[Ed Note: this was written shortly before Ozymandias received the cease and desist order from Decipher's lawyers. I don't know if this action be can interpreted as further evidence as to the true existence of EJP and the accompanying "proof." While the legal action taken by Decipher doesn't change any of what I have written, it does mean that you as the reader cannot refer back to the listserv (unless you are one of the hundreds out there who probably saved a copy on their hard drive.]
For weeks, and perhaps even months now, the SW:CCG community has been abuzz with rumors of the EJP product. And now, the buzz has transformed into a shrill shriek as we read what appears to be a digest from the playtesters' listserv. Things got ugly on the BBS yesterday as posters squared off in debates regarding the validity and morality of the spoilers and digest posting. And so, prompted by a few requests and the fact that I haven't written one of these in forever, I give you my take on the whole EJP issue.
We first caught a glimpse of EJP on Max Salven's new SW:CCG News site, as he blatantly used them as the dangling carrot to lure all of us to his newest net endeavor. Max, a known web-site-counter-obsessee, would do anything for some hits, and apparently the EJP spoilers were just the ticket. [Ed: Am I the only one who remembers when Beyond opened and we kept getting those messages on the BBS that said "come on everyone, let's reach our goal of 1,000 hits on the first day?" Those two boys would be better off as hosts for the semi-annual PBS pledge drive.] But as we all know, Max pulled the spoilers down very quickly and left behind a message that said he's been asked to take them down because they were "misleading." [Ed note: I attempted to find a direct quote from Max's site, but all of that information has been removed and cannot be found in the archived updates.] Even Max admitted that he'd opened quite the can of worm when he commented: "However, it was not the smartest thing to do, and I guess now that half of them are in public hands, the debates are unstoppable. Was nice though that we got 500 hits in our first day of being open."
Little did Max know that EJP really was unstoppable. Whoever supplied Max with the information was not to be deterred by Max's desire to avoid the ire of Decipher, and the Mystery Man proceeded to send the list to the single member in the community who can be depended on to be inflammatory and not care what the heck Decipher says about it….Ozymandias. And so, over the last few weeks, we seen the EJP spoilers revealed one at a time on good old Ozymandias' Star Wars for Guys Who Like Star Wars, culminating in his "proof" - what appears to be a digest from the playtesters' listserv. Within minutes, the BBS heated up as people debated whether or not the digest was real and whether or not Ozymandias should go to hell/jail for posting it.
First thing's first, do I think that EJP is real? ..yes, I do. I believe that there is a product in development that resembles what we know as EJP. The concept of EJP seems to fit in with what Decipher has hinted at regarding their plans for the "classic" game. In fact, if you read closely, there's a reference in the playtester digest to another product, ECC, which could possibly be Enhanced Cloud City. I wouldn't expect the product to actually be called EJP, though I also wouldn't be surprised. Releasing "enhanced" expansions, mini-expansions, or products is very much in line with what Decipher said they would do in a January 28 NewsFlash article titled "Classic Star Wars CCG Readies Itself For A New Millennium." To those who doubt the very existence of an enhanced product, I think you are mistaken.
Now, do I think the actual spoilers are cards that are currently in development? Hmmm, I don't really know. But what I can give you is my gut instinct that at one time (probably back in late February) these were the card concepts that were being tossed around. That's not to say that anything ever really came of them or that we'll be exclaiming with glee as we see these card in actual packs, but the ideas are very "Decipher." if you read the digest message that supplied all of the spoilers, you will also notice something interesting, some of those weren't even beta version cards.they were ideas being throw out there for comment. It was brainstorming in action. It didn't even look like they were discussing any playtesting at all...rather this was the precursor to actual playtesting. At any rate, I think that we will see some of those ideas in one form or another, but I certainly wouldn't count on it. What that digest gave us was a tiny sliver of a much bigger picture one that we know nothing about. One thing that I keep returning to in my head is the message Max posted the day he removed the spoilers (which is why I was a little irritated that I couldn't find it to quote). He said that he was asked to remove the list because they were "misleading," not because they were bold-faced lies.
