From: Dave Demko Though I'm looking forward to Sun of Austerlitz with the kind of anticipation I sometimes make fun of in other wargamers, I honestly don't mind a bit that the game has been delayed. Why not? I have several answers. Yes, it has been months since my credit card was charged for Sun of Austerlitz. But I have no doubt you'll produce and ship the game. All I have to deal with is waiting, not uncertainty. The flow of useful information, not just Consimworld chit-chat, about the game's progress has been encouraging during the wait. By publishing the various game components, especially the rules, on line, you have both demonstrated progress and invited the sort of public scrutiny and comment that's likely to make the game better. What many wargamers say is true for me too: "I have lots of games already and not enough time to play them." Yes, I'll *make* time for Sun when it arrives, but till then I'm not at a loss. I share another common view, that it's more important to get a game done well than to get it done now. I don't usually play a game the first day (week, even month) I have it in my hands. A delay like this one is therefore meaningless to me. Conversely, whatever satisfaction I might find in receiving a game on time (whatever that means) would be trivial compared with the unfading annoyance I'd feel every time I sat down to a game that suffered from having been rushed. While you might hit some snags, I'm confident you're not wasting your time or ours. [Ed says: I used to work as a freelancer for ad agencies here in Baltimore. Our clients were always trying to rush their projects through to the press. I learned that after the books were printed they quickly forgot whether they were delivered on time, but they never forgot any error that crept by.] Back to OSG News January 2003 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Operational Studies Group This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com