Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Dan Chisarick]

Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!  One of my most recent purchases was squashed like a 
bug.  And this was from someone who sells vintage games, not someone 
cleaning out the attic (no one here).  I wasn't overly concerned about 
the title's condition, but I sent a message that I would have happily 
paid more had I known it would be shipped in a thin plastic envelope.  
The reply was that they would have happily upgraded the carton had I 
offered to pay more.  Now there's a no-win argument.

The first time this happened to me I had a boilerplate reply stating my 
shipping requirements on every purchase going forward.  It was tedious 
(I eventually stopped) and even that wasn't 100% effective.  The only 
time I got shafted on ebay was some lady selling a bunch of goodies for 
a low price.  She had a religious theme to her auctions, and a link to 
her church.  When I said how I needed it shipped, she said it would 
take time.  Around then the negative feedback piled up (paid but no 
delivery) and eventually her account was summarily revoked.  Of course 
since it was past 30 days, no recourse.  Perhaps poor shipping was 
better than no shipping.

It just seems there's no rhyme or reason to this sort of thing.  I wish 
people were more paranoid about packaging.

On Jan 10, 2004, at 12:37 AM, C.E. Forman wrote:

It's still up on my news page (www.yois.biz/news).  I still get pissed 
when
I think about it or look at the package, so I don't think I'll retype 
it
here.

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Romero" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "C.E. Forman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 10:23 PM
Subject: RE: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value
Hey there....what happened with Dan Kitchen?  He was my exec producer 
on
my GBA title about 6 months ago... I personally don't have respect for
him after that debacle.

- John

-----Original Message-----
From: C.E. Forman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 6:28 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value
I've got a number of signed items, from authors I've tracked down on my
own,
and I consider them more valuable than an unsigned package in similar
condition.  Right now I'm still letting the wounds heal after my
disastrous
run-in with Dan Kitchen, but maybe down the road I'll take you up on 
the
offer, John.  B-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Romero" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 2:16 AM
Subject: RE: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

I have an interesting question for you guys....

Would you consigder a classic game more valuable if it was signed by
the
author?

If so, and you'd like your classic Apple II games signed, I might know
where the author is and could persuade him to sign em. :)
I have a few old Apple II games signed by their authors and I've
gotten
some nice reactions from them....

- john

The goal of the works of a genius' existance lies only in itself.


-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Chisarick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 2:51 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value
I saw what I think was a re-packaged Doriath in the last 2-3
months but
other than that, zip.  "Black Magic" for the Apple was the
first Apple
game I bought off ebay.  That was 2+ years ago, and I might have
only
seen one since then.  Superb game.  Does not take long to
beat.  Tower
of Myraglen has a puzzle where you can only enter a certain passage
(rather early in the game too) at midnight.  And that's
midnight on the
computer's system clock :)  The first day I played it it
happened to be
near midnight, and I walked right in.  The next day I couldn't
figure
out how to get in.

On Jan 6, 2004, at 8:56 PM, Brian the Fist wrote:

Not to pick nits, but the "true" piece of art is the game code
itself. The extras -- manual, cloth map, etc. -- are what make it
collectable, but the art is the entire package, which includes
the
game.  What good is the manual if you can't play?
Perhaps I wasn't clear, I meant 'art' in reference to art
collecting
mentioned earlier.  Thus I was being quite literal - I collect
'box
art'.

On the other hand, there are some games I have been searching
for
for years and have not seen EVER on eBay (or anywhere else),
even
once, thus making them even more rare than Akalabeth or Mt.
Drash
technically.
And
when I come across one like this by some rare fluke, I may get
it
for as
low as $10 (maybe no one else wants it, who knows).
Like what, out of curiousity?
One that immediately comes to mind is Destiny by Software
Investments
Plus.  Doriath was also incredibly difficult to find (an
excellent C64
game if you've never tried it).  Got both cheap, but not
until several
YEARS of searching eBay weekly.  Also Tower of Myraglen and
trolls and
Tribulations.  Another C64 title, Spirit of the Stones, and
Savage by
Rainbird/Microplay/Probe were also cheap but hard to find
(not as hard
as the others though).  Also Talisman by Polarware.  Might
and Magic I
pre-box version (was just sold as a huge manual with map
and disks).
While I may have seen an odd loose disk for one or two of these, I
rarely saw one appear complete and as soon as I did, I
grabbed it and
no one else seemed to want them

Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other
than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of
searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix,
Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend
version), Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose
disk once..),
Dungeons Dragons and Other perils (XLent software),
Fraktured Faebles
(American Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in
Thunderland
(Micro Lab), Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before
Infocom bought it), Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh
Sword of Mendor (Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most
Synergistic
Software early games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On
Target), Troll's
Tale (Sierra), Zombies (Bram).  And my personal holy grail
of hard to
find games, Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??).  There
are very few
references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers
list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta
demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was
being made?
Anyone know any more on this one?  and as for the other games
listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere?
Maybe
I've
just had bad luck?  I suppose some of these, might not
exist though I
know most do.  Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than
Akalabeth and
friends.  Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...
--
----------------------------------------------
Howard Feldman, Author of The Search for Freedom
A Computer Fantasy Role-Playing Game
Visit its Homepage at http://bioinfo.mshri.on.ca/people/feldman/



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