I think more things from the designers would be awesome. I say we start a letter writing campaign. Don't they have a customer service rep? Anyone know how to contact him?

@JJ: I think you raise a very valid point about staff time. I think though that this is a fairly moot issue...or at least there are mitigating circumstances. I know that you agree with the end conclusion either way (and like the idea of more articles), but I just want to address the issue of "staff time," since I suspect that is a justification one can use.

First, nobody is saying that it would take zero time to write these articles. In fact, it could take a decent amount of time...perhaps even 10 hours of staff time in total (including a few hours to write, a few hours to review/edit, and posting, etc.) for each *monthly* article. So the question is more about costs/benefits. I strongly suspect that 5-10 hours of staff time (again in total, not from the same person) would still be a pretty efficient use of time in terms of publicity and out reach. Moreover, some of that time is already spent...in the form of the ads that are already up. Those ads have to be written, reviewed/edited, and posted too. In the place of one of these ads, it wouldn't hurt to let the designers (or someone "in the know") to spend a couple extra hours to create something worth tweeting about or passing around to your non-AGOT-playing friends.

Another (related) note: Given HBO's series, I think many/most people involved in AGOT are expecting some sort of uptick in awareness/interest in all things AGOT-related. Given the genre of the story, I'm guessing that many people interested could potentially be drawn to games like FFG's board and card games. Unfortunately, the really interesting, insightful articles that might normally encourage fans to take that first step from the show/books into a board game feels is missing...or at least is not as robust as it could be. (Again, I'm not talking about ads, but something more akin to how designers work to ensure the flavor of the story is represented/reflected in the game.) So from a marketing stand point, it seems like it would make sense to leverage all the natural momentum from HBO and try to pull some customers in with occasional articles...which could not only appear on the FFG website, but within industry (gaming) websites, near TV reviews, etc. Given that many AGOT fan sites avidly look for content, it seems like a VERY CHEAP way to advertise, so long as there's actually content involved and it isn't just a marketing department ad spun as an article.

Finally, I think there might also be some exaggeration for just how much time it actually takes for the designer him/herself to write a designer journal entry. We aren't asking for Homer's Odyssey, the Great Gatsby, or something else extremely creative...just a bit of insight. The issues that should be discussed are ALREADY being kicked around in the designers' minds, if not within FFG as a whole, so I doubt authors would need to spend hours thinking about what to write. In fact, I personally DON'T WANT random musings from Nate, Damon, or anyone else. Instead, I'm looking for a little bit more information about the game. Good questions to discuss would be: What rationale went behind choosing a restricted list over a series of bannings/erratas (even though we can guess), and why now? What considerations go into making a card like Eddard Stark or giving Greyjoy more mill? Why did Lanni get clansmen (there was a little on this, but not much)? Where do the designers see the game 6 months from now?

There are many more questions, and those are just a few that immediately came to mind. In short, there's demand for more content, and that demand turns into revenue when I'm able to forward a link of a well-written article to a friend, who then goes out and buys a chapter pack.

You know, one of the best indicators of behind the scenes content articles versus advertising fluff, would be this very thread. This was an interesting enough read for a different game from an entirely different company, that I went to the effort of posting it for fans that normally would not be exposed to it, and many of you have now read it. When was the last time that you saw an AGoT article worth doing that with?

I am going to my first event ever for LCG Days

I'd gladly write an article about it

* sigh * double post yay

Mathias Fricot said:

I'd love to host any regional reports or event report write ups at CardGameDB if you are looking for a place to post it.

For sure, I'll email it to you post LCG Days

Okay, letter campaign writing time. User Support link for FFG. We should all take five minutes and write a brief note asking for what we want. Insightful articles on a monthly basis about the game design, development, direction, or other meaningful inside information on the thought process of what goes into making this game we love. If every person on the board writes in I'm sure someone would follow through with it.

Penfold said:

Good question... I'd say customer service personally... I mean that is more or less what we are asking for right, an additional service to their customers?

Penfold said:

I'm not sure if you know, but FFG read these boards. ~And remember, more time reading those emails means less time making us things, less time playtesting those things, and so on and so forth.

Who in FFG reads the boards? Does Nate? Damon? Any of the other names up top read every thread from ebginning to end? And if someone is reading every single thread, on every single board, for every single game they have (starting to realize the likelihood of this yet?) how do we know it is the right person reading it and passing it on.

However if we all right in asking for more or less the same thing, it is easy to amass the emails and pass it on to the right person. If you don't want to write in don't.

Penfold said:

Of course I won't. Sorry but I think calling for spam email bomb is not a good idea. Why not sending one email and point them to this thread?

Because a single email saying, "hey here is a thread with six people saying this is a good idea" is not ever going to be as impactful as thirty emails asking for something. It is one of th emany ways we in the US attempt to convince companies of the views as their consumers. Letter/email writing campaigns for TV shows is something that has achieved results in the past.

Rogue30 said:

"Hi, I'm not sure if you've checked the AGOT FFG forums lately, but there's a good discussion going on about the importance of company engagement with the customer. The bottom line is that many people feel FFG is performing poorly in this area, and that many players indicate they would likely feel they have more vested in the game - and more willing to introduce their friends to the game - if FFG improved. I really encourage you to check out the thread http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=16&efcid=4&efidt=476254."

It's probably fine if only a few people actually send in the request though, for reasons Rogue highlights: We're hoping to solve problems, not be so pushy that we get our way (and besides, this way we actually have a contingency, rather than going "nuclear" on the first shot ).

I assume Penfold already shot a note. I'll send one to Customer Service with the above message, and it probably wouldn't hurt if 1-2 more people sent them. But I agree with Rogue the don't need to send 50 emails or anything.

+1 to what Twn2dn said.

+1 to the +1 that Kennon said about what Twn2dn said.

Also, what did people think of the first part of Nate's tournament report? While I'd rather like to see more "behind the scenes" stuff, this was a great step in the right direction.

Kennon said: