Hillside Games, Asheville: The Unfriendly Local Game Store

[BASHMAN]

How about naming it "Better Than Hillside Games".

 

[82dcustomer]

I just read this whole thread. I live in the surrounding area and I hate that they are doing this. I used to patronize that store back when I played Pirates pocket models.

There is a lawyer in Marion, NC, which is about 30 minutes East of Asheville, by the name of Krynn Evans. He has been a gamer for over 20 years and may be willing to help out with some advice. That is about the best I can do since I stopped shopping there years ago.

 

[Warunsun]

It is terrible that the store owners are harassing the gentleman trying to open his game store. It is in incredibly poor taste in a lot of ways and I am certain it is illegal in more than one way. The economy is always challenging for game store owners especially folks getting into the business brand new. The best thing he could do is ignore them and ask others to do the same. He is going to be spending lots of money just to get his own new store running and doesn't need to be bothered by any tangential legal fees. The harassing store owner from the other side of town is definitely in the wrong but it would cost money to prove it and really isn't worth it. Lawyers make all the money in these situations and not the store owners. Save your money for your business. Keep your chin up new entrepreneur and good luck on your new business.

 

[KesselZero]

1. If I ever get over to visit my friends in Asheville, I'll be shopping at Wyvern's Tale (or whatever the name ends up being) out of principle.

2. The real wyvernstale.com is pretty awesome.

 

[Sebastrd]

If anyone's curious, here's some email traffic between myself and Hillside games since last night.

My initial message to Hillside Games:[sblock]Dear Hillside Games,

Your recent actions with regard to The Wyvern's Tale are deplorable. Cybersquatting on your competitors' domain name may have seemed a clever tactic initially, but I hope you have realized by now that it was extremely short-sighted, not to mention illegal. However, attempting to silence the resulting outcry from the community is even worse. And threatening to sue for libel is nothing short of ludicrous. Might I suggest that at your earliest possible convenience you:

1) Make a public and heartfelt apology for you are most definitely in the wrong
2) Make arrangements to relinquish your claim to your competitors' domain names
3) Hire competent legal council to advise you on the niceties of such legal terms as libel

I can assure you that at this point I will never do business with your establishment. Please, do not have a nice day.[/sblock]

Their reply:[sblock]I appreciate your comments over email instead of my Facebook page. Allowing for more than a business day to deal with such matters is frequently necessary. As matters proceed forward please note that according to ICANN policy domain names can not be released for 60 days after registration. We are not ignoring the issue, I can assure you. However this barrage of attacks is serving to do nothing except inflame a situation that was actually going to be resolved quite peacefully before this all began had we been given more than 1 business day to respond to the initial message. The barrage of emails and Facebook messages I/we have received have been both threatening and harassing.

You however seem to be a competent and reasonable Individual. I am sure that my reply to you will be relayed back. If this barrage of attacks stops on our pages we will be able to enter into a proper discourse with the individual's that we actually need to talk with.

Hillside Games[/sblock]

My reply, and probably end of the coversation:[sblock]Amanda,

I appreciate your reply, and can very much appreciate your situation. I'm sure the rapidity and intensity of the response was unexpected and overwhelming. I sincerely hope that you find a way to resolve the situation.[/sblock]

 

[Lwaxy]

Amazing to what length people go to eliminate competition that is none.

 

[reapersaurus]

I read the thread on BGG that referred here - my sympathies to the store owners for having jerk cybersquatters get in the way of their store duties.

Maybe this has been mentioned before, but if you're trying to invoke a fantasy tavern, why not use the name Wyvern's Tavern?

 

[Nareau]

Their reply: Allowing for more than a business day to deal with such matters is frequently necessary.

In the time it took them to write that email, they could have written instead, "We realize we made a mistake registering those domains, and are working to resolve the situation with The Wyvern's Tale." It doesn't take a day to apologize.

 

[skinnydwarf]

Maybe they don't want to make a public apology, because they think that would be bad PR, and draw attention to the story to people who haven't heard it already. Maybe they just want to give the domains back and hope it goes away. Once they give the domains back word will trickle around that they've now done the right thing. /rampant speculation

 

[Aeolius]

All I know is that I want to travel from Greensboro to Asheville, for a butter beer and game at the Wyvern's Tale.... or tail... or whatever.