Maxus wrote:...But it looks like they have a cult of personality in Battletech. Battletech's player base also seems to be pretty clannish. So I suppose being one of Randall Bill's Special Friends will earn you rockstar status with your gaming group.
Eesh. I might have to go fix a s'more or some hot chocolate or something. That's depressing.
Don't let it get you too down.
Remember, the lid has been blown off all their... escapades. The one player I know who has had personal dealings with Bills and his wife has reluctantly agreed that they have been... very naughty. To say the least.
If his reaction to this whole thing is typical of the average BT fan, then I should think any version of IMR and/or CGL which survives will find it most challenging to continue with this sort of chicanery.
First, only the most dedicated fanboy - or even a former party to that kind of dealing - will find it hard to turn their backs on these guys ever again. Second, what sort of cachet associated with knowing 'The Powers That Be' will remain when it's become obvious they are cheaters?
And they are. Even if they make it through the courts in one piece, their reputation with players is shot. And they won't change a thing if they can help it, so they'll soon be back to their old tricks.
But this time, the proceeds won't be nearly as profitable. See, the folks who valued money and spent the fan base's good will getting it will soon discover that even if we players can't bring them to court, we can convict them. We don't have to form an association. We just game with the people we like. And trust. No one I play with has any trust left in either Coleman or Bills.
And no one likes to play with a cheater. I was on the verge of becoming one and pulled back just in time. The price is too high, and the game is a sham. Gamers play with people they trust. Who would play with me if I was observed to be cheating? Furthermore, no one likes to be a patsy, and very few people will associate with a man who values nothing but winning the game.
Any game. Even if you are in on it with him/her, who is to say you won't be next?
I predict these guys will find some way to shed IMR and CGL for cash within the near future, and move on to another 'game'. But maybe that's just wishful thinking. Like I said, their sort rarely changes its spots, and ego may have already blinded them to the downward spiral.
For IMR and CGL, for Mssrs. Coleman and Bills, the game is already over. And they've
lost. All that is left? A few final publications to 'prove' they're still a going concern, possibly in preparation for selling a stripped-down company ala TSR. There will be some courtroom wrangling. Finally, if all goes well, the realization ten years down the road that they killed the goose which laid the golden eggs.
Even then, they will probably find a way to blame everyone but themselves.
Meanwhile, who wants to take a bet that one of Loren L. Coleman's favorite expletives right now is 'Frank Fucking Trollman'?
Cent13
