sharing the good vibes

[TheMouse]

I've been cruising the net for DFRPG related interviews and the like. I just finished one at gameplaywright.net. I stumbled upon a quote by Fred:

"If I were to somehow distill it all I’d say the project has taught me that living life as a publisher with maximum transparency is all kinds of good for you. It gets fans on board and watching your back. It keeps people from feeling like you’re hiding a failure from them. It brings people into the circle with you, to where they’re with you along on that journey. So when you make big honking rookie mistakes — like we did — they understand, they forgive, and they help you get back on your feet."

And I just need to say, bravo. I really wish other game companies would learn this lesson. I'm not going to name names, but there's another gaming company I used to be a huge fan of that has totally put me off by being so opaque with their game design process; it's made things incredibly frustrating when something's obviously going wrong, but no one in the know will say anything about it. With Evil Hat, they just pop online and say what's up. It doesn't totally get rid of the frustration, but it makes it feel almost like you're on the same team since you know they're feeling the same frustration.

Thank you guys. I just wanted to say that you're doing it right.

[iago]

Ain't no other way we'd do it. Thanks as always for the support, man.

[blackheart]

TheMouse said it for me too, Fred. For all that you do, thank-you.

[Shecky]

Yup. Fred, reading your blog and your Twitter stuff makes me realize that if other companies were this open and forthright, there'd be a lot less Business-Is-Evil mindset among consumers.

[finarvyn]

"Thumbs up" from me as well. Having watched the playtest doc grow and evolve over the years (from Bleeding Alpha through Buning Alpha to Beta) and watching the page count creep up to just under 700 pages, I marvel at the total love for the project and total time committed to making this a fantastic RPG.

Heck, FATE had to undergo an overhaul. Spirit of the Century was almost a pre-DFRPG to see how the system would work. The magic and aspect systems had to undergo major evolution in order to fit the Dresdenverse.

People simply waiting impatiently and wondering "what can be taking these guys so long" have no idea how much sweat and love has gone into this project, and at the forefront are guys like Fred and Rob. It would have been so easy to cut corners, but it didn't happen that way.

Thanks for guiding this project!

[Ancalagon]

Coming from a large organization that tries (or at least, says it tries) to be transparent, I'm familiar with the subject.  And the biggest obstacle is often courage (as in, lack of).  Being transparent takes the guts to be confident in what you are doing, and be willing to be criticized.   Kudos!

[Shecky]

I've always had much more confidence as a consumer in companies that were clearly more honest and open. Admitting to snags instead of keeping the customer in the dark is always to be preferred - I'd rather know up-front that the product or service I'm waiting on is in need of particular refinements or is undergoing further needed adjustments, than not hear anything at all.

[finarvyn]

Agreed, and there were several times when it was necessary to backtrack and do parts over in order to get it right. I think this was a painful but necessary part of the process.

[Shecky]

Absolutely. It's almost painfully evident that there's a strong love for the game they're making and that they want it to be right before releasing it. An unusual and admirable sentiment in today's business world.

[mrsleep]

I want to add my congrats and thanks as well.  I wouldn't have been half as interested in this project if I hadn't had the various press releases and updates to explain what was going on, what had gone wrong, and what to expect next.

Beyond all of the status reports there were the content related updates that have given me (someone unfamiliar with FATE) insight into how cool this game is and how much I need to buy it.


Thanks for all the sneak peeks