An Interview with Molly Friedrich.

Alright, so several hours ago, I had made quite an interesting discovery on Kickstarter that someone had made a great board game and things didn't go well as planned, to put it lightly. So I decided to do the thing that most people should do if they are official journalists and have hats that say Press and are important and things, I decided to investigate this strange story about Ms. Molly Michelle Friedrich.

Taken from her Kickstarter page.

What I found was something more interesting and less shocking than most people would have assumed for how I painted Ms. Friedrich in the original posting. It garnered minimal attention but was still something I was at least interested in finding more about. I contacted her Kickstarter and also found on her project page, a link to her Facebook Profile. I decided to add her as a friend and hopefully sparked up a conversation.

Now, you have to realise, right now I'm on holiday in Finland visiting family and it's currently the time of the year in Finland where the sun stays up past it's bedtime. I'm meant to be enjoying myself and not writing but I really wanted to do something and I don't know why but this seemed important. I also thought Molly may never add me or that she might get back to me in the morning, but within a few hours, I was hearing back to her and I began to realise how real this situation this was.

So I decided to conduct an interview with Molly Friedrich to get her side of the story.

The following is a cleaned up version of a Facebook conversation. Links were edited in HTML and none of the sentences have been taken out of context. The italics are the conversation and the regular text is my interjections, clearly destroying the flow of the story and changing the situation as you read it.

HE: Hi Molly,

I just read about your Kickstarter card game and I'm wondering how the project is going and if you have any updates.

Thanks again, HE

Molly Friedrich: 

Hi, 

the design is finished. J

ust trying to work through a printing issue. O

therwise I have all the supplies and its ready for printing. Y

ou can read the manual here: 

http://porkshanks.deviantart.com/gallery/

Now, I'm going to make a quick stop here to go and look at that link above. Go there, have a look at that art, which is quite fantastic and is actually featured in the upcoming gaming, Katalyka. Now, we continue:

Molly Friedrich: 

and you actually see all the cards here: 

http://porkshanks.deviantart.com/gallery/35357028

HE: 

Is there anything you want to add from your last Kickstarter post?

I was genuinely nervous to ask this question, as I was unsure if the post was something genuine or it may had slipped her mind, as it was over a month ago.

Molly Friedrich: No, new news on printing. The production is still halted until that issue can be resolved.

I tried to be as honest as I could with my approach and I did want to get her side of the story and I did plan to write a follow up, so I was clear on my intentions.

HE: 

I'm writing a story about the Kickstarter project and I'm wondering if I can use these links and what you've said in this conversation for an ending to the piece

Molly Friedrich:

sure.

HE:

Thank you so much 

Molly Friedrich: 

I'm just really frustrsated by this printing issue. I know the game is fun and I want to get it in my customers hands. So feeling trapped like this, is annoying to say the least

I felt I had to at least ask about "the sun" thing, so I guess, I just went for it.

HE: 

Just to add one more thing about you mentioning the sun is obsessing of your game iin your last post and wondering if you're able to elaborate on that at all?

Molly Friedrich:

I feel like the mindset of the game was interesting enough and has some good elements and that something in the collective consciousness (at least here in America) grabbed it as soon as it saw what I was trying to build the game around... and it became the target of some nasty attacks

I was initially confused here but I realised she was still answering my question from before and I'd rudely interrupted.

Molly Friedrich: 

I've talked a lot about this in my journal posts on deviant art

Harrison Engstrom:

THe pork shanks one?

Molly Friedrich:

I was trying to actually resolve this all because I just wanted to use ideas that have been with me for most of my Life in a "fun-to-share" way. Yeah, porkshanks.deviantart.

Okay, now stop what you're doing and go here: http://porkshanks.deviantart.com/journal/?offset=1

Before she even told me about the link, someone on Twitter linked it to me and I didn't think she would bring it up or she would explain it in a different way, but she was clear as crystal about it. Now read a few of them, maybe a whole page.

No, seriously, read a few of the posts and just let that settle in and then continue reading the rest of this conversation. I was going to repost some of it here, but I didn't think people would believe me, if I'd copy and pasted it. Just read it and either you've read it and you think the rest of this conversation may be quite odd, or you are still genuinely interested to hear her side of the story. Of course, I was interrupting again.

HE:

perfect. Do you mind if I quote this conversation for the posting? Nothing out of context, no messing about, of course.

Molly Friedrich:

Everything seemed fine while I was designing the game. It felt really positive and then right after I got it all set and ready it felt like something turned and the whole process became a living nightmare, and I'm still unsure how to cope with that controlling mind.

Yeah I don't mind, if you quote

HE

Anything else you want to add

At this point, I thought, I'd gotten everything and that maybe things had just gotten out of hand and I just wanted to finish the interview up, but she had more to say and like a good interviewing, I should have kept my mouth shut and just listened.

