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Visionary Network's Response This is a response from Paulo, head of Visionary Network (www.Tarot.com) to opinions expressed by the Tarot community regarding Visionary Network's recent partnership venture with US Games. It was posted on 2/08/01 to an on-line e-list. ~~~~~ "Hello everybody. Since our name has come up lately in connection with US Games, I thought it might be appropriate for me to introduce myself. My company creates divination CD-Roms and websites -- www.Tarot.com and www.I-Ching.com, which now serve over 1 million individual visitors every month through affiliations with AOL, NBCi and other large sites. I see my dharma as a "popularizer" of classical divination systems. I founded Visionary Networks 12 years ago to create a modern I-Ching and publish the first divination software around it -- an I-Ching program named "Synchronicity." From a business point of view, it was a crazy idea, or at least ahead of its time (still is). Monte Farber was one of our early customers and has humorously dubbed me "the father of interactive divination." As one who became a software designer out of awe for the I-Ching, it's a moniker I wear with a smile. (My motto is "Wherever God drags me, I will follow.") The Authenticity Factor Some recent postings have denigrated our work and its authenticity. But we only claim authenticity relative to other Tarot software, not gifted Tarot readers (although our program does compare positively with Miss Cleo's group :-). We believe that a personal "energetic connection" is necessary for authentic divination -- specifically, that the querent needs to pick her/his own cards -- without the computer taking over that function. Picking cards with a mouse can be just as valid as with one's fingers, if the process is set up right, but clicking on a button and having the computer spit out a spread is not. The software should not pretend to give one a reading; but just provide a way to give oneself a reading. Good software design dictates that the computer ONLY take over those functions it IMPROVES on -- like making the basic experience more available, looking up specific positional variations out of a large database, automatically saving readings to a journal, etc. If it were a book, our encyclopedia of classical Tarot meanings (composed by Christine Payne-Towler with my help) would be almost 2000 pages long -- very heavy and hard to use! This is the kind of thing computers make sense for. US Games, Decks and Electronic Rights As for decks, we are proud to be associated with US Games and able to draw attention to the decks they publish. Because we have ecommerce and are one of their largest resellers, US Games asked us to help with administration of electronic reproduction rights. I thought we could help, but lately it put us in an awkward position, so I have let go of that responsibility. Part of the problem were some misunderstandings over definitions, so we also helped US Games recently post a policy. A New Venue for Tarot Creativity? I would be open to displaying some self-published or non-published decks on our site to give the creative evolution of Tarot wider exposure. Any set of Tarot images could be displayed in a simple browse mode with only the author's comments and a link to the author too. We could get to this in a few months and we would be up for doing it as a service. Ours is a small company but I want us to serve the worldwide Tarot community as well as we can. For us, this includes US Games (who has done a lot for Tarot in America) and Tarot artisans, as well as all the newcomers who drop in. Toward a higher understanding, Paulo P.S. If it makes sense to post this anywhere else, please feel free." ~~~~~ Please keep in mind that Visionary Networks now requires everyone who wants to place interactive Tarot software on their site that makes use of US Games copyrighted symbols to place a button their site that links the reader directly to www.Tarot.com - where the reader is offered *the only authentic interactive reading available* for free readings from their site. What are the chances of that person returning to your site for any reason? The Tarot Connection - The Tarot Podcast dedicated to the traditional, historic and modern Tarot.