Regarding the Marketplace and the spirit of good business practices

[Digital]

I wanted to post something official, although our discord has already had this announced.

TGL has a great Marketplace, where Game Owners, Programmers, Writers, and Artists can find help for their projects, or put themselves out there to land some work. It has been one our communities major drawing points, and something we love to be able to be a part of. It makes both myself and @Martyn extremely happy when we see the community working together commercially to bring new pet sites online.

That said, the great part of this is the also one of the dark sides of a Marketplace. Programmers or Artists disappear, Game Owners don't pay what was agreed. There is confusion, then arguments over what was described in the project. Deadlines slip, then fail. Drama begins. This is not a new thing, but it is not a good thing either.

TGL is implementing some new rules that we feel we can enforce, fairly and equally.

• If we hear, and have enough information at hand to determine that a payment was not paid, and all work was completed - we will ban the individual who was supposed to pay. If only partial work was completed, we are willing to work with both parties to determine what feels fair for the work completed. (More below on our arbitration rules)
• If we hear, and have enough information at hand to determine that someone was paid for work, and did not deliver any aspect of it - we will ban the individual who failed to perform the work agreed and paid for. If partial work was performed, we will work with both sides to see if it can worked out fairly and equally. (More below on our arbitration rules)

We recently had to make two examples of where this failed to happen, in both cases, these we were users who failed to perform work - after receiving payment for work. We will be much more aware, and act a lot faster moving forward.

Arbitration Rules

When there is a problem that comes before TGL staff in regards to a Marketplace agreement gone wrong, TGL will do the following, as we are allowed to, but encourage parties at an impasse to approach us openly. We are here to help, and will do the following:

• We will independently reach out to both parties, as a neutral party to collect any details, and both parties viewpoints about the issue.
• We will review the timeline of the events given by both individuals independently and fairly.
• We will review any work partially completed, and will either independently determine worth of that partial work, or we may in confidence and agreement with the parties, ask another member here on TGL to assess such value.
• We will make suggestions to both parties on paths to come to an agreement to resolve the dispute in the hopes that it can be salvaged and good working partnerships can continue to prosper.
• We will not make decisions for either party.
• We will not force one side or the other, only suggest ways to resolve.
• If we do take action on an individual, it will be for the above reason of that individual not paying for work completed (even partial work, which is still work), or taking money for work never done.
• At no time will TGL take a side, nor be seen as taking a side. We will review the situation as an outside, removed party to the situation. We will only protect our Marketplace, and help insure the community as a whole is protected from individuals who fail to uphold agreements.

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing resources to assist everyone who is using, or wants to use the Marketplace make smart decisions, learn how to work out agreements, protect legal interests, and otherwise take a lot of the "scary" out of hiring or being hired in our Marketplace.