I have made the decision after much soul searching to recuse Vanguard Roleplayers from the Affiliate program.

I am sure that this will come as a shock to many of you, but I can assure you that this will have no significant impact on our site. I came to this decision for a variety of reasons, but the most important ones are these:

This site exists for players interested in immersive gaming, not to manage spin and public perception for Sigil and SOE.

I will not edit people's words or make posts disappear that do not reflect the image of Vanguard that Sigil desires to be broadcasted, and I will not ask other people to moderate the forums in such a way either.

We are not paid to run this site. We are in no way compensated for putting ourselves through the frustration of having fellow players harass and insult us for moderating them. We have been provided no real support by Sigil in exchange for the burden of being their first, most accessible and most visible line of customer service. Rather than have paid staff members trained in handling this task of dealing with disgruntled customers, the management of Sigil decided it was better to disperse community management across multiple sites in order to lessen the visibility of customer displeasure. The philosophy behind this is that it is better for Sigil to simply be at fault for controversial game changes and someone else who is not Sigil to be at fault for controlling people's ability to express themselves when upset about those changes.

I was happy to run Vanguard Roleplayers in compliance with the non-disclosure agreement prior to the beginning of open beta. I believed in the necessity of it. I cannot, however, bring myself to volunteer to do things that conflict with who I am as a person in terms of honesty and personal integrity.

When Sigil moved from Microsoft to SOE last year, many people were only reassured to remain by the promise that SOE would not have any control or direct contact with Vanguard.

There are still many wounds left from the experience of the NGE that hurt those of us betrayed by that turn of events in SWG. As creative gamers, we become emotionally invested in bringing our characters to life and developing friendships with other players. We become more deeply bonded with the game world than anyone, and when that connection in SWG was ripped away from us, for many it left a disillusionment and pain worse than many can understand or sufficiently express.

I can and will keep being a customer and paying player of Vanguard looking forward with hope to the new relationship between Sigil and SOE. I will not, however, be an accomplice to controlling their spin. I cannot in good conscience remain in the Affiliate program and respect the terms of it knowing that there is a possibility I may be in the position of acceding to a new type of non-disclosure agreement in the future relationship with SOE - one where I might end up knowing things I cannot share with my community, be required to withhold from them information that I ethically feel they should know, or deny them the comfort of being able to express their concern and unhappiness if things do take a turn for the worse. I was disgusted with this in the past when I witnessed it as a player, and I will not run the risk of being that sort of mouthpiece to the SOE propaganda-machine as an administrator.

SOE does not have a good track record with being honest with or respectful of its customers. It does not have a good track record of making decisions guided by artistic and creative vision rather than chasing the ever-elusive secret to WoW-like subscriptions thinking it can be found through the implementation of various mechanisms of instant gratification that ultimately erode a game and weaken its long-term success.

I hope SOE will turn over a new leaf with Vanguard because I love what I have going on in the game right now as far as the friends I have made and the creative venues I'm exploring. However, I am very aware that if what is happening right now had been how things had happened this time last year, I would likely not even know most of the friends I have made through this site because I would not have committed to the responsibility of creating this site nor would I (or many of these friends) have put myself at the mercy of SOE again.

Managing our forums to create a positive and uplifting place for role-players and those interested in the immersive aspect of the game to congregate, share ideas, and learn more about the game is something I am thrilled to do. It is something I can believe in, and it is something that I can feel good about asking other people to join in achieving. To this extent nothing has changed, nor will it. The only difference is that we will not be bound by the restrictions and responsibilities of the Affiliate Program any longer as we provide this forum for role-players.

Vanguard Roleplayers is a community. For many of us, it is a family. We are going to rely on our bonds with each other to find enjoyment in the game. We already have been. That is the nature of our playstyle. The chaos of this transition does not need to plague us with hand-wringing and despair because we are already playing a game that is less than friendly to our desires for it. We can choose to worry about what might happen, or we can choose to enjoy our time together exploring the lives of our characters and the world in which they live.

I am choosing to enjoy myself. I hope those of you with us here will, too.