Molly Friedrich

I'm sorry that the people who paid for the game already dont have a copy yet and I dont want to give up on them, in spite of this taking longer than I wanted. I have all the supplies, so aside from printing the cards its ready. Boxes, labels, dice, all of it.

HE:

Thank you very much Molly.

Molly Friedrich

Sure. What are you writing for?

The jig is up! Everyone head for the woods. I decided to be honest.

HE:

I'm writing about it on my blog. I was initially harsh about what had happened with the debacle due to a thread on Reddit, but I'm glad I have your side of the story now 

Molly Friedrich: 

Okay, thanks. I don't blame people for being frustrated, I feel the same way

HE:

I was quite dickish in my initial thoughts, but it's pretty much all cleared up and I'll make sure there are links to your deviant art to make it easier for people.I can't wait to see the game made. I even mention it in the piece I'm writing. It looks incredible. Thanks again, I'll make sure people hear your side of the story now.

Molly Friedrich:

That was part of the mind that wants to keep me from communicating the ideas in the philosophy of the game. This part is hard to explain, but the idea of the game is that entire star systems are meant to work as a unified whole with a common long term goal, and that is very threatening to something out there, and the more I learn about this (Please read my latest journal entry to see what I mean) the more this argument I'm in seems to be pointing to some rather huge things happening.

It still kind of feels surreal to me to be caught in the middle of this... I was taken by surprised by it

thats about all I wanted to say. Thanks for asking my side

HE:

A lot of people were surprised by your post and I do hope nothing awful happens in the future. I do wish you the best.

Molly Friedrich

I promise I never set out to rip people off. I still think this may partially be a miscommunication on some level.

And I said more thank you's and goodbyes and I want to make it clear, I am not the good guy in this scenario. I felt guilty and also curious about who this person was and what they were doing and whilst some people may see her as a charlatan, I think she just underestimated the amount of pressure and work it took into making a full board game.

I was quick to judge her post as somewhat mental and she was more than kind enough to speak with a total stranger and explain her situation but in the end, Molly is who she is and now what I wrote and will not take down. I learnt and I investigated and I'm glad I did what I did.

Molly Friedrich is just a struggling board game developer who made a post about "the sun" harassing her and that's what she believes. She has different ideas and thoughts compared to you and I but she's still trying to make a game and she's going to in the end. Just give her some time.

Thanks again to Molly Friedrich for the interview. Her game Katalyka is still in production and will be finished when she gets that printing error sorted.

Kickstarter Lady stops making card game due to "The Sun"

Ï love Kickstarter, I really do. It's the utopian equivalent of showing that there will never be "a niche" product ever. Whatever you do, crowdfunding will hopefully find that audience and will give you the market to be able to turn your dreams into a reality. Whether it's a watch that can...do things an iPhone can do or a really great sword fighting game with a good story and actually well-made sword fighting physics.

This is the exact kind of guy you want making a sword fighting game.

But then again, Kickstarter can have a darkside too. It only takes a few rotten apples to point out how not so great you are and what you do just as big of a joke as your parents think you are. Maybe you're not meant to have the money to make a studio album about the time your cat ran away, and maybe your video game about the bitter loneliness of that cute waitress not getting your order right, shouldn't be made, but then there are people like Molly Friedrich.

Artist Rendering

Of course, for the uninitated, Kickstarter, is a crowdfunding website where people post projects that people can help fund. Those people, backers, receive gifts and credits depending on how much they pledge. They project is either funded and the project goes into production, or every backer get's their money back if it doesn't reach the goal. Ms. or Mrs., Friedrich was going to make the board game, Katalyka, which from the images and her description look like one hell of a game.

The designs of the cards and the board look incredibly well-done. Something out of an expansion set of Magic The Gathering or even space version of Dominion. She speaks eloquently in her designs for the game and even goes into detail about how to play the game and that the ultimate goal is to have fun. Hell, I would have been sold on that premise alone, let alone her own description of it being a mix between "Risk and Magic: The Gathering."

Seriously, how fucking cool does that look.

Success came on August 18th of last year and the game exceeded it's original goal of seven and a half grand, by just over three-hundred and forty bucks. If I got that bit extra, I'd be more excited, I'd start making that game and power through until Christmas. However, that was almost a year ago and things began to become dire when Molly posted an update on June 3rd of this year.

Ms. Friedrich said that, and I do quote, that she was being "harassed" by a voice that claims to be "the sun." You didn't read that wrong, I didn't meddle with the spell checker, she is being harassed by the great spiteful firey ball in the sky.

Oh wait...

She has stated on the most recent post that The Sun seems to have an opinion on it's appearance in the game. "Besides, there have already been a few different "galactic themed" video games and at least one other board game that have all gotten rather popular, so I really don't understand why "The Sun" is supposedly obsessing over the details in this game, specifically." Neither do we, Molly...neither do we.

