Jim Ward's latest 900 Words: More Bombast

[Tom Cashel]

Felon & Herald:

I don't want to sidetrack this thread (since it just got back on topic), but I also wanted to answer you. You know the old saying about opinions? "They're like [self-censored], everybody has one." I think the purpose of messageboards is for people who might not otherwise meet to talk with each other across great distances. That's it. People communicating in this way is sometimes useful (good advice, rules pointers, etc.) and sometimes useless. Opinions, in and of themselves, are often entertaining to read as part of a discussion, and I fully support everyone's right to express their own...but in and of themselves they do not (to me) have much worth. Facts are great for forming better understandings...opinions are not so great for this.

This is why it's so common for people to add IMO or IMHO to posts; they understand (consciously or unconsciously) that opinions are worth less than facts (or what we are currently accepting as "facts").

But that's just my opinion.

On topic, I'll add that I agree with those of you saying that Jim Ward is only hurting himself (and his company) with this rambunctious behavior. But it's only his opinion, posted on his own site without (I'd assume) any editorial input. He may as well be posting his 900 Words column to a messageboard; it's the same thing in the end.

With that in mind, maybe he's just having a bad month. The debacle with all that destroyed product would ruin anyone's day. Everyone posts messages from time to time that later make them cringe.

 

[herald]

Oh give it a rest. You forgot the last item where you mention that his name is on your paycheck.

DragonballZ cardgame would be a winner no matter who put it out. That was a cash cow waiting to happen.

He was head of RnD at TSR when it slumped. Maybe that is hint about his game design skills.

His knowledge of DnD 3e as shown by his products is very shallow and his abilities to edit his products is even more shallow.

If you are going to fanboy then at least fanboy to someone who understands the rules of the game.

Jeez Doc,

Get up on the wrong side of the Lab today?




Coming from a person who got confused by a winsplit pdf file, I woundn't say you were a good choice for judging shallowness and knowledge is somewhat... well I've said enough.



/running for cover!

 

[herald]

Felon & Herald:

I don't want to sidetrack this thread (since it just got back on topic), but I also wanted to answer you. You know the old saying about opinions? "They're like [self-censored], everybody has one." I think the purpose of messageboards is for people who might not otherwise meet to talk with each other across great distances. That's it. People communicating in this way is sometimes useful (good advice, rules pointers, etc.) and sometimes useless. Opinions, in and of themselves, are often entertaining to read as part of a discussion, and I fully support everyone's right to express their own...but in and of themselves they do not (to me) have much worth. Facts are great for forming better understandings...opinions are not so great for this.

This is why it's so common for people to add IMO or IMHO to posts; they understand (consciously or unconsciously) that opinions are worth less than facts (or what we are currently accepting as "facts").

But that's just my opinion.

On topic, I'll add that I agree with those of you saying that Jim Ward is only hurting himself (and his company) with this rambunctious behavior. But it's only his opinion, posted on his own site without (I'd assume) any editorial input. He may as well be posting his 900 Words column to a messageboard; it's the same thing in the end.

With that in mind, maybe he's just having a bad month. The debacle with all that destroyed product would ruin anyone's day. Everyone posts messages from time to time that later make them cringe.

Well, maybe I can meet you halfway and state that "opinions have a limited value." which leads to the statement "Your milage may vary." or "YMMV".

 

[Vpenman]

Oh give it a rest. You forgot the last item where you mention that his name is on your paycheck...

I don't understand this comment. I have never worked for Jim Ward. I have never gotten a pay check from Jim Ward.

My company, Evermore, has hired Jim as a consultant on a few occassions. He has gotten checks signed by me.

Is this an instance where what you say is the opposite of what you mean?

I admit I am confused by your other comments as well.

Victor

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Jeez Doc,

Get up on the wrong side of the Lab today?




Coming from a person who got confused by a winsplit pdf file, I woundn't say you were a good choice for judging shallowness and knowledge is somewhat... well I've said enough.



/running for cover!

I was wondering when the cheapshots would come out.

Of course putting a smiley face on them makes it all better.

 

[WizarDru]

Jim was co-author....He was a designer on Spellfire...He was co-author... He was a designer...He was VP of the R&D department at TSR at the time it hit the financial skids

I know very little about Jim Ward, in all honesty. Your listing of his credentials shows him as a frequent collaborator and team member, but not much else. He co-wrote Pools of Radiance, too. It sounds like he's been involved with a lot of projects, but I haven't seen anyone point directly to anything other than Metamorphisis Alpha as being purely his work...and that was a derivative work of D&D. Gamma World is an evolution of MA, and again, he co-wrote that with someone else (Gary Jaquet from 1st to 3rd editions, and Bruce Hensmith in 4th).

That he's been able to remain in the industry this long indicates he obviously isn't untalented...but I suspect his ideas are much stronger than his grasp of mechanics. And while Doc M and I rarely agree, I concur that Dragonball Z nearly needed competent mechanics to cash in on it's enormous popularity. Spellfire's downfall and terrible performance is well-known, and I'm not sure I'd want to call attention to it's glorious rise and equally spectacular plummet, as it did a lot of financial damage to TSR, if reports from folks like Ryan Dancey are to be believed.

All of which is a long distance to go and say that you're only as good as your most recent work in the RPG industry. I respect that Jim Ward has contributed to the history of the industry, but he's had little direct impact on my games at any one point. As a consumer, I can only take his products at face value, and currently I find them something I choose not to purchase. If he were to release a quality product I could use tomorrow, I would do so. If Rings of Power or Swords of Power had not presented so badly to me, I would have purchased them. But, as I mentioned before, it wasn't a poor review that swayed me away from the material...it was the material itself. If they were to produce something on the same quality level as Malhavoc or Fiery Dragon, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[herald]

I was wondering when the cheapshots would come out.

Of course putting a smiley face on them makes it all better.

Sorry Doc, it was a cheep shot, I tried to make it as gentle as posible. I was trying to underscore that sometimes people have bad days. And it happens to everyone.

 

[Felon]

I was wondering when the cheapshots would come out.
Of course putting a smiley face on them makes it all etter.

Doc, you've been going overtime on J.W, low blows and all.

Pcat's given us some guidelines to follow for this thread. Let's what we can do about observing them.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I don't understand this comment. I have never worked for Jim Ward. I have never gotten a pay check from Jim Ward.

My company, Evermore, has hired Jim as a consultant on a few occassions. He has gotten checks signed by me.

Is this an instance where what you say is the opposite of what you mean?

I admit I am confused by your other comments as well.

Victor

It means you obviously have a personal bias towards Mr. Ward since you make grandeous statements about him that are not substantiated by the products his company has put out.

This is proven since you just admitted that you have hired and paid Mr. Ward for consultation work.

As for my other comments which ones are confusing?

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Doc, you've been going overtime on J.W, low blows and all.

Pcat's given us some guidelines to follow for this thread. Let's what we can do about observing them.

Really? Where are the low blows?

Mr. Ward has published substandard material and then gone vondictive on people who have called those products sub-standard.

Is it a low blow to point out when someone has an ego problem?