21 December 1994 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT by Warren Holland, President of Decipher Inc. (DPresident@aol.com) STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION CUSTOMIZABLE CARD GAME ***** Notice ***** The information in this document is copyrighted by Decipher Inc. 1994, however, it can be freely disseminated online or by traditional publishing means as long as it is not altered and this copyright notice is attached. TM, Copyright & Registered 1994 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is a registered trademark of and all characters and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures. Decipher Inc. Authorized User .____________________________________SUBJECTS: **INTRODUCTION **CARD DISTRIBUTION ISSUES *Playability *Randomizing consistency **TOURNAMENTS **THE MAGIC QUESTION **DEDICATED FTP, WWW, LISTSERV, USENET (NEWSGROUP) **WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? **RUMOR CENTRAL! **HOW CAN I REACH DECIPHER? **WE ARE LISTENING! ____________________________________**INTRODUCTION: This is the first in a series of letters I plan to write to keep you informed on the Òinside storyÓ of DecipherÕs customizable card game products. We want you to know that we are listening... and responding to your feedback. Please keep it coming! When you look at a Decipher product, you will likely see the following phrase: ÒDECIPHER: The Art of Great Games.Ó The standards we set for executing this philosophy are demanding... excellence, high-quality, creative implementation and unsurpassed customer service. I think you will see our attention to detail reflected in the ST:CCG. If you donÕt... we want to know. I want every consumer to know that I have the great fortune of working with some of the most talented and dedicated people in the game business. No... we are not perfect. Yes... we will make mistakes. But we care and we are responsive. Our vendors, distributors, retailers, collectors and game players are our Òpartners.Ó Welcome to a universe with endless possibilities. **CARD DISTRIBUTION ISSUES: Did I mention that we are not perfect? ;-) While 95% of all customer feedback on the ST:CCG has been positive to date, the most frequent negative feedback relates to distribution issues. Some players have experienced difficulties in acquiring the cards necessary for playable decks while others have questioned the randomizing consistency of the cards. I have information to share on both of these issues. *Playability: First, with respect to playable decks, we understand the initial frustration for players (we are consumers, too). Generally the problem involves not getting enough Outpost cards and/or Missions cards needed to begin playing. We anticipated some of this and even addressed it in the rules. Also, because the randomization is pure (as described below), players buying only one or two starter decks have reported not having the appropriate personnel for a particular set of missions. I expect these problems will be short-lived. Here is why... 1) Decipher is nearing design completion of a two-player boxed game. The game includes two white-border decks (one Federation and one Klingon), each pre-assorted with six appropriate missions and one appropriate outpost. Designed to play Òright out of the box" for about $20-30, this product was planned Òfrom the beginningÓ and was on our price list from day one. I know it doesnÕt help yet, but the two-player game was envisioned to address the needs of startup players and pure Star Trek fans who are not already collectable card game fans, thereby expanding the fun for everyone. Because we have been so overwhelmed, the completion date for the two-player game has been delayed. I expect it will go into production soon and ship in mid-1995. We apologize for the delay. :-) Note: perhaps the wait is worthwhile... you may see a few new white-border cards make a debut in the two-player game. Could it be Spock, McCoy or a new ship? We will see... ;-) 2) By February 1995 we will have over 1,000,000 of each of the nine common Mission Cards and over 1,000,000 of each affiliationÕs Outpost Card in the marketplace. Since you only need a few of these cards, we hope (and expect) that players and retailers will trade them freely amongst themselves. We always planned to get product into the marketplace quickly to deal with playability, but consumer demand was so great, we were caught off-guard. We thought most purchases of the limited edition would be from collectors, and that "players" would come into their own with the unlimited white- border cards. None of this is purely one way or the other... players are collectors... collectors are players, and so on. But, the card mix concerns have been further deepened by how quickly the game sells out in the marketplace. Some people bought a small amount and were simply not able to get any more. An unexpected factor in this equation has been that some players and collectors snapped up cards and hardly opened the boxes. This means a lot of cards have not been circulating, making it more difficult to trade for what you need. We are dealing with production issues as quickly as we can. Your patience is appreciated. ;-) 3) Players are already online selling ÒplayableÓ starter decks. We encourage people to start in this way. You can then expand your power with starter decks and expansion sets. Many retailers are also offering these cards to customers. 