Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Ryujin]

Who, pray tell, are you trying to slight as still claiming the 80s were the Golden Age? Because, with respect, I don't think you'll find many, WotC or elsewhere, who still think the 80s was the Golden Age, by comparison to today.

The '80s were wonderful. My library research skills made me look like a genius. Now a 10 year old kid with a smartphone can get an answer faster than me. It might not be the right answer, but...

 

[Umbran]

My memory is legendarily bad, but I suspect this was just after some Hasbro meeting where he decided to jump on the Corporate wagon.

Wait, what?

Dancey was one of the two (with Abramowitz) who negotiated the sale of TSR to WotC! He was then installed as the business head of WotC's RPG division.

There was never a time in his professional career that Dancey wasn't on the corporate bandwagon.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Wait, what?

Dancey was one of the two (with Abramowitz) who negotiated the sale of TSR to WotC! He was then installed as the business head of WotC's RPG division.

There was never a time in his professional career that Dancey wasn't on the corporate bandwagon.

I didn't have any interactions with him prior to this point. But I guess I assumed he drank the Kool Aid at a WotC-Hasbro meeting. Shows how innocent I was at the time, I guess. I had met Peter Adkison, and he really struck me as a "gamer who happened to run a game company" (like Lisa Stevens and EGG himself), and assumed the guys who worked for him were the same.

 

[Umbran]

... and he really struck me as a "gamer who happened to run a game company" (like Lisa Stevens and EGG himself), and assumed the guys who worked for him were the same.

Yeah, like EGG... who lost control of the company because his business acumen was... less than up to the task?

Don't get me wrong - Dancey was also responsible for the OGL, which I still feel was a boon for the little folks in the industry. But being able to swing that pretty much snuffs out the idea that he wasn't good at being Corporate America.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I read that and all i can think is "how dare these companies want to keep making money...the nerve!"

That's why I said what I said about "realistic goals." If someone's running a company with a mindset of "make as much money as I can regardless of the cost," I'm one of the few nowadays who think that's bad. If I compare myself to the head of an investment bank, I find I have something they will never have: enough (to quote Kurt Vonnegut). I feel like it should be possible to set a target that is comfortable, without coming to the conclusion (as an example) that the company needs to push all of its players to the subscription model for all gaming since "that's the most profitable."

 

[RealAlHazred]

Dancey was also responsible for the OGL, which I still feel was a boon for the little folks in the industry. But being able to swing that pretty much snuffs out the idea that he wasn't good at being Corporate America.

I have heard unconfirmed reports that he was pretty upset at Paizo for using it to one-up WotC, though. It was ultimately a boon, no question, but I don't think he had fully worked out all the implications...

 

[RealAlHazred]

Who, pray tell, are you trying to slight as still claiming the 80s were the Golden Age? Because, with respect, I don't think you'll find many, WotC or elsewhere, who still think the 80s was the Golden Age, by comparison to today.

Also, I'm not trying to slight anyone. It's quite possible that several of my high school friends still see the 80s as the gaming Golden Age, and they may be right -- for them. The ones I see online who proclaim it as the Golden Age are generally in my age group, so I suspect the answer of "who thinks that?" is "some Gen Xers."

 

[Maxperson]

I have spent countless hours over the last few weeks playing Civ II. @Snarf Zagyg sucks! That is all.

 

[TwoSix]

I have spent countless hours over the last few weeks playing Civ II. @Snarf Zagyg sucks! That is all.

I put quite a few hours into Civ VI thanks to that thread. Probably not the intent, but here we are.

 

[Cadence]

I want something like the opposite of Bilbo's...

“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”

... where instead of being (I think) positive that sounds negative it is an emphatic negative that sounds positive.