Shirt and Tie Are Optional

Today was an unusual day for me: my role was uncharacteristically administrative in nature.  I spent a large portion of the day responding to numerous emails, and later in the day I met with a new Helper to discuss a project proposal.  It was almost like having a real job.

This lead me to reflect upon how remarkable and admirable it is that the GMs and Helpers that contribute to Clan Lord are volunteers.  We all have lives and commitments and demands upon our time, but we still manage to make time for contributing to Clan Lord.  Furthermore, I'm impressed at Joe's relaxed, laissez-faire attitude in allowing generation after generation of GMs shaping and morphing his game.  That requires a lot of trust and faith on his part, but it's also one of the coolest things about him: this trust gives us a lot of creative freedom.

Clan Lord has a unique business model – one that wasn't covered at any of the PAX game industry panel discussions.  I wonder how other game companies would react to having their product run by a group of dedicated volunteers.  But then again, most game companies don't have a laid-back CEO like Joe.