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Friday, January 8, 2016

The Tavern is Not a Whore and Other Recent Thoughts (Rant Time)

Earlier today I got a G+ notification that I was mentioned in a comment. I went to peek and it was in a closed community, one I was not a member of. Which meant I could read it but not comment.

"Great stuff man! Maybe your XXXXX XXXX tables will inspire +Erik Tenkar

It gets better. Now apparently I owe this individual free publicity because I like White Star and have posted about it therefore he deserves his own share of free Tavern publicity.

"If Erik put in a third of the effort into XXXXX XXXX that he's already put in for White Star, I wouldn't need any more promotion and advertising."

I pimp what I like. I don't pimp what I have no interest in.

I should be flattered that the perception is that I can make or break a product but that simply isn't true. Quality products speak for themselves. All I do is increase the volume for those that I like.

I owe the readers of The Tavern my truthful opinions on gaming releases, Kickstarters, whatever. I owe creators the same thing if I write about their products - truthful opinions. What I don't owe to anyone is that I WILL write about their latest product. Wow. What a surprise. I can write what I WANT to write about. Shit, that's nearly unheard of!

Am I pissed? More so because this bullshit came up in a community that I can't respond to from an individual that has been relentless in their effort to get me to cover their recent releases. Well, this is as close as we're going to get with "promotion and advertising."

It has, however, inspired me to work on some more White Star this weekend. Maybe not the inspiration they were hoping for, but I'm going to get some creativity done, so all in all, it's working out ok on my end ;)


35 comments:

  1. The first comment seemed to suggest they hoped it would inspire you. Seems to me they are putting you in more of a position as arbiter of cool and if these new tables inspire you, wow.

    The second seems to be more of a fawning about how awesome that would be. Of course I have no context so I could be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the individual in question does not fawn, especially not over The Tavern.

      as I stated above, I post what I want and keep my opinions truthful. were I to review the product in question, which costs 40% more than White Star in PDF, I'd use my own money and give it an honest review. Now, as I already am turned off by the product by it's description alone, I can't see where anyone would benefit.

      I'd be out money and the writer / publisher would have a potentially horrid review.

      Oh, and I'd also be out of my time invested. Until the end of March my free time is limited...

      Delete
    2. Hrrmmm, I read the comments the same way that Rob did. I certainly don't see how they suggest that you owe anything to anyone.

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. I missed the whole follow-up conversation.

      Delete
    5. I missed the whole follow-up conversation.

      Delete
  2. "The Tavern is not a whore"? You should totally put that phrase on t-shirts, license plate frames, and bumper stickers. But then, the Tavern WOULD be a whore, so never mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. only if I meant it to be ironic...

      Delete
    2. Now I want a shirt that says "Tempt me not Satan! The Tavern is Not A Whore!!!"

      Delete
  3. Erik, maybe you think products you mention do well because it's only quality products you mention in the first place, but what if you told every single one of your blog followers to send me a dollar, and I sent out a chain letter mentioning *your* name? I extended this very offer to both Mike Nystul and Ken Whitman but they did not respond, and I think the results stand for themselves. Don't pass up this opportunity!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then we'd have a bunch of lemmings ;)

      My readers do just fine thinking for themselves. Hell, they do just fine putting me in my place on occasions. They don't hold punches much it seems :)

      Delete
  4. Hmm so I shouldn't have left the $20 on your dresser?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dunno. Maybe. Shit.

      Wait, THE TAVERN is not a whore!

      Delete
    2. I always left a fiver on the toilet tank...I mean, it is a Tavern after all...

      Delete
  5. Whore? I like to think of The Tavern as an educated and high class escort. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. just keep the lights dimmed and maybe your won't notice it's getting old and wrinkly :)

      Delete
    2. What's wrong with being a whore? Lat back and enjoy it, bitch ;)

      Delete
  6. The first guy sounds like a fan of the second guy. The second guy sounds like an asshole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob, the second guy is not an asshole, this I can attest to, having sat down with him at the gaming table several times now. Interpret his comments as you will, but I'll vouch for his non-assholeness. Far from it, in fact.

      Delete
    2. Bob, the second guy is not an asshole, this I can attest to, having sat down with him at the gaming table several times now. Interpret his comments as you will, but I'll vouch for his non-assholeness. Far from it, in fact.

      Delete
    3. The funny thing is that person #1 and person #2 are both...the same person. Now, despite his coming off like an asshole in that short exchange, Venger doesn't strike me as an asshole. That isn't to say that his constant self-promotion on a community named for an RPG, that he runs, and never posts material pertaining to that RPG isn't annoying as all get out though.

      Independent publishers certainly need to self-promote and flog their wares. It comes with the territory and I certainly understand that. However, that he has a habit of overdoing it tot eh point of annoyance is certainly a strike against his products in my book, effectively killing any interest I might have in them.

