Travis,
James fully intended to be shipping the game. When problems arose
that prevented that, he offered refunds to anyone who wanted
them. Quite a few people took him up on that, though some decided to
stick it out. I certainly don't agree with or condone many of his
practices, but the story isn't as simple as you are presenting it,
and James did offer refunds. The biggest problem is that a handful
of people, and it really is a minority, do not know or care to know
the full story, and would rather just call James a crook. For
example, did you even know that he had sent out refunds to anyone who
wanted them?
In any case, condemning an entire industry for the actions of a few
is like condemning all Germans because of the Nazis. If you don't
have time to play the games, that is one thing, but I fail to see the
logic in your way of thinking when it comes to the industry as a
whole. I don't condone the actions of Michael Jackson, but that
doesn't prevent me from buying Sting's records. *smile*
Personally, I love writing games, music, and stories, but it isn't
the same experience as playing games created by someone else, buying
an album by my favorite artists, or reading a Stephen King
novel. The thrill of discovery, and all that.
This has gotten far off topic, and I hope that we can let this lie here.
At 09:06 AM 7/18/2006, you wrote:
While this really isn't the place for this discussion, I would like
to point out that James *did* do things wrong.
He claimed a game was ready to be shipped. Took people's money, then
never shipped the game because it wasn't even close to being done.
This is not a legitimate business, personal, or any other kind of
practice except criminal. Regardless of his problems, no matter what
kind, this sort of behavior is not only unacceptable, but if it had
been done by a commercial company producing games for the general
populous, he would had a class action lawsuit slapped on him so fast
he wouldn't have had the time to blink. But, because it was a small
community, nothing happened as a result. So, if he obtained a bad
reputation, and this is the worst that happened to him, then he got
off way to easy in my opinion.
However, since I was not one of the ones who lost their money to this
guy I really don't have a complaint with him, though if I had been
one of them, you can be sure I would have spearheaded the class
action suit to be sure.
This is just another reason why I will not return to the accessible
games market. I have several ideas, and code written that could be
dropped into several projects I already have, and I could have half a
dozen games in a few months (time permitting) but I will not lend my
support to such an industry as allows thhings like this to go
unremarked and unpunished.
The fact that nothing happened to this guy is just proof positive to
me that the gaming community is so desperate for games that they'll
be willing to put up with nearly anything to get them. I refuse to
to be associated with nonsense, so have withdrawn my support for such
things. I will *never* buy another accessible game, though I will
continue to play the free ones from time to time when other matters
actually allow such allowances.
I'm too busy to even sit down and play any of the games I already
have, so for me it's not really a loss. But besides, if I *really*
want a game, I'll write it myself, then I'm not restricted to what
others think I want.
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"The rich declare themselves poor
"But most of us are not sure
"If we have too much, but we'll take our chances
"'cause God stopped keeping score..."
Praying for Time -- George Michael
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