Slashdot Mirror
SJGames Layoffs
Robotech_Master writes: "Citing financial difficulties (stemming from a CFO who apparently didn't keep the books in sufficiently good order), Steve Jackson has announced the layoff of 13 employees from Steve Jackson Games today. (Long-time Internetters will recall that the FBI raid on SJG was one of the first causes celebre of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.)" Update: 07/07 12:32 PM by michael : It was the Secret Service, not the FBI, of course. We've had several stories mentioning the raids on the Illuminati Online bulletin board and SJG.
I was online a lot during the Hacker Crackdown year, as well as being a regular visitor to the SJG BBS by plain old modem. As a former employee, I liked to keep up with things. When the Feds hit SJG, I was spending up to eight hours a day online (at 2400 baud, for the most part - builds patience). One day, the Secret Service raided SJG and Took The Computers Away, and I was, of course, a bit freaked out. So the following Saturday, I got up to watch cartoons and play with the computer. I booted up the old Apple, logged on, and got ready for some Usenetting.
There was a knock at the door. Looking through the peephole, I saw two young men in dark suits, carrying briefcases. "Oh, crap!"
Visions of search, seizure, and other fun things in my mind, I opened the door. One of the men spoke. "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"
Is it just me, or has every company that had the Traveller license suffered somehow? I can think of 4 or 5 different incarnations (Traveller, Traveller:TNE, Megatraveller, GURPS Traveller, and I think there was another edition in there somewhere). It's a great game (any game that uses hex for attributes is cool!), I'd hate to see it orphaned AGAIN. SJGames has produced excellent material for it.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
I blame the Slashdot person for not catching my mistake when he posted the article. Yeah, that's the ticket! ;)
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Hrm. Maybe the gods of rand(x) are being nice to me but it doesn't seem to require *that* much background to get the items.
Okay, the tenth dentist still has me stumped...
rark!
These days, however, when I can play some pretty absorbing computer based RPG's like Deus Ex, or go frag a group online, the lure of the game store and trying to get a group of gamer geeks together to play an adventure just doesn't have the same pull as it used to.
Anyone who still follows the business able to tell me what the current state of the industry is?
Sorry as a long time Car Wars fan this really dissapoints me. Not at SJgames (kick ass game company) but at the industry in general I guess. It's them newfangled collectable card games that are out there these days. Sucking up all them kids disposable income. No more money to spend on GURPS or Vampire or even good 'ole D&D (oh, your book says 'demon' in it. Let's ban it!). Magic cards are like the crack rock. There are never enough. I think I sold my soul for an 'Ancestral Recall' and a Lotus once. Okay I got bit by the Magic bug. But I'm clean now.
okay back on topic. Sorry about that. Anyway, when I played magic I still played other games. Car Wars, D&D, even Some Warhammer RPG. Oh, wait. There was some Twilight 2000 in there too. Sure I worked in a comic shop (discount) but we had a pretty big game selection. We had everything from Avalon Hill to Warhammer. We had a huge wall of Warhammer 2k minis. Talk about inventory overhead. Eventually the place went under.
Back on topic. Okay so far we've established
-CCG = Bad
But out of all the games I listed above, Car Wars was my absoulte favorite. Maybe its a math thing. All those gridlines and calculators. Mmmmmm....gridlines. I know it wasn't a favorite, but it seem to circle the drain for years before they finaly put it to death. It's been out of print for a while now, but check it out on ebay if you've never tried it and if you like
- Car Design (but with .50 cals!) in a Mad Max sort of setting
- have paitence
- Enjoy the thrill of a good dice roll (I'm not kidding!)
Anyway, get the Compendium or Delux Car Wars. Good stuff.
Sorry about the randomness and the spelling and/or the HTML. Stoned stream of conciusness sort of thing
Oh yea, ADQ stands for Autoduel Quarterly. The Car Wars magazine. Ran for about 10 years. Also good stuff. Even if you don't play.
Pete
The sole purpose of the Internet is to get porn and bomb making plans into the hands of children.
So would many other people, apparently. For some reason, a reason which is totally beyond my power to explain, people like being lied to. I wish I knew why.
Once, back when I used to attempt to play Linux advocate (btw, it seems that media manipulation, something I never tried or even considered trying, has been the most successful method of advocating free software) I spent quite some time extolling the virtues of Linux to someone I knew. One point I mentioned was that the producers of Linux systems are more likely to admit mistakes (securty flaws were less important to this person, but basic things like bugs in the OS that would cause a crash) due to the nature of openly developed software. He told me that he would prefer a vendor who did not admit mistakes. It was the kind of statement to which I could never really refute. It still is. It's pretty difficult to refute a statement which is totally beyond one's comprehension.
Why do people prefer to be lied to when they know the truth? I really can't understand it, but it does seem explain some otherwise apparently irrational actions by people and/or organisations who want to pretend that they can't be held accountable for anything.
