I'd love to tell you why, but in this case it would not be professional to do so.Frankly, I think this is a load of horsehit. You want to act professionally and make sure CoC fans feel welcome at your show, Mr. Adkison? Then don't screw around with the CoC fans like this! It is obvious to me at this point that GenCon LLC is the repsonsible party here, because there's no legitimate threat that Chaosium could be holding over GenCon.
Please suffice it to say that we love Call of Cthulhu and we love the fine folks at Chaosium and we hope that CoC fans will feel welcome coming to our show. But we cannot allow CoC events at Gen Con Indy until certain confidential matters between our companies have been resolved.
In the meantime we are reserving space for CoC events in the hopes that these matters are resolved expediently to both parties' satisfaction.
Respectfully,
Peter D Adkison
CEO, Gen Con LLC
Even if Chaosium were threatening to litigate over the whole stupid actual-play-as-use-of-IP issue. There's three good reasons for GenCon not to bow to that kind of threat. One, running games at cons is their bread and butter. If they won't defend against this attack they have surrendered one of their primary reasons for existing. Two, the whole of informed RPG fandom would align with GenCon and against CoC. And three, Chaosium doesn't have enough money to actually go through with the case.
Seriously, how often do we hear that Chaosium is flat broke and near insolvency? How often to we hear that the next product on the release schedule will only come out if the current new release sells well? From my simple fan's perspective Chaosium has been on life support for over a decade. What was once a great company with a wide line of excellent games has now dwindled down to a niche company living parasitically off of H.P. Lovecraft's legacy.
And that is probably the whole source of the problem. The scuttlebutt on the net right now is that the Chaosium owes GenCon money.
If that's the real source of the trouble than GenCon and Adkison probably think they're playing hardball by pulling this 'no CoC games at our con' stunt. Speaking as a guy with over a decade in the field of debt collections, I call shenanigans. That's not hardball debt collection, that's reprehensibly unethical loanshark-style collections. If this scenario is true, it's the moral equivalent of me telling a customer's kids "I hope you enjoy walking to school" because I'm about to repo their dad's car.
I sincerely hope I'm wrong. I hope this speculation of mine is entirely off the mark. But until one or the other party speaks up, what else are people going to do but speculate?
UPDATE: More info and a different take on the matter courtesy RPG Pundit.
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If the issue really was Chaosium owing money? Then I have no problem with GenCon's action.
ReplyDeleteOne, GenCon is not a charity.
Two, the gaming industry is notorious for producing vast piles of yellowing invoices and "third and final notice" letters. IOW, gaming companies are famous for late payment, partial payment, disputed payment, or just plain blowing off payment. It's one of the markers of the industry. (And it's also why freelance writers and artists tend to go mad and leave the field.)
So, if GenCon reacted like this, it's probable that Chaosium either owed them a lot of money, or had owed them money for a very long time, or was being really obnoxious about paying money that they owed. Or all three.
I can understand you being ticked off. But consider the flip side. GenCon making a credible threat to Chaosium will make other gaming companies think twice about letting their GenCon accounts slide. GenCon's financial stability will improve. Since cons don't usually run at a profit, that's a good thing.
We've all been to cons that were underfunded: leaky roofs, bad lighting, crappy security, lost registrations, bad location, not enough chairs. They suck, right? So why would we want GenCon to go that way?
I'd rather see a healthy GenCon without Chaosium than a GenCon spiralling downwards into the red.
Doug M.
I have no problem with GenCon getting the money it is owed. Dragging the fans into the mess is not the way to do it, IMHO. There are legal remedies for unpaid debts and Adkison should be pursuing those, not screwing with the fans.
ReplyDelete"There are legal remedies for unpaid debts and Adkison should be pursuing those, not screwing with the fans."
ReplyDeleteWell, but 'not screwing with the fans' = 'allowing Chaosium to attend again', right?
So, they would be suing Chaosium for debt, while at the same time allowing them to run up _still more_ debt. Hmm.
A court action is expensive and can drag on for months or years. It's a last resort. Cutting off credit is easier and simpler.
And more effective! Notice that for all the fan outrage, the outcome is that /it worked/. The dispute was settled -- presumably, Chaosium paid its debts -- and now everyone gets to enjoy Chaosium games.
Look, either Chaosium could pay, or it couldn't. If they could pay, then they were just being dicks. If they couldn't, then the outcome of a court action would be to force them into bankruptcy... which would result in no Chaosium games.
-- Here's an analogy. When I was in school, there was a cool little coffeeshop across the street from my dorm. Cheap coffee, cute waitresses, in the evenings they'd have music or amateur standup. Great place to hang out.
Early one autumn, the landlord kicked them out. Turned out the management had spent a little too much time on funky ambience and not enough time on making sure the rent was paid. They were something like six months behind. So the landlord pulled the plug.
The student community was, understandably, pissed. There was this cool little community, and it was being destroyed. People protested, put up signs, wrote angry letters.
Understandably pissed... but, you know, they were /wrong/. The landlord was supposed to give up his rent so that we could have our fun?
Anyway, it seems to be over now.
Doug M.
Well, but 'not screwing with the fans' = 'allowing Chaosium to attend again', right?
ReplyDeleteSo, they would be suing Chaosium for debt, while at the same time allowing them to run up _still more_ debt. Hmm.
Doug, I would have been fine with barring Chaosium from the con if its bill are unpaid. But banning the playing of their games was one step too far. That's what got my nickers in a bunch.
Playing hardball with Chaosium seems to be the best way to make them pay attention. I'm still working on it myself.
ReplyDelete