A very special message...

[VSA]

The Ground Floor: The End of an Era

Well, it’s been fun. I’ve had a pretty hard time accepting the loss of Naruto, considering all the upswing in the players buying habits. I have it on good authority that every set past 24 has sold out completely. Not only that but tournament attendance was on the upswing as well. So I’ve been baffled for the last week as to why the product got cancelled. In short, I don’t know why, and even if I did I wouldn’t reveal anything, so please don’t ask.

I’m as distraught as the rest of you at this news, it’s taken me a week to fully accept it, but now that I have, I wonder where this community will end up. I’ve made a few pretty close friends playing the game (Botchis, Kardis, the O bro’s, Pat), and a great many casual friends. I’ve played the game since its inception, but took a break for a while. No I have no tops under my belt, but what I do have is a network of people that have topped and some have won events. How that doesn’t count for much in most people’s eyes, because you didn’t do it yourself; but without guys like myself, Pat, Steven Garrett, Botchis, there wouldn’t be as many strong teams and players as there were. The community had a strong foundation that it could turn to for help.

Which brings me to the reason I think the game died, trends change, people do as well; younger people get older and start to look into taking the mantle off the ones before them. The people who replaced the games original foundation eroded and destroyed it with their attitudes. We of the old guard are not clean, but as least most of us can claim we never employed under handed tactics to try and sway the outcomes of a match in a high level event. Yes I know there were those who did, but every generation has its bad apples. To me it just felt like those who came after us didn’t care about the community, but themselves. Things can’t be that way if something is to survive. The game isn’t large enough to have these kind of players in it and not be considered the 1%. Yes every game has its fair share of cheaters, but most of the time they don’t prosper as much as the ones in Naruto did.

I’m not going to point fingers, as the hard evidence I have is from years ago and no longer applies. But the reason the game died is not because of some contrite reasoning on the back end from Bandai. It’s because the player base was striving not to grow it, but too destroy it. Every one of us has a part on it, but some shoulder the burden more heavily than others.

To be entirely honest, I’m glad the game is gone, as it releases those who would cheat from those who wouldn’t. Maybe those who continue to cheat will prosper elsewhere, but inevitably they will be caught and the punishment in most other games is far more severe than here, with such a small community.

For those who know me, you know how to get in contact with me, I’ll talk to anyone who has questions, as I am still an ambassador of the community. I’ll help in any way I can. To those who don’t like me, sit and spin.

-VSA

[Squee99]

Even though no shoutout. R.I.P Team Gary's House

[Shino'sDad]

Originally Posted by Squee99

Even though no shoutout. R.I.P Team Gary's House

That Dreams Deck tweaking and me sounding like I was drowning on the couch...

[VSA]

Originally Posted by Squee99

Even though no shoutout. R.I.P Team Gary's House

#Ericmeloneisawesome

[PsychoKarin]

Originally Posted by VSA

The Ground Floor: The End of an Era

Well, it’s been fun. I’ve had a pretty hard time accepting the loss of Naruto, considering all the upswing in the players buying habits. I have it on good authority that every set past 24 has sold out completely. Not only that but tournament attendance was on the upswing as well. So I’ve been baffled for the last week as to why the product got cancelled. In short, I don’t know why, and even if I did I wouldn’t reveal anything, so please don’t ask.

I’m as distraught as the rest of you at this news, it’s taken me a week to fully accept it, but now that I have, I wonder where this community will end up. I’ve made a few pretty close friends playing the game (Botchis, Kardis, the O bro’s, Pat), and a great many casual friends. I’ve played the game since its inception, but took a break for a while. No I have no tops under my belt, but what I do have is a network of people that have topped and some have won events. How that doesn’t count for much in most people’s eyes, because you didn’t do it yourself; but without guys like myself, Pat, Steven Garrett, Botchis, there wouldn’t be as many strong teams and players as there were. The community had a strong foundation that it could turn to for help.

Which brings me to the reason I think the game died, trends change, people do as well; younger people get older and start to look into taking the mantle off the ones before them. The people who replaced the games original foundation eroded and destroyed it with their attitudes. We of the old guard are not clean, but as least most of us can claim we never employed under handed tactics to try and sway the outcomes of a match in a high level event. Yes I know there were those who did, but every generation has its bad apples. To me it just felt like those who came after us didn’t care about the community, but themselves. Things can’t be that way if something is to survive. The game isn’t large enough to have these kind of players in it and not be considered the 1%. Yes every game has its fair share of cheaters, but most of the time they don’t prosper as much as the ones in Naruto did.

I’m not going to point fingers, as the hard evidence I have is from years ago and no longer applies. But the reason the game died is not because of some contrite reasoning on the back end from Bandai. It’s because the player base was striving not to grow it, but too destroy it. Every one of us has a part on it, but some shoulder the burden more heavily than others.