      That said, I don't think I'm his target market for his stuff, and I certainly wish him the best. That G+ thing is a bit of a sore point with me though.

      Delete
  7. It was part wishful thinking, part bemoaning the fact that XXXXX XXXX will never live up to White Star in your eyes, Erik. :(

    Indeed, I had hoped that Eric Fabiaschi's recent random table blog posts might inspire you to do the same. However, if aspects of XXXXX XXXX are that displeasing to you, then I wouldn't want you to waste your time.

    BTW, I've donated a couple free PDFs to you in the past, and the offer is always open. Also, you can join (or leave) the g+ community any time you like.

    For those who'd like to see the entire conversation, the link is here: https://plus.google.com/116711574014342170900/posts/RYmnLTQNSHC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe you should have called it Blue Star.

      Or Blue Shield, and set in a space precinct cum knocking shop.

      Or Blue Dwarf and gone the hard astronomy route rather than the hard core prawn root...

      Delete
    2. V - if you know The Tavern and you know me at all, thinking that a brothel in space was going to be something I'd be interested in (along with a dice pool system) you were fooling yourself.

      You tagged me in a closed community to get my eyes on the post. That was rude. Lamenting that I'm not putting effort into a product who's very description I find distasteful is something else altogether.

      Listen, you run successful Kickstarters because you have a solid fan base that enjoys your work, but releases like Alpha Blue are not for a mainstream audience. They are releases geared towards your specific audience.

      If you want to capture the main stream audience, you need to write for them.

      Delete
    3. You could have saved us all some drama and replied back to my original emails saying that you weren't into it. I would have appreciated the directness and honesty. And that would have been that.

      I wasn't aware of any closed community posting/tagging/rudeness etiquette. If that came off as an insult against you, then my apologies.

      However, things have come to a head and an official challenge has been declared: http://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/2016/01/throwing-down-space-gauntlet.html

      Good luck to either you or whoever takes your place, Erik.

      Delete
    4. This is getting damn petty now, and I no intention of getting in a penis-measuring contest where you're setting the rules. If you want to do that, let's compare blog view counts or Alexa ranking. Or if you really want to compare White Star versus Alpha Blue, just compare sales numbers. Which one of them is a Gold seller again?

      Delete
    5. Really? Yeah, that seems fair. Alpha Blue has been out for two weeks.

      This is between you and me, Erik. The RPG systems are merely vehicles of our creative expression. I'm going to paste this in a post-script to my blog, but won't consider you to have formally refused my challenge until tomorrow at midnight.

      Delete
    6. first you try and coerce me to post about Alpha Blue and now you try and shame me into posting about it?

      Lets see - you set the rules, you set the time frame and you get the benefit - more attention. Oh, and of course I need to accept the challenge on 1-11 - your big day for Alpha Blue.

      between you and me? there was never anything between us. it's all about you pimping your product. always has been

      i'm part of this amazingly generous OSR community that gives free stuff (OSR Christmas for example) to their fellow gamers for the love of the hobby and then I have to be reminded that there are exceptions to that.

      Delete
    7. The OSR community is amazing and generous, indeed. That's awesome that you do a Christmas thing. I was simply trying to turn lemons into lemonade for sci-fi OSR, White Star, and XXXXX XXXX; handling our feud or misunderstanding in a productive way.

      I'm not trying to shame you into anything. If you don't feel like participating in my challenge, no big deal. I'll find someone else who'll take your place.

      Have a good night.

      Delete
    8. You don't want to call it shaming? That's fine.

      How about manipulation?

      You post this "challenge" of yours to your blog, the public G+ thread, over a half dozen G+ communities (including one I moderate) and even as an update on the Alpha Blue Kickstarter.

      If that isn't an attempt to manipulate me into a corner then nothing is.

      I don't appreciate the attempt to manipulate me. Few people do.

      There is no feud or misunderstanding that needs to be handled.

      Delete
    9. Okay, NOW I'm officially tired of Venger flogging his stuff in every way possible. This just comes off as desperation and more than a bit sad. I mean, I know folks need to self promote but...seriously.

      Delete
  8. Wait what the hell did I miss? Look you guys argue over whatever and leave me out of this fight. Not my monkeys and not my circus fellas, I'm going back to writing & playing games now. Erik you take it easy and I personally don't think nor you nor your blog is a 'whore' in way shape or form.

    ReplyDelete
  9. From the trans temporal observation deck on my Starship-SkullF@#k:
    Looks to me like nothing but a friendly-ish joke (esp. when read in context of the entire original thread as opposed to the 2 comments extracted carefully and presented here) only became a broohaha because of this Tenkar post proclaiming a broohaha existed. In my inexperienced blogger opinion, this must have been quite an exhausting climb up Mount Molehill.

    ReplyDelete

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