Until I have time to record the video explanation of circumstances, here is the summary: The reasons for the event cancellation were many and varied - I will start with the least substantial ones: 1) Our attendance was substantially lower than we had first anticipated. This resulted in a fairly severe monetary shortage which then resulted in us shortening the event. This then resulted in more players dropping out which resulted in an even more severe monetary shortage which resulted in me putting my personal finances into the game to fund the event - which I had promised my self I wouldnt do any further. 2) Three individuals approached me today in regards to stepping down as the manager of Sidereus (in regards to either finances or finances and logistics. This added to the already considerable social and psychological pressure of trying to manage a situation that was rapidly deteriorating. 3) The real reason for the shortcomings were overshadowed and the work I do behind the scenes often goes unseen. As a result, the new logistics models, book editing and publishing, plot writing, and rather significant social management elements go unseen but do not stop being a fairly major draw on my personal resources and the resources of the company. 4) The September event was canceled as a result of the accident where one of our players hit the fence to the site as well as an incident that occurred on the pool slide. In order to make sure we could put our best foot forward, we canceled the September event - which created a budget shortage. The cancellation of the September event also caused a disruption in player confidence. 5) As a result of working on the business side of the fence and working on securing the Camp Farley situation, as well as a few social issues with players which dont warrant repeating, the past couple of events saw a Logistics backup as a result of my failing in multitasking and training/prepping new staff members. This resulted in even more player discomfort, which resulted in even more unreliable attendance numbers. 6) To compound the issue further, we had been experiencing a length backlog in promotional items due to a number of issues, not the least of which was my failure to price the various promotional items accurately. Since our prices are too low across the board this issue was compounded from other areas as well which caused - essentially - a massive tidal wave of awful. Once I got it under control things were fine, but this required me selling my car in order to secure the situation financially without putting more strain on my relationship with my father and putting the future of the permanent site in danger. 7) In addition to my other job, I was working near full time managing the business end of Harbinger Entertainment, the multiple events we hold and the game of Sidereus. As Sidereus is a for-profit LARP model and part of a much larger (and time sensitive) business plan this resulted in a fairly large amount of psychological stress on me and those working closest with me. This resulted in a downturn in overall productivity. 8) By the time we got the issues resolved (around the end of September 2013), it was too late to reclaim Player confidence (vicious circle) and many players insisted on not attending, not cooperating with logistics operations, or were downright upset at me. It is also worth noting that when someone it happy with the company or the game or wants something from the company or the game it is just that - a company or a game. When someone is upset with the company or the game or feels like it has fallen short of expectations - that is a problem they have with me personally. In addition, when players (read: customers) do not have a positive experience, it is rare for them to direct their grievances at me directly, or even to take advantage of the resource available in Leslie as our Conflict Resolution Manager. This results in sort of a feedback loop of bitterness among the player base that we have limited ability to monitor and respond to. As a result we end up sitting on a sort of time bomb where repeated errors, mistakes and failings on our part (due in no small part to the incredible scale of what we are attempting) results in a significant backlash from the social arena/player base. This then becomes a financial backlash as players stop playing, supporting the game financially and so on, which then of course becomes game cancellation - feeding back into the first step of the cycle and perpetuating. Summary: While that is not an exhaustive list of the issues, problems and malfunctions we have faced that have led up to this situation - this covers the most major points of the issue. The most healthy solution for the very limited resources of manpower and the psychological health of my volunteer staff was to cancel the event and focus on implementing the changes we have worked very diligently on that will help streamline and improve the focus for our player base next year. At that point we will have had time to recover and our marketing endeavors will be in full swing, giving us a better opportunity to create the gameplay experience our players expect, while maintaining a professional and personable environment that will allow everyone to feel more at ease while preparing for the game. Hopefully this has clarified some things. Again, I am truly sorry for the inconvenience we have caused - but we fully intend to make amends to our players and learn from our mistakes and misfortune to return with an even better gameplay experience.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 01:37:10 +0000
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