Zbogom i dobre igre!

Poruka osnivača BGA, Grega Isabellija (aka Sourisdudesert ):


Dragi igrači,

Prije 13 godina dobio sam ludu ideju o pokretanju Board Game Arena. Danas je vrijeme da odem i pustim BGA da stane na svoje noge.

Tijekom protekle 2 godine 1/2, postavili smo sve što je potrebno za pripremu ovog prijelaza i osigurali da se dobro odvija. Konkretno, zaposlili smo prekrasan tim od 10 izvanrednih ljudi koji svakodnevno upravljaju BGA i sada imaju sve potrebne vještine da ga poboljšaju. Imao sam sreću što sam imao puno povjerenje naše matične tvrtke, Asmodee, prilikom okupljanja i organiziranja ovog tima.

Od siječnja, Alexandre Schlecht ( lordalx na BGA) već upravlja BGA-om, a ja sam bio tamo samo kao podrška i savjetnik. Alex godinama radi s BGA i razvio je ukupno 13 igara na BGA uključujući hitove poput CATAN, Splendor ili nedavno "Next Station: Tokyo". Svo vrijeme koje sam proveo s njim ovih posljednjih mjeseci učinilo me apsolutno uvjerenim da je on prava osoba da vodi BGA i nastavi poboljšavati ovu uslugu. Neću otkriti ništa o sljedećim BGA ažuriranjima, ali nećete biti razočarani

Svaki put kad se na BGA-u dogodi važan događaj, napisali smo mali "FAQ", pa evo jednog!


Što je s Emmanuelom Colinom (Een) koji je zajedno s vama osnovao BGA?

Emmanuel je napustio tvrtku prije nekoliko mjeseci i najavio to u ovoj poruci. Naša 2 odlaska očito su povezana sa svim onim što je objašnjeno u ovom FAQ-u.


Zašto sada?

Odlazak osnivača veliki je rizik za sve internetske usluge. Moj suosnivač i ja smo toga savršeno svjesni i to je razlog zašto želimo pripremiti i organizirati ovu tranziciju. Prvo, kada biramo kupca, stalo nam je da odaberemo tvrtku kojoj će BGA uvijek biti važan, pa smo 100% sigurni da će im to biti stalo tijekom godina. Zatim smo sami odabrali i obučili tim kako bismo bili sigurni da naši odlasci neće utjecati na uslugu. Cijeli proces je trajao 2 godine i 1/2 i sada završava.

Vidjeli smo previše loših situacija u kojima osnivači žele zadržati svoje pozicije dok više nemaju što donijeti u službu, te su na kraju odgurnuti: to nismo htjeli za BGA.


Odlaziš zbog Asmodeeja?

Apsolutno ne. Bio sam vrlo jasan od početka s Asmodeejem: otkup BGA bio je dio strategije prijelaza na novi tim kako bi se s vremenom učinio održivim. Oni su to cijelo vrijeme prihvaćali i podržavali.


Što mislite o najnovijim ažuriranjima BGA i povećanju cijena?

Podržavam 100% najnovija ažuriranja: Pratio sam razvoj gotovo svih njih.

O cijenama: sasvim je očito da su "povijesne cijene" koje smo imali bile preniske. Nadoknada koja je napravljena ove dvije posljednje godine je dobrodošla. Među ostalim razmatranjima, nešto što bi svi trebali imati na umu je da se BGA prihodi dijele s izdavačima Premium igara kao "tantijeme". Značajne tantijeme znače više novca za stvaranje novih budućih igara, ali također povećavaju vjerojatnost da će biti na BGA.


Što ćeš sada učiniti?

Imam dovoljno sreće da se mogu fokusirati na neprofitne projekte.

Uvijek mi je bila fascinantna mogućnost korištenja tehnologije za omogućavanje novih vrsta društvenih interakcija. Bilo je zadovoljstvo vidjeti sve što ste stvorili koristeći BGA kao zajednicu igrača svih ovih godina.

Specifična društvena organizacija trenutno ne ide najbolje: predstavnička demokracija.

