The Le Games: Apology to the Gaming Community

[TheLe]

Everyone is sorry after they get caught. I'd already decided after Vikings (which I still bought because I was so impressed with the author and wanted to show support for him) that I wouldn't buy another one of your products and quit your Yahoo Group based on some sexist comments and an attack on a prominent woman in RPG publishing. I can't say I'm surprised by this childish behavior either.

People reading this thread have every right to voice their disdain of my actions regarding this matter. But please do not make false accusations of sexism.

Jaerdaph is speaking of the topic in the The Le Games Yahoo Group concerning this "prominent woman" who publicly bashed me in her blog and allowed other publishers to come on and do the same. Their actions were reprehensible, but everyone rallied behind them anyway. I made it very clear that I held no ill will against this "prominent woman", but the conversation continued.

One of the people in the Group (which is free for anyone to join) responded by saying that the prominent woman "needs to get laid". I responded by disagreeing with comment, but I also made it very clear that everyone in the Group has the right to speak their mind as long as it doesn't get too nasty.

A few people were dissatisfied that I didn't censor the members or start restricting what can be said, and left the group. Of course, they never got to see the apology that the original poster left moments later.

I hold no ill will to people who choose to leave my Yahoo Group, but making false accusations of sexism just isn't cool.

-The Le

 

[Greg K]

Yes, the OP did something wrong. I can't defend what he did, but I would like to share a different experience that I had with Mr. Le.

Last year my father passed away. About six months prior to his passing (about Christmas time), the insurance company decided that they would no longer pay to keep him in the hospital and sent him home to "die". I had mentioned this at ENWorld in another thread going on at the time.

A day later, there was a message in my inbox. A publisher had sent me some complimentary pdfs. I had not asked for anything from anyone and I had not mentioned what I and my family was going through in hopes of getting anything. However, it was, a gesture of support and an attempt to bring a little brightness into my life from somebody on these boards that I had never met. The publisher was The Le.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you. It doesn't excuse his lapse of judgment. However, I hope that sharing my experience will show a more positive side to Mr. Le and that those of you reading this will accept his apology, his attempt to make ammends and, hopefully, give him a second chance (even if cautiously).

Thank you

 

[Treebore]

Apology accepted. I am not going to act like I have never done stupid things in my life and am therefore "above you" and able to judge you to a standard I don't even know if I have achieved.

So in understanding that we all do stupid things, and all hopefully learn from them, I forgive you and hope you will be a better person for it. Meaning actually learning the lesson to be learned.

 

[Urizen]

S**T happens.

The guy got caught, and was spanked for it. He took his licks and has even gone a step further, by coming out publicly to announce what he did.

That takes courage, to step in front of your fan base and say "I've been lying to you all this time, I was wrong, I'm sorry."

People make mistakes.

It's easy to sit back in judgment, waggle a finger and condemm the guy. It's harder to say, "Ok, I choose to forgive what you did."

Thele:

I choose to forgive what you did.

My only real issue I have with this is that it suddenly casts doubt on the credibility whole review process. It makes people wonder if what they are reading is really the truth.

I know I don't "seed" good reviews in hopes of getting a sale.

Every review score I've received is because someone else took the time to review it, and they reviewed it without bias.

I certainly believe that is the case with the vast majority of publishers out there. Please, don't lynch us all because one person made a mistake.

 

[Ranger REG]

It's good of you to apologize, despite comments that you're only doing so because you got caught. It would be even worse (and so will the comments) if you have not.

Do expect that not everyone will forgive you.

Learn from your lesson, that the ends do not always justify the means.

And just because a critic says it is a good product, it may not be a good product for you, consumers. You make the final decision.

 

[Ranger REG]

It's good of you to apologize, despite comments that you're only doing so because you got caught. It would be even worse (and so will the comments) if you have not.

Do expect that not everyone will forgive you.

Learn from your lesson, that the ends do not always justify the means.

And just because a critic says it is a good product, it may not be a good product for you, consumers. You make the final decision.

 

[frankthedm]

I generally suspect some bias in reviews, whether it come from being a planted review or a bribe of free product.

Well, thank you for the free stuff.

A few people were dissatisfied that I didn't censor the members or start restricting what can be said, and left the group. Of course, they never got to see the apology that the original poster left moments later.

Yeah, that is how things tend to go. They start out, out to get you, and once they find something, the latch onto it.

 

[Greg K]

I generally suspect some bias in reviews, whether it come from being a planted review or a bribe of free product.

Yeah, I'm always a little suspicious-especially if one person is alway giving high ratings to a company.
I learned my lesson after buying WEG's DCUniverse. The person was well known in the DC Heroes RPG online community and I liked some of the stuff he had done for the newsgroup. So, I purched DCU on his review. Unfortuantely, several powers, lifting and super movements all were ugly in how they were handled(a shame, because the game had a lot of other things going for it) Later, he admitted to writing a glowing review in hope of getting some freelance work from WEG for the game (Note: He did this on his own accord without any prompting from WEG).

Anyway sorry for drifting a little off topic.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Don't get me wrong, but who cares? Seriously, who cares? AFAIK OBS/RPGNOW doesn't pay to have their own impartial group of quality reviewers so instead they let any yahoo on the internet post a review without any quality control mechanism in place that prevents abuse from occurring in the first place.

So yea, it's not surprising that the site's review system was abused; and at least you owned up to it unlike the dozens to hundreds of other publishers who have abused the system (or are continuing to do so) and will go on unnoticed.

 

[FraserRonald]

Let there be no mistake, what The Le did was wrong. I'm condemning the action.

Personally, for me, no biggie. I have never trusted RPG Now/OBS review system. There's no quality control. And while I don't have evidence that would be accepted in court, I have definitely seen situations that strongly suggest someone gaming the system. And none of the situations I observed involved The Le.

When RPGN had the "official reviewers," things got better. Those were the reviews I would look at. SEP got some 3 star reviews that pulled down our average rating, but I wouldn't argue with any of those reviews. Same for the stuff I used to see on EN World. And, Crothian, you have a name I trust. You should know The Le's actions haven't coloured my perceptions of reviewers, because there were only a select few I trusted anyway. You were one of them.

For The Le, I'm a little bit dumbfounded. Your stuff is usually top drawer, so I wouldn't think you'd need to game the reviews.

Water under the bridge. Bad decision. Revelation. Punishment. Some embarassment (usually one of the best punishments). Life goes on.