Well, well, well. It would seem that Decipher has brought the heavy end of the hammer down on the Discussion BBS. If you were around the board at all on Wednesday, you could see the hoo-ha that surrounded the whole issue. It would seem that Decipher finally got fed up with all of the "off-topic posts" and decided to reclaim the discussion BBS as a completely on-topic domain. Their suggestion was to move over to the Buzz or head to the Palace. Discussion BBSers responded to the suggestion that they move to the Buzz with a little humor and a little indignation - the Buzz is owned and run by role-player who are adamant that the Buzz is for RPG only. As for the Palace - it isn't accessible to everyone. In addition, SW:CCG players thought that a large part of the off-topicness was generated by the fact that Decipher hasn't given the SW:CCG players squat to talk about in months.
Here's how it started: "Well, as many of you have seen, I've started taking a larger part in the Star Wars CCG BBS. I just deleted a bunch of off-topic messages. Not to rain on your parade, but this BBS is NOT a chat room. It is a forum for you to ask questions pertaining to Star Wars CCG and Decipher, and well, we'll do our best to answer. I tend to stay away from this board because of the fact that there are so many off topic messages. Well, this is going to change. I'll be here doing my best to answer questions. In fact, there are a few other moderators that act as Decipher reps on this board. Their word is law. They have the power to delete off-topic messages, and they have the ability to ban troublesome users. These moderators are:
Rebel Base Leader
Rebel Base Lt.
Landy
Roddd
I have a feeling the next few days will be a trying period. We're all going to be feeling our way with this new policy. So to make things clear, here is what is on topic for this BBS. Star Wars CCG. Simple, right?:-) I will tell you that, I don't mind a bit of playful banter, but the web advertisements and the "hello, anyone here?" messages are going to stop. This is not a chat room. If you want to chat live, I suggest the Palace. It's a wonderful chatting environment and it doesn't require you to click on reload and wait for a bloated page filled with off-topic posts to load. OK, off the soap box. If you have any comments to the above, I would appreciate receiving it in private email. Last thing, you get one warning. After that you will be banned. Thanks, Allen Divers, Rebel Base Leader,
rebelbaseleader@decipher.com.
It's no secret that the Discussion BBS has gotten rather out of hand. There are posts about the Starr Report, in-depth HTML classes, personal spats about who posted to what when, and countless other strands that had absolutely nothing to do with the SW:CCG game or the people who play it. The fact is that there isn't a soul on the board who hasn't posted something or another that is technically off-topic, but lately, it's been pretty bad. As the owner and operator of the Decipher BBS, they can exercise supreme control over what is posted there and by whom - no one is arguing that. But there's a pretty big difference between what you can do and what you should do.
It's probably a very good thing that Decipher has decided to play a more prominent roll in what is put of the BBS - there's a lot of crap that can be culled out without lessening the content or quality at all. I'll agree that not everyone who arrives on the board needs post a big fat hello to everyone they know. I'll also agree that it isn't necessary to say goodbye to everyone on the planet. But the occasional greeting or the polite goodbyes to let those with whom you've been involved in discussions know you are leaving aren't grounds for damnation either. The issue of what is on-topic versus what is acceptable interpersonal communication between members of a community versus what is space-occupying trash is a very complicated one that requires though and an examination of what the purpose of the board is. Unfortunately, this is the *Discussion* board and it's difficult to determine where a discussion about the game becomes a discussion of the player (and can you make such a distinction?).
One positive effect that all of this has had, is that Decipher Reps were on the board a lot today, answering questions, giving advice or rulings, interacting, and occasionally joking with BBSers. It seemed to make the players feel as Decipher cared what the player needed or wanted. It was a change to get a lot of questions answered. It was too bad that I had class all day, or I would have loved to pull out my list of unresolved SW:CCG game issues and try to get some resolutions. Hopefully those decipher Reps who hung out with us today noticed a few thing: a) most of us really love this game and b) we feel neglected. What's unfortunate is that the Decipher rep appear only when it's time to start the policing.
One of the more laughable parts of all of this is the fact that the Decipher Reps told those on the discussion BBS who want to post off-topic that they should go to Buzz BBS. There are two reasons that this is funny. First of all, Decipher has let the Role Players rule the Buzz for a very long time and know that Discussion BBSers are not welcome there. People in the Buzz are not only completely weird (this is my article and I can say what I want to and I think they are very scary and weird), but they are also unfriendly and unkind. An interesting that happened this morning was the fact that a Buzz regular told a Discussion BBSer that she didn't know a thing about the stupid cards game a furthermore didn't care to. Does Decipher make a RPG that I am not aware of? Is there a reason that Decipher is so very accommodating to these people who have little or no interest in buying or playing the products that they sell? What is going on here? The second reason this is funny is that Decipher is pissed off that their Discussion board is being used for an unintended purpose. So why the hell aren't they disturbed that the Buzz is a haven for looneys who have no grip on reality? This morning, a Buzz regular informed another Discussion BBSer that "board hoppers," those who go from the Discussion board to the Buzz without choosing to roleplay should be banned. Someone please stop the madness. Put a halt to the insanity. Explain this to me because obviously logic is not the way to approach this situation. You get one warming and then are banned for misusing the discussion BBS, but the Buzz remains unchanged. Dear God! (I need an Excedrin)
As I mentioned earlier, the fact that Decipher had been very, very closed mouthed about any and all information about the SW:CCG is only fueling the flames. Those who come to the BBS to discuss their favorite game/hobby find themselves in the position of having very little new material to discuss. Out of the last 133 items in the daily updates, 48 have been about Decipher's corporate events, calendar or activities, 55 item have been about the ST:CCG, and 30 have been about SW:CCG. The last article Decipher posted about SW:CCG was an interview with Jerry Darcy about the *up-coming* Jabba's Palace expansion. It's also worth mentioning that the Darcy article was the ONLY ONE DECIPHER POSTING DURING THE RELEASE OF JABBA'S PALACE. The last non-product announcement, non-meet so-and so update we got from Decipher was Allen Divers' Nighttime Farming Deck. The SW:CCG community has practically cried out in one helpless voice - begging Decipher to tell it something....anything about the game they love. And Decipher has turned a deaf ear - preferring to leave the SW:CCG community to crawl through the desert of no information toward the mirages of rumors and unsubstantiated conjecture based on articles in magazines. And when we get tired of talking about the rumors (ironic how *rumors* is a real product of Decipher), we have but two choices -- look elsewhere for our entertainment [goodbye Dragon, we miss you very much] or hang out in the SW:CCG community and find other things to talk about- on-topic or otherwise.
I suppose the best way to summarize my point on this is that Decipher was right to crack down on a lot of the trash posting that goes on the Discussion BBS. There is no excuse for a lot of what has gone on there in the last few months. I'll even take my fair share of the blame and apologize for some of my more off-topic escapades - ie. the jawas are Catholic comments. But I hope Decipher realizes that they, too, must take some of the blame and must also attempt to find a solution that curbs the problem without distilling the personality and life out of the Discussion BBS.
-Queen Jawa