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<blockquote data-quote="Bluemoon" data-source="post: 1016453" data-attributes="member: 11741"><p>These are a couple of letters to the editor written in response to the article:</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>I worked freelance with Wizards of the Coast for 10 months in 1995, while John Tynes was there. Though I never saw the promiscuity he describes -- must have been employees-only -- I can vouch for the company's stultifying reliance on consensus. </p><p></p><p>When I saw John the day he gave notice at Wizards, he said getting something done there was like pushing through gauze. I knew just what he meant. Over months of strenuous effort I had secured approval for my own project, a card set for Magic: The Gathering, from about eight or nine R&D designers, managers and marketers. My little set clawed its way onto the schedule; I saw Gantt charts and everything. But ultimately, mysteriously, it died. Some empowered entry-level Wizard, in some remote reach of the flattened Wizards hierarchy, objected to it. </p><p></p><p>In trying to make gaming as big as the movies, Wizards unwittingly mimicked the Hollywood movie-making process. 99.9 percent of screenplays never get produced; 90 out of every 100 movies that start filming never finish; complete films get shelved before release all the time. In movies, anyone at any time can say, "Let's not do it." At Wizards in its early years, nothing could happen unless everyone, including receptionists and mail clerks, approved. </p><p></p><p>A year or so after I left, though, things changed. Wizards CEO Peter Adkison put executives in place that could actually make decisions. I always admired Peter's ability to learn, and I don't know how well that ability comes across in John's fine article. Derisive gossip referred to Peter as Pooh-bear: bumbling aimlessly along, getting his head stuck in the honey jar, pulling it out, and resuming his amiable hum. But the guy managed to ride the Wizards tiger for years, took it from strength to strength and finally sold for $350 million. Meanwhile, the gossips are still trying to make rent. </p><p></p><p>-- Allen Varney</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>As an online editor specializing in science fiction and gaming, I could see every bit of the commonality between Wizards' early gestalt and the dot-com lunacy. It would be nice for both industries to make the transition to the mainstream with their energy and passion intact; but I suspect those qualities are nearly always doomed to the fringe. They're vital for the creation of a concept, but not for the transformation of concept to property. They're just too alien to the middlemen to survive for very long. </p><p></p><p>-- Shane Ivey</p><p></p><p>***</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bluemoon, post: 1016453, member: 11741"] These are a couple of letters to the editor written in response to the article: *** I worked freelance with Wizards of the Coast for 10 months in 1995, while John Tynes was there. Though I never saw the promiscuity he describes -- must have been employees-only -- I can vouch for the company's stultifying reliance on consensus. When I saw John the day he gave notice at Wizards, he said getting something done there was like pushing through gauze. I knew just what he meant. Over months of strenuous effort I had secured approval for my own project, a card set for Magic: The Gathering, from about eight or nine R&D designers, managers and marketers. My little set clawed its way onto the schedule; I saw Gantt charts and everything. But ultimately, mysteriously, it died. Some empowered entry-level Wizard, in some remote reach of the flattened Wizards hierarchy, objected to it. In trying to make gaming as big as the movies, Wizards unwittingly mimicked the Hollywood movie-making process. 99.9 percent of screenplays never get produced; 90 out of every 100 movies that start filming never finish; complete films get shelved before release all the time. In movies, anyone at any time can say, "Let's not do it." At Wizards in its early years, nothing could happen unless everyone, including receptionists and mail clerks, approved. A year or so after I left, though, things changed. Wizards CEO Peter Adkison put executives in place that could actually make decisions. I always admired Peter's ability to learn, and I don't know how well that ability comes across in John's fine article. Derisive gossip referred to Peter as Pooh-bear: bumbling aimlessly along, getting his head stuck in the honey jar, pulling it out, and resuming his amiable hum. But the guy managed to ride the Wizards tiger for years, took it from strength to strength and finally sold for $350 million. Meanwhile, the gossips are still trying to make rent. -- Allen Varney *** As an online editor specializing in science fiction and gaming, I could see every bit of the commonality between Wizards' early gestalt and the dot-com lunacy. It would be nice for both industries to make the transition to the mainstream with their energy and passion intact; but I suspect those qualities are nearly always doomed to the fringe. They're vital for the creation of a concept, but not for the transformation of concept to property. They're just too alien to the middlemen to survive for very long. -- Shane Ivey *** [/QUOTE]
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