To be entirely honest, I’m glad the game is gone, as it releases those who would cheat from those who wouldn’t. Maybe those who continue to cheat will prosper elsewhere, but inevitably they will be caught and the punishment in most other games is far more severe than here, with such a small community.

For those who know me, you know how to get in contact with me, I’ll talk to anyone who has questions, as I am still an ambassador of the community. I’ll help in any way I can. To those who don’t like me, sit and spin.

-VSA

Please. Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic have had larger cheating scandals than anything Naruto brought about. The reasons the game died were simple:

1. Many stores did not carry product (Wal-Mart) or got it much later than the release date (Target, K-Mart).

2. The parent company spent more time advertising weaker card games and taking away support for the Naruto CCG.

3. A block format that was poorly implemented at the time, and drove off a large portion of the player base. That player base started to recover once the format cemented itself, but the transition period was extremely poorly handled.

Those are the three reasons the game went under. I'm sad to see it go, but to say the cheating scandals were a large factor is misleading.

[Shino'sDad]

Originally Posted by PsychoKarin

Please. Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic have had larger cheating scandals than anything Naruto brought about. The reasons the game died were simple:

1. Many stores did not carry product (Wal-Mart) or got it much later than the release date (Target, K-Mart).

2. The parent company spent more time advertising weaker card games and taking away support for the Naruto CCG.

3. A block format that was poorly implemented at the time, and drove off a large portion of the player base. That player base started to recover once the format cemented itself, but the transition period was extremely poorly handled.

Those are the three reasons the game went under. I'm sad to see it go, but to say the cheating scandals were a large factor is misleading.

If you were told that the cancellation of the game had absolutely Nothing to do with anything money related what so ever, what would your new top 3 reasons for the game being cancelled be?

[Genre]

Originally Posted by Shino'sDad

If you were told that the cancellation of the game had absolutely Nothing to do with anything money related what so ever, what would your new top 3 reasons for the game being cancelled be?

Cut the BS.

PsychoKarin hit it dead on. The game *did* die due to (mostly) horrible management on Bandai's part to push games like Power Rangers, Ben 10, etc... and create these games while Naruto CCG was prospering and their #1 game. If business is booming on one product, you push it further and do whatever you can to allow it to prosper -- you don't go around releasing mediocre games with tiny client prospects (Star Trek CCG) and neglect the game that is profiting the most for your company.

Block Format was the thing that chopped this player base in half (I remember when it happened a lot of players quit in my local area and things were bad for a while); and while things could've been done differently, it doesn't take a genius to see that this game DID die due to poor management. Naruto is a hot series right now on the anime/manga market, yet the geniuses at Bandai are pressing for Power Rangers and Star Trek (a decade+ old show) to be a good card game... yeah.... enough said.

The whole cheating aspect of Gary's post didn't need to be mentioned and didn't really fit in context. There are so many different "kinds" of cheating, and many of the greats have done it whether directly or (mostly) indirectly). If someone consistently cheats and the community is onto that person, that's one thing. But if someone does it once it doesn't discount them as a player. People who have multiple tops (even if they are accused of cheating) should not be discounted; they had the skill to win the games they won without cheating.

[crudematter]

The game ended because Miracle Battle Carddass is coming and they think it'll be bigger.

It is literally the only thing that makes sense.

[soviet]

Originally Posted by crudematter

The game ended because Miracle Battle Carddass is coming and they think it'll be bigger.

It is literally the only thing that makes sense.

would love for miracle battle to come over here

[WizKid]

Originally Posted by Genre

Cut the BS.

PsychoKarin hit it dead on. The game *did* die due to (mostly) horrible management on Bandai's part to push games like Power Rangers, Ben 10, etc... and create these games while Naruto CCG was prospering and their #1 game. If business is booming on one product, you push it further and do whatever you can to allow it to prosper -- you don't go around releasing mediocre games with tiny client prospects (Star Trek CCG) and neglect the game that is profiting the most for your company.

Block Format was the thing that chopped this player base in half (I remember when it happened a lot of players quit in my local area and things were bad for a while); and while things could've been done differently, it doesn't take a genius to see that this game DID die due to poor management. Naruto is a hot series right now on the anime/manga market, yet the geniuses at Bandai are pressing for Power Rangers and Star Trek (a decade+ old show) to be a good card game... yeah.... enough said.

The whole cheating aspect of Gary's post didn't need to be mentioned and didn't really fit in context. There are so many different "kinds" of cheating, and many of the greats have done it whether directly or (mostly) indirectly). If someone consistently cheats and the community is onto that person, that's one thing. But if someone does it once it doesn't discount them as a player. People who have multiple tops (even if they are accused of cheating) should not be discounted; they had the skill to win the games they won without cheating.

So, you know how people outside of New England treat the patriots super bowl wins?

Mostly with asterisks. Because they were accused of a action that is legal at one point but illegal at another.

Or like Lance Armstrong. If your accused of cheating, it does tarnish that win, no matter how you look at it.

And do you think you have more inside info than those two? Lol