A Statement About Prizes and Shipments

by Charlie Plaine, Chairman

1st March 2009

In 2008, The Continuing Committee was founded as a players' committee with a mission to continue the game we love in all its facets. From forum hosting and game design, to organized play and international prize support, all required tasks were undertaken by a handful of volunteers, united by Chairman Charlie Plaine. While many of these tasks were fulfilled to the satisfaction of players worldwide, some were not. The delay in prize support distribution has caused frustration among players and tournament directors, not only recently, but since mid-2008. The Continuing Committee is not proud at all of this situation, as it doesn’t reflect the high standards that were set for all tasks managed by this group of dedicated people. Whether volunteers of professionals – the current situation is not acceptable and The Continuing Committee wants to apologize to any affected player and/or tournament director. Your trust is what The Continuing Committee is based on, and we – the players' committee – will keep the promise given to you!

At the time of the Committee's foundation, most volunteer processes were handled by hand; since then, they have been optimized more and more. Like running a new project, or starting a new company, The Continuing Committee learned a lot during its operations; in our case, particularly over the last month. When Decipher demonstrated its support of The Continuing Committee’s efforts by entrusting it with a large quantity of promotional foil cards, a strategy was laid out as to how to use that limited amount of cards in order to keep organized play running for as long as possible. With a long list of requirements that had been - and still successfully are - implemented for the game, website priorities had to be chosen carefully. As The Committee's volunteers are spread everywhere, the distribution of the prizes had to be handled by one person. Therefore, one of the highest priorities was the creation of a central order system for international prize support distribution.

Work on that system has bound many limited resources and directly caused delays in shipments. Also, issues with international taxes and shipping requirements, commercial invoices, and packing safety, resulted in shipments not arriving at their recipients' doorsteps. Among tournaments directly affected by that were the European Continental Championship and the United States Nationals. The Continuing Committee is very sorry about this inexcusable fault, and wants to thank the organizers of these excellent events - and their players - for their patience. Prize distribution has been, and is currently processed at, our highest priority... particularly now that the new central order system is fully operational.

In our message boards, you might have noticed the small Store link on the menu bar. It already allows tournament directors to order tournament kits of various kinds directly online. Automatically-created invoices and shipping documents, as well as smooth payment processing, now allow for quick handling of orders, even with the limited resources a volunteer organization is able to provide.

But that’s not enough. In listening to the community's needs, it has become clear to The Continuing Committee that new volunteer positions are needed. These positions will be tasked to support the Chairman of The Continuing Committee in administrative aspects, as well as provide general representation on The Continuing Committee. Among these individuals' various duties will be a responsibility for "just in time" prize support distribution. Stay tuned for more information on these positions.

The Continuing Committee is proud of the trust it receives from the community, and is willing to step up to meet the high standards set to reach its goal of a successful continuation of the Star Trek Customizable Card Game. With your support, it will be capable of doing so!