Napravio sam novu mobilnu aplikaciju, Baztille, koja omogućuje infiltraciju u predstavničku demokraciju kako bi se građanima omogućilo izravno sudjelovanje u odlukama koje ih se tiču. Svaki tjedan glasate i kolektivno donosite odluku za svoju zemlju, svoje područje ili grad. Zatim, u vrijeme izbora, kandidati "Baztille" mogu biti izabrani za primjenu odluka koje građani donose iz tjedna u tjedan, koristeći aplikaciju.

Ako također želite učiniti da demokracija uđe u XXIe stoljeće, možete se registrirati na ovoj web stranici kako biste bili sigurni da ćete biti dio prvih koji će isprobati aplikaciju u vašoj zemlji. A tko zna, možda su oni budući Baztille predstavnici među vama?


Želim znati više o BGA povijesti!

Budući da odlazim iz BGA, ovo je prilika za razgovor o povijesti BGA. Ovo je sasvim posebna priča budući da je BGA isprva pokrenut kao amaterski servis.

Vrlo cjelovit video o ovome nažalost dostupan je samo na francuskom od strane "Un Monde de Jeux" jer je to jedini medij koji nas je pitao. Ako budem imao priliku napraviti nešto slično na nekom drugom jeziku javit ću vam!


Što ste naučili u ovoj avanturi? Što biste savjetovali drugim poduzetnicima?

Ima toliko toga za reći i ovo ne bi stalo ovdje. U 13 godina morao sam steći vještine u različitim domenama kao što su web razvoj, upravljanje timom na daljinu, upravljanje velikom zajednicom, ekonomski modeli temeljeni na pretplatama, UX dizajn, višejezični sustavi, razvojne platforme, hosting skalabilnih aplikacija, odgovornost, zaštita osobnih podataka, IT sigurnost i mnogi drugi...

Razmišljao sam o pisanju članaka u "blog" formatu kako bih govorio o nekim od ovih tema u kontekstu BGA, ali imam poteškoća s procjenom može li vas to zanimati ili ne.

Dakle, napravimo jednostavnu stvar: ako razmišljate o temi koja bi mogla biti dobar članak, zapišite to kao komentar na ovaj post. Ako vidim da ima mnogo zanimljivih tema, odabrat ću neke od njih da napišem članke na "blogu" i vidjet ću gdje će to ići.


Neka zadnja riječ?

Veliko hvala svima koji su omogućili da ova usluga postoji i raste: izdavači igara i dizajneri igara koji su vjerovali u ovaj projekt (bez vas nema ništa), Asmodée tim, BGA tim: Ian, Jurica, Tof, Xate, Sunil, Cyril, Aurélien, Alex & Pietro - vi ste moji Osvetnici, moj suosnivač Emmanuel koji me podržavate na cijelom putu, i očito VI, svi igrači koji su BGA učinili onim što je danas, a posebno programeri igara, testeri, moderatori, prevoditelji, autori tutorijala i svi oni koji nam u nekom trenutku pomažu da idemo dalje.

Za one koje zanimaju moji budući projekti i publikacije, možete me pratiti na:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gisabelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sourisdudesert/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisabelli/

Tijekom prvih godina BGA-e, običavali smo završavati naše sastanke s "Do beskonačnosti i dalje". Pa, vidimo se na sljedećoj avanturi, onkraj beskonačnosti!

Greg

A message from BGA founder, Greg Isabelli (aka Sourisdudesert):


Dear players,

13 years ago I got this crazy idea of launching Board Game Arena. Today, it is time for me to leave and let BGA stand on its own feet.

During the past 2 years 1/2, we set up all what is needed to prepare this transition and make sure it happens well. In particular, we recruited a wonderful team of 10 extraordinary people who manage BGA everyday and have now all the needed skills to make it better. I was lucky to have full trust from our mother company, Asmodee, when assembling and organizing this team.

Since January, Alexandre Schlecht (lordalx on BGA) is already managing BGA and I have been there only as a support and an adviser. Alex has been working with BGA for years, and developed a total of 13 games on BGA including hits like CATAN, Splendor or recently "Next Station: Tokyo". All the time I spent with him these last months made me absolutely convinced that he is the right person to lead BGA and continue to make this service better. I will not unveil anything about the next BGA updates, but you will not be disappointed

Each time there has been an important event on BGA we used to write a small "FAQ", so here is one !


