A Walk in the Dark A look in to the mind of an RPG designer

Lack of Education

Seems like Wizards of the Coast *really* doesn't like me...

A few weeks ago, on October 31st, I received the following email from Wizards of the Coast through their customer support site.

The subject line of the message is - and I'm not making this up - "Education Letter"...

10/31/2012

David Flor
[Address Omitted]
United States

Dear David Flor,

The Wizards Investigation Committee is sending this letter to follow up on the recent phone call you received from your WPN Representative. This phone call covered ways to avoid the conduct listed below in your future Wizards Play Network activities.

• Fake Events
• Event Result Manipulation
• False/Incorrect Reporting - WER
• Fake/Falsified Player

We are aware that many violations of event policy are due to a lack of knowledge of proper WPN procedures. This letter serves as confirmation that your WPN representative has educated you on proper WPN procedures in order to avoid these issues.

If any of the above issues detailed in this letter were not covered or clearly explained we strongly encourage you to contact your WPN representative with any additional questions. We appreciate your cooperative efforts.

Wizards Investigation Committee
Wizards of the Coast

First off, the ticket was entered in the system and immediately flagged as "Solved", so there is no discussing it. Secondly, they provide no phone number in order to talk about anything; I tried to look for one through the site, but the only form of contact is through email or through the customer service site (I ran in to this problem before).

Finally, let me go on record and state that I never received a call from any WPN Representative, so I have no idea what they are talking about. I considered the above letter a nonsensical warning, a form letter sent to most event coordinators at some point as a deterrent. The events that I have sanctioned through the Wizards Event Reporter - and I admit there hasn't been a lot of them, and it's been a while since I've been able to run anything due to real life situations  - have been genuine and with real players.

So I effectively ignored the letter.

Well, a week ago I suddenly find myself unable to log in to the Wizards Event Reporter or the WPN website. At first glance it appears I have been locked out of sanctioning any more events and reporting on events already in the system.

I have contacted WotC customer service. I am hoping this is an error on my end, such as a bad or forgotten password, and that it's not what I fear: that I have been flagged as a false reporter and banned from coordinating any events, without any further notification from Wizards of the Coast.

As soon as I learn more, I'll let you know.

Have any of you been "educated" in this manner? Has Wizards of the Coast questioned your integrity with such force?

-=O=-

UPDATE 11/27/2012: It turns out that I've been blocked from running events at the store because the store has a new owner. You can read the details in my supplemental post, Continuing Education.