Cause and Effect - Interview with Ben Peal

Squidalot wrote:

Lambach wrote:

The Design Team Leader was mostly absent during the time when the Phase 1 cards were developed/vetted. He was granted, despite his lack of work, with full authority when he returned of creating new cards. This shines through glaringly in the difference betweem Phase 1 and Phase 2 playtest cards IMO (I am a plytester, and I think I can make this general comment without violating NDA).

SNIP

Sorry, I love this game and take it really seriously. I don't want radical changes made to it without MORE THOROUGH trial and error than probably existed when LSJ ran things.

Hi Lambach,

i'm Hugh the Playtest Co-ordinator.

Irrespective of the rest of your post:

Please can you ensure that any comments you have relating to how you perceive Round 2 cards or changes to Round 1 or how/why you think this relates to Design Process are passed through your playtest liaison so the feedback can actually be heard and collated with the feedback from the other 33 playtest groups.

thanks,
Hugh

Hello Hugh. I know who you are (because I watched your episode on Cause & Effect!)

I will certainly be submitting opinions at length of the Phase 2 cards through my playtest coordinator.

Lambach's concerns are well-grounded and we'll prepare an answer which we'll post Sunday.

Lambach wrote:

KevinM wrote:

Lambach wrote:

Never did Johannes or Ben Peal address this issue in your interviews, why it should have been OK for Ben to be gone for so long in such an important role and still have so much authority to design brand new Tourney legal cards. You lobbed them a bunch of softballs, but never really got at why we should accept radical changes to the game based on their judgment.

Ummmm because Ben was the boss? Because he was in charge?

When your supervisor's home is destroyed by a hurricane and is sitting in 4 feet of mud, and he comes back after a 2 month absence, do you harass him when he decides that you haven't been taking the approach that he believes to be the best (as Jeff has been said to have done with Ben)?

I am truly sorry that this happened to Ben Peal. This is news to anyone who doesn't know these parties personally.

Since this seemed to happen to him in the midst of initial design of potential new cards and prohibited him from doing any work on the project, he probably should have been replaced by someone who could focus their attention on the task at hand. Or maybe the whole thing should have been postpomed until he could devote his attention to it.

Certainly, given the limited information that's been made public, one's POV depends on only one thing:

Does a short absence from a lengthy project of the project leader necessitate from the project employees the kind of response that was, evidently, given?

Lambach wrote:

Teach the Controversy! Have Jeff Kuta on your show! You've had his principal detractors on. Give him a chance to speak. He's a great player and a smart guy!

There is no controversy other than what Jeff created by his letter.

Jeff already had his say (his letter). That was his "chance" to speak. Johannes and Ben were on C&E for many reasons, but their response to Jeff's letter WAS equal time.

If you want Jeff on C&E then someone else will want it "balanced" by Johannes and Ben on (again) to rebutt his rebuttal of their answer to his letter. It'll go on and on forever. Is this useful?

AFAIK Jeff wasn't kicked off VEKN.net (and if he was, that was wrong) so he is free to "answer" whatever he feels needs answering.

Personally, I'd like C&E to focus on decks and cards and not on controversy, though I know they'll likely be forced into it from time to time.

You are correct that this is an important question, however you maybe understate things a bit. The Design Team Leader was gone for 6 months right at the beginning of the project and did zero work on the Phase 1 cards. To me it seems crazy that he would be allowed right back in as the Leader of the process or that, if he were so essential, the whole thing wasn't put off until he could participate. Apparently the IC disagrees. It would have been nice to hear Johannes speak to why this is the case.

To me, Ben Peal's interview does nothing to diminish my fears that maybe Jeff Kuta was basically right about the whole process, that there was a sort of unhealthy cronyism in play where the IC was so determined to give Ben everything he wanted that it actually hurt quality control of the new set. Ben's response in this interview to the Kuta question is completely dismissive, as if he had no part in any potential problems and it was really all Jeff just being paranoid and childish. I found that attitude to be very irritating, which is why I posted here.

I suppose my playtest liaison is the right place to really tease out these concerns as it pertains to the new cards (Hugh may have been hinting at this earlier in this thread)so I'll take it there. Thanks for the discussion.

Edit: typos

KevinM wrote:

Lambach wrote:

Teach the Controversy! Have Jeff Kuta on your show! You've had his principal detractors on. Give him a chance to speak. He's a great player and a smart guy!

There is no controversy other than what Jeff created by his letter.

Jeff already had his say (his letter). That was his "chance" to speak. Johannes and Ben were on C&E for many reasons, but their response to Jeff's letter WAS equal time.

If you want Jeff on C&E then someone else will want it "balanced" by Johannes and Ben on (again) to rebutt his rebuttal of their answer to his letter. It'll go on and on forever. Is this useful?

AFAIK Jeff wasn't kicked off VEKN.net (and if he was, that was wrong) so he is free to "answer" whatever he feels needs answering.

Personally, I'd like C&E to focus on decks and cards and not on controversy, though I know they'll likely be forced into it from time to time.

I don't think Jeff has been blocked from posting on this board, but he was fired from the Design Team.

I guess ultimately I agree with your points re: Cause & Effect. It rally is more fun to watch when they talk about decks/strategies.