From: [n--ch--k] at [aol.com] (NikChick)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: 15 Dec 2000 21:33:44 GMT
Subject: Re: A letter from Peter Adkison
Message-ID: <[20001215163345 18117 00010120] at [ng-fi1.aol.com]>

My more than two cents:

I've seen several people talking about how Peter sold out and I'd just like to
comment.

Peter had the most fantastic job in gaming, just running Wizards of the Coast. 
He led a comfortable life as the founder of the company.  His company knew
success unparalleled in the game industry.  He did not need to sell to Hasbro
for his own personal gain.

On the other hand, WotC was built on hard work and the investments of others as
well.  Many of these people invested their savings in WotC when it was nothing,
when it was some folks in Peter's basement working on roleplaying games and
this highly risky, wild-eyed "collectible card game" idea. Others worked long
and hard in exchange for shares of a company that could well prove to be
worthless, as so many companies in the game industry are.  Over the years,
these people watched as their investment paid off for the company, which
flourished to a level beyond their wildest expectations.  Wizards of the
Coast's success with Magic the Gathering was unprecedented ... the success of
Pokemon dwarfed their previous success *unbelievably*.

Yet, while all this success was turning WotC into an international power house,
the individuals who invested in those early days didn't have anything to show
for it on a personal level. The guy who works to be the sole supporter for his
daughter and his disabled wife?  Sure, he had "shares" but he can't afford that
handicapped-equipped van he needs.  The widow who was forced to move out of her
condo when her partner died?  Sure, she had "shares" but that wasn't putting
her ahead in the world.  (Not making these examples up, by the way ... these
are people I know personally.)

What Peter did by securing the Hasbro buyout was insure that those people
finally got something for their investments.  He gave up being his own boss
(and sure, he also "got something" for his shares, so don't get me wrong, he's
no martyr) and sold what he'd built in order to look out for those other
people, and my respect for him increased immensely.

I think the gist of Peter's letter is not "oh poor me, I sold my company and
now I can't run it the way I want to!" but rather an explanation about why he's
not satisfied to butt heads with Hasbro's mandates anymore.  I took the letter
as an explanation of why he's leaving, when Hasbro had originally said they'd
leave him alone to run WotC for the next 5 years.

Nicole 

"All in all, this game rocks!"
	-- Doc Cross, re: Ork! the Roleplaying game
	A+ review Games Unplugged #3 
	www.greenronin.com/ork.htm