Open D6 at Fundable

[The Game Guy]

I am sure you have read this thread by now but I cannot believe that he is asking for $15,000 through fundable:

http://www.westendgames.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4760

This is unrealistic and to be honest, from his comments he doesn't seem convinced it will work.

[skeloric]

I think that he is really trying to impress on us the idea that we the fans failed him.
If we had bought more product and we had convinced more people around us to play and buy product the company would not be a failed venture.
I'm not certain if we are the ones at fault here.
Money is tight and getting tighter.
I have been out of work since May 25, 2004 and my ability to save a company by buying lots of product hasn't really been around since about 2000.
I have a feeling that there are plenty more of us who no longer feel that they can drop hundreds of dollars every month on RPG product.
So I'm not certain if the goal can be reached myself.
But his saying that he doesn't think so rather creates a loop of self fulfilling prophecy according to my old School Counselor.
Still, its the last chance.

[The Game Guy]

I am not so sure he is trying to say it was us that failed him, but I guess I am really not seeing the point of this.

He is in a bad situation, he has caused some bad will towards WEG, yet he has people interested in buying the properties.

Why wouldn't he just sell the properties, break free from the industry and save his sanity?

Not to mention the "This will probably not work" in his writeup does not give you a feeling of confidence

[Kansas Jim]

Eric's statements indicated that he knew it wasn't going to work, that he was just doing it to gauge interest levels in D6 Open. The feedback's convinced him that it's not going to do what he wanted though and it's been abandoned.

[Lee Torres]

Based on a post Eric made over at the West End Games forum, it sounds like he's backing off the Fundable project for now, and focusing on other priorities, with the possibility of revisiting Open D6 in the future...

http://www.westendgames.com/forum/showthread.php?p=33023#post33023post33023

The Open D6 Fundable pledge collection has been deleted, also.

[Grimace]

Eric's statements indicated that he knew it wasn't going to work, that he was just doing it to gauge interest levels in D6 Open. The feedback's convinced him that it's not going to do what he wanted though and it's been abandoned.

The "feedback" was understandably confused. When people can't fathom why an action is being taken, especially when it was announced that WEG in whole or part was up for sale, then they're going to be rightfully confused.

The fundable idea was a poor decision for guaging interest in the Open D6. Polls, either officially or unofficially, work a hell of a lot better than creating something that causes more confusion and questions than it does strength and confidence in the company.

*sigh*

[The Game Guy]

Eric's statements indicated that he knew it wasn't going to work, that he was just doing it to gauge interest levels in D6 Open. The feedback's convinced him that it's not going to do what he wanted though and it's been abandoned.

It appears its abandoned for now, but there is a chance he will revisit it. I think he should just sell the IP, pay off debts and move on.

[Thayan]

This really confused me and I am wondering if He is still planning on having the D6 on the block or not...

[The Game Guy]

This really confused me and I am wondering if He is still planning on having the D6 on the block or not...

From what I saw he was going to do D6 Open but if he got a high enough price he would sell.

So he will do it, unless he gets the right price

[The Game Guy]

The "feedback" was understandably confused. When people can't fathom why an action is being taken, especially when it was announced that WEG in whole or part was up for sale, then they're going to be rightfully confused.

The fundable idea was a poor decision for guaging interest in the Open D6. Polls, either officially or unofficially, work a hell of a lot better than creating something that causes more confusion and questions than it does strength and confidence in the company.

*sigh*

The major problem was he through up the fundable page without having a plan. People were confused, people didn't understand what was going on and confusion caused chaos.

[Roger Calver]

It all seems back to front and messed up, he make the Fundable collection then deletes it after says he didnt think the $15K would be reached, so why do it in the first place.

It really beats me whats happening, at this rate d6 dies a lonely death.

Rog.

[The Game Guy]

It all seems back to front and messed up, he make the Fundable collection then deletes it after says he didnt think the $15K would be reached, so why do it in the first place.

It really beats me whats happening, at this rate d6 dies a lonely death.

Rog.

Yep. Right now he needs to collect money owed to him, sell off property, pay off the pre-orders, get himself in a better situation (and win some goodwill) and get out while his sanity is still in tact.

