As you may know, Hasbro bought out Avalon Hill, and AH laid off the employees with three days notice, including Don Greenwood. Here is an e-mail from Don to try and salvage a boardgame convention that was once exclusively supported by AH. Initial remarks indicated Hasbro would continue the convention--not so says Don.
MagWeb received this press release. --RL
You are receiving this survey because you have indicated an interest in the continuation of the Avalon Hill gaming conference. If you object to receiving such material, respond with a "remove" subject to be deleted from my mailing list. However, if you do take an active interest in AVALONCON, I urge you to take the time to respond to this survey in full. Not only will the questions posed determine the future course of the convention, the % returned will act as a gauge of support for its continuation.
As promised, I have petitioned Hasbro regarding its intentions for the continuation of AVALONCON in the wake of the sale of Avalon Hill to Hasbro. During my recent visit to their Beverly, MA campus I stressed the need for immediate action if we were to preserve our facility at the Hunt Valley Inn for 1999. To their credit, they have responded in a timely fashion - thus resulting in this poll.
Allow me to inject at this point that Avalon Hill fans should be thankful for the Hasbro buyout. The acquiring company usually is painted as the heavy in such takeovers, but from my perspective Hasbro is very much the white knight in this story. The infusion of their resources and marketing savvy promises to save many of the classic titles that were otherwise headed for oblivion. My understanding is that not only will they convert many of the AH games to the computer, but that they will continue to produce the best of the boardgames. And more importantly, they will be reissued with state of the art graphics and components that could only be described as "lavish" by AH standards.
I am extremely pleased that some of my favorite games will not only survive, but be made available to a far greater audience in an improved format. When I was fired by Avalon Hill, I was sitting on no less than eight fully developed games that languished with no hope of publication due to lack of proper graphic support. Those restrictions are now gone. Far from being the end of wargaming as we know it, I believe our hobby stands on the threshold of a new golden age where quality will again reign supreme.
That said, I regret to report that Hasbro has decided not to continue AVALONCON and will not sell me the trademark so that I may do so. Their decision is not unexpected and makes perfect business sense. They do not want to detract from the prominence of GENCON by sponsoring a competing conference. It is their preference that AVALONCON enthusiasts be encouraged to attend GENCON instead.
While I am disappointed by their decision, I respect it and applaud them for resolving the matter in a timely fashion. I certainly understand the corporate preference for a dominant trade show, and while I would argue that AVALONCON is not a trade show, the difference is not something I would expect them to appreciate. Certainly the size and grandeur of GENCON surpasses anything that we could hope to emulate with AVALONCON.
Nevertheless, I do not share their enthusiasm for the larger trade shows which strike me as being more about corporate sales than true gaming - at least from the viewpoint of the competitive boardgamer - whose activities take a back seat to the marketing of new products. Having not experienced the comradery of an AVALONCON or the sense of achievement in winning a national event against a large field of players, I'm sure AVALONCON came off as the small potatoes it is in a corporate sense. Fortunately, Hasbro has not requested that we cease doing our own thing provided we do not refer to it as AVALONCON or the Avalon Hill National Championships. And that, dear reader, is why you need to take the time to answer the following survey ... so we can judge whether to proceed along that course and how to do so, given these events.
1. SHALL WE PROCEED? I can sympathize with Hasbro wanting to support one dominant convention. I felt the same way about AVALONCON vis a vis smaller regional cons. What makes a great gaming conference is the accumulation of many like-minded gamers playing in the events of their choice to provide both a sense of achievement and comradery. Smaller cons tend to detract from the glamour of a national conference by luring away those local players who only have the time or resources to attend one per year. Should we fold our tent and embrace GENCON as the national con of choice or continue doing our own thing?
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[ ] Let's just call it the end of an era and book our rooms for GENCON.
[ ] Baltimore or bust!
[ ] Other:
2. WHAT DO WE CALL IT? Assuming we collectively decide to continue, what will we call ourselves since AVALONCON is no longer available? The most commonly heard alternative adorns my email address and is one I find pretentious and embarrassing. Its only redeeming feature is its recognition value to our regular attendees. However, it means nothing to new players who we want to attract to a growing conference. My choice is Playercon because Avaloncon has always been first about the players who were the real and only stars of Avaloncon.
