I want to begin by saying that I take no pleasure in making this announcement. I would much rather make announcements about new chapters joining the Alliance and new rules in effect this year (That’s for next week I suppose!). But, for sake of brevity I’ll get to it:
Feel free to take a moment and say something like, “Tell me something I don’t now Steve.” Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Historically, these happenings have not been discussed in public. Contractual arrangements between Mike V. and the owners are private matters. However, the circumstances of this particular event have left the organization with no real choice but to speak up publicly. There are rumors and innuendo being spread (likely as you read this) that need to be placed in context.
I spent a great of time during the last several days speaking to parties on both sides. I spent over an hour on the phone with a member of the Ohio staff having a very frank and honest discussion regarding their perception of what has happened. I spent that same amount of time on a conference call the other night with Christina and Mike. I have read every post on every thread related to Ohio and I have even taken a brief look at the Ohio Facebook page.
That was certainly a lot of information to process. But, after looking at it all one thing became clear to me: the specific facts regarding why this process began have no real meaning at all. The pertinent facts are as follows:
Any speculation regarding “What Ohio did wrong?” or “Why did Mike V think there was a breach?” is of no use for us right now. Answers to these questions would have aided with the arbitration process (and frankly could have made all the difference in a different resolution to the concerns about the contract) but that time has since passed.
We are all affected by the loss of one of our games regardless of the reason. I understand and share the frustration when a chapter is removed from the Alliance. I have not personally played there often, but I value one of their staff members as a friend and I will miss his presence in the Alliance.
We cannot change what has happened. So I would like to invite everyone to move forward with me.
While we, as the National Staff, understand the concern that removing a chapter from our Alliance certainly engenders, regardless of the circumstances we want to make sure everyone knows the steps to move forward so there is as little disruption as possible to those players who continue to participate in our game.
The Chair of the Alliance Logistics Committee has requested Ohio's database, and will be responsible for the permanent transfers of any characters to other Alliance chapters. We rely upon Ohio to provide this information in a timely fashion to ensure the players are able to continue with as little disruption as possible. All characters housed in the Alliance Ohio Database will be honored as of their standing March 15th 2011. Records will be double checked against the end of year audit to verify that characters have been properly documented. You may move your characters, without restriction, to any current Alliance Chapter database, or park them in the National Campaign's database for safekeeping; characters in the National database may not receive monthly blankets from goblin stamps, but they may still receive experience blankets from events.
The remaining owners are currently hard at work writing a policy to determine what will be done regarding magic items (both LCO and restricted) as well as ritual scrolls, components, catalysts etc. Once a decision is made it will be posted. (I would expect to see the policy soon .)
If you have any other questions, not pertaining to the reasons of this chapter's removal, please post them in the appropriate thread under the General Discussion forum and we will endeavor to have them answered as expediently as possible.
We wish all the players, be they local or visitors, of Alliance LARP Ohio all the best in their future gaming endeavors, be it with the Alliance, or other realms. As the day breaks we all stand united because we all share this wacky hobby. As the day ends we must all deal with the fact that this wacky hobby is more than just make believe.
Humbly,
Stephen Duetzmann
Chair
National Publicity Committee
Feel free to take a moment and say something like, “Tell me something I don’t now Steve.” Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Historically, these happenings have not been discussed in public. Contractual arrangements between Mike V. and the owners are private matters. However, the circumstances of this particular event have left the organization with no real choice but to speak up publicly. There are rumors and innuendo being spread (likely as you read this) that need to be placed in context.
I spent a great of time during the last several days speaking to parties on both sides. I spent over an hour on the phone with a member of the Ohio staff having a very frank and honest discussion regarding their perception of what has happened. I spent that same amount of time on a conference call the other night with Christina and Mike. I have read every post on every thread related to Ohio and I have even taken a brief look at the Ohio Facebook page.
That was certainly a lot of information to process. But, after looking at it all one thing became clear to me: the specific facts regarding why this process began have no real meaning at all. The pertinent facts are as follows:
- - Mike Ventrella, the owner of the Alliance, had reason to believe that Alliance LARP Ohio was in breach of their contract.
- Mike Ventrella then contacted the owner of Alliance LARP Ohio, Mike Webb, and advised him in writing regarding said breach.
- Mike Webb’s (It sucks that they are both named Mike BTW) contract allowed him 30 days from receipt of the letter to correct the breach.
- Mike Webb responded to Mike Ventrella with a timeline for correcting the breach which would not be completed within 30 days.
- As a result of this, Mike Ventrella recommended that the two parties attempt to reconcile the breach through arbitration.
- Mike Webb initially agreed to enter arbitration, but voluntarily abandoned it a short time later and terminated his contract with Mike Ventrella.
Any speculation regarding “What Ohio did wrong?” or “Why did Mike V think there was a breach?” is of no use for us right now. Answers to these questions would have aided with the arbitration process (and frankly could have made all the difference in a different resolution to the concerns about the contract) but that time has since passed.
We are all affected by the loss of one of our games regardless of the reason. I understand and share the frustration when a chapter is removed from the Alliance. I have not personally played there often, but I value one of their staff members as a friend and I will miss his presence in the Alliance.
We cannot change what has happened. So I would like to invite everyone to move forward with me.
While we, as the National Staff, understand the concern that removing a chapter from our Alliance certainly engenders, regardless of the circumstances we want to make sure everyone knows the steps to move forward so there is as little disruption as possible to those players who continue to participate in our game.
The Chair of the Alliance Logistics Committee has requested Ohio's database, and will be responsible for the permanent transfers of any characters to other Alliance chapters. We rely upon Ohio to provide this information in a timely fashion to ensure the players are able to continue with as little disruption as possible. All characters housed in the Alliance Ohio Database will be honored as of their standing March 15th 2011. Records will be double checked against the end of year audit to verify that characters have been properly documented. You may move your characters, without restriction, to any current Alliance Chapter database, or park them in the National Campaign's database for safekeeping; characters in the National database may not receive monthly blankets from goblin stamps, but they may still receive experience blankets from events.
The remaining owners are currently hard at work writing a policy to determine what will be done regarding magic items (both LCO and restricted) as well as ritual scrolls, components, catalysts etc. Once a decision is made it will be posted. (I would expect to see the policy soon .)
If you have any other questions, not pertaining to the reasons of this chapter's removal, please post them in the appropriate thread under the General Discussion forum and we will endeavor to have them answered as expediently as possible.
We wish all the players, be they local or visitors, of Alliance LARP Ohio all the best in their future gaming endeavors, be it with the Alliance, or other realms. As the day breaks we all stand united because we all share this wacky hobby. As the day ends we must all deal with the fact that this wacky hobby is more than just make believe.
Humbly,
Stephen Duetzmann
Chair
National Publicity Committee