Final Ambassador Report - October 2003 .
Ambassador: Matt Clouser

1.Retail/Player Information from your area:

Retailer Scene: There are still NO stores in my area that support STCCG products and activities.  As reported in my monthly reports staring in January, Hastings is no longer reserving space for me for my monthly demos - mainly because I haven't had many attendees at a public demo since last October.  They still allow me to show up and do small demos, but on a space available basis.    

CCG Scene:  CCG Scene:  CCG activity has picked up some since school has reopened - Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic remain the most prominent games.  STCCG 2ED remains dead.


2. What have you done "For Love Of The Game" in the past month?:

Tournaments: None

Demos: One on September 27th - no attendees.

3. What new target (store, gaming clubs, special event) are you planning to establish contact with in the next month to promote Decipher games. What plans are you making to help current stores become more self-sufficient?

Same story, different month.  There are still no stores in San Angelo that support STCCG - there simply isn't the interest in town anymore. 


4. Feedback on Special Promotional events held that month…successes, shortcomings, suggestions for improvement, player/retailer comments

POSITIVE

None.

NEGATIVE

See my end comments.


5. Retailer Store(s) or venues you have run your demos/tournaments:

None ...


RESIGNATION

Sorry folks, but this will be my last report as STCCG ambassador.

I have struggled for over a year now to try and drum up any interest in STCCG 2ED with no discernible luck.  I had some hope that several of my 1ED players might be lured back into the game with the introduction of the Borg and Dominion in CTA.  However, all the players I contacted for my demo this last weekend - even the guys that had expressed lukewarm interest in CTA - politely but firmly said they just weren't interested any more.

That's not the way it was in San Angelo as recently as a year ago.  Up until then, I had a fairly stable group of about 8-10 local players that I had built up since 1997.  I had also made some solid TD and player contacts in Abilene, Austin, and San Antonio, and we had several years worth of some real decent tournaments covering the central region of Texas.  We were active enough that we were selected to host the West Texas Regionals in 2002.

Then all at once, the bottom fell out.

There were three events that occurred that last year that effectively killed any interest in STCCG.

1)  Store Closing.  Our main gaming/comic store in town - Hard Drive Gaming Center - shut it's doors suddenly on September 1st 2002 due to disagreements between Hard Drive's owners and their landlord.  The disagreement has gone to the courts, and all the store merchandise - including all the STCCG product in town - is currently still tied up in litigation.

2)  STCCG 2ED.  Despite my efforts, the second edition never caught on.  Several of my most reliable 1ED players quit the game in disgust when it was announced that the 1ED cards they had gathered over the last 5 years were suddenly worthless and would be unusable in the 2ED era.  There is still a strong sense of betrayal, and no amount of pleading, cajoling or bribing on my part did any good.

3)  Star Trek Franchise Mediocrity.  Star Trek Nemesis was poorly received in San Angelo.  Even the most positive movie goers rated Nemesis barely above Insurrection in overall quality.  Enterprise's lukewarm reception here in town (most commonly heard assessment was "not much better than Voyager") also hurt.  The end result of the franchises' poor performance is that it made it very tough to pitch a new Trek product to potential new players.

When things got real bad last September and I was scrambling to try and keep the game alive - I told myself that I'd give it 6 months to revitalize the game.  Well, six months came and went, but I had a hard time letting go.  After all, I've been involved with STCCG as a player (or TD ... or Ambassador  ... or Playtester ) since early 1995.  However, I am tired of doing demos and giving away sample decks for months on end with nothing to show for it.  And I can't in good conscience take any more product from Decipher with no real chance of turning it into a player base.

So, it is over.

I would like to thank Kevin and Kyle for taking a risk and continuing to support my efforts here in town despite my poor showing this last year.  I's also like to thank my fellow ambassadors for their support (and occasional raucous good humor), especially during this last year.  A special thanks to Kim Logie for her kind words of encouragement on a couple of occasions this year, and to Pam Covell in Ames Iowa for welcoming me to one of her groups' Decipher nights when I was in town for a family vacation last summer.

Take care all - it's been a helluva ride.

Matt Clouser
Former STCCG Ambassador
San Angelo, Texas USA