Having said that, kudos to PJG for being forthright about their problems. I respect them much more for it.
--
You're a suburbanite.
It was indeed the Secret Service, but my main beef is with the next line or two of the story post:
(Long-time Internetters will recall that the FBI raid on SJG was one of the first causes celebre of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.)"
It wasn't just one of the first causes, it was the reason for the founding of the EFF. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for all those who are new here, is the organization dedicated to protecting all internet-related civil liberties, and they generally fight injustice in the electronic world. Think ACLU without the penchant for being rabidly anti-religious or doing other silly things occasionally.
Steve Jackson has given many classical hackers years of joy. Metagaming, now SJG brought forth not only some of the most wonderful games, but also seminal ideas for game design. Ogre proved not only that a complex game (other than Chess) could be elegant, but he showed us how that could be done.
Perhaps all of we old farts are irrelevant today, but Steve's works inspired most of we early game designers, and I'd like to think that, in turn, we passed the torch that thereafter "stood on ye shoulders of giants"
Steve was such a giant. This is not only "news for nerds." Its also stuff that matters.
But a few weeks ago, our CFO left. Our financial reports are over a year out of date (that is, it has been more than a year since any accounting period was fully closed to show profit or loss). Our inventory is a mess. I have been writing personal checks to keep our bank account in the black. It is hard to describe the problem in more detail without using technical accounting terminology and really bad language.
I never understood why a company (and I have seen this happen before) hires incompetent personnel, and allows them to do whatever suits them. I honestly feel bad for the company, but how much of the blame can be pushed off the the CFO, if no one is managing the company, and its workers.
Now I've never owned my own company, so I don't know the ins and outs of running a business, but if I didn't have my books on point to show what I am spending on, what I am getting in returns on a quarterly basis (not yearly) heads would roll.
Its easy to cast blame on someone who's walked out, or been fired, but the ignorance, or negligence (take your pick) of not running a company properly is not an excuse to throw out when firing someone, personally I would rather hear a "Sorry but we're tight right now" and not some "Oops my bad I didn't watch so and so"
Want Root?
Clarke's Laws (in order):
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
One positive thing about a tougher gaming market, quality, and not marketing, becomes the driving economic factor...
Or maybe it's just the many, many beers talking...
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crazy dynamite monkey
Steve Jackson (the same Steve Jackson) is my proofreader. Despite the fact that he's a giant in the gaming industry, and really busy, and about ten years or so older than I am, he takes the time twice a year to go over Nova Express proofs with a fine-tooth comb so I don't look like an idiot due to the dozens of typos and tiny details I can't see because I've read every article and review 14 times already. And like all the rest of my contributors, he doesn't get a dime for doing it. He does it just because he thinks Nova Express is a worthwhile zine and is happy to give back to the SF community, for which he has my Eternal Gratitude.
So dig deep, me brothers. If you have any teenage nephews and nieces you've been looking to introduce to role-playing games, now's the time to get them that GURPS or Illuminati set...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Looks like a winner to me!
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I have no way of knowing how true his comments are (and of course he is prejudiced a bit!) but it does seem to me that the games business has fallen on hard times. I remember when Dungeons and Dragons outsold Monopoly to become the top-selling game of the year; I doubt this is true any more!
P.S. Speaking of non-computer games: I saw a special edition of Dungeons and Dragons... on the cover it said: "Diablo II" (fine print) "Non-computer version" On the back it said something like "No computer required. Play Diablo II with your friends!"
The circle is complete.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
In South Florida, there was a gaming store that had HUGE tables everywhere. After Magic, there was more money in it, and it expanded the store. Instead of one big table (where the owner or the other guy that worked there could play) there were two tables in the back. However, without the owner's personal involvement in games (as Magic grew), it became easier to spend money buying products online and playing there. Definitely hurt them.
However, Magic eliminated other games. When I started hanging there, it was trying to get into a good RPG. A friend played there for years. However, I never saw anything but Magic (except the occaisional wargaming league games). It was simply easier to play Magic for hours where people could pop in and sit down, then try to coordinate an RPG. Hell, even the RPG group I played with would rarely play a session, because Magic was easier to play with no need to plan out an adventure.
Unfortunately, WotC needed constant infusions of cash, so they ruinned Magic with bad expansions and attempts to remove the dominance of the older players. Eventually CCGs started to die off.
Unfortunately, when the CCGs slowed, there wasn't anywhere for people to go. RPGs need to be restarted with a young crew. Existing groups died off. Also, I loved the place in my life for RPGs, but I've never been able to reestablish them. It's easier to spend my few spare hours computer gaming than getting a group together.
I'm one of the lucky ones, my girlfriend would play in a game that I ran. If you have someone in your life and they aren't into gaming... good luck.
Honey, I don't want to go hit a local hot spot, I want to throw some odd-shaped dice around...
