Jim Ward's latest 900 Words: More Bombast

[Felon]

There's no such thing as bad publicity, maybe? I would love to know the answer to this, my final question: How many hits did the FFE website garner before these articles and how many have they recieved because of these articles? Hey, if they can get you into their "store" as it were, maybe you'll shop around and find something you actually like.

Harlock, if they don't have a good product, then this is not helping them much. Just getting more people on the anti-FFE bandwagon, as it were.

If FFE products are good (and I only have a couple, both rather mediocre IMO but neither written by Jim Ward or Lester) then great! I just helped boost the sales of a company that deserves your gaming dollar!

Either way, I'm not worried about any free press they're getting. And yes, there is bad press, in this industry and most others. Bad press causes sales to slump and stocks to drop.

 

[WizarDru]

To pick one of your other comments: "DragonballZ cardgame would be a winner no matter who put it out. That was a cash cow waiting to happen."

Like "Buffy", "Wheel of Time", and other popular IPs turned into CCG's were cash cows waiting to happen?

A valid point, but I don't think that's really comparing apples to oranges, market-wise. DBZ's appeal is what brought young boys in the target age category of, say, 8-12 into the game. A reasonable mechanic would keep them there. WoT and Buffy don't regularly attract (or attempt to attract) that audience, nor are they multimedia sensations in the same fashion. One doesn't go into party city and get a WoT or Buffy set of party 'goodie bags', with matching hats, tablecloth, paper plates and cups. With the exception of the occasional T-shirt, there is little in the way of vast marketing tie-ins for those two series, while DBZ's cross-marketing is legendary. Further, neither of those two prior series have ever received the same level of marketing push that Bandai has thrown behind such properties as DBZ or Pokemon. Consider how many toy commercials alone that DBZ has produced. It's the synergy that really drove DBZ.

You are correct that DBZ must have had a solid mechanic to keep them. But both DBZ and Pokemon are fads, and they will/have passed, for the 'tweens'. WoT and Buffy don't command those kinds of numbers of fans at their height, but they maintain their older audience for considerably longer.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Well, if by "bias" you mean that I am actually familiar with Jim and his work that is true. If I were ignorant, I would refrain from making any statements (although I might ask for information).

The grandiose statements were substantiated by his work that I noted in the posting.

I have hired and paid Mr. Ward for his work. I got good value for the dollar, too. As for what was "proven", from my perspective the only thing proven was that your statement that his name had been on my paycheck was completely without basis.

To pick one of your other comments: "DragonballZ cardgame would be a winner no matter who put it out. That was a cash cow waiting to happen."

Like "Buffy", "Wheel of Time", and other popular IPs turned into CCG's were cash cows waiting to happen?

One of the things that people who lack actual experience in the game industry don't get is that there is no such thing as a sure thing.

Lots of extremely popular books, movies, TV programs, etc. have been turned into games that just didn't sell well. This is because gamers buy good games, not "hot properties".

When one of these does sell well, it is more because of the game than because of the name.

Do you really want me to go back and go over each of your other comments?

While this may not be apparent, I am going out of my way to be nice here.

Victor

Where to start....

If you found value in hiring him then great. It still show you have a personal relationship and your comments are far from unbiased.

He worked on a TEAM for all the items you listed. they are not his accomplishments alone. The item he lead in IE Spellfire was a dismal failure and an expensive one at that. I see nothing here to show great skill. I merely see a long term employee of the industry. There is a difference between the two.

Are you really saying that WOT - A large indepth novel, Buffy - a move turned to serial tv show, and Dragonball Z - lighthearted anime action cartoon, are all the same thing? They are nothing alike and nothing suggests that they all have the same marketability.

DragonballZ came out during a card game craze and was carried by items like Pokemon. In fact the two are very similar in origins and backgrounds with huge fan bases. Pokemon proved that DragonballZ would work. The number of card games out there means it is not that much great work to create rules for it based off similar card games.

None of this really matters. The heart of this discussion is FFE's DnD 3e products. Those products quite clearly show a lack of:

quality control
editting
rules understanding

None of those are mitigated by Jim Ward's reputation. They are in fact though amplified by his rants which are just poor business choices by him.

Keep shooting if you want. I'll keep answering.

 

[Vpenman]

...

So now I have cause to wonder: when giving himself his accolades in this column, is he simply talking about products with his name on that were financially successful, and equating success with quality (i.e. "it must be good, because people paid bought it")?

Unless I missed something, it wasn't "himself" giving him accolades, it was me listing products I could recall he had worked on. I did that in response to a question that basically asked what he had done. I am pretty sure if you go back and look at my first post, you will see that.

In response to that question, I listed some of his work. This was done on the basis of the first book with his name on it I saw when I looked at my bookcase and my own imperfect memory. It was not intended to be "The Best of Jim Ward". In fact, maybe it wasn't Spellfire, maybe it was Dragon Dice. I am not sure.

None of my comments has anything to do with his 900 word column or FastForward Entertainment products. They were a response to a specific question.

He has designed a lot of stuff, some of it excellent, in his career.

Regarding "himself", if any of you ever found yourself at the head of the game design department for the leading RPG company in the world, how many of you would resign that position over a moral issue?

Victor

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Regarding "himself", if any of you ever found yourself at the head of the game design department for the leading RPG company in the world, how many of you would resign that position over a moral issue?

Victor

It was a class move all the way. I will give you the benefit of the doubt on it and not ask any of the obvious questions that come to mind.

What though does this have to do with how he acts today towards people who negatively comment on his products?

 

[EricNoah]

Aaaaand ... we're done.

I must say I'm disappointed that some folks still have not found the line between stating a strong opinion and making a personal attack.