Anniversaries, Politics and Premiums.

This last weekend marked the first anniversary of our Patreons taking Peace Island to the place it is now!

This was a pic I took, 30 seconds after my last shift at my line cook job:

It's absolutely AMAZING the progress we have made, thanks to your support!  A year ago, it was just Laura and myself working on the project in whatever time we could grab away from our 10-hour shifts.

Now, we have a dedicated core staff of five, and have brought in the talents of over 30 other immensely creative people to bring this game to life - including musicians, voice actors, illustrators, writers, and animators.

IT'S BEEN AN AMAZING YEAR- AND THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

So- I didn't ever want to address this sorta stuff in the context of Peace Island, but...

I've been getting more and more people asking about whether or not Peace Island will have any "Politics" in it.

Here is the best response than I can muster:

Understand:  Laura and I started work on this game just a few years after "Gamergate" and  its fallout, and have no illusions about the nature of a certain small portion of the gaming public.  

There are some people who cannot pass a discarded wad on gum upon the pavement, without attributing a political meaning to it - and it's inevitably a meaning they will find a way to take offense at.

LONG STORY SHORT: We have absolutely no intention of shoving OUR politics into the game, but cannot guarantee that some people will not try to shove THEIR politics into it.

Now- Undoubtedly, some contributors are wondering where their Print Premiums are - here is the problem:

The last item we needed to send these premiums out was a cardboard sheet that would serve to ensure that your print arrived in good condition, and would not be folded or bent during shipment.

We ordered these backing sheets over three weeks ago- a week even before our last update, and we're STILL waiting on them.

HERE'S THE REASON FOR THE DELAY:

For those few who are unaware, I live in the USA, and the current titular Head of State is a VERY unpopular individual who REALLY enjoys seeing his name in print (so I am not going to mention it here.)

That current titular Head of State is VERY afraid that if enough people vote in our upcoming election, he will lose his position.  

As a result, this individual - along with the party he apparently represents - have started to take every action they can to strip as many of our citizens of their voting rights as possible.

One of the major methods they are attempting to use is to eliminate mail-in ballots.  Their means is rather draconian: Doing everything they can to destroy an institution that has been around since before our country even existed: The United States Postal service.

Recent actions taken by our current Head of State were intended to make the USPS completely dysfunctional.  He knows that he cannot destroy them, but he believes that this current slowdown will preemptively "de-legitimize" any ballots sent in via the USPS.

As a result, those cardboard backing sheets have been stuck in the mail for over three weeks.  This isn't just happening to Peace Island- it's happening to EVERY business in this country.

Lemme tell ya: I didn't want to write stuff like this - Why?

1- Like I said, above, I want to keep politics out of this, and ...

2 - I don't like describing what's really going on in my country, because it's just embarrassing.

However: those who are waiting on their premiums deserve to know why they have been delayed.  

WE WILL SEND THEM AS SOON AS WE CAN.

See ya'll in a week!