From time to time I have frequented the Hero Games online forums. Most of the time, I find that useful: I ask questions, and once in a while I am able to answer other people’s questions. Unfortunately, once in a great while, I encounter someone who would rather argue than collaborate, and who would rather attack than agree to disagree. Even more unfortunately, one of those people is the system administrator, Dan Simon (the same gentleman who created the best Hero System character creator program so far, Hero Designer).
Once I realize that conversations with individuals like this always end the same way, I take the path of discretion and simply stop talking to them. That seems to work, and things are generally pleasant from that point on. Unfortunately, Dan Simon recently took exception to something I said in one of the topics he reads. Very strong exception. It became clear to me that this was heading the way all conversations with him do, so I bowed out of it, and stopped reading that topic entirely.
(He and several other people took exception to my shocking and controversial observations that:
- A prudent consumer tries something before she buys it. (Corollary: As the cost of an item increases, particularly in relation to the consumer’s income, the importance of being a prudent consumer also increases.)
- A fool and her money are soon parted.
From the reaction, I may as well have condoned terrorism as a fun and rewarding leisure-time activity.)
A week later — today — he sent me a private message “strongly suggesting” that I return to the topic and “respond to the issues which had been raised”. He also demanded that I apologize to “people I have offended”, and that I alter my “posting behavior”. As the sysadmin and a Hero Games representative, Dan has the power to make these demands. My reply was a) that I saw no reason to perpetuate a pointless argument, and continuing to beat that particular horse would not be productive, b) that I wasn’t aware of saying anything that merited an apology, and c) that I’d comply with any reasonable request as far as my behavior was concerned, but that he would need to be more specific. (I am not spinning my reply, here. This is exactly what I said and how I phrased it.)
I went back to the forum a short time later, expecting to find a message from him telling me who deserved an apology and why, and giving me some kind of hint as to what behavior he wanted me to modify and how. Instead, I saw this:
You have been banned for the following reason:
None
Date the ban will be lifted: Never
Um… okay.
So apparently, declining an invitation to take part in a flame war is grounds for being banned for life from the Hero Games forums. I can get around the ban itself easily enough (although I won’t): that’s not the point.
In the past, I’ve taken Dan’s tantrums with what I think is pretty good humor. I’ve never threatened to boycott the purchase of Hero Games’ products, or anything silly like that. I have even continued to recommend the purchase of Hero Designer to everyone I know, which directly puts money in Dan Simon’s pocket. But I am wondering if perhaps my affection for the game system — which predates the current incarnation of “DOJ dba Hero Games” by a decade or so, back to the days of Champions — is clouding my judgement. Would I allow the representative of any other business to treat me rudely without there being some repercussion, even if that repercussion is merely that I stop giving them my money? Would you?
I have made Hero Games aware of my concerns and given them time to respond, but I doubt that will lead anywhere productive. The powers-that-be at “DOJ dba Hero Games” are aware of Dan’s behavior, and have been for a very long time (a year or more, at least). At what point do I finally permit Simon’s behavior to alter my relationship with the business that allows him to act in its name, and which has implicitly approved of how he has used that authority?
It won’t hurt me to stop giving Hero Games my money. I will get everything I need to play role-playing games with or without buying Hero Games’ products. But should I take that step? Has it finally, sadly, gone that far?
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Blackmoor Vituperative