He seemed to see that getting out was a good idea, then he sort of lapsed back again.

[Thayan]

As far as I know he has yet to communicate withe the D6 bidders as to whether he is still offering D6 for sale or not... His recent action makes me think that he has no intentions of really selling his IP

[The Game Guy]

As far as I know he has yet to communicate withe the D6 bidders as to whether he is still offering D6 for sale or not... His recent action makes me think that he has no intentions of really selling his IP

Thats the thing- communication

"Yeah my communication skills suck but I promise to get better" and then nothing

[hellsreach]

As far as I know he has yet to communicate withe the D6 bidders as to whether he is still offering D6 for sale or not... His recent action makes me think that he has no intentions of really selling his IP

Actually, I've communicated to bidders quite candidly. I still want to do Open D6, so unless I am given an offer I cannot refuse, I'll continue in that regard.

[hellsreach]

Yep. Right now he needs to collect money owed to him, sell off property, pay off the pre-orders, get himself in a better situation (and win some goodwill) and get out while his sanity is still in tact.

He seemed to see that getting out was a good idea, then he sort of lapsed back again.

I still want to "get out" as it were, but I want to leave some postive legacy behind and that is part of my impetus behind Open D6. I don't think it is unusual, strange, or dishonest to want to go out on a positive.

[hellsreach]

It all seems back to front and messed up, he make the Fundable collection then deletes it after says he didnt think the $15K would be reached, so why do it in the first place.

It really beats me whats happening, at this rate d6 dies a lonely death.

Rog.


I deleted it because it was almost uniformly criticised and people were thinking it suspect. I deleted it, because I've got to build some serious goodwill before I can expect people to want to have dealing with me again.

I opened a Fundable plan on advice, but did so at the wrong time and failed to explain it well. Then I closed it on advice as well.

Once again, no matter what I do, people will rip me a new one for it. I cannot win.

[The Game Guy]

I still want to "get out" as it were, but I want to leave some postive legacy behind and that is part of my impetus behind Open D6. I don't think it is unusual, strange, or dishonest to want to go out on a positive.

I don't think it is either. I would just think you would be taking more active steps to selling off property you arent going to use so you can pay off the pre-order people.

Paying off the pre-order people is going to garner you some good will

[The Game Guy]

I deleted it because it was almost uniformly criticised and people were thinking it suspect. I deleted it, because I've got to build some serious goodwill before I can expect people to want to have dealing with me again.

I opened a Fundable plan on advice, but did so at the wrong time and failed to explain it well. Then I closed it on advice as well.

Once again, no matter what I do, people will rip me a new one for it. I cannot win.

I dont think people think it was suspect (well one person did) as much as people didnt quite understand things about the whole fundable project.

The problem is you posted it, but there werent any clear guidelines or any ideas on how things would be handled, etc.

Clearly, many people had questions

[Arbor_Productions]

Don't know if I am that "one person" or not, but: yes, I found it suspect as a businessman due to the questions I raised on structure, what was the point if he felt it was unattainable, et cetera.

Also, all I saw, due to the reputation of Eric and WEG at the present time, was a disaster wherein it would hurt the preceived value of D6. Realistically, if I was in the market for D6, and I saw this, I would then be wondering what the hell was going on with our bids. Especially when the word from on high before Fundable was that current bids for each I.P. were going to be posted publicly (sans the bidder names). It was another shift between what has been stated and what has been done.

Then, say D6 only gained $3k in funding due to the current issues and questions . . . well, that would then make me suspect of the actual value of D6. If I had thought, say, it was worth $8k to Arbor Productions (just to pick a higher number), I would seriously be reconsidering my bid.

So, there was little value to have been gained by the move.

The only real way that I can foresee leaving a legacy on a positive note is to create a plan, announce the plan, stick with the plan.

And, most vital, paying back the $5500 to pre-order people as a first priority.

(Sidebar: I also questioned the $15k target in relation to his personal financial issues as well, but Eric discussed that over at the WEG forums and I'm willing to retract that statement.)