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[ ] Playercon
[ ] Sponsor-XCon
[ ] Other:
3. WHEN CAN WE DO IT? Unfortunately, the HVI has already sold our "first weekend in August" date and wants to book us later directly opposite GENCON which I find totally unacceptable. As much as I like the HVI as a site, that leaves us with the following choices:
- [ ] June [ ] July [ ] later in August [ ] Other:
[ ] Another location first week in August
4. WHAT WILL IT COST? I've always taken great pride that AVALONCON was the best bargain in gaming when one weighed admission against that of comparable conferences which charged more for less days, gave less in prizes, and then charged players extra for individual event fees. When one deducted the purchase credits for pre-registrants, it was a night and day comparison - at least from my viewpoint. As a point of reference, ORIGINS '98 charged $45 for four days plus event tickets. To be honest, I do not know how their prizes stacked up in comparison, but their $10 discount for pre-registration may have been viewed superior to AH's $15 purchase credit for pre-registration since it did not require another purchase. I would like whatever we do to remain the best bargain in gaming, but without the resources of a company to back it with sales on site, we may have to acknowledge reality somewhat.
What would you be willing to pay as admission next year for the same convention you had in 1998 (assume five days and the same prize structure and pre-registration credit):
- [ ] $40 [ ] $45 [ ] $50 [ ] Other:
What would you be willing to pay as admission next year for the same convention you had in 1998 with no pre-registration credit:
- [ ] $25 [ ] $30 [ ] $35 [ ] $40 [ ] $45
[ ] $50
5. WHAT GAMES WILL WE PLAY?: Without Avalon Hill backing, many will argue that there is no longer a need to play only AH events. We all have favorite games by other manufacturers that we would like to play in this setting. On the other hand, many feel that the focus on AH games is what made AVALONCON so special. While it is true that we could generate many more events by opening the con up to other games, what would then make us any different from a smaller GENCON or ORIGINS? Wouldn't something be lost? I, for one, am not interested in duplicating the format of the bigger cons ... or any change which is a step backwards from the focus of what we've experienced the past eight years. One of the reasons I stopped going to ORIGINS years ago was because 500 events which averaged a handful of entrants apiece held no great attraction for me. The choices appear to be:
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[ ] Continue events in Avalon Hill games only.
[ ] Allow events from a second company willing to act as a corporate sponsor - replacing the role Avalon Hill played in providing merchandise credits.
[ ] Open up the convention to any event sponsored by a volunteer GM regardless of manufacturer.
[ ] Other:
6. WHAT SPONSOR WOULD YOU PREFER? Given your choice of companies to be a sole exhibitor, add their products to our tournaments, and redeem awards for their merchandise, who would you prefer?
7. WHAT WILL WE PLAY FOR? Assuming no appropriate corporate sponsor can be found, what should replace their merchandise certificates?
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[ ] An equal amount of cash
[ ] Replace the prize structure with plaques for all prize winners - not just the champs
[ ] Other:
I'd like to again thank those of you who took the time to send me words of encouragement and pledges of support, both monetary and otherwise, to continue AVALONCON. I'm sure that your heartfelt expressions impacted Hasbro officials nearly as much as they have me and played no small role in their enthusiasm for reviving Avalon Hill boardgames. To the many who have asked what you can do to help, I offer the following:
1. STAY IN TOUCH: Put my email address in your address books and notify me asap when either your email or snail mail address changes.
2. SPREAD THE WORD: It seems trite, but it is true now more than ever. The convention needs word of mouth advertising to survive. If everybody that stopped to tell me what a great con AVALONCON was tried to persuade one other person to attend we would have no problems. Mention us on line. Tell people what convention is worth attending. Encourage people to get on our mailing lists ... especially email. Send a copy of this survey to any gamer you know who might be interested who has not already received it. Ask your gaming friends if they have received this, and if they are interested, send them a copy. If they're not on line, give them a printout to return. This convention was borne out of a longing for the good old days and the realization that nobody cared as much about your hobby as you do. It's still true. If you want it to continue, you will do something to help, rather than lamenting its loss.
3. VOLUNTEER: If you'd be good at running an event, join our cadre of GMs who make a difference. While I'm not interested in adding more events per se, I'd rather see bigger events than more 8-player mini-events of out-of-print games, every GM can use assistants. Volunteer for the games you'd be qualified to run ... especially if you're unhappy with how it has been run in the past.
4. BOARDGAME PLAYERS ASSOCIATION: While I'm flattered by the number of people who have expressed a willingness to invest money to see AVALONCON continue, I am uncomfortable with accepting monetary contributions of any kind. However, donations of time and expertise in such matters as graphics (we'll need a new logo), web sites, liability insurance, and legal advice regarding incorporation are another matter and I would welcome such help.
I propose to continue the GM quarterly newsletter and voting input of the GMs in any new conference. In essence, I advocate replacing the AH Advisory Board with the Boardgame Players Association which would attract, I assume, most of the same people ... the folks dedicated enough to volunteer their time as GMs. Membership would require yearly dues of $50 payable by February 28th and entitle members to free admission at the conference.
- Would you be interested in joining this Association? [ ] Yes [ ] No
Please do not send any money at this time.
Respond by Email to doncon7@ix.netcom.com
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