you make that any criticism should be
ignored to be vaguely offensive. However I prefer my offense to be
constant and obvious so I principally use IGQ as my fix for this. I am
somewhat at a loss about how I could have indicated my desire to
participate without writing 50,000 words and sending them off into the
ether with high hopes or without already having an established
relationship, painstakingly earned over seventeen conventions, with a
member of the production team.
You can't offer a closed door and then say "Well why didn't anyone come
in?".
> Arguably, every e-mail written by David Dunham, Jeff Richards or Rick
> Meints about the HQ2 project, and the publication of the Continuum draft
> rules, were all resources expended on expectations management.
I grant that - and I go on to *say* that there could have been, *imply* that their should have been, and *hope* that in future there will be, more than that.
-- John Machin "Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All." - Athanasius Kircher, 'The Great Art of Knowledge'.
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