AdventureCon! Take 2...and see me in the morning.

[Emerald]

I think he's brilliant.

As visions of sobbing, tormented forum denizens filled my mind's eye, their will to live withered by my relentless application of flawless logic and piercing critical thinking skills, I was forced to remember the immense price of victory I’ve paid before...

... two or three hours per day of time spent slaughtering every post made by every single scumbag leading them to commit themselves to surrender, suicide or an asylum.

He reminds me of me, only more committed to the whole 'narcissistic prick' vibe...

[LimpingFish]

Let it go. It's over. What's the purpose of going point by point through all he said, just to prove that he's an ass?

It's easy, and fun, and makes me feel better about myself. \o/

EDIT: Since the Adventure Game Expo FAQ has vanished, it just like to bring a final point to the discussion:

"Adventure game fans take careful note of which adventure game companies do and do not participate in Adventure Gaming Expo. The next time you decide to purchase a new adventure game we ask you to vote with your wallet and support those companies who demonstrate a serious commitment to the adventure game community."

Adventure game fans take careful note of which adventure game companies do and do not refer to women as "bitches", homosexuals as "faggots", and otherwise random people as "scumbags". Then vote with your wallet.

EDIT: The more I think of Adventure Game Expo, the more I think of Ron Gilbert in a pub, on a wooden bench. Expo, indeed.

[Vince Twelve]

This guy is remarkable.  Howard Sherman's swollen sense of self-importance and his complete disdain for anyone who doesn't share in his love for Howard Sherman is just sad.

I read the Four Fat Chicks forum thread that set off his diatribe.  It was hardly made up of bile and lies.  There were a few jeers and jibes, a few unnecessary remarks about his personal looks and his, well... remarkably odd blog, but nothing that called for such an explosion of hatred.  It certainly didn't call for sexist and homophobic slurs or personal attacks on the site's owners, who are great lovers of the genre.  It was just two pages of comments mostly about how anger isn't the best way to market a convention.

When marketing, instead of coming in with his "I run the best damned adventure game company in the world" attitude and spending a significant proportion of the con's site spewing bile about all those other people who stopped the last attempt, might it be better to put yourself, the organizer, in the background along with the organization process, and put the actual event in the foreground?

Just for fun, I checked the website of Dragon Con, a comic/game/art convention that Howard mentioned on his blog about wanting to exhibit at.  No where except on the "contact us" page can I find anything about the people organizing the thing.  In fact, the only convention that I can think of where the organizers keep themselves in the forefront is PAX, which is understandable since that whole Con is based the guys who make Penny Arcade and their fans.

Maybe some people read just a bit and go, wow, this guy is important and trustworthy because he says so and then go ahead and book tickets to New Jersey, but I'd really suspect that a lot of potential attendees have been so turned off by what they can quickly surmise about his character from reading anything he writes that it cripples any attempt at organizing an event with significant attendance.

How about "Hi, I'm Howard, a lover of the Adventure games and head of a small, but dedicated text-adventure company, and I want to give something back to the adventure community."?  Doesn't that work?  It does for me.

And since his visible anger in the organization of two conventions hasn't so far gotten either of them off the ground, I'd say that it may be ok to admit his own mistakes rather than blame the fans who didn't sign up for his convention.

So, if he were to quit sticking his head out from behind the curtain, and quit referring to himself in the self-important third-person, and stop bitching and blaming about why the thing failed the first time around, the whole thing suddenly looks a lot more legit and less dubious.  Just say, "Ok, it didn't work out last time, but I've learned a few things and hope to correct my mistakes from the first go around."  It sounds a lot better than "I'm doing the same damn thing again, so you bastards better not screw it up again!"

Finally, spend a little money on a web designer.  A little professional appearance goes a long ways.  I offer low rates!

Also, as noted by several people in this thread and many others that I've seen around the net (though possibly only in the 'bad neighborhoods'), yes, we'd be perfectly happy to meet some of our favorite adventure icons and then roll over to the nearest McDonalds for a bite before going to bed at the nearby Holiday Inn.  Even if I was interested in the con, $600 dollars per night is a deal breaker for me.  Not because I don't have a job and can't afford it which somehow makes me the bastard who did your second attempt in, but thank you very much for insulting me ass hole, but because the amount of money I would have to spend would far outweigh the experience that you are selling me.  And again, perhaps spending more time on your website promoting the actual event and telling me about all the fun things I would be doing there rather than talking about yourself and insulting potential customers might help to remedy that.

Finally, I think Howard needs to read some of his own advice:

If you insist on the perverted activity of attacking successful people then at least have the decency of doing so with some small degree of class or style.

The Four Fat Chicks run a successful and popular website and community.  They are excellent ambassadors of the genre and should be treated with all the respect overweight poultry deserves. 

And just in case Howard finds this little rant, my name is Vince "Twelve" Wesselmann and I run an insignificant but dedicated game company and I love the adventure genre.  So there.  Now you can't call me an anonymous coward.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

He does for convention runners what Derek Smart does for game designers:  makes them look like total dickwads.

Also, I call Howard Sherman an anonymous coward since his name means absolutely nothing to me.

[Emerald]

Hmm, I have a feeling that this guy isn't entirely serious. If you read this stuff carefully, you can see a lot of thought put in to it. I can't tell if it is trying to be funny, or to impress, but i have a feeling his assholery is at least somewhat intentional. (In other words, I don't think he's as oblivious as he comes across)

Although, maybe that's just me. I tend to give people credit for things they don't deserve (like Paris Hilton -- I have a feeling she's a lot smarter than she portends)

[m0ds]

And Can Someone Please Tell Me Why IF Writers Put Capitals At The Start Of Every Word In Every Sentence? I Thought IF Showed That They Were More Along The Lines Of Novelists But It Always Ends Up Looking Like They Just Want To Englarge My Penis  :