Laugh,
Alex
YESSS! Cheap Ass games. I own Lord of the Fries and Pass the Brain. Those games are a riot. Some other good ones are Awful Green Things from Outer Space, Coup (to mention two SJG products), Che Geek it a pretty entertaining card game. Those quick and dirty games are fun (and some of them can be more in depth than would be expected). But I still have the urge to geek out on all day Civilistion, Titan, or even Axis and Allies.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
I got a copy of Car Wars signed back in '86 by Steve Jackson (the little plastic box version)- at a convention in Missoula, MT...he was cool
The hell he went through with the Govt. and now this would put most businessmen out of work. It's good to see someone who loves the hobby sticking in there, and I'll have to take a look at some of their new products...(haven't bought one since "Killer" in the mid 90's at college.
Whereas most people would have just canned and moved on, he posted to the website, offered to help those laid off find new jobs, and in general has been the king of CEO's, (if that's what he actually is - maybe a better term is head honcho) - we should all be so lucky.
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ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
Unfortunately, I guess I was right all along. They were stretching themselves thin, they just didn't realize it because of poor bookkeeping. That's really too bad, Steve Jackson has always been an exceptionally cool guy. I think I'll head over to Warehouse 23 and buy myself a copy of Deluxe Illuminati, since I've always been curious about that game.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Chez Dork looks AWESOME! Domination Spank Police: How could any REAL woman stand up to that? ROFLROFLROFLROFLROFL I've got a huge HUGE stack of GURPS rule/world books, but I don't have GURPS basic rules, nor have I ever played GURPS; the books are SO DAMN WONDERFUL and can be applied to ANY FREAKIN RULESET with a wee bit of work. They're great.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
(Long-time Internetters will recall that the FBI raid on SJG was one of the first causes celebre of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.)
No, I recall that it was the Secret Service.
What does the Internet have to do with it? You mean longtime modemers, because this was a case involving e-mail on SJG's Bulletin Board System (BBS) and the rights entitled to electronic publishers.
That wasn't Steve's doing so much as it was geeks working for him talking him into it, though, wasn't it? I mean, I remember asking Steve when the Illuminati BBS was going to get a QWK packet option, and he told me it sounded good but he "wouldn't know a QWK packet if it committed an indiscretion on [his] shoe." Heh.
Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
Oh, if you're geeky enough, you find a way to devote fifteen years of your life to automating RPG's, like, say, running the Phoenyx.
Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
Like the illuminati, or the masons, or the stonecutters. . .
The middle mind speaks!
"Our per-product sales were up in 2000 (and are up more in 2001), we've been producing more products, and the distributors have been paying their bills. The cash ought to be there, but it's not"
I don't know anything about the people at this company so I hope I'm not totally off when I wonder if the CFO was pocketing some money. Has anyone heard about an investigation of the CFO? It's mighty suspicious. Then again, it could just be gross incompetence.
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I know this post came a little late, but here it is anyways. for the complete story on the SJGames Vs. Secret Service saga, check out this link:
http://www.2600.com/secret/sj.html
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
Good luck and I hope you prosper...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Steve Jackson Games has been around since 1980, which makes it one of the oldest surviving companies in the adventure gaming hobby. With TSR absorbed into Wizards of the Coast a few years back, only Flying Buffalo, Chaosium, and possibly Palladium are older than SJG, and even Chaosium exists only as a shadow of its former greatness. The others, though of widely varying size, are essentially one-man shows, tied to the will and whim and stubbornness of their founders.
I worked for Steve Jackson Games from 1984 to '86, under Editor-in-Chief Warren Spector (a great guy who later blossomed into "the legendary" Warren Spector, at least in the eyes of PC Gamer magazine, for his pivotal role in the development of such computer games as System Shock, a couple of Ultimas, both Ultima Underworlds, Deus Ex, and many others). While I was there, SJG went through a financial crisis startlingly similar to the current situation, though without substantial layoffs. Then, some years after I left, I heard the company suffered another almost identical episode. In each case an incompetent financial officer drove the company into the red, sometimes deeply.
It keeps happening because Steve has arranged his company so that he can exercise absolute control over those matters that interest him -- the creative side, scheduling, print-buying -- while paying as little attention as possible to matters that don't -- mainly accounting. This wouldn't be much problem if the company had a deep bench of talented business people, but company turnover has always been a problem.
Still, I have no doubt SJG will once more weather this current crisis. It's like the old saying about the difference between monarchy and democracy: Monarchy is a proud ship, sailing untouched through the storm, but if it hits a rock it sinks utterly; democracy is a raft, which never sinks but your feet are always wet. Except for a glorious year during the trading-card game boom -- when Illuminati: New World Order singlehandedly pushed annual sales above the million-dollar mark for the only time in company history -- SJG's feet have always been wet. Their feet will still be wet, but above the waterline, a decade and more from now.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Yes, it was the Secret Service. And if you don't know what we're talking about, their ordeal is well documented here.