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Auric

Administrator
Moderator
Alliance Owner
Alliance Members,


As announced previously, the ownership of Alliance LARP has changed hands. Coming into this we knew we were facing an uphill battle to bring the alliance together. We made it our priority to reach out to every owner to schedule one on one chats to address their concerns with the current state of the organization. Alliance has not been given the proper attention it deserved for some time. We have made some good progress so far in understanding places where improvement is needed. Unfortunately, a small group of owners are dissatisfied and have been planning for months to leave. Our attempts to discuss concerns with them, or their player base, were shut down. We expect them to announce their plan to split away shortly.



Alliance LARP has a long and rich history and has seen a split similar to this once before. Our goal as owners of Alliance LARP is to help improve the game and grow our community. We know that we can make sure that our game thrives even after this change. We already have teams working hard to create content for our players.



To be clear, we're disappointed that any chapters would want to leave, but we harbor no ill will towards any of the players involved. Everyone must do what they feel is right. With that said, we have become aware that there are some rumors and misconceptions making their way through the grapevine and we felt that there is no time like the present to address them head-on.



Are we planning to walk back or remove Alliance Rules 2.0?


No.

There is truth to the statement that we did not like the ruleset as it was initially proposed before playtesting. But, we recognize and appreciate all the hard work that went into crafting these rules. They are here to stay and we enjoy playing them.





Are you just going to fill all of the national staff positions with your friends and members of the "old boys club?"


No. That is not our intention. National staff positions are open to all interested players. Our chapters are owned by players new and old. If you are interested in helping out on the National level please talk to your owner or reach out to us. We would love to have you aboard.



Are you removing these chapters from the Alliance?



No. When we purchased the Alliance from Mike and Jesse our goal was to bring all of the chapters together as they have been. Our intention was to open channels of communication with all parties. Unfortunately, some owners had other plans.



We've heard some rumors about you as players. Are you going to address them?


We have been playing Alliance since before the NERO/NERO Alliance split. Some people find it challenging to separate us from our characters. We can't tell anyone what to think. All we ask is that you give us a chance and form your opinions based on our actions as owners of the game as opposed to what others might say.





What does this all mean for current players across the game?



We did not purchase the Alliance to see it falter. We want to make sure that it grows. The first step is to help our existing players make the most of their game time and be all that they can't be. We have redoubled our efforts to have a final version of the 2.0 rulebook published and ready for use. We are also working with our Alliance LARP Diversity committee to have them provide guidance for updating our players guide to make sure it uses more inclusive language.



We also plan to grow the Alliance. This means recruiting new chapter owners in new (or past) territories and players through advertising. Please reach out to use if you have any interest in opening up a chapter!



What about our Goblin Stamps and LCO items from the chapters that are leaving?



We know that you worked hard to earn these rewards. Our goal is to make everyone whole that we can. Please reach out to Stephen Duetzmann (our head of National Customer service). He will be working with us to help coordinate our customer efforts on this front.







We look forward to the future of Alliance as we move forward more united than ever before!


Thank you all for your time.
Matt and David
 
How can National Customer Service be contacted?
 
What constitutes a "small group of owners"?

Are all of the owners free to publicly discuss their perspectives without reprisal?
 
Hi everyone,

For those that do not know me, I am the Owner of Alliance Alberta. I am currently one of two owners to have owned a chapter for over a decade.

There have been many owners, chairpersons and other National staff that have come and gone over that time. Allow me to give you some background information on the lead up to this whole situation.

About six years ago we, the owners and ARC, began work on the current 2.0 ruleset. There was a ton of work done by everyone. Votes galore, brainstorming, back an forth for years. As we began the ramp up Matt W came in as the Chairperson.