Regards,

[hellsreach]

the main reason for the lack of company structure information is because it was dependant on the number of pledgers. The idea is and has been for Open D6 to be owned and maintained by gamers that wanted to be both a part of the project, but also own par tof it as well. There are advantages and disadvantages to the various corporate structures in the US and many of them have restrictions on the number of shareholders. Even in an unrestricted structure like a "C" Corp, if the company goes of 200 shareholders, the copmany is forced into a public status, which mean costly SEC filings -- so that HAD to be avoided. If there were to be over 200 equity owners, we'd have to be more creative witht he structure.

I was been unclear because I couldn't really say it's going to a corporation with investers gaining stock, only to backpeddle yet again, if over 200 people decide to drop $10 each.

I wasn't trying to be secretive. I just didn't want to have to go through and explain the particulars of business law to everybody. I guess I made the wrong choice.

[slink]

So why exactly didn't you explain that in the fundable description? Or when people asked you for the information? Now it's just too late.

[Roger Calver]

I for one didnt see any problem with you opening the Funfable route up but had issues with you not making any clear guidlines or reasons for doing so.

If you had made people aware of what and how it was to work then we may not be here with you having to explain it, also the $15K target number just didnt add up by any way.
If your still set on the opend6 direction then you really do need some advice and input from peolplw who know the OGL way of doing things, just saying you want to make it happen is a lot different from making it happen, just take a look at the flak Mongoose got with their TTL SRD.

Rog.

[kellhound]

Besides OGL there are other licenses out there.
Have you considered them?

I'm no lawyer, and don't know much about licenses, but maybe one of those licenses can work for OpenD6.

And by what I know, OGL is only legal and tested in the USA. Once you cross a border (easy with internet) things become a little unclear.
Right now (by what a "linuxer" friend tells me) OGL doesn't protect here in Spain (and several other countries), unless the company specifically publishes in-country and becomes a de-facto customer of one of our "rights management societies" (bandoleros, we call them).
It would not even cover a translation unless done and published in-country.

I'll ask my friend for more info about this.

[Thayan]

Actually, I've communicated to bidders quite candidly. I still want to do Open D6, so unless I am given an offer I cannot refuse, I'll continue in that regard.

Eric,

First let me say that I apologize for my words. I had mis-read your communication in response to our bid. I have recently had a death in my family, which is not an excuse for my actions, but my mind is not on much of anything right now except my wife and her family. I had stepped away for a few days waiting for a response, and when I got a free moment saw the fundable up and gone and didn't have a lot of cognitive ability left at the moment yesterday.

After a nights sleep and a re-read of your email back, I misspoke, you had communicated your wishes,but I had interpreted them differently. For that I apologize, just chalk it up to my enthusiasm for D6 and wanting to understand what was going on.

[hellsreach]

Eric,

First let me say that I apologize for my words. I had mis-read your communication in response to our bid. I have recently had a death in my family, which is not an excuse for my actions, but my mind is not on much of anything right now except my wife and her family. I had stepped away for a few days waiting for a response, and when I got a free moment saw the fundable up and gone and didn't have a lot of cognitive ability left at the moment yesterday.

After a nights sleep and a re-read of your email back, I misspoke, you had communicated your wishes,but I had interpreted them differently. For that I apologize, just chalk it up to my enthusiasm for D6 and wanting to understand what was going on.

Apology not neccesary, but thank you.

[hellsreach]

A couple of notes:

Open D6 was almost certainly not going to us the OGL. There were some limiting factor to it. In reality, the license would be something similar however. It is very likely to use or use something like one of the Creative Commons licenses.

Open D6 as I envisioned it, had not approvals requirement for publication. As has been pointed out repeated, Open D6 by its smaller nature would not have as much of a glut as D20 did, and I believe that "glut" is rather self policing.

Once published, however materials and mechanics changes for D6 would have to "approved" by public opinion for it to be considered a part of the Open D6 Core (that D6 material given the stamp of approval, as it were). If it were not approved for the Core, no biggy, it doesn't alter the creators use in the least.

[Roger Calver]

Anyone want to use the chat room ?