4) While it is nearly impossible for our customer service personnel to deal with distribution related to limited edition product (because it is rare and sold out so quickly), we are trying to help players with white-border cards. If you have common Outpost or common Mission cards you are not using, send them to us by March 31, 1995 at Decipher Inc., Customer Service Card Replacements, 253 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23510-1813. We will send you replacement common cards (randomly selected, we canÕt honor specific card requests) and we will send your extra Outpost or Mission cards free to other players. I think the four things above will make the playability problem short-term but let me explain why we decided to create the product in this manner. In any randomly-packaged product like this, a choice has to be made between short-term and long-term issues for players and collectors. There is no right or wrong way to do this. For example, WotC chose an approach which "duplicated" basic cards (i.e. land cards) on a print sheet. This increases the odds that you will get them in a starter set (a very valid approach for gameplay). One drawback to this method, however, is that players continue to get many of these cards each time they make a purchase, quickly accumulating far more than they need. This leads to a problem commonly referred to as "trash cards.Ó When designing the ST:CCG, both players and collectors asked us to maximize the number of cards and to try to minimize "trash cards." We attempted to accomplish this in a number of ways. First, we planned a two-player game. Since this game would be a sub-set of the entire universe of initial cards, we needed to make the ÒuniverseÓ of cards first (see above). Second, we created a "pure" distribution of cards on the manufacturing print sheets. There are no duplications. There are 121 different common cards, 121 different un-common cards and 121 different rare cards in the initial universe of 363 cards. Thus you acquire fewer ÒrepeatsÓ of cards. In the long run this is advantageous for everyone... the value of cards stay high from both a trading and playing perspective. Third, we designed most of the common ST:CCG cards to be ÒuniversalÓ (see the rules on page 15) meaning that you can use as many duplicates as you want. Thus, trash cards are minimized. The tradeoff for all of this is... a difficult randomizing process in the short-term for gameplay. Why choose the long-term approach? Well, for one thing DecipherÕs corporate culture has a long-term vision. We sincerely hope this is the best path for consumers. Think of it this way: this situation is similar to the design decisions faced by computer software companies (i.e. if they build-in extra software features, it places a greater demand on existing hardware such as not enough RAM or disk space, a very common problem). When the product first comes out, many people have problems running the software. But the computer industry is evolving so fast that people quickly catch up, at which time they are glad the extra software features are there. That is the design issue we faced. In the long run, we hope players will appreciate that they wonÕt have many Òtrash cards.Ó *Randomizing consistency: The other distribution issue brought to our attention has involved the randomizing consistency of the cards. Some customers have reported purchasing a great deal of product and yet have not gotten Òan even distributionÓ of cards. Also, a few customers reported getting either 14 or 16 cards in their 15-card expansion set. Again, most reports we receive on card randomization are positive. Of course, this doesnÕt mean much if you happen to be the customer experiencing the problem. We donÕt blame you, such problems are not acceptable to us either. We agree that a few customers have experienced unacceptable problems. While it appears that the overall problems are "spotty," we are concerned none-the-less. We are investigating every occurrence of a randomization problem reported to us and have replaced product for a few consumers. We are also working hard with our manufacturer, Carta Mundi, to identify any existing or potential quality control deficiencies. Carta Mundi is one of the finest manufacturers in the world, and they are cooperating enormously. In the mean time, if you have a problem, contact Decipher Customer Service via e-mail at DCustServe@aol.com or call (804)623-3600 ext. 21 and they will try to help you. Let me clear up a common misconception and some misinformation. The ST:CCG game is printed and packaged in a purely-random manner. There are no "second sorts" going on in an attempt to make players have to spend more money (I read that online somewhere, so I wanted to respond). Quite the opposite! Our design decisions have been made to "protect and maximizeÓ the value of the cards for players and collectors. In summary: we hear the complaints and are actively working to respond. We will continue to post ÒofficialÓ information as we learn about any problems and we will explain our solutions for future runs. We are working hard to see that 100% of our customers are satisfied. **TOURNAMENTS Yes, tournaments are planned. Decipher is developing official tournament kits for retailers and interested parties. These kits are not yet available, but we hope to have them in early 1995. Ad hoc tournaments are already appearing at clubs, retailers and conventions. More about tournaments as things develop... **THE MAGIC QUESTION Shortly after the ST:CCG hit the market, someone told our customer service department that we were cutting down WotC by making comparisons between Magic and ST:CCG. This is not really true. I want to set the record straight. Magic is a wonderful product. In fact, Magic is Òthe productÓ that started this revolution. It will spawn a category that will likely see twenty different games in the marketplace in 1995. Decipher has a great deal of respect for Magic and WotC. Richard Garfield and the people at WotC deserve all the success and applause they are experiencing. We personally know people at WotC and many on the Decipher staff have met Richard Garfield (one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet). WotC and Decipher make quality products which both compete and complement each other. Any time you see a comparison between Magic and ST:CCG (or vice versa) it is because we view these products as standards worthy of comparison. It is simply an effective tool to explain game design or manufacturing decisions and in no way indicates a disrespect of our competition. **DEDICATED FTP, WWW, AND LISTSERV (NEWSGROUP) We are finalizing our plans for a Decipher internet site which will include