T5 Preorder

[revshafer]

I purchased the CDROm earlier in 2008, when it was supposed to be released in March. It is now nearly October. Despite all of the assurances of it will be ready when it is ready. I purchased something expecting it to be ready when it was promised. By not providing said product, I feel that Far Future Enterprises has taken out an unsecured loan using my money. I do not care to be a play tester, because I paid for a finished product. If the product wasn't going to be released then FFE had no business taking my money. I get no interest...I don't get two copies...I get what I paid for months later. I would feel different if my money had not been taken, but it has and I am (obviously) upset. I sent an email to FFE in May, and received no response. What will happen now?

I would call the Better Business Bureau, but they are a bit difficult to get ahold of when you are serving overseas. This is an untenable situation. FFE needs to be more open with information.

Thanks,

Very Respectfully,

Scott Shafer

 

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

In several mass emails to people who preordered T5 Marc has offered to refund those who don't want to wait for T5 to appear. Shoot him another email, he usually responds, and quickly.

It's true, though, that he could spread the news of the change of plans (and of anything else, really) far more publicly than he has.

A simple news page on his website would do the trick. 8 billion other sites have one, his doesn't. Why not?

A prominently displayed email address would be useful, too, given he is selling stuff to people who may want to be in touch. Why is there none? (Spam? Others deal with it too.)

 

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

Or what about this: a quarterly State of the Imperium address, in which the Emperor tells us how the playtest is going, what the plans for reprints are, and whatever general Traveller thoughts he wants to share.

The old guard of game designers have had trouble understanding that the infraweb is a medium for communication rather than just a place to park a shopping cart software. Not everyone wants to hang out on the web every day, and that's fine. But a regular news update goes a long way to giving people the sense that Traveller is alive rather than dead in the water.

 

[DonM]

Marc has been sending bi-monthly progress reports to everyone on the T5 pre-order list, and I personally have sent e-mails to everyone on that list who hasn't joined the private forum, to encourage them to do so...

Now, I've just looked you up on the pre-order list, but your e-mail there is a yahoo.com account, and your CotI account's e-mail is something else...

So, sadly, it's very possible that you haven't been hearing from either Marc or I, despite our attempts to contact everyone in your exact situation. Although you aren't on my "e-mail bounces list".

Can you PM me with your true e-mail, and I'll get an email discussion going between yourself, Marc and I right away?

In the meantime, I did approve your join request, so you do have access to the private area now... And I've updated the pre-order list so your new e-mail is reflected...