I love the Internet, but it can also be quite vexing.
Lately, there has been a discussion on one of the Palladium message boards about how Palladium Books should have a Facebook page.
I agree. Everyone at Palladium agrees.
In fact, I’ve been talking about it and planning on doing one for quite a while now.
So why haven’t we done it yet?
That’s simple, I figured a Facebook page would bring more traffic to the Palladium Website, including first timers, so it would be best to update and upgrade the Palladium website first and put our best face forward. (No pun intended.) I’ve been wanting to upgrade and improve our website for something like four years now. I had hoped to finally do so this Summer, but with everything that unfolded this year with regard to my father’s health and legal issues, we were unable to do so by Summer.
Now that things were starting to settle down, I was hoping that the website would get retooled before Christmas 2010 or by early next year. When it was up, we would also launch the Palladium Facebook page. If I recall correctly, I had hinted at this way back in April of this year, but as I said, my father’s health and legal matters consumed much of my time. I didn’t talk about it too much because we wanted to surprise and wow people with the scope of what we have in mind.
The Absurd
What’s absurd to me is how people’s imaginations run away with them. A fan says something or suggests something online, one or more people jump to conclusions and start to engage in wild speculation. The next thing you know there is controversy, angst and absurdity. At least in the minds of some.
In the case of Palladium and Facebook, some folks started to wonder and question why we didn’t have a Facebook page. Rather than talk about our plans above, we said nothing. Actually, Alex tried a few attempts at misdirection to derail the discussion, but that didn’t work.
Here’s the absurd part: a) Folks were upset about Palladium not doing something we were quietly planning to actually do, and b) people decided Palladium doesn’t understand Facebook or digital technology, that Palladium is afraid of technology, and on and on in a similar vein. Yikes.
As a result, one fan, convinced Palladium was mired in the Dark Ages or something, has taken it upon himself to start an Unofficial Palladium Books Facebook page. He has done so out of frustration and in a bid to help Palladium. That’s nice and I appreciate the good intentions, but good grief, the speculation just isn’t true. We’ve been planning to do Facebook and much more on our own. I mean, we talked earlier this year about developing Facebook games in house, at Palladium, the idea of doing comic books and more.
I’ll admit, personally, I’m not a tech guy. I never have been. But that’s just me. However, I do know about and appreciate current technology, and I’m surrounded by guys who are into all the latest technology, games and so on. I have been looking into a number of ways to expand Palladium into new mediums including Facebook and the iPhone platform.
Just because Palladium isn’t talking about it or moving at the speed you’d like us to, doesn’t mean we aren’t aware of the technology or have no plans to utilize it. Jeez o’ Pete, you’d have to be insane and live under a rock not to know about social networks and the new possibilities of many exciting digital applications and mediums!
Please consider this
I think fans sometimes forget Palladium Books is a business. As a business, we do NOT want to talk about or reveal all of our plans for different mediums, marketing or new product development. We need to keep some of our plans under wraps for a variety of reasons. Competition and secrecy is always an element of business. Compared to other industries, including the game business, Palladium Books is as transparent as glass and a chatter box. Ironically, I catch a certain amount of flack about that transparency and openness from business advisors and some potential business partners. According to them, I tell you guys and gals waaaaaaaay too much and need to shut up. Meanwhile, some fans want even more disclosure. Gaaahhhhhh! I can’t win. Doing the best I can. Learned a long time ago you can’t please or satisfy everyone, but it’s frustrating.
There are other reasons for not revealing all of our business plans. One is because they create expectations among our fans. Then, if things are delayed (like our plans for a website face lift and Facebook page), or fall apart (like our Rifts MMORPG project in 2008), it only upsets and frustrates them.
We recently showed newcomer, freelance writer Matthew Clements some of the ill-fated Rifts® MMO material, and he was blown away by it. “Oh my God,” he gasped. “If the fans could only see this . . . I had no idea it had gone so far.” Yeah, it killed us when the MMO project couldn’t get off the ground as expected. We and a number of people put a lot of time, thought and work into it. It was a dream come true for everyone involved, so when it fell apart it was a heartbreaker. And I mean a true heartbreaker. We don’t want our fans to have to face that kind of disappointment or tip our hand to competitors, so we keep mum about certain things. I hope people understand.
Btw, other times, we just want to surprise people!
I hope this clarifies things a bit.
The Official Palladium Books Facebook Page
With the Unofficial Palladium Books Facebook page up, and the main guy behind it working hard to develop the “unofficial” page further, we feel Palladium NEEDS to put up its “official” Palladium Books Facebook page 1-3 months before we planned to do so. As a result, it will be a work in progress.
FYI: Palladium continues to explore a wide range of new product and market areas including digital social mediums, Facebook, iPhone/iPad products, PDF products, print on demand items and much more. Our big Freelancer Gathering in April, 2011, should help set the stage for a new era of Palladium innovation and products.
Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
© Copyright November 9, 2010 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Heroes Unlimited™, Beyond the Supernatural, Dead Reign, Warpath, Shemarrian Nation, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.
Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.