ftp, world wide web, and ListServ mailing list features. We expect all this will be available in January 1995. With these systems in place it will be much easier for ÔnettersÕ to get the latest information and discuss the latest activity on the ST:CCG without navigating through overcrowded newsgroups. We are also in the process of putting together a system of "Net Reps" for ST:CCG on AOL, Genie, CompuServe, Delphi, Prodigy and the Internet. Thanks for your patience with this. We want to be as responsive as possible to the questions and comments of players and collectors, but these systems take some time to establish. We hope you will take advantage of the new information sites to make your involvement with the game easier, quicker, and more enjoyable. We are also installing a fax-back service which will be available to retailers and consumers 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. The automated service will include a variety of documents that anyone can request via touch-tone phone. Callers simply select the documents they desire and enter the number of the fax machine where they would like the documents sent. Automatically, and almost immediately, the documents are transmitted to the appropriate fax machine, anywhere in the world. Documents will include letters such as this and other, more interesting documents like: product announcements, card lists, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQÕs), tournament information and more! Look for this service to begin in a few months. **WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? I sometimes see items online blaming a ST:CCG design, gameplay, or manufacturing decision on Paramount. I have also seen Carta Mundi criticized for distribution decisions. Such statements are inaccurate. The truth is, while both these organizations play very important roles in ST:CCG (and we greatly value and respect our ÒpartnershipsÓ with these firms), Decipher is responsible for the vision and implementation of the product that gets into your hands. It is our responsibility. Period. Paramount may be a convenient target, but in this case, anyone that strikes out at them is doing so without merit. If you have a problem, talk to us. **RUMOR CENTRAL! RUMOR #1 -- Save your UPC code wrappers to get ultra-rare cards. INSIDE STORY ON RUMOR #1 -- There is no truth to this rumor. The fact is, we havenÕt decided yet how ultra-rare cards will be made available to consumers. Our first priority has been to get the basic game Òout thereÓ and to set up our information networks. We have some interesting and fun promotions in mind for the ultra-rare cards...we have selected most of the cards and they are all very cool. We will make an announcement about ultra-rare cards as soon as the details become finalized. In the meantime, rest assured that whatever method of distribution we decide to use, it will be fair and interesting. RUMOR #2 -- Decipher and Paramount are suing each other and the January run of ST:CCG either wonÕt be shipped or will be the last. INSIDE STORY ON RUMOR #2 -- There is no truth to this rumor. A synergistic relationship has developed between Decipher and Paramount over the past four years. This relationship continues to grow stronger with each new product introduction. Besides customizable card games, Decipher has developed other popular products in association with Paramount including two Star Trek Interactive VCR games and more. Look for other exciting product announcements from Decipher and Paramount in the future. RUMOR #3 -- Decipher is going to do a Star Wars CCG. INSIDE STORY ON RUMOR #3 -- Well, some rumors are true after all. Decipher has completed a strategic alliance with Parker Brothers (code named: Rebel Alliance) and signed a joint license with Lucasfilm to develop a Star Wars CCG. The first product of this license will begin shipping in the Fall of 1995. Decipher will develop all of the product under this agreement and will sell black-border limited and unlimited editions to the specialty market. Parker Brothers will sell white-border unlimited cards to the mass market. DecipherÕs products will include 60-card starter decks, 15-card expansion sets, collectorÕs tins and specialty cards (like ultra- rares). Parker Brothers will sell a Decipher-designed two-player game and 8-card booster packs. Retail prices in both markets will be approximately the same per card. As the name Star Wars implies, the game will include the Òbattling forcesÓ of the Empire and the Rebel Alliance with heroes and villains in a Joseph Campbellish tradition. Besides the basic sets, at least four large expansion sets are planned through 1997. We will tell you more later... **HOW CAN I REACH DECIPHER? Well, there are many ways to reach us. Online: Send service-oriented questions to: DCustServe@aol.com Send rules-oriented questions to: DAnswerMan@aol.com You can also reach our net reps on commercial services and the internet. Snail Mail: Decipher Inc., 253 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 25310-1813 Decipher Inc., P.O. Box 56, Norfolk, VA 23501-0056 Other: Phone: (804)623-3600 Fax: (804)623-3630 As mentioned above, a fax-back information service is coming soon. **WE ARE LISTENING! There are a lot of dedicated people at Decipher who will listen to what you have to say. A product such as the ST:CCG is a massive project and I expect we will make some mistakes along the way. When we do, let us know. If you think we are doing things right, DCustServe@aol.com likes to here that too. Also, you always have a direct line of communication to me at DPresident@aol.com. This is especially good if you do not require an e-mail response, but you want Decipher to Òhear youÓ I promise to read all the e-mail I get (and so far, I've been replying to most). Send me your comments, suggestions, topics (or rumors) you wish for me to discuss in future letters. Thank you for supporting DecipherÕs ST:CCG and we look forward to serving you now, and long into the future. Live long and prosper! Sincerely, Warren L. Holland President Decipher Inc.