I've been waiting on the latest edition of a game I really like for a few weeks now. I ordered it months ago, but it officially came out on August 30. The store where I ordered it from hasn't gotten it yet, and it might not ever. It has had problems getting some of the niche products that I like. I would ordered it directly through my store, but the publisher doesn't use my distributor any more. I could order directly from the publisher instead, but I would prefer not to, as that would be way more expensive. Also, if I don't like it, I got possibly return it if I go through other channels. And as of right now, based on everything I've read, I probably won't like it. When the new edition was formally announced last fall, controversy has surrounded it. Soon after the first statement was made, one of the designers mentioned in an interview that the new edition would not be a direct continuation of the game. This fact, along with some of the other changes first announced, brought the fan community into a frenzy. Many long-time fans hated these decisions, especially when compared to other games that this company had updated. While calls for open-mindedness prevailed, many people on some of the social media platforms I visit were having major doubts. These doubts began to increase with the first previews earlier this year. The artist had traced the image of a well-known activist who does not like his image and tattoos reproduced. The art was reportedly changed, but further previews had more traced art of people in the public eye. While this is an accepted technique, to some degree, the art director should have been alerted about possible problems. Maybe the previews came out before final authorization was finished. Maybe it was a lax editing process. Maybe it was all a publicity stunt to grab attention. I believe any of this is possible. The art previews did stop, though. Rules previews were next. One of the designers for an earlier stage of development noted that the rules preview seemed to be lifted directly from their design. (The final version of the game was the third development pass-through. The first two ended in bad faith.) Fans were wondered if the writer would be credited. Again, there were possible explanations. Maybe there was no other simpler way to present the information. Maybe the final version would have a different version written up. Maybe management just didn't care who they were angering. Then, with just a few weeks left before the debut, one of the designers for an early iteration for the new edition posted an interview about the horrible working conditions he was put through, specifically by one manager whose heavy-handed interpretation of how the game would be like may have been the cause for the first two iterations of the new edition to be scraped. Well, many older fans were immediately thrown off for the new edition, at least on the sites that I frequent. When the game finally came out, they dissected the changes very critically. The overall opinion was that the new changes weakened the game and made it less appealing for most players. The game basically forced the player into a certain game style that was never a predominant position in previous editions. Most of the vitriol was directed at management, whose ideas for favoring this style of gameplay through each of the lines of games in the new editions of this world were turning away many of the game's older fans. While many of the positive changes were praised, frankly because certain parts of the game hadn't aged well and needed updating, many of these fans were considering either skipping the new edition or using a lot of adaptations to get it to work. A few were trying to work with the new edition and were not hated for it. Attacks on the designers were mostly discouraged, as many felt that they were only doing what they were asked to do to get the game to work. Other platforms weren't so encouraging. Older fans were noticing how their views were being shut out on other sites, claiming that they were showing extremist views, even when they were just dissecting changes. I even looked into one such group of new edition fans myself. They were showing such hatred against older fans, claiming they were fascist for hating the changes, particularly one change. And this was just as the early PDFs of the new edition was coming out. Even after more people got the new book and a more nuanced and balanced opinion came out, the hatred aimed at older fans was still vicious. I noted that some of the posters in this group seemed connected to the gaming industry. I don't know if they were connected to the game's publisher or not, but it was a red flag. A few of the most vehement fans of the new edition appeared to have joined the platform just so they could support the game. Either that or they managed to keep almost everything else about themselves private, including information that is usually kept public. Maybe they just skipped some parts of their profiles. Or they might not be entirely 'real.' I don't know, but their profile gave off the same vibe as the friend requests I used to get from women from foreign countries whose posts were mostly photos of them barely dressed. Or less, as one was a full frontal shot that probably was against policy standards. Anyway, I am not sure what is going on. Maybe I'm just spotting a conspiracy where there is none. Or, maybe the game publisher is running a long-range publicity campaign to boost the appearance of their new product, when they know it might not be a good as they think it is. I can almost believe anything after all of the mixed messages I've seen over the past few months.
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