The Ballad of Devil's Creek (WiP) (CH6 Up, Major Update: 09/03/2021)

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Hi there! I’d like to clear up some miscommunications that seem to have occurred somewhere. (Also hi! I think we have interacted on Twitter recently! :smiley: )

First of all you be much can novelize anything you publish through Hosted Games! You retain the rights to your IP and can expand on them in whatever method you would like, the only caveat is that the story/ies you publish with us cannot be published in another format. For example if you wanted to publish “Story A” in CS through Hosted Games and later publish “Story B” via Twine, as a novel, or some other way, then you’re totally good! But you would not be able to publish “Story A” in those other formats.

On the topic of payment, Choice of Games and Hosted Games would never expect to pay someone in exposure or through an NFT. Our team firmly believes in paying people properly and appropriately. I can confidently say that NFTs would never be used as the method for payment, and we would never expect an author to publish their game without compensation.

I know there was another thread discussing NFTs but I do want to make it clear that the point of that conversation was not about changing the way we compensate authors or artists for their work. That being said, I do not want to get into the viability of NFTs generally as I am not knowledgeable enough in that market to speak on it strategically. If you have further concerns you can email our support or you can email me directly at kai AT choiceofgames DOT com

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Yeah we talk. on stream too <3

As for the “On the topic of payment, Choice of Games and Hosted Games would never expect to pay someone in exposure or through an NFT.” Jason most certainly sounded as if that is the plan, as he is very insistent on following that idea… and for NFTs you need cryptocurrency, which canNOT be easily turned into money that can be used to pay bills, rent and groceries. Yet Jason is, again, insistent that he wants to go into NFTs and crypto ‘to support artists’. People have made it very clear they don’t want CoG/HG/HC anywhere near nfts and crypto, yet Jason keeps going on about how his idea is great.

People told him they’d not be against a redbubble store etc, something where you can pay with physical/actual money. And I believe changing the payout/royalties model was also mentioned as possibility. But instead of dropping the NFT idea for good and forever, jason keeps clinging to it.

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Yes we have! Which, thank you for joining the streams it sincerely does mean a lot to me :3

I see where you are coming from and that does clarify a lot that I was confused about. I think a big miscommunication might be that we do not intend to pay authors in NFTs nor is the idea to commission art for the sole sake of NFTs, but rather see if creating NFTs from art we already have would be a viable idea. On that front, I do not have much more to say because it is not a certainty in our business plan and I am not terribly well versed in the details of NFTs.

I would like to thank you for airing your concerns though, because it certainly is valuable to know how much our users would not like us to vend NFTs. So sincerely, thank you!

On the note of publishing with Hosted Games, the choice of obviously yours. I would not want to pressure you to work with us after your experiences, but I do hope that you will let me know if you have any questions about publication or compensation :heart:

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I believe Jason deleted the information in the other thread (not certain) but aside from environmental concerns (which Jason keeps beating down with ‘No the crypto I am going to use is totally ecofriendly’) the main concern (ESPECIALLY because of the crypto he wants to use) is that it could literally cost people their livelihood (as their paypal and bankaccounts might get frozen if not terminated). It’s not a ‘it will definitely happen’ thing, but the chances are significantly higher than it not happening.

Jason blatantly ignored these concerns, even though he was given that info by people working in the field of AML.

Long story short: Unless the idea is dropped entirely, and I believe, by this point, Jason leaving CoG entirely, a lot of artists, author and users in general won’t support CoG anymore.

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One thing I will say: I noticed you out there involved in a boycott of Choice of Games over this. If you’re as much a friend of this community as you claim, it seems like a pretty indefensible position to directly root for and support taking money away from CoG and HG authors. Like the old saying goes, with friends like that, who needs enemies?

hustler, you are aware that the boycott stems from people seeing jason’s statements? That people are leaving because they don’t want CoG anywhere near crypto? That people are long since pissed off at Jason’s behavior, and this was very much just the last straw?

So please cut the guilt-tripping attempt

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Not people. You. You are not responsible for others, but you are responsible for your own support of the boycott. I’m just disappointed that someone who I had looked forward to seeing join the ranks of the HG authors at some point is now rooting for all of us to lose money just to grind an axe against one person. You went from a part of this community to deliberately aligning yourself against it. Like I said before, if you want to go, go. But trying to burn the place down on your way out is the acme of petty spite.

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I very much understand where you’re coming from, and the concerns you bring up are certainly valid. Above all I want to make it clear that I fully understand what you are saying and plan to give it the full weight it merits.