So how about the actual playtesters' listserve - real or fake??? Again, I don't know, but I can give you my observations. If it's a fake, it's a very, very good one written by someone exceedingly familiar with the way the people supposedly on it converse. As a faithful reader of the SW:CCG Discussion Listserv, many of the names were very familiar, as were the mannerisms portrayed. If it's a fake, they did a great job making sure they threw in something about Martin Arlt's love of troopers. Attention was paid to details such as how the individuals signed their posts: "Regards, Hak" and "Cheers, Juz." Even Brian Kallenbach's often-lame and bizarre sense of humor was captured in his attempts to be funny or cute. I've read enough of Colonel Mustachio's reviews to consider the comment attributed to Nick Zube (the Col.'s real name) about Missourians to be very much in character. In fact the only inconsistency that I noticed was the fact that Juz's sig files were missing. He usually includes a song lyric or a literary quote in his signature. I don't know why he would change or delete his sig just to post on the playtester list - that's pretty odd. At any rate, I think that if it's a fake, someone has waaaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands. If it's a fake, I can think of only a handful of individual who could actually do it, and many of them are named on that digest. Mike Smith (who isn't on the list, but was the Web master of Mike's Unofficial Rulings page) is probably capable, though I'm not sure he has the time to burn. perhaps a Decipher employee. Mark Tuttle or Brian K. could have cooked it up to keep us distracted during the dry spell between SE and Endor. At any rate, if it's fake, bravo to the author. If it's real, I'm am very frightened about how SW:CCG products are developed. Seriously, "pee pee whacking," now THAT is scary.
And now, a comment that actually goes on the assumption that the digest is real (so just humor me here). I highly doubt that any of the people listed were playtesters at the time of SE (and if they were I would hope they would have gotten the boot). But even if they weren't SE playtesters, note that a number of these people are high profile players who were at or played in the Worlds - Hak Soo Kim (ranked 109th in the world), Juz (aka Justin Pakes and world's attendee), Chris Janiak (ranked 9th in the world), and Marco Habert (ranked 4th in the world). Is it an unfair advantage that these guys have months or even years to think about how they will use certain cards and strategies? Personally, I don't think it's very fair at all, but then again, I don't know much about the process or how far the concepts that these guys play with are to the final product. My trusted pal faramir calmed me down a bit about this and convinced me that it's not such a big deal. But my point is still that it's a concern of mine. I'll never be a "worlds quality" player, but I know people who have the potential, and I would hate to see them at a disadvantage.
Finally, what about the moral issue: should Ozymandias have posted the spoilers and the digest? Well, I'd have to say probably not. Every company has the right to develop products without consumers seeing every iteration and rough draft. Further, they have every right (and probably the responsibility) to not let the competition know about products in the pipeline. The fact of the matter is that someone Decipher trusted has betrayed them (if all of this is real of course) - that is undeniably wrong. The question of Ozy's responsibility is a little different. If Proctor and Gamble is creating a new product and someone on the PD team blabs, is NBC news the guilty party if they tell the public? Better put, does the public have a right to know everything that's out there? Do you see how it gets complicated? From my point of view, Ozy's motivation was two-fold: he's an antagonist and wanted to see how much poop he could stir up, and he wanted hits for his site. Neither motivation is noble, but neither is criminal either. [Ed. I would have to take a good long look at intellectual property rights, copyright law, and First Amendment cases to see if Decipher's lawyers really have a leg to stand on. I have a feeling that Ozy just might be considered a form of press here. If anything, he could be commanded to name the true crimminal in all of this - Mystery Man.] If it had been me, I probably wouldn't have posted it, but then again, it's a serious temptation. All of the people (and one in particular, Mr. HF) on the BBS who have been ranting about this should probably get off of their moralizing soapboxes and content themselves with the thought that they just might be My. Ozy's moral superiors. [Ed note: I know Ozy personally, and he really isn't a bad guy at all. He's a great player (although a little arrogant) and a dad who makes the time to spend with his kid. So think about that before you people go shooting your mouths off about the kind of person that he is. You know nothing except what you've decided to assume.]
And so, what will the fall out be? Who knows. Decipher, as per their usual, will likely stay quiet or say little. Of course what should they say: "you stole our shit you bastard?" Obviously they have a relatively serious internal security problem that requires much attention. I don't think they'll be "scrapping any products," nor will they lose their liscense from LucasFilm, although I suppose the possibility exists that they may be required to explain how they'll improve security [Ed note: who the hell do these BBS people think they are assuming that they understand Decipher's agreement with LucasFilm. Behold the arrogance.] I suspect that Ozy will be required to take the listserv message down, though even that's a long shot since it would require Decipher to call attention to the matter. [Ed. OK, so I was little off on that one.]
Of course there is the possibility that all Decipherians are sitting at their desks laughing their asses off with tears pouring down their cheeks because we have run though this little maze like rats in search of cheese. This could all be a much-needed distraction to keep us from noticing that SE is many months old and we're bored. Definitely something to think about.
Queen Jawa