With the new year I’ve come to the decision that the numbering of each entry should reflect the order and the year, so we are back to number one, except with the year as reference. Perfect.
Errata and why should I care. Maybe why I shouldn’t.
Because that is a very strong sentiment of my own as I seldom try to keep an eye on the release of any novelty live rules and errata unless there’s extreme complications in the rules book.
I go to the store and buy a game. I unpack everything, setup the table and start playing around with the pieces and use the rules that come inside.
It has always been like that since I remember, for both cardboard and miniatures wargames rules.
Now I get told that I must confer to some games site to verify the errata. Why ?
I can only think of two reasons:
- the game has issues and these were identified post commercial version release by an un-dedicated team of play testers which never asked for it, usually named customers
- the game was not correctly produced and was shipped with wrong document versions
Never, in my reasoning, ever it is the responsibility of the player to search for the brand new versions. Maybe I should put it differently – it should NOT be expected that ANY potential buyer of the game, ANYWHERE in the world, to be constantly expecting rules updated and changes.
Errata is an index of typographical errors and/or mistakes in identification of elements, for example the legend on a map like misnaming a river.
That’s what it means and not a synonym for – oh we forgot a lot of things and now we making an “errata” to add them.
Errata should NOT be an industry standard and NOT a methodology to hold any potential customer into this cycle of new rules updates and revisions every month ( and every week! ) just because the development cycle was so tight as to promote the product to reach the shelves as soon as possible and a ‘good work done’ be damned.
While it is a hobby and that means I take great pleasure in spending leisure time tied to the tabletop I take zero pleasure in having to chase for rules updates and “erratas” all the time. So I don’t. And then I get warned that the rules I use are outdated and wrong. I go verify the changes and am faced with so many changes as to completely put me off because 1. is changes the fundamental game and/or 2. are mistakes that should’ve been addressed even before it went out to print.
I can excuse a “pet project” done by some hobbyist and published under own name and paying the print cost or print and play pay what I want.
I cannot excuse a game published by a business venture. You are a business, not a hobby. Your business, my hobby.
Expecting EVERY customer to swallow the NEED to check for new rules updates and then erratas for every new rules updates, is obscene.
Saying – “check beegeegee” – is borderline of “shut up and eat”.
Business.
Act like it.
wargamer.coffee.break 