What about Emmanuel Colin (Een) who co-founded BGA with you?

Emmanuel left the company a few months ago and announced it in this message . Our 2 departures are obviously linked by all what is explained in this FAQ.


Why now?

Founders departure is a major risk for any Internet services. My co-founder and I are perfectly aware of that, and this is the reason we would like to prepare and organize this transition. First, when selecting a buyer, we care about choosing a company for which BGA will always be important, so we are 100% sure they will care about it over the years. Then, we selected and trained a team ourselves, to make sure the service will not be affected by our departures. The complete process took 2 years and 1/2 and ends now.

We have seen too many bad situations where founders want to keep their positions while they do not have anything to bring to the service anymore, and are finally pushed away: we did not want that for BGA.


Are you leaving because of Asmodee?

Absolutely not. I have been very clear from the start with Asmodee: BGA buyout was part of a transition strategy to a new team to make it sustainable over time. They accepted and supported that all along the way.


What do you think about the latest BGA updates and price increase?

I support 100% the latest updates: I followed the development of almost all of them.

About prices: it is quite obvious that the "historic prices" we used to have were too low. The catch-up that has been done these 2 last years was welcome. Among other considerations, something that everyone should keep in mind is that the BGA revenues are shared with Premium games publishers as "royalties". Significant royalties means more money to create new future games, but also make it more probable to have them on BGA.


What are you going to do now?

I am lucky enough to be able to focus on non-profit projects.

I have always found fascinating the possibility of using technology to make new kinds of social interactions possible. It was a pleasure to see all what you created using BGA as a community of players all along these years.

A specific social organization is not going very well at the moment: representative democracy.

I have created a new mobile app, Baztille, which make it possible to infiltrate representative democracy to allow citizens to participate directly to decisions affecting them. Each week, you vote and take collectively a decision for your country, your area or your city. Then, at election time, "Baztille" candidates can be elected to apply decisions taken by citizens, week after week, using the app.

If you also want to make democracy enter in the XXIe century, you can register on this website to make sure you will be part of the very first to try the app in your country. And who knows, they may be future Baztille representative among you?


I want to know more about BGA history !

As I am leaving BGA, this is an occasion to talk about BGA history. This is a quite particular story since BGA was launched as an amateur service at first.

A very complete video about this is unfortunately only available in French by "Un Monde de Jeux" since this is the only media that asked us. If I have the occasion to do something similar in another language I will let you know!


What did you learn in this adventure? Which advice would you have for other entrepreneurs?

There is so much to say and this would not fit here. In 13 years, I had to acquire skills in domains as different as web development, distant team management, large community management, subscriptions based economic models, UX design, multilingual systems, development platforms, scalable application hosting, accountability, personal data protection, IT security, and many others ...

I thought about writing articles with a "blog" format to talk about some of these subjects in the context of BGA, but I have difficulty evaluating if this can interest you or not.

So let's make a simple thing: if you think about a subject that could make a good article, please write it down as a comment to this post. If I see that there are many interesting subjects I will select some of them to write articles on a "blog" and will see where it goes.


Any last word?

A huge thank you to everyone who make this service possible to exist and to grow: game publishers and game designers who believed in this project (there is nothing without you), Asmodée team, the BGA team: Ian, Jurica, Tof, Xate, Sunil, Cyril, Aurélien, Alex & Pietro - you are my Avengers, my co-founder Emmanuel who support me all along the way, and obviously YOU, all the players who made BGA what it is today, and especially the game developers, the testers, the moderators, the translators, the tutorial authors, and all those who at some point help us to go further.

For those who are interested by my future projects & publications, you can follow me on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gisabelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sourisdudesert/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisabelli/

During BGA's first years, we used to end our meeting with "To infinity and beyond". Well, see you for the next adventure, beyond infinity!

Greg


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Update: I am not used to talk about BGA to entrepreneurs, but this little talk below is an exception

If you are interested by entrepreneurship or BGA in general, you should like it (Audio in French / English subtitles available).