I don't really want to get into any pop psychology or any psychology at the moment at all, but I do have to say that this is a bit odd...in the very simplest of terms. Doing a quick search of her Facebook page, Friedrich seems to be a regular U.S. 20-something geek who likes Minecraft, Futurama and Doctor Who and none of those things I'd hold against her, but this does sound a bit odd. Just a tad.

Maybe Ra really wanted to fund the project.

The backers have offered to help and Friedrich does clearly state that she "needs help" with the situation. I humbly suggest moving to Finland during the Winter, when there is little to no sunlight. She also mentions the fact that printing the cards are quite expensive, stating, "...the main problem is the actual printing of the card decks.  I have all the other materials, and I have cardstock to print the cards on but it was too thick for my printer and I can't afford to take it to a second hand printer, so as soon as I can finish it I am determined to see this project done.  I looked into exchanging or returning the cardstock, and it would cost me about $500 to do that (which I don't have, since I am on disability due to an injury, I only get about $200 a month after rent and most of that goes into food.)" 


Okay, so she say's she's on disability and I don't want to pry any further into that and that's not my any of my business, but I doubt stating that The Sun is after you, could be helpful in anyway. The printing thing, definitely, but the fact a star is after you is a bit more dangerous from a financial and investor perspective.

Seriously though, Jim Parsons is after me, alert the authorities. Bazing-

But I get that, I understand what it's like to have little money and it sucks, but still...the sun thing. Commenters on the post, have offered help, like working together on the project and checking out sites like Board Game Geek, but still no response. Meanwhile on the comments page of the project itself, people are threatening to sue and are even questioning about "funding projects in the future."


But hey, I could be completely wrong, and probably a complete asshole about this situation, and Ms. Friedrich has gotten on hard times and maybe she hasn't had time to finish the game for personal or family reasons, but right now this may have been the worst way to go about it. I do hope Katalyka gets made or that it's backers get their money back, but for now, Molly stands out like a sore thumb on a glowing golden hand of internet ingenuity.

Thanks again to Ian Bogost for being awesome. 


After posting this, I made contact with Molly Friedrich on Facebook and Kickstarter to get her side of the story. I will post updates if I hear back from her, with her permission, of course.

Steam Greenlight is great if you're not a dick about it.

I realise more and more as I get older that you really do need to pick your battles. For example, if I picked any battle in the history of the world, I would pick the Hundred Years' War, because a hundred years seems like a good round number and I could easily count it down. But mainly it's the battles that I can't be a dick about, are the ones that will often be better for me.

Also I get to meet this Joan babe or whatever.

Steam recently announced Steam Greenlight, not Project Greenlight, which is that weird Matt Damon/Ben Affleck reality show where they found screenplays and made movies for just a million dollars. No, Greenlight will be a community based system where game developers can upload their games and have people vote on them to get them on Steam. This sounds like a great system, based around a democratic notion that the best titles will get in, however, not everyone is happy with the system.

Pictured: Not Everyone

I read the multiple news stories as they came up, just over twelve hours ago and I was pleasantly surprised at the reaction, until I posted it over on the IGDA Sydney Facebook page. The IGDA people are some of the nicest and coolest people you'll ever meet, but they are cautious and weary over almost every news story they hear. And you know what, that's a good thing. It's better to be safe than sorry, but it's also better to be sorry than a dick about things.

Then again, you can make a career out of being a dick.

I think from a good open-minded outset, that they were thinking, logically and said that hopefully "it doesn't turn into Xbox Live Indie Games" or that Steam really doesn't put in a filter such as "x votes and automatically it gets on Steam." But I trust Steam, I really do and Steam Greenlight will have issues when it starts and people will get flustered and people will rage and hell, at worst, some dickish people might leave Steam, but I think what they're doing is a great way for indie developers to really make a mark and get on Steam. Of course, let's think about it from a discursive and logical point of view.

What the fuck did I just say?!

I don't think financially or even from a coherent stand point that any indie developer, outside those who have had large mainstream success, would have enough money to pay people to force a vote to get their game on Steam and even then, they would be found out and reported immediately. Also you have to remember that the players and community of Steam are going to be voting for this game. These are the same people who have kept both Modern Warfare 3 and Endless Space in the Top Sellers at the same time. This is a truly balanced market from my point of view, but hey, don't be a dick about it.

We can totes have a reasoned discussion about it and glorified Booth Babes

Steam also needs to factor into making sure the games aren't all just labelled as "Indie" or "Greenlit" as that it makes the process, much like XBLIG, a bias to other shoppers. I have a whole other beef with the word Indie, in different mediums, but that's for later. I'd rather see a game on the front page or with literally the other hundreds of games, rather than put off into a secondary section, like a "Sell Quick" item at your local petrol station or someone to make a quick profit on a house.

