First off, if I'm way off thread I welcome your moving this post as appropriate.
I'm not an owner of NCP YET and my interest in the Napoleonic time period is fairly low. One of my good friends bought both it and AACW and would probably prefer NCP but thinks NCP is a bit underbaked in comparison between the two. I will prolly buy NCP or NCP2 at some point merely from my love of history. My interest, I think, about patches is important. And AGEOD has seemed, to me, to be an unusual wargaming company in paying closer attention than most to its customers with continuing refined patches. At least that is my experience over on AACW.
After seeing several folks banned on the AGEOD forums, out of curiosity to see what it takes to get banned, I just finished a two hour read of the controversy stirred up by Gshock and Jasta V both here and over at Matrix which dealt, in large measure, with the beta end of NCP. I read those who chose to stay like Nikel et al. I think the controversy being public was actually a positive contribution and a confirmation, to me, of the difficulty of pleasing and keeping in step with all attitudes, all the time. It was handled with a high degree of professionalism by most, most of the time, including the Matrix company response.
Having been in the business end of the gaming boardgame profession for my career, I understand the absolute need for a "customer militia" to enable financial ends to meet for a young or startup company. I was dismayed to see such articulate and fervent contributors cutting themselves loose from the mother lode when their expectations weren't fulfilled. Jasta V had over 1400 posts with most being truly dedicated to the product. Yet it is easy to see when customer dedication, fervor and feelings for a product run so incredibly high, so do personal expectations.
HOWEVER, I know what a tight rope walk it is for management to balance company needs with egos, dedication levels of volunteers, their expectations, and the company need of many (rare) skills to bake a cake. In fact, FWIW, I've now had recurring old dreams matching my own career experiences in management with these same challenges faced by dedicated customers and AGEOD management. Including NCA's.
I think, when tempers flare because expectations aren't (or can't) be met it provides an interesting insight into the sometimes competiting agendas of the participants, thier chosen weapons in the fight to get their desires met and their social skills in dealing with each other when not getting their expectations met or when they diverge from management's chosen/perceived best interests. It requires an exceedingly delicate dance and well developed set of social skills on the part of all to keep the train on the track moving in the same perceived direction.
OK, ok...lemme get to my point.
AGEOD has, prolly at considerable cost to management time, money and energy, and considerable energy and time to its volunteers, created customer expectation of continuing refinement of product. This, at the cost of no meaningful income derived in that process until release of a sequel. And this, relying on the continuing volunteered dedication of "customer militia", who sometimes feel their contributions and fervent dedication give them increased participative entitlement to help management decide which correct "railroad switches" to open and when to do so.
Having seen and revelled in that management choice, observers like myself, are interested in seeing how AGEOD handles a product, like NCP, to which grognards request further refinement when it may be an unprofitable avenue. It seems like a handful of people are clamoring for a (long overdue?) patch.
From a direct income standpoint it may not seem as critical in the face of the "on the cusp to be released" money makers. Certainly it dilutes focus. But I am interested to see how AEGOD handles the always continuing balance between time, money, love of history and its committment to refinement of product. Especially with NCP, a product I admittedly have only a personal lukewarm interest in. I shall not begrudge either directional descision so long as it is handled with the truth in this moment and a committment to honesty when/if renegotiation becomes necessary. But I just thought you should know that interested eyes are watching.
I wish you well and good luck with your difficult choices.
SkyWestNM