Then, about four years ago, Matt and Jesse decided that 2.0 was not a good system and went to Mike V to veto all the work that had been done up until that point (about two years worth of work). That set of a chain of issues and almost split Alliance at that point. The owners pushed forward with ARC and re-wrote so many items that it delayed 2.0 by 18 months in order to avoid the veto. Yes, 2.0 would have looked a bit different, but it would have been out sooner if not for Matt and Jesse’s interference.

That interference continued for the next two years as he slowed down the process of changes and organizing. Any perceived threat to power was met with constant roadblocks by Matt. The fact that Jesse only showed up every few months to ask for our chapter dues from the owners and then disappear did not help.

At one point, when approached by ARC to have a discussion, just a discussion, about the possibility of adding a high (very high) level cap in order to facilitate game design into the future and making ARC's life easier, Matt W replied, “I can say as a high level player nothing would drive me away from the game faster then a level cap. I have no interest where advancement can't be made on my character. Of the 12 of GB, my team among a few of those, we would be looking into other larps or perhaps trying to transfer to NERO.” That is who now owns the game, someone who was considering leaving Alliance because the owners brought up the very idea of a level cap, which, as he has the highest level character in Alliance, would definitely affect.

Matt was so opposed to the CMA that he was removed from the project. Due to the continued opposition from Matt over the CMA, it was nearly scrapped due to the sheer frustration that Chris and the other programmers were experiencing from dealing with Matt. It was only through the dedication of the Tech Committee and the motivation of the owners with their support that it proceeded and went live.

Currently, the CMA license is with Mike V, not with Matt. One of Alliance's biggest hurdles is going to be figuring out if they are going to continue using it or go back to MS Access. We hope they come back to the neogotiation table so as to remove the pain that will be caused by converting Alliance back to MS Access.



Matt was fired as the Chairperson by 63% of the ownership in May for his constant confrontations, his lack of actually doing his job (which was to coordinate committees, post votes up and moderate the owner’s forum).

He constantly delayed posting votes that owners or ARC proposed if he found the content of them upsetting to him, and only after he was confronted by the owners about the lack of leadership for the committees did he attempt to do something about them, after letting them flounder without direction for months. We wanted to remove the Dragonstamp committee so the owners could just reward them like we do goblin stamps. But Matt was against this because it would remove his co-owner, Dave from getting his plethora of monthly DS for doing virtually nothing.

After he left, there was another blow up with the owners and Mike V about the Player’s Guide. The owners never received it and after much confusion and anger did we find out that Mike V never received the Diversity Committee’s notes on the PG that was supposed to be sent to him by Matt. On top of that, Mike V had sent the edited Player’s Guide to Matt, who never passed it along to the owners.

After that, a few owners approached Mike and Jesse regarding purchasing Alliance. Long and Short, it was rejected. Numerous people who are leaving are in this group, and all were rejected.

Then the owners were told “we are in talks with a mystery buyer” from Jesse. The owners were concerned as it was not a current owner.

Fast forward to September and we were told that “A deal has been done.” And Jesse bowed out of Alliance. A couple weeks later, the person we just fired four months ago has purchased Alliance.

Needless to say, the ownership was not impressed. The idea to have to hand our hard earned fees over to someone who we fired four months ago does not sit well with the owners, and we question the choices made by all involved. It does not fill us with any confidence in Alliance’s future.

Cory Fliegel
 
Hello everyone,

For those that aren't very familiar with me... My name is Stephen Duetzmann. I've been a part of the Alliance for nearly 20 years and was hired by Christina Velderman 4 or 5 chairpersons (I've lost count at this point) ago. One of my primary roles is to deal with communications and customer service in times such as these.

Our organization is large and imperfect, but it is my job to help where I can.

Cory,

Thank you for the perspective and context. Some of that is information that I didn't know (and would have had no reason to know).

Everyone else,

Feel free to reach out to me either in PMs, via the email listed above, or find me on Facebook. I will make myself available to hear your voices and listen to your hopes and concerns on this. (This includes disenfranchised and angry owners.) I know that many of you have no reason to trust me. But, I ask that you give me an opportunity to listen and help where I can.

