The Board Game Soapbox: Mandatory Sleeving

I started playing Magic: The Gathering in the alpha days. I was not one for card sleeves back then, so when beta was released, and the corners were far less curvy than they had been, it was an issue. You knew when a card from a given release was coming up, but at least you could still shuffle the cards into the same deck.

Over the years, I have become one of those guys that tries to sleeve every game I own. It started early in my collecting years as I had small children and I do not like the idea of having to replace a game (or game parts) after someone damaged them. Worse yet, I do not like the idea of being unable to replace a game (or game parts) after someone damaged them because that game is out of print and the only way to get it these days is from some individual on ebay who is selling my beloved game for some ridiculously inflated price.

My friend, Steve, hates card sleeves. He does not like the texture of the plastic against his fingers, he hates how the cards slide about because of the sleeves (e.g., he cannot create a draw or discard pile without sleeved cards falling all over the place). He will not sleeve his cards. Ever.

Customer Disservice

Set the wayback machine a few years, and let’s talk about an expansion that came out for Ascension (I believe the particular expansion was Return of the Fallen, but it has been a while). My group and I were fans of the base game and figured that its publisher (Gary Games) was destined for greatness. We were hoping for a lot of different things to come out of an expansion, so when it was announced, we were excited and we ordered copies from our Friendly Local Game Store. When it came, we quickly discovered that there was an issue with the cards. The cards in the expansion could not be shuffled into the base set cards because the dimensions were off by about a millimeter in each direction. For me (since I sleeve my cards) it was not a huge issue. For Steve, this was not an option.

He emailed the publisher and asked when a new printing would be happening and if they would be correcting the card size. He received an email which did not answer his questions, but instead told him that he needed to sleeve his cards. He responded, explaining that he hated sleeves and would not be doing that. The final response was rude and condescending and can be summed up as: “It sucks to be you.”

Steve sold his Ascension stuff. So did I. The attitude of the publisher rubbed me the wrong way. They seemed determined to take no responsibility for the issue and push it onto the customer to correct their mistake. No thanks.

Some time later, I purchased a copy of Pulp Invasion for him. When Pulp Invasion X2 came out, there was an issue with the cards. They were off from the base game and X1’s cards by about a millimeter. You could not shuffle these into the rest of the cards without first sleeving them. I reached out to the designer (Todd Sanders) on BoardGameGeek and he suggested I reach out to Alban Viard (the publisher, a.k.a., AVStudioGames).

I reached out to Mr. Viard and was informed that I need to sleeve my cards. I explained that I do sleeve my cards, I have sleeved my cards, but I also purchased this as a gift for my friend who was not about to sleeve his cards. Mr. Viard’s answer was polite and succinct, but none-the-less boiled down to “It sucks to be Steve.”

Caveat Emptor

All of this begs the question: why did they let their game expansions get published with different sized cards in the first place? It seems like when they received the white proof from the manufacturer, making sure the cards were the same size as existing cards would have been one of those things being checked. This issue should have been prevented before a single, final copy was ever made. But mistakes happen (obviously).

I understand that correcting such a mistake can be expensive—prohibitively so for small publishers like Gary Games and AVStudioGames. That said, this is no excuse to pretend the issue does not exist. Just because there exists a product that can cover up the mistake, does not mean the company can shirk their responsibility. I would have loved to have seen some empathy from Gary Games, or some greater acknowledgement from AVStudioGames. But I did not.

Companies: take ownership of the problem and see if there is something that can be done.

If the product has a chance at a reprint, maybe you can give them a discount on the replacement copy.

If the product has no chance at a reprint, then let them know and see if there is anything else that can be done. Could you allow the customer to return the product? Could you offer them a refund (even if it is only a partial one)? Could you give them a discount on your next release, or the next expansion? There are a lot of potential options, just do something.

Empathize! Show that, as a company, you take such matters seriously! Whatever is done to let the customer know that you value their patronage is going to be far better than turning a blind eye, ignoring the problem, refusing to take responsibility, and letting any and all solutions fall onto the customer and their wallet.

Afterward

The article is complete. What follows is something else—I want to talk about depression, anxiety, and how that can cloud your judgment when dealing with things like a game company printing cards that are not the correct size.