Funny Email From a Publisher re. Reviews

[mroberon1972]

Hmnnn...

Hmnnn...

Unprofessional behavior...

Immature T&A covers on thier products...

Heck! Looks about right to me!

 

[Orco42]

Well. Never mind then.

I am glad this was just a mix up.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

well, looks like I owe the Colonel a dollar, I didn't guess it was Avalanche.

Wierd behaviour though. I always thought (from the endless threads decrying Avalanche's "stripper" covers) that they had a pretty good following amongst the folks here. There are always tons of people leaping to their defense in such threads, claiming the high quality of their historical supplements.

Even during the ENnies I know that Psion and I were solidly behind Black Flags for the setting category, and, had it been up to me, Blood Prince of Wallachia would've gotten the nod as well.

They don't need guaranteed positive reviews. Their products hold up.

Odd

Wow. Avalanche had been fading down my list of suspects...I really am bemused. Y'know, I thought "Blood Prince of Wallachia" was great, as is "I, Mordred" - the latter of which I bought with my own money (they sent a number of books for the ENnies). Matter of fact, I was going to write a good review for both, and I still will (EDIT: on second thought, I think I won't. This situation is too messed up for me to even come close to wanting to be involved with it). Why they are taking this stance, I don't know. I'm extremely disappointed, considering how much they've been improving the content of their books of late. I just mentioned them in a positive way on a thread in the Publishers forum.

 

[Ghostwind]

Avalanche's behavior really doesn't surprise me. As a company, they have issues that go beyond those implications presented here. People directly involved in the industry will know what I am talking about. This only blackens their reputation further in my book.

They sent me one product to review several months back (Black Flags). My review wasn't glowing, but neither was it ripping them apart. I called it as I saw it, which was a product with limited applications but that it had several good points (along with a few bad). After I sent them a copy of it, I received no further communications from them. No 'thank you', no nothing. Furthermore, additional attempts to contact them also resulted in silence. Apparently, given the letter Simon received, if you can't say something good, then you aren't allowed to say anything at all.

Considering that the d20 market is a small percentage of Avalanche's income (they are more geared towards historical wargaming) I doubt any backlash from all of this will affect them in the big picture of things. The most that could possibly happen is that they drop the d20 line, however, it is unlikely. But it would be nice if their people skills improved as a result. But even that's probably wishful thinking...

 

[Knight Otu]

Morrus,

Did you realize you forgot Psion's 3-star review of Twilight of Atlantis?

Grrr... No wonder I couldn't find them.

 

[Khan the Warlord]

Well, I created a poll here (tried to be as tactful as possible), to find out how everyone will act towards Avalanche Press after this.

I'm really not wanting any "mass-bashing" of AP, just honest opinions -- my own curiousity, if you will.

Thanks.

 

[NeoMunchkin]

I wont be buying their stuff either.

I also wrote them and told them as much.

-Neomunchkin

 

[jezter6]

I was going to withold judgement and see some of their products before jumping on the "never buy again" bandwagon. That is, until I did a little research on the company just tooling around after reading the last few posts.

It honestly seems to me like Avalanche has a "better than thou" attitude towards everybody. I happened to come across an interview with one of their writers (and general manager as of last year), and was appalled at the kind of rude answers he gave his interviewer. He was of no help answering questions, just telling everyone his short opinion of how things were. When asked questions about OGL and the d20 liscence, his answer was: I'm not a lawyer, go pay money and find out for yourself.

If this is the quality of a majority of their upper management, I can understand why everyone will stay away from their products. I for one, will not purchase anything from them from this point forward.

http://www.gamegrene.com/interviews/d20_questions_with_avalanche_press.shtml

Above is the link to this interview.

 

[JoeBlank]

I just want to say thanks to Morrus for taking a stand on this, and for filling us in on the details. If the integrity of this site's reviews were called into question I for one would have a much more difficult time making ANY d20 purchases.

For example, I recently received an unexpected (but well-deserved) bonus from my generous employer. Of course, I decided to spend a little of the money to support my hobby/habit, and this site. I popped into the ENWorld reviews site, and started getting the scoop on a few products on my wish list. Then over to the messageboards for more info. Then over to the ENWorld Online Store to place my order.

On the boards, one publisher (Wulf of BadAxe) directed my attention to reviews here and elsewhere. One of his products has received a 3/5 from two different reviewers (neither of them ENWorld staff reviewers). However, he had taken the time to respond to the reviews (the comments are a handy feature), and one of them had even been increased from a 2 to a 3, thanks in part to his explanations. Of course, his products both average a 4 or better. Still, he was not afraid to point me to a source where I would read negative comments, and he took the time to address those comments. That is the right way to handle negative reviews.

I placed an order yesterday for 10 different d20 products. Among my choices were HOHF: Dwarves and HOHF: Half-Orcs (the entire BadAxe library!). I had only actually seen 2 out of the 10 products in stores (both WOTC publications), so I was purchasing a lot of stuff sight unseen. But thanks to the reviews here, and the info on the messageboards, I was able to make an informed decision as to what to buy.

So, short story long, thanks to Morrus and the others here for maintaining the integrity of the reviews on this site. And thanks for linking to this thread from the news page, as I doubt I would have found it otherwise. I feel even better about the money I spent, and can't wait to receive my order.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Well, for the most part I didn't think the interview was all that bad, until I got to this part:

"When you do this for a living, you find that you just don't play games for fun any more."

I have never been so in need of a free pass on the profanity filter before. Holy crap. More than anything I have seen yet, this to me is the definitive reason not to buy from them.

THEY DON'T EVEN PLAY THE GAME.


Wulf