"Are you selling it because of the smell? It's the smell, isn't it?"

Also, for games that don't get through the Greenlight stage, there should be a wayward games foundation where games can go though a workshopping process, or given secondary options to make sure the game gets the care it deserves and needs before being smashed like so many dreams. These games may not be "good enough for Steam" but they probably do need to be worked on and then again, they may just need to find a specific audience.

Pictured: All high school dreams.

Steam has a long road ahead of them and I'm sure they've got a lot of trial and error but seriously, if people let them do their thing and not be a dick about it, things should go well. While I played Captain Hindsight in the last post about the Above Average Network, I realise something like this is in it's early stages, and is slated for an August release, but I can say right now, I expect a lot of people complaining in the early months, not dissimilar to the launch of Steam but with worse spelling and stupider comments. But then again, I don't want to be a dick about it. 

Yay, belated joke!

Above Average Network needs some better social media

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Why I hate Blogging

The word, blogging, coming from the Latin, bl, to put your lips together and ogging, the action of going away, has come into our regular vocabulary like a Rhinocerus who thinks he's at the wrong party. He's mingling with people and talking about how great everything is, but something isn't right. He hasn't introduced himself properly, he doesn't really know anyone there and he's probably talking too much about himself and making bad jokes. Essentially, the way to establish what something is, is to often establish what it isn't.

I swear this is not a blog...I don't know what it is.

Blogs are almost always too impersonal about being personal. They offer an insight into the fogged up window of people's mind, but then every time you try and be personal people try and make sure they've written naughty words in the condensation. Then people take it too seriously, as if each page of your blog is a continuing story of a tale not many people will read. Just imagine, if you will because the internet hasn't completely ruined you, if Twilight was a blog and then wonder if anyone would read each incrementally annoying post after another. What I'm saying is that a blog is not a book and that if I want to establish a routine of writing a weekly blog I want to get this Twilight joke out of the way to make sure people understand where I stand on it.

I'm a rebel sometimes...

But then again, maybe I don't stand on it there. Maybe, I stand over in the corner with one of those fiddly booklight's trying to read Meyer's masterpiece in secret with no pants on and a lot of craft glue. Did I say masterpiece? Did I mean it? This is more of a philosophical or literary theory problem about meaning what I say and if my opinion will change on things. For example, I didn't really enjoy the David Wain comedy, Wet Hot American Summer, the first time I saw it. I thought the characters were one dimensional, the jokes were few and far between and that some of the acting was either over the top or lame. But now I understand it as an absurdist 1980's comedy made now by some amazing comedy actors who would prove to be the next generation of comedy titans and I enjoy it thoroughly from beginning to end.

I assure you, it's funny.

In-jokes are another load of crap that should be omitted from all public blogs. I'm sure it's great to build up a running gag (see: Twilight) and go with it to the full extent, but what people need to understand is that when you make a blog for public consumption (i.e. post it on the most publicly used form of communication in history), people may not get what you mean and you may come off as a twelve year-old trying to get attention, but maybe that's what blogs are all about.

Don't worry, Chris Brown, enough people are looking already.

I hate blogging because it's a small snapshot of someone, and maybe that's the bane of most forms of communication, excluding video chat. Video chat, nude or otherwise, shows a person at their most vulnerable. That's them with the lights turned on way too bright and not prepared. Blogging is a bit like looking through a keyhole and wondering when the fat person will get out of the way to actually tell you something...or you could have just read the title and then this last line where I tell you blogging always feels rushed and impersonal to me. Twitter, on the otherhand, is, somewhat ironically, perfect for me. I think over time, over the literally thousands of tweets, you do start to get semblance of who I am, what I like and who I like. Facebook, and Twitter, you can fake, but blogging is like being a shy person in a crowded room who has something to say. Who knows, maybe someone might listen. Twitter on the other hand, is like shouting all at once, while Facebook is like shouting at your friends who also shout back.

Tumblr is a bit like this...

I don't enjoy writing blogs because I always want them to be funny, instanteous and have something to say but ultimately, people may not read it at all, or comment on it, that it was just "good" or "funnny" or "hey, why don;t u just not right anytin" or "totes unfunny" or something equally unhelpful. Comments are something I could write about entirely, so save your comments for then. But it's hard being funny on the internet when I have a lot to contend with. Funny cat videos, silly pictures and bad TV all have several million one ups on me and not many people are willing to spend five minutes to read something that might be crap.

Hey, I'm trying harder than these writers.

But I write because I like to entertain and inform and at the end of the day I hope I can at least do one of those things. Also, I want to state, I don't hate other people's blogs, just my own, but you can still follow me here or on Twitter.