Update on Desperation Morale Update

Pitman

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Remember the early years when colourful comic adds of toy war games fuel our imaginations and excitement much like what the annual Sears catalog did to everyone in North America back in the day? I believe CH has successfully tapped (tapio'd) into this selling method of trying to seduce our thinking by not detailing the item's contents on purpose. The Desperation Morale site has been battling this style of deception for us in an attempt (IMO) to help all of us from falling into this underhanded ploy. I have emailed Mark in the past on his site but got no response from him when I inquired about how to send a paypal donation, but he's been really good at not wanting money. I would suggest that he opens up a link on his site so those of us who do buy the odd CH item can help support his efforts in this regard.
I'm not sure what happened to your e-mail, although there was a time when the contact form on my site stopped working (which is why I had to switch to another). I appreciate your willingness to support the site. I do accept paypal contributions (you can DM me here to get an e-mail address), and some people have been kind enough to support the site in that way. I have only ever done one fundraiser, and that was in 2014 for the attempt to rebuild the site to its current look and functionality (some may remember the original site, which would have been very impressive in 1996). The support I got then was overwhelming and took care of 80% of the cost of rebuilding. Since then I haven't pro-actively sought donations, but contributions are accepted and greatly appreciated. So are contributions of photographs! :)
 

Pitman

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Thanks Mark for your work and dedication. I realise that writing well, with clarity and with a certain spark gives pleasure to both author and reader but I'm wondering if the length of your CH placeholders really warrant it? I'd have no problems if those entries were more skeletal - thus saving precious time for your other hobbies. Ofcourse the quality of content is your decision.

I must say I just shook my head when I read you'd splashed $1000 on CH products you thought might be worthy of further investigation. My goodness!!
Says more about CH prices than anything else. When MMP charges a lot for a product, you get a lot of value (both playwise and component wise) in return. Same can't be said for CH.
 

Pitman

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well done Mark. I do admire your dedication but I do feel you fret too much over 'the CH problem'. The reviews in a a large way are probably useless. Tapio and CH are the Trump of ASL you could say... divsive with a capital D and with few undecided. I suppose after 25 odd years CH has established a core customer base and I strongly suspect they don't fall into your social or playing community like mainly populate this site. Those who see ASL more a tool to further their interest in re-creating the history and less a 'game' ..competitive gaming where the importance of balance trumps all.

Though your effort is highly appreciated and sure as shit respected... it would be a shame to see you burn out over 'the CH problem'. For how many are they really useful? Either one takes advantage of the pricing system CH has and buys what they find of interest well before you could ever review it or they avoid CH like the plague (or satanic sex starved redheads with deadly aim with pots and pans when enraged) out of principal. For the few few undecided who might find the substance of your reviews helpful.. are just as likely choke over the MSRP they would have to pay later haha. It is strange business model for sure but it appears to work.. and with a very happy core customer base or else CH would have bit the dust long ago.. or changed its tune regarding some of your favorite taking points regarding them and their practices.
CH has changed a number of things as a result of things I've said on my site over the years (which is one reason why RT often makes snide references about me, because I don't think he has liked having to make those changes), but it won't change its business model because RT can't or won't find another. Re the write-ups (I don't use the term review), I know there are people who find my write-ups of CH useful, because they write to tell me so. It's also worth noting that there are many ways people may come across a CH product other than from CH. For example, on the used market, whether via online auction, gamecon auction, or other places. It may not be a question, for some people, of ever paying full price for a CH product, but what if that same product was available used for $25, versus the $89.95 CH charges for it new? There are people out there for whom that might make a difference, and they want to know more about it.
 

RobZagnut

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This is too f'in weird. Mark posts 2 or 3 times a month to complain about how sucky Critical Hit is and oh dear, how would he ever review all their stuff (which he considers dreck). And in the meantime some of the most anticipated and well received items from the first rate publishers have gone unmentioned.

28 Dec 2019: http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/dm-website-update-report-3-the-ch-conundrum.155336/
18 Dec 2019: http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/minor-desperation-morale-update-progress-note.155180/
9 Nov 2019: http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/third-party-publisher-rate-of-publication-question.154528/

Call me crazy, but maybe he should just decide what it is he want his site to accomplish. If it's an encyclopedia of everything out there, then just list the stuff.

If it's a review site, then review the stuff deemed worthy of review.