The reality is that the Alliance has lived through a split before. It appears that we will likely have to do that again. All I can do is my part to help smooth the waters as best I can.

Thank you,

Stephen
Alliance PR/National Customer Service
 
What chapter(s) do you play in? Best wishes with a challenging time!
 
What chapter(s) do you play in? Best wishes with a challenging time!

I live in CT (So far enough away that most people can't drive to my house. :))

I play in Alliance NEPA (Formerly Ashbury, Futurely (?) Ascension. I also have characters based in Alliance NH.

Thank you for the well wishes.

Stephen
 
I appreciate the effort brought forth in making a customer/player oriented statement but my perspective here is that in doing so, it has raised additional questions.

First, as the individual in place to be the PR point person/customer service administrator/communications facilitator that's been in the role for 4-5 chairpersons deep, I guess my critical insight here as a player is why there hasn't been more active and engaged communication around this function all along? I think introspectively it's worth meditating on the notion that part of why we're at this point is due to a lack of engagement on these pain points that festered to this apparent point of no return. There were a lot of events that lead up to this point that got the organization here. Not all of these events were for player consumption as they occurred but there were still opportunities along the way to utilize this role to prevent the place we're in now.

I'll also surface that a lack of awareness of critical events as disclosed in the above statement that got us to this point raises additional questions about whether this role is an effective tool given the consequences now being faced.

The spirit of this isn't to accuse but rather to call out that I think there are disconnects in between what is perceived and what has resulted. It's difficult to now argue intention as the basis for why things went they did because the impact has already arrived and the impact is what the owners and the players have to absorb. While it's helpful to now engage with people and provide channels to do that, it's a shame that the now open doors to discuss were burdensome to be found for those who might have needed to use them until this moment.
 
Greetings. Rick Raddue here, owner of Alliance Oregon.

I am posting here to back up what Cory has said. While I have only been an owner for four years now, and not ten like him, I have seen first hand the type of organization that the new ownership wishes to foster. While I am sure they are chomping at the bit to change some things now because they just spent who knows how much money on buying the Alliance organization, I do not believe that they will have the best interests of the organization at heart in the long term.

We fired Matt W for gross incompetence in May and yet now he is expecting us to let bygones be bygones and fall in line like good soldiers which, to me, is unconscionable. It is a blaring red flag for the type of relationship this would have been had we done so. Ask yourself if you would want someone you fired mere months ago to come back into your life as your boss for a hobby in which you have given so much and love so dearly.

Multiple owners approached Mike and Jesse to buy the organization. Owners who we would have followed gladly and worked with to breathe life into the carcass of the Alliance national organization. Jesse and Mike’s decision to sell to Matt W and Dave B, while completely within their rights as the legal owners of the organization, just goes to show how tone deaf the national leadership and owners have been for so long.
 
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I appreciate the effort brought forth in making a customer/player oriented statement but my perspective here is that in doing so, it has raised additional questions.

First, as the individual in place to be the PR point person/customer service administrator/communications facilitator that's been in the role for 4-5 chairpersons deep, I guess my critical insight here as a player is why there hasn't been more active and engaged communication around this function all along? I think introspectively it's worth meditating on the notion that part of why we're at this point is due to a lack of engagement on these pain points that festered to this apparent point of no return. There were a lot of events that lead up to this point that got the organization here. Not all of these events were for player consumption as they occurred but there were still opportunities along the way to utilize this role to prevent the place we're in now.

I'll also surface that a lack of awareness of critical events as disclosed in the above statement that got us to this point raises additional questions about whether this role is an effective tool given the consequences now being faced.

The spirit of this isn't to accuse but rather to call out that I think there are disconnects in between what is perceived and what has resulted. It's difficult to now argue intention as the basis for why things went they did because the impact has already arrived and the impact is what the owners and the players have to absorb. While it's helpful to now engage with people and provide channels to do that, it's a shame that the now open doors to discuss were burdensome to be found for those who might have needed to use them until this moment.

