WOTC: Making a statement is not making a promise

[catsclaw227]

As I wander through threads past and present, I am seeing a trend that doesn't seem to make any sense.

It appears as though posters are attributing statements by WOTC as promises. I even saw in a new thread today (in a good thread BTW) a statement that "if WOTC keeps their word"...

There's even a thread about Promises, Promises....

I have been involved in a number of businesses, where you state a number of goals, even create detailed execution plans, and then for some reason business or priorities change what you originally planned.

If I said "my company is planning x, y, z" or even "for each of our customer bases, we will be releasing x,y" and then something changes, it doesn't mean that promises were broken.

It simply means that the business plan got altered and something needed to change. For some print publications, editorial calendars change halfway through the year (hopefully, rarely). For software development companies, features are added and removed. For manufacturing companies, some lines are dropped before they go into mass production.

Why is it that we hang so heavily on the words of WOTC, ascribing their plans as promises?

 

[Grimstaff]

Why is it that we hang so heavily on the words of WOTC, ascribing their plans as promises?

What else do we have to go on?

Do you have an alternative proposal?

 

[fba827]

I agree. I don't think some people make the connection that announcements of something in production are subject to change as they are based on the product at the time of the interview.

But, even that fact aside, we are (admitedly) rabid fanboys -- why else are we on an Internet message board for the game? It's easy for us to take text said online and compile it. Then some random person who doesn't see the initial interview/etc just reads the compilation and takes it as 'official' released info rather than preview production info. And being the rabid fanboys that we are, someone will take it very seriously to heart and then be upset if not exactly what they set their hopes on...

That's all my guess anyway.

Edit: That's not to say we shouldn't get excited about preview material, after all, it is preview material. But at the same time, no one should be lynching them if from conception-to-production the product shifts a little.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

If someone says he wants to help you out during your move, and then doesn't because he broke his leg, you will not feel that to be a broken promise. if he doesn't offer an explanation and just didn't come, you'll feel the promise is broken.

When WotC, Paizo, White Wolf or anyone else in the industry says they plan to do something, and then they don't, the reaction of the typical "fan" depends on whether he can accept the "excuse" presented to him. It is hard to find the "broken leg" equivalent in most of these business plans. And that means that some fans are unable to see that the promise was not broken, just because the original statement didn't come true.

It's very often still a little... naive to do so. Especially because assuming that anything said by a corporation is a promise to anyone. It's a plan, and plans go wrong all the time.
I suppose it has a lot to do here with the emotional attachment to the stuff "promised". And as fanatics, our attachment is stronger then strictly appropriate.

 

[catsclaw227]

What else do we have to go on?

Do you have an alternative proposal?

Yes, we attribute their statements as simply plans that they want to execute with the D&D property. If they say, "we promise that you will have...", then yes, you can call it a promise.

But when a company says they have plans to produce a player guide, a campaign guide and an adventure for a setting, this ISN'T a promise. If they find that it is more profitable to add a book or two, then they aren't breaking promises, they are altering their plans.

 

[catsclaw227]

That's not to say we shouldn't get excited about preview material, after all, it is preview material. But at the same time, no one should be lynching them if from conception-to-production the product shifts a little.

Oh, believe me, I love to get excited about preview material, and have even been disappointed when a product I was looking forward to isn't what I thought or isn't even produced (come on Necro Boys, we wants our Tegel Manor!).

 

[billd91]

It's very often still a little... naive to do so. Especially because assuming that anything said by a corporation is a promise to anyone. It's a plan, and plans go wrong all the time.
I suppose it has a lot to do here with the emotional attachment to the stuff "promised". And as fanatics, our attachment is stronger then strictly appropriate.

Don't think it's limited to gamers. In the medical software industry, we have to be careful about even mentioning dates when something might be available or customers will treat it as a promise.
So I have a lot of understanding for people getting on WotC's case about not keeping promises. If they said it was going to be available, and then didn't reset expectations by being candid about shifting plans, then I have no beef with people saying they can't make their promises. It's the way plenty of customer groups behave and not limited to gamers in the slightest.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Don't think it's limited to gamers. In the medical software industry, we have to be careful about even mentioning dates when something might be available or customers will treat it as a promise.
So I have a lot of understanding for people getting on WotC's case about not keeping promises. If they said it was going to be available, and then didn't reset expectations by being candid about shifting plans, then I have no beef with people saying they can't make their promises. It's the way plenty of customer groups behave and not limited to gamers in the slightest.

We get emotional because we care.

Emotional investment is still a kind of investment...

 

[Kristian Serrano]

As I wander through threads past and present, I am seeing a trend that doesn't seem to make any sense.

It appears as though posters are attributing statements by WOTC as promises. I even saw in a new thread today (in a good thread BTW) a statement that "if WOTC keeps their word"...

There's even a thread about Promises, Promises....

I have been involved in a number of businesses, where you state a number of goals, even create detailed execution plans, and then for some reason business or priorities change what you originally planned.

If I said "my company is planning x, y, z" or even "for each of our customer bases, we will be releasing x,y" and then something changes, it doesn't mean that promises were broken.

It simply means that the business plan got altered and something needed to change. For some print publications, editorial calendars change halfway through the year (hopefully, rarely). For software development companies, features are added and removed. For manufacturing companies, some lines are dropped before they go into mass production.

Why is it that we hang so heavily on the words of WOTC, ascribing their plans as promises?

Because those words are used to manipulate consumer attitudes toward a product to compel interest in said product. As such, consumers begin to act accordingly, as in the case of selling 3.5 products to clear room and make money for 4e products or ending their campaigns (as per WotC's advice on numerous occasions) in anticipation of 4e.

When all of the promotion, hype and other words say one thing, and WotC carries through with something else, consumers get angry.

For example, my interest in 4e wasn't in the game itself, it was in the online tools. I wanted 4e because those tools would make GMing easier for me. I faced several disappointments regarding those tools.

1. They aren't available as of 4e's release.
2. 3D minis for monster will have to be purchased.
3. Not all monsters will have a 3D miniature.
4. Additional virtual Dungeon Tiles will need to be purchased (they're fracking images!).
5. Dungeon adventures and maps were supposed to be available in the Virtual Game Table and Dungeon Builder, but since neither one exists, the value of 4e Dungeon has been greatly diminished.
6. There will be no PDFs of the books for a nominal fee based on purchase of the physical books.

Let's just say I'm glad I didn't preorder the 4e core rulebooks thinking that I could switch in June and use all of these great tools immediately.

 

[TerraDave]

Ugh...one little word.

And now it was not enough to have it in the first thread, but a new thread?

OK: some things could be called improvements, some changes. Some...like saying, confidetly, 367 days ago that each time you buy a book you get the ebook version...starts to sound like broken promise. (yes, I know they have replaced this with the compendium...).

But, as I said in the other thread: The game was just not as done as they said it was. In many cases they stated things so confidently, it was as if they where making concrete statements of fact. Why commit to something that is already true? Until its not, that is.