[RchW]

Mark,

First off thank you for opening up this dialogue. No matter where one stands on the issues discussed here, this is a good thing.

I am very much a newcomer to OOTP and this wild and wonderful baseball gaming community. As such I can't empathize with anyone who feels a sense of loss of community, nor can I feel cheated about features that did not make it into the game before I discovered its existence. The reality is that in order for OOTP to continue to grow, more new customers like me will have to buy, and we will only be able to evaluate the game on its current merits. Two years from now that will apply to me and so on.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that the disappointments and criticisms of the past are unjustified. However some battles must be lost in order to win the war.

The concerns about lack of direct communication with Markus are real but are an inevitable casualty of the growth of the business due in large part to this community. I'd challenge anyone on this board who has been in any business environment for more than 10 years to tell me that nothing has changed. The business owners that I used to call on 16 years ago now have vice presidents and general managers etc because they grew. I don't like that personally but it puts money in the bank account for them and me.

I'm not making excuses for Markus or for SI here, I'm just giving a newcomers perspective. This is one of the really interesting places to spend time these days and I hope it doesn't stop being what it is.