That being said it would be unfair and unprofessional of me to make a statement on the NFT topic generally when one has not yet been made, especially when I am not a key individual in making that decision. I will certainly do my best to be a voice for our users in addition to my personal criticisms of NFTs. So I hope you can trust me enough to believe me when I say that we will do what is best for our customers and what best fits our community. And I hope you can also understand that there isn’t much generally to say about the situation because our internal conversations are ongoing.

As a final note I would like to make a small plea on Jason’s behalf, not on the topic of NFTs but generally. I have worked a great many jobs in quite a few different sectors and I can confidently say Jason is one of the best managers/bosses I have ever had. Without getting too much into it, he has made me feel listened to and respected more than almost every other employer I have had in 10 years as a working professional.

I think he gets a bad rep here on the forum because he cares strongly and deeply about this community and wants to see it grow, and sometimes miscommunications happen that surprise us all. I can say with full confidence that Jason is far less cruel and harsh than he appears, he’s just a bit terse and it’s honestly part of his charm lol But at the end of the day I have seen Jason disappointed that he could not find a solution that makes everyone happy more often than not, and I know I would miss him sorely if he were to leave CoG.

And with that wall of text done I do think it would be more appropriate if this thread returned to your WIP and the work you have done to create a game that is now on my list to play :heart: If you (or anyone else) would like to continue this conversation I am more than happy for y’all to send me a DM

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CoG isn’t the authors though. It’s a publishing company. I have seen a number of other authors already announce they are translating their current games into Twine and will no longer be publishing with CoG over this very issue, as the fact that someone high in the company was even considering NFT is distressing to them. Where people spend their money is their prerogative as much as their choice in business partners, if I do not agree with a company then I owe them nothing. Not a book to publish nor money spent on those books.

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Well, tell Jason to unban daniel (from the nft thread) and stop deleting all the concerns people have.

Because hell knows people are very under the impression jason WILL go into crypto and nfts no matter what. And people don’t want that.

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Again, I think this thread would do well to turn back to discussing the WIP.

If anyone feels they no longer wish to publish with Hosted Games or Choice of Games that is very well their choice, and as sad as I am to see it I respect folks that stand by their beliefs. I hope in the future that decision changes so that we might work together, but until that happens it is an entirely fair decision to make.

If anyone wants to discuss NFTs or anything that is not “The Ballad of Devil’s Creek” I would ask y’all to DM me, email me, or let the subject drop.

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are twitter dms okay?

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If you would like to DM me so we can discuss this more tomorrow, I would appreciate it. I am still catching up on things that happened today, and I believe I have made my points here. And yes you can DM me on Twitter, though I likely won’t be able to reply until tomorrow so my apologies in advance. I’m wrangling cats and cleaning up dinner before heading to bed

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can you turn on your twitter dms?

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Should be turned on now :smiley:

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Kindly stop it with the guilt-tripping, hustler. It doesn’t make you look good. Especially not seeing you might be trying a ‘give’m a taste of their own medicine’ which… if you really think Jason risking the livelihoods of people is comparable to boycotting something to make sure people’s livelihoods are not risked… I feel sorry for you.

edit: Also, seeing you are so outraged at me not groveling before someone trying to pull such a stunt only makes me wonder if you’ve read my stories…

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If your position is that you want to deprive authors of income to protect the income of authors, I don’t think I’m the one who needs to be concerned about looking bad here. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

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You keep trying, aren’t you?
hustler, that logical fallacy won’t work. Cause you know what? The author, artists and readers don’t need CoG. CoG needs them.
And look how many artists, authors and readers have said they won’t continue working with/supporting CoG if jason doesn’t get his shit together and drops the idea entirely (and potentially leaves the company. potentially)

So, what do you prefer: Jason not getting his will but people continuing to work with/support CoG, or jason getting his will and a lot of content/support going away?

Cross your heart, what’s preferable?

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I was going to stay out, but @MeltingPenguins, please stop attacking @hustlertwo. He’s voicing a genuine concern that authors writing for this company have, myself included. I don’t want the company burnt to the ground over something that Jason has already said is unlikely to happen, and will not impact the majority of people writing for them as it was geared towards ADDITIONAL income for their artists. Asking people to boycott COG because you no longer plan to publish through here on your blog is not cool. Speaking for all authors is also not cool. There sounds like there’s been some major miscommunications going on here. Please calm down, no one here is your enemy. I recommend you speak to @KaiDeleon and see if it can be sorted out. Otherwise there are many other IF communities out there that you may find suit you better. Jason is the co-founder. Asking him to get out of the company over something that was floated as an idea but never happened is not going to happen any time soon.

At the request of KaiDelon to keep the thread back on topic and generally hating getting involved in unnecessary drama, I’ll withdraw now.

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