Hi Jessica,

First, I don't feel accused. So don't worry about that.

You're right. I would have liked to have been more involved with (and aware of) the goings-on at a National level. I know that Ali (the chair prior to Matt) used me as a sounding board regularly. She and I spoke about everything happening almost daily. Matt did not use me in that way. So I remained, essentially, on retainer in the event that there was a crisis that needed to be handled.

To be blunt, the reason I don't know about the specific dealings between the chapter owners and National ownership is that I have never had access to owner message boards or other forms of communication. That is just the precedent that was set prior.

With that said, I can't really do anything about what happened in the years prior. Matt and Dave have asked me to do the job of helping to coordinate communication with players. So I am.

In short, I am trying my best to help the game I love to move forward.

Thank you,

Stephen
 
Some people find it challenging to separate us from our characters.
Yeah... based on your public posts, I doubt that's the case.

Just searching through your public forum posts doesn't give me any sort of faith that either of you will be interested in listening and colaboting going forward.
 
We've heard some rumors about you as players. Are you going to address them?


We have been playing Alliance since before the NERO/NERO Alliance split. Some people find it challenging to separate us from our characters. We can't tell anyone what to think. All we ask is that you give us a chance and form your opinions based on our actions as owners of the game as opposed to what others might say.

If there are enough people raising concerns about how you play the game, so that you feel the need to steer the conversation about it, then there is obviously a far deeper problem present.

You are still the person driving your character, and trying to hide behind "separating you from your character" is nothing more than a refusal to take responsibility for your actions in and out of game.

This is blatant gaslighting and hiding behind the false concept that you are not responsible for your characters actions.

Don't hide behind "it was all roleplay". That is toxic behavior that inaccurately divorces you from the responsibility you should take for your actions and decisions made in and out of game.
 
Stephen,

Though we are new here to this Alliance ownership, we appreciate the effort we have seen from you to date. Covid has created some interesting PR and advertising opportunities that you eluded to in the beginning of this chaos. Thank you for taking the time you did.

-Suzanne
Alliance Denver
 
If there are enough people raising concerns about how you play the game, so that you feel the need to steer the conversation about it, then there is obviously a far deeper problem present.

You are still the person driving your character, and trying to hide behind "separating you from your character" is nothing more than a refusal to take responsibility for your actions in and out of game.

This is blatant gaslighting and hiding behind the false concept that you are not responsible for your characters actions.

Don't hide behind "it was all roleplay". That is toxic behavior that inaccurately divorces you from the responsibility you should take for your actions and decisions made in and out of game.

I don’t think your interpretation of this is on the mark.

I don’t read this as “I’m not responsible for the actions of my character.”

I read this as “Sometimes when my character is mean to someone else’s character they take it as a personal attack.”

I’ve played with these two for the better part of (if not more than) two decades. Sometimes Auric & Gilwing are jerks, but that doesn’t mean that Matt & Dave are. I’ve absolutely had in game interactions with their characters that were less than pleasant, but drove some fantastic plot and interactions.

When their characters killed mine, it certainly could’ve gone to a bad place between them and I, as people, but it didn’t, and because I managed to make a distinction between the jerky stuff Auric & Gilwing do and who Matt & Dave are as people, it’s lead to some fantastic interactions between the characters and a positive relationship between players.

I don’t think it’s accurate or productive to make accusations about how someone is as a person when you’ve had very little actual interaction with them as people.
 
This post wasn't made to point fingers or call out someone's failings. We ALL have them.

If those leaving the organization choose to go, then that is the choice of the owners and HOPEFULLY their player base.

I am not certain how this works, however I believe that letters of resignation has been discussed. Has this been done by anyone? The chapter owners have that email address to do it. If a chapter doesn't want to, then reach out to the new organization and see what they can offer. As the saying goes, **** or get off the pot.

