Author Topic: Bad news - Good news  (Read 8639 times)

Jimmy V.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #75 on: 29/11/24, 04:39pm »
Jimmy, I find it quite riddling why you never really answered the questions if there is any possibility HM could be sold or given away to another owner to maintain it. A simple "no" would do, or if it's a "yes" many of us would love to know your conditions and difficulties for such a deal. Even if HM members might lack finances/skills to do the job, we all know people and if we had any idea what the terms of such transfer would be (technically and money wise) we could look for a buyer. For instance I have friends working in gaming industry and their employers could be interested, but for now all we could tell them would be "They said in the HM inn 10 000 000 sounds good"  ;D I feel some stubbornness going on, like "I'm not about to maintain it anymore, you all get over it", but even having full understanding of your own right to drop your project I'm curious about the reasons for not wanting to give it to anyone else at any circumstances:)

Kcekce.

I made my decision indeed.

I expected people to ask whether there was a way to make it work. When a community like HM is about to "die", there is always a lot of willingness to help, give money, etc. But actually making it work in the long term is another level. It is very hard. Especially when the main developer has gone to other projects.

This does not mean that I should not have tried to ask what you all thought a while ago. I always felt the odds of anything really meaningful coming out of it were slim. But I should still have tried, that's for sure. I said it earlier in the post, I think. My apologies for that.

Projects are a wonderful thing when you are building them and hoping to grow. They become a burden when you are on to the next thing and you still have to work on the old one. At least, that's the case for me. I have had that feeling many times already in my life. Maybe other people are different.

I honestly did not think there was much hope, given the size of our community, that it would be of interest to anyone. I contacted BGA though, thinking it was the best hope and indeed something was possible in the end. But I am still doubtful that there was any other serious possibility. In the last 12 years, no one in the board gaming community has really noticed Happy Meeple, so I really doubt anyone would have been interested in doing something with it.

I hope this answers your questions. More or less.

Kcekce G.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #76 on: 29/11/24, 05:25pm »
Quote
I expected people to ask whether there was a way to make it work. When a community like HM is about to "die", there is always a lot of willingness to help, give money, etc. But actually making it work in the long term is another level. It is very hard. Especially when the main developer has gone to other projects.

This does not mean that I should not have tried to ask what you all thought a while ago. I always felt the odds of anything really meaningful coming out of it were slim. But I should still have tried, that's for sure. I said it earlier in the post, I think. My apologies for that.

Projects are a wonderful thing when you are building them and hoping to grow. They become a burden when you are on to the next thing and you still have to work on the old one. At least, that's the case for me. I have had that feeling many times already in my life. Maybe other people are different.

We did ask all of that and got a clear answer from you that you're not going to be keeping on the HM. It was clear also that it's become a burden to you, which I understand. What's not clear yet is why anyone else is not allowed to keep it going - and what are the conditions for this to happen. The chance to find a new responsible "parent" to adopt HM is slim, yet still existing:) But all you're saying is past tense. You could move on to the future with some more cash in your pocket, while having the platform given in someone else's hands.

* I'm still poking on you until all the hope is lost, sorry :D

Jamie A.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #77 on: 29/11/24, 11:08pm »
In the last 12 years, no one in the board gaming community has really noticed Happy Meeple, so I really doubt anyone would have been interested in doing something with it.
It's been tough reading the discussion because I want to comment on almost every comment! On this one though I'll go ahead - I think you touched on a real issue here that has been mentioned rather sideways in the past - this isn't really the "board gaming community" here, this is the "casual gaming community." IMO the audience is much more like the past Big Fish audience rather than BGA in interest and spirit. That doesn't seem to have been your intended target, but that's where it landed. The "board gaming community" is much less concerned with aesthetics, ease of use, and clarity, again imo.

