By now, I’m sure most people reading this are aware of the hullabaloo surrounding the Dwimmermount Kickstarter campaign, occasioned by a comment by Tavis Allison (link will only work for supporters of the original KS), whose Autarch company was deeply involved in managing the Kickstarter campaign itself, although James M. was ultimately responsible for getting the book into the backers’ hands.
First off, I think it’s unfair to say that James has absconded with the money, or that this was a “scam” (which is the exact term some unfortunate over at the Autarch message boards used), etc. Yes, it’s late, but as Erik Tenkar has been reminding us on a regular basis, so are a bunch of other Kickstarter rewards. There have been regular updates, the backers have gotten pdf copies of the drafts, we’ve seen the art, etc.
So it seems that all, or most, of the pieces are in place. We just need to see them all put together and shipped off to the printer.
Now, it seems that James has been incommunicado for the last month or so. No blog posts, nothing on G+, not even any communication with Tavis we are told. So obviously something has happened to James, whether it be health related, family related, or something else. I don’t think it’s right or fair to jump on him for being out of touch for reasons which are, by definition, unknown. People are engaging in all kinds of baseless speculation, and it’s not helping anything except fuel the rumor mill further.
Unless folks are suggesting that James will go the way of Dave Trampier and never be heard from again, we just need to take the news that Dwimmermount is going to be yet later than it already is, and move on. Is it disappointing? Sure, but it’s hardly worth all the venom that I’ve seen in certain quarters.
After all, when Rich Burlew nearly cut his thumb off, nobody was giving him grief that his Order of the Stick Kickstarter rewards were going to be late. Something’s clearly happened to James to take him offline for a while, preventing him from letting folks know what’s up, and I urge patience to all involved. Well, continued patience, anyway.
UPDATE: Victor Raymond over at Sandbox of Doom has spoken with James and gotten permission to let everyone know what’s going on. I’m sure everyone wishes James nothing but the best in these trying times. I know I do.
I think what we're seeing, on the side of those doing the complaining, is a symptom of what the modern information age is doing to people: namely, turning even some of the most mediocre of us into phenomenally entitled little shits if you'll pardon the language, and completely unaware of the nature of what Kickstarter is.
If anything, the only thing that should really be coming out of our collective mouths, and what you so eloquently stated in your post, is that James has our dearest sympathies and prayers and thoughts in these times and leave it at that.
I had a feeling it had something to do with James'father. All I can say is that he has my deepest sympathies and Dwimmermount can wait. What he's dealing with right now is far more important.
I'm very sorry to hear this. And I thought I was simply having some software issues that were preventing me from seeing recent updates to Grognardia! (wouldn't be the first time…).
My sincerest sympathies to James. I lost my mom several years ago, and it is not fun.
I have been staunchly generous to James and Autarch. I deeply believe that they will fulfill their end of the situation, and that we will see the book and related materials come out, and that it will be good.
I do confess that my staunch faith wavered for a moment. I began to worry, when James made no update on Friday, that things were not working out. I was deeply relieved to hear that it was something else, though my sympathies go out to James and his family in this difficult time, and my relief is tempered with sadness that such a situation is facing him.
Thanks for a sane and rational post. I get tired reading some of the Chicken Little, high school mentality sorts of posts and comments sometimes!
I started to post some thoughts on how crowdfunding can get out of hand. I think it spilled over into a blog post, so it's here
As for my suggestions about letting everyone know, I think the ADD campaign by our own Greyhawk Grognard have been very forthcoming is this very place.
I am hoping most of the venomous posts about James are due to the disappointment of having to wait for Dwimmermont and not just personal attacks.
I'm not one who bashed James and wouldn't because I figured there was a good reason. An unfortunate reason which has now been confirmed. I wish the best to James and when he get back to it, he gets back to it. Until then I hope things work out for him and he gets back to having some fun with gaming.
Unfortunately, there were folks in some quarters who were beating up on James before the whole Dwimmermount thing, just because they didn't like his blog and what he chose to write about.
I think more than a little of the venom is from those folks who are now using this as just another stick with which to bash him over the head.