-Suzanne
 
Alliance Members,


As announced previously, the ownership of Alliance LARP has changed hands. Coming into this we knew we were facing an uphill battle to bring the alliance together. We made it our priority to reach out to every owner to schedule one on one chats to address their concerns with the current state of the organization. Alliance has not been given the proper attention it deserved for some time. We have made some good progress so far in understanding places where improvement is needed. Unfortunately, a small group of owners are dissatisfied and have been planning for months to leave. Our attempts to discuss concerns with them, or their player base, were shut down. We expect them to announce their plan to split away shortly.



Alliance LARP has a long and rich history and has seen a split similar to this once before. Our goal as owners of Alliance LARP is to help improve the game and grow our community. We know that we can make sure that our game thrives even after this change. We already have teams working hard to create content for our players.



To be clear, we're disappointed that any chapters would want to leave, but we harbor no ill will towards any of the players involved. Everyone must do what they feel is right. With that said, we have become aware that there are some rumors and misconceptions making their way through the grapevine and we felt that there is no time like the present to address them head-on.



Are we planning to walk back or remove Alliance Rules 2.0?


No.

There is truth to the statement that we did not like the ruleset as it was initially proposed before playtesting. But, we recognize and appreciate all the hard work that went into crafting these rules. They are here to stay and we enjoy playing them.





Are you just going to fill all of the national staff positions with your friends and members of the "old boys club?"


No. That is not our intention. National staff positions are open to all interested players. Our chapters are owned by players new and old. If you are interested in helping out on the National level please talk to your owner or reach out to us. We would love to have you aboard.



Are you removing these chapters from the Alliance?



No. When we purchased the Alliance from Mike and Jesse our goal was to bring all of the chapters together as they have been. Our intention was to open channels of communication with all parties. Unfortunately, some owners had other plans.



We've heard some rumors about you as players. Are you going to address them?


We have been playing Alliance since before the NERO/NERO Alliance split. Some people find it challenging to separate us from our characters. We can't tell anyone what to think. All we ask is that you give us a chance and form your opinions based on our actions as owners of the game as opposed to what others might say.





What does this all mean for current players across the game?



We did not purchase the Alliance to see it falter. We want to make sure that it grows. The first step is to help our existing players make the most of their game time and be all that they can't be. We have redoubled our efforts to have a final version of the 2.0 rulebook published and ready for use. We are also working with our Alliance LARP Diversity committee to have them provide guidance for updating our players guide to make sure it uses more inclusive language.



We also plan to grow the Alliance. This means recruiting new chapter owners in new (or past) territories and players through advertising. Please reach out to use if you have any interest in opening up a chapter!



What about our Goblin Stamps and LCO items from the chapters that are leaving?



We know that you worked hard to earn these rewards. Our goal is to make everyone whole that we can. Please reach out to Stephen Duetzmann (our head of National Customer service). He will be working with us to help coordinate our customer efforts on this front.







We look forward to the future of Alliance as we move forward more united than ever before!


Thank you all for your time.
Matt and David

So I'm curious. Since this is the first the playership has heard about a split from "a small group of chapters" - which you still haven't answered what that actually means - who is asking those questions?

Are those genuine concerns or just y'all getting infront of bad press?

If they're genuine concerns, then they came from somewhere - not just "bad feelings".
 
I think part of the reason for not addressing the “small group of chapters” is that none of the chapters that are discussing leaving are discussing that with them, so it’s hard to pin down who’s staying, who’s leaving, and who’s uncertain.

It’s not really a decision that anyone other than the owner(s) of those chapters can announce, really.

As to where the questions came from, I know @RiddickDale put out a call for people to reach out to him with concerns about the transfer. I would guess that the bulk of the concerns have been relayed to the two of them through him.
 
sorry, double post.

And I would like an answer from the new owners of Alliance, please. It seems like they've made a statement, and are otherwise not addressing concerns here themselves.
 
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