Example - a few of us expressed frustration with the time limit not comfortably allowing us to teach our friends how to play (something else you mentioned earlier in the thread, that we didn't seem to invite friends). If this was the "board gaming community," those friends would have been inherently interested in gaming and come out to play the tutorials on their own or after being sent a link. Someone who could be a casual gamer, playing just to spend nice time with a friend, they aren't nearly as likely to do that. They'll give it a try if a friend asks as an activity to enjoy together. But then as a few of us noted, it didn't work out because the time limit didn't allow us to help them learn the game. Just for myself, I did invite several friends IRL and each time they happily attempted to play a game with me and left frustrated by the time limit and didn't come back, because there was no option for us to play together comfortably while they learned the game. I thought then, and still think, that you underestimated the appeal of having another timer option for those of us who wanted to invite friends outside of the "board gaming community."

Similarly to another of your points, most of us here not being the "board gaming community" don't tend to be on those types of forums talking up wherever and whatever we're playing lately. (And we don't tend to create websites to place banners.) If we'd had this discussion some time ago perhaps some headway could have been made on more public commenting and promo also, but perhaps not so much in the places you were expecting. Overall I think more w/casual gaming it comes down to, I invite a friend, they like it and they invite a friend, who then invites a friend...

From what I've heard, it sounds like BGA will work for teaching a friend, however the rest of the time I prefer the relaxed ease of playing with bots and intuitive design that is easy on the eyes. Like many others, that's why I've been here and not there. (And to the errant design points... hamburger menus with hidden stacks of options and sliding sidebars and dialogue popups, light grey fonts and glaring whitespace, "modern design" can keep that to itself.)

Although it's so frustrating that a discussion didn't take place a year or two ago, I do appreciate and applaud you for at least participating in it somewhat now, rather than just posting a notice and leaving us hang until the plug is pulled. Thank you sincerely for that.

Beyond all that, I feel similarly as Kcekce G. And will be playing in quiet denial until it's gone. :( 


Guest 403858

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #78 on: 30/11/24, 11:48pm »
Thank you very much for providing the platform. I loved playing a lot.
Your design is such a lot more enjoyable. Also I‘m very sad, that your design of Cartographers will be lost to me, as BGA‘s design is not very user-friendly. Is there any hope you could sell it to BGA?
I‘m not into programming, but have you ever thought of letting AI try to take over maintanance?

Peter K.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #79 on: 01/12/24, 06:44pm »
Sad to hear, but thank-you for the site. It is much appreciated!

Carl J.

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Final Day Heads up and Thanks for Everything
« Reply #80 on: 04/12/24, 05:09am »
Thanks for everything guys! Wish there was a way to preserve this and keep it going but I understand. Is there anyway you could let us know a date for final day so we can all gather one last time?

Jamie A.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #81 on: 04/12/24, 05:33am »
fixing the title so as not to scare people prematurely...  ;)

Missy R.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #82 on: 06/12/24, 10:38am »
I am from America and found this site (from Paris I think) and do love playing here. (Lots of games I have never encountered).  I am SO SAD you are ending this site! I want to thank for having this MEEPLE site for us to play!!  May GOD  BLESS you on your next endevour!!  I will definitely sign up for the Game arena.  THANK YOU for caring about your players!!

Missy Roth (from Oregon, USA)

Jimmy V.

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Re: Final Day Heads up and Thanks for Everything
« Reply #83 on: 06/12/24, 03:54pm »
Thanks for everything guys! Wish there was a way to preserve this and keep it going but I understand. Is there anyway you could let us know a date for final day so we can all gather one last time?

I don't know exactly, I am sorry. Between 15th and 20th December most likely.


Nidhi R.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #84 on: 06/12/24, 08:14pm »
Please don't go....

Guest 430101

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #85 on: 08/12/24, 01:35am »
If you're looking for another very friendly and welcoming boardgaming site, I recommend yucata.de over BGA.

Guest 423505

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #86 on: 08/12/24, 04:59am »
If you're looking for another very friendly and welcoming boardgaming site, I recommend yucata.de over BGA.
Just a few minutes looking at the site and reading the FAQ, it appears much more geared towards the Happy Meeple crowd as compared to BGA. Thanks so much for the suggestion! :)

Jack S.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #87 on: 09/12/24, 01:10pm »
Thanks very much for all the great games over the years!

Brotspinne B.

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Re: Bad news - Good news
« Reply #88 on: 09/12/24, 11:33pm »
Habe jetzt einen Board Game Account erstellt, allerdings gefällt mir die Seite jetzt schon nicht, viel zu voll 🙁