SJ Flames White Wolf For Bad-Faith Behavior
| Event | |
|---|---|
| Event: | SJ Flames White Wolf For Bad-Faith Behavior |
| Participants: | Steve Jackson, Stephan Wieck |
| Date(s): | Aug 1994 |
| Type: | Flamewar |
| Fandom: | Gaming (tabletop role-playing games) |
| URL: | SJ Flames White Wolf For Bad-Faith Behavior, An Open Letter from Stephan Wieck, President:White Wolf, Inc. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This flamewar erupted on FRP newsgroups in 1994. Steve Jackson, the founder and president of Steve Jackson Games, posted an open letter explaining why the long-awaited GURPS variant of White Wolf's Mage: The Ascension wasn't ready yet.
The next day, the president of White Wolf posted an open letter in response.
The gaming world exploded into massive wank, as hundreds of gamers announced that the president of their favorite game company came across as honorable and reliable, and the other guy was a poseur dodging responsibility for corporate problems.
Others noted that both sides were obviously deeply upset, and had different ways of dealing with that in public. [1]
Many declared, "I'll never buy another supplement from that bastard Steve again!" (or words to that effect), with the audience left to figure out which "Steve" was being insulted. More level-headed gamers noted that detractors of one side or the other had likely never bought supplements from the competition, and announcing that they weren't planning on starting was not likely to be taken as a compelling market force from either side. [2]
Excerpts
From Steve Jackson's letter
"Apparently SJ Games won the "I Slept With WHO??" award, at this year's Silver Hatchet Ceremony at Origins, for making a deal with White Wolf in the first place. I can't argue . . .
[...]
"There have been many, many problems with White Wolf since we started doing GURPS versions of their books, and one of the worst boils down to: White Wolf changes the ground rules on us, over and over, and always in ways that hamstring our adaptations."
From Stephan Wieck's response
"I do not want to get into a battle of "who said what" or "who did what" over the internet, therefore I will not air White Wolf's side of the story on all of these issues, and even if Steve Jackson chooses to respond to my message here, I will not be airing anymore messages on this subject over the internet for now. Also for legal and professional reasons, I have asked the staff at White Wolf to confine their statements on this subject to a bare minimum.
[...]
"Certainly, we will be doing everything possible and reasonable to end our business relationship with Steve Jackson Games. I have no desire to do business with someone who launches public attacks against me or the company that I am proud to be part of."
References
- ^ Steve Jackson vs. White Wolf accessed 10 Oct 2008
- ^ Comment thread at alt.games.whitewolf accessed 10 Oct 2008