Vilified Canadian Game Designer Surfaces on Kickstarter

[Bryan Campbell]

This came to my attention today, and I thought is was important to share.

Vilified Canadian game designer Mark MacKinnon, owner and founder of the now bankrupt company Guardians of Order, has resurfaced with a new company. He is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the game "Upon a Fable."

Mr. MacKinnon has been to focus of many bad feelings over the last decade, since his company abruptly closed up shop. The issue was that MacKinnon, who seems to have been the sole owner of his company, Guardians of Order, failed to make good on a number of debts when he closed his company. His online store was left open for months after many believe that the company had already dissolved, taking monies from customers with little intent or hope of releasing the promised products. There are also freelancers who were not paid for their work.

Among the usual problems of such a bankruptcy was the company's Magnum Opus program. Set up towards the end of "the d20 incident," the program was an opportunity for small publishers to license the company's well regarded and profitable Big Eyes, Small Mouth game system (and resulting game Tri Stat DX) as a means of entering the gaming industry. The company would work with Guardians of Order to finish a product, then GoG would market and distribute the product. When Guardians of Order's financial problems were dragged public (partially as a result of an announcement about the Game of Thrones license), Magnum Opus publishers were told that everything was fine and their products were unaffected. Mr. MacKinnon then disappeared, disregarding emails and calls to his personal phone.

Nearly a decade later, this still seems to be a hot button for those left with debts. One company, Misfit Studios, has come forward saying that their company was nearly ruined by Guardians of Order's collapse and Mr. MacKinnon's disappearance. Though the company is bankrupt, many still hold Mr. MacKinnon personally responsible, since he essentially was the entire company. Misfit's comments can be read here:

http://misfit-studios.com/blog/tag/mark-c-mackinnon/

Mr. MacKinnon has now resurfaced on Kickstarter with a new company and a new game. Concern has been expressed on the forums of RPG.net, where posters are discussing the company's shady past and what responsibilities Mr. MacKinnon holds. More apparently, concern was quickly brought forward. As you all likely know, Kickstarter uses a popular "crowd-funding" model, where creators go public and ask for donations in order to support their works. They offer products and services to their backers as an incentive to raise more money. In the case of game designers, the offer their completed game with some amount of financial support. Kickstarter is somewhat low risk, since no money changes hands until a project reaches its financial goals. However, the site has a history of projects that take the money and run (at worst), or have long delays and production problems (at best). Concern has raised that MacKinnon, who has a history of taking money and running, as well as closing off all lines of communication once things get tough, is putting the project's backers at risk.

There is also debate on RPG.net as to whether MacKinnon deserves a second chance while failing to address his past. In his pitch video for Kickstarter, he talks about his long history in the gaming industry, and uses Big Eyes, Small Mouth (an edition of the game he failed to release, and was later printed by White Wolf/ArtHaus) and the licensed Game of Thrones as leverage for his credentials.

A personal concern of mine is that the company Mr. MacKinnon is representing is working through another company for the Kickstarter campaign. Although this may bring a certain level of accountability, it also brings more risk, since MacKinnon can be seen as essentially hiding himself among a string of companies. It is unclear what relationship MacKinnon has with this new company, Dyskami Publishing, as is what the relationship is with the Kickstarter lead Kickin' It Games. Although the project states that the bulk of the work is already completed and states that the project is a low risk venture, it does not properly address accountability measures for the project's $25 000 goal, especially given the creator's known and very public history. As of this writing, the project has raised nearly $14 000 of their goal.

On the bright side, the game appears very polished and high quality, and the project states that the game is basically read to print (a situation not mirrored at the end of Guardians of Order's days)

I'll try and keep an eye on this. In the meantime, here are a few links.

Kickstarter campaign

RPG.net thread dicussing Mr. MacKinnon's recent and past actions

Bryan Campbell

[Bryan Campbell]

There's a typo when I was talking about the Magnum Opus program (the fourth paragraph). It should read:

  The company would work with Guardians of Order to finish a product, then GoO would market and distribute the product.

Typos. Gotta love them.

[Bryan Campbell]

It seems that this situations has started getting ugly.

Mr. MacKinnon came public yesterday afternoon with a statement about Guardians of Order's past, legalities, and the situation with his current company. Although he does self-blame, it has been pointed out by those licensees and customers affected (in the RPG.net thread, as well as some details on the Board Game Geek thread below and on Kickstarter) that some of MacKinnon's statements are false.

Jeff Mackintosh, friend and past/current business partner of Mr. MacKinnon, went public with an attack statement against critics, which he has since taken down. Comments shared on the Kickstarter campaign's page (linked above) appear to have also started some commotion, with one Luke Martinez (whose attachment with the matter is unknown to me at this time) condemning Mackintosh for his negative comments towards those affected and those trying to circulate information. Both an archive of Mackintosh statements and MacKinnon's statements can be found here (with MacKinnon's statements being at the top of the thread):

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12026958#1202695

This thread is also a nice summary of the situation, as the RPG.net thread is now 18 pages long.

A comment from Kickin' It Games (the company running the funding campaign) was quoted on RPG.net, which I'd like to share here.

I would like to explain Kickin' It Games' involvement in this campaign. We were hired by Dyskami Publishing to run a campaign for a game that is nearly finished and ready to go to the printer. We are not printing the game, we are not shipping anything, we are not responsible for paying anyone involved other than handing over the money raised to Dyskami Publishing. We believe that this game will be delivered as promised and that no questionable business practices are involved.
 

KiG is a service provider used by many to run better Kickstarter campaigns. While we only take on products we believe have a chance to be successful, our direct involvement in any of those products is limited to the Kickstarter pages and planning.

This comment adds some weight to my personal comment at the end of my original post, and has raised a bit of concern on RPG.net. Basically, the concern here is that KiG is stepping back from liability should the project fail or experience production and financial problems.

Since this started, other concerns raised include the illegal use of IP involved with GoO in promoting this new project, concern that MacKinnon's new company is set up the same as GoO and that collaborators have not been paid for their work, and the attack campaign launched by Mr. Mackintosh, who claims that people are trying to sabotage Dyskami Publishing and spread lies.

There was a comment shared in the RPG.net thread that Kickin' It Games may not have known about MacKinnon's past before agreeing to work with him and Dyskami Publishing. This comment is noteworthy, but not ultimately important at this moment.

In summary, this matter is starting to generate a lot of positive and negative discussion. The concern of those burned by MacKinnon over Guardians of Order's past are not simply about them being burned in the past. The concerns raised are that MacKinnon has a past of financial mismangement, using IP that he does not own, communications blackouts, and misrepresentation, and that he has taken to a popular and risky fundraising model that is extremely vulnerable to similar actions. Meanwhile, business partner Jeff Mackintosh is trying to shift blame to those who are raising such information and those burned by MacKinnon almost a decade ago, while those raising concern are trying to do so in order to help backers make an informed choice. Kickin' It Games' position remains unclear, although they seem to have come forward with a statement of support but zero liability.

As of right now, the funding campaign has grown slightly, with just over $14 000 raised and 33 days remaining and 147 backers. There are comments on all three websites that some backers have removed their support for the funding campaign, though it has had small gains.

Again, I'll keep everyone updated as new information or concerns surface. I think that everything that could be said by the parties has been, but you never know. I'm also contemplating a trophy backing with a small amoiunt of money so as to keep a better eye on this after the campaign has finished. I do believe in second chances, but I also agree that Mr. MacKinnon does not deserve reduced scrutiny until he comes clean.