NOT Ok.
It seems as though there were some negative connotations against Cascade Games with respect to the Anime Matsuri convention. I had heard of it through a friend and then had to do some digging.
It could be related to this article or something similar here although they do not go into details much elsewhere
http://www.houstonpress.com/news/anime-matsuri-organizer-accused-of-sexual-harassment-7541555
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Edit: It seems as though it was Cascade who boycotted the convention and not of a boycott of anyone of their employees or they themselves. So the above has been stricken out. Their decision to boycott a convention with shady business is perfectly reasonable.
But a response in an e-mail mentions that Cascade was not aware of these issues they encountered, nor of the player boycott at the convention. Which is reasonable given the circumstances if that is the case. And does this responsibility now fall upon Cascade Games? Meh, maybe. But they are just the crew that was assigned. If they cannot be there for the event then it surely is FFG responsibility to make corrective action and have an event somewhere. Cascade has mentioned otherwise. They mention that they are sorry and that the event will just have to be a different weekend.
Well, that is not ok. And it was also mentioned that this was a discussion made on both parties with Cascade and FFG. Step up FFG. Do not leave your players in the dust. Afterall, I have spent prepaid money on a flight and hotel to the event, bought tickets and taken vacation time off for. I have also been practicing for weeks/months in preparation for this event. And now, I am going to a convention to which I do not even have interest in. Another weekend is not ok either. I can't just travel several hundred miles down there a secondary weekend for multiple reasons.
I understand they are offering to help with cancellations going through, but let's be honest. That isn't going to go smoothly and I likely would have to suffer a loss on one of the paid components of the trip. If they were writing a check to those registered at the time for their events covering all losses, that would help. But my time is also lost in prep.
And this seems to have been done quietly. Were you expecting for people to just show up at the convention with a shocked look on their face? Why was their no official announcement on this on the FFG website (perhaps there was and I missed it; even though this wouldn't excuse anything). Instead, you will see that the Kotei has just been quietly removed from the list on their page.
Well, what do they intend to do about it?
They are cancelling it with plenty of time still left to have someone attend the event and run it for them.
In light of the edit above, it makes sense that they wouldn't send someone to the convention in Cascade's place if they are boycotting the convention. What about a local game shop nearby that could host up to a hundred people? It's just not the right play for your players to do nothing but find some other time frame to do the events. If this is the result, then I am certainly not coming to any of your events again. Why would I risk it? If this is how you will treat your community when something goes off the rails. I wanted to hope the community would have some support for this. If they were in a similar situation travelling and prepping for a competitive event somewhere, I am sure they wouldn't want this to happen either.
And to be clear, even if I can get my travel money back and hotel after a bunch of conversations with airlines/hotels, I have practiced for this event for weeks/months. And I likely cannot go to another coming up with short notice. Even if I could, the meta has changed with the new pack releases and now the work that I put in has been in vain for practice. It's a real downer.
Edited by Bronze