Put another way, if he's not passionate about what he's doing, why is he wasting his time? He's paying out of pocket to run it and then complaining that the people he's trashing aren't good enough to be trashed by him, and oh, they produce so much dreck he is struggling to find the time to getting around to talking about them some more.

I thought most people got their reviews from YouTube and podcasts now in any event. He could make real money off of YouTube.
Stalker is as Stalker does...

You can count on 3 things; death, taxes and Douche taking offense to a Pitman created topic.
 

RobZagnut

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Mark, excellent commentary on Red Factories and RP 17. Spot on.
 

Neal

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I'll admit that I've purchased a few CH items (mainly Normandy and Bulge items). But you'd be a fool to pay "full price" for them when you can get a 30% off code every week. I've also found a couple things at nobleknight that was about 50% off. I know most of the stuff isn't diligently playtested, but I've run across some extremely unbalanced official MMP scenarios too, so ... /shrug

That being said, you should honestly try to stop obsessing about the CH stuff, or even posting about it in various places. It's a waste of energy (negative energy at that). Focus that energy on covering MMP, LFP, BFP, LCP, hopefully the upcoming Advancing Fire (I can send pics as I've done before ? ), and other respected publishers. Post some CH stuff if you feel like it. We'll get by with or without it. ?
 

Spencer Armstrong

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I'll add my voice to the chorus of "stop writing about CH." It's obviously a time and energy suck for you. Frankly, at this point, you could include a note about the when and why of the change and let it go (a la the WBW disclaimer). Talking about CH is like arguing about fire tables: We do it out of habit, but nobody's mind has changed in a decade. I feel like this one thing has been the cause of DM's updates being much less frequent and timely over these last few years and you could solve that by letting it go. You could also take the approach of doing updates sans CH first and get to it if you can (though I think it's obvious that would end in a similar place). While I deeply appreciate DM and its value personally and to the hobby, this is, after all, a hobby and it's meant to be fun, even the adjunct stuff. And if it's not, life's too short.
 

Ric of The LBC

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I'll add my voice to the chorus of "stop writing about CH." It's obviously a time and energy suck for you. Frankly, at this point, you could include a note about the when and why of the change and let it go (a la the WBW disclaimer). Talking about CH is like arguing about fire tables: We do it out of habit, but nobody's mind has changed in a decade. I feel like this one thing has been the cause of DM's updates being much less frequent and timely over these last few years and you could solve that by letting it go. You could also take the approach of doing updates sans CH first and get to it if you can (though I think it's obvious that would end in a similar place). While I deeply appreciate DM and its value personally and to the hobby, this is, after all, a hobby and it's meant to be fun, even the adjunct stuff. And if it's not, life's too short.
Concur.
 

Gordon

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I won't lose any sleep if Desperation Morale punts on CH!
 

Jumbo

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I for one hope that you will continue to cover CH.
Your coverage of CH has been a tremendous help in making informed choices in purchasing CH products.
You are doing the ASL community a great service, and, as has been pointed out elsewhere, helps newcomers to avoid
making poorly-informed choices which might otherwise turn them off ASL.
If I was new to ASL and was subjected to the nonsense I have been subjected to in dealing with CH, I might think
CH is representative of ASL, and ASL vendors in particular, and be turned off to continuing.
Apologies if I have offended any CH fans.
Thank you.
 
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RobZagnut

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Mark, regarding 'that' other TPP let me help you so you don't have to do all the heavy lifting. In the future just cut and paste from some of these as needed:

  • Not worth the paper it's printed on.
  • Buyer beware.
  • Probably wasn't playtested.
  • Probably renamed from a previous pack.
  • Pulllllease, Star Wars versus Star Trek?!?!? (Oops licensing, the Kirk vs. Luke pack)
  • Could have been stolen from another publisher.
  • Please don't pay full price for this.
  • Was NOT playtested.
  • Some assembly required.
  • We've seen this one 17 times before.
  • Refurbished, rehashed, replayed, reprinted... reliable?
  • Batteries not included.
  • $89.95 for ONE magazine?
  • Play and test are just words.
 

Jumbo

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Critical Hit? More like Copied Hassets! (That's for my French friends out there.)
Given CH's reputation, another (and also appropriate, ASL-wise) title might be...

BOXCARS, INC.?
 
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