RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Sextant]

Something similar happened with a global request to Obsidian artists to make a logo for the studio – which was done, all were rejected, despite the fact Feargus said he would choose a winner and reward them (cash prize, which arguably all the artists would have been happy to have). While you can argue that was upper management’s right to reject them all if they weren't happy with one, they didn’t exactly say they hadn’t chosen one, and because they also had promised a cash prize for the winner, this caused a lot of questions… because it was never delivered on and never paid to anyone. While this is their right, I think they could have altered the rules of the request to account for them being dissatisfied with all the results and making a contingency plan for that that still thanked people for their work, or asked for new options - or something.) I will say that because Feargus, Darren, and Parker didn't choose any of them, they were indirectly insulting the art skills of our artists by doing so, which made a bad situation even worse.

Let me see if I've got this straight: A call went out to all Obsidian artists to submit entries for a new logo, cash prize to the winner, and apparently none made the cut.

If the company's artists are so bad that none of them, not a single one, are skilled or creative enough to create a logo that passes muster, that is a problem.

If the owners are such self-involved, selfish twats that they announce a contest just because the idea popped into their heads and then refuse to choose an entry and pay out, wasting people's time and energy, that's a problem.

We must therefore choose to believe either that all of the artists are terrible, or that Obsidian has a bunch of stupid, selfish cunts for leadership. It's either one or the other, can't be both or neither.

Interesting sidenote: Jace's portraits are in the POE2 portrait selection. I've seen them in a chargen stream. They must have licensed them. Feargus prolly got them for free, ie artist gaining eeexpeerience and EXPOSURE.
They are the better ones too...

 

[Otterz]

Hey, it wasn't me who streamed part of Deadfire before the embargo ended, Anthony.

 

[Prime Junta]

Oh boy, are we envisioning what we'd do to people we disagree with online if they were within striking distance?

Nah, just <Insert people you ideologically oppose>.

There, fixed.

Nah, I wouldn't punch liberals, libertarians, or conservatives for example. But people who openly intend to commit genocide and have me shot given the chance, yeah I think punching them early and often is a deserved corrective.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Agreed. The spoiled owners who can't take criticism should have that power instead.

You can’t assume that every owner is a crook like Feargus for the same reason that you can’t assume that every employee is a millennial snowflake. What you can assume is that people in general are susceptible to corruption if given the proper incentives. The very fact that marxists are using Avellone to push marxist propaganda attests that. That’s what you need to consider to put things in perspective and the eventual trade-offs when supporting a political decision. The empirical data of different countries will show you that unionisation creates a corrupt class of union leaders that use marxist propaganda to obtain power and creates a series of regulations that give the workers too much power and suffocate their bosses, which in turn gives incentives to people avoid being bosses or moving overseas, which in turn means less jobs, less services and a worse live for…. the workers.

If a series of regulations were enforced overnight Avellone’s beautiful development ideas about hierarchy would be rendered useless. Leads would be always walking on eggshells and afraid of getting sued, more and more developers would behave like leaches and not getting fired, more and more publishers would be hiring people from countries which are not unionised, thus creating unemployment. In other words, all the problems we already have in other segments when unionisation takes place will also happen in game development. I don’t want to sound cold-hearted, but when all things are considered, the eventual Feargus is a small price to pay for the business of game development. If a person doesn’t want to be susceptible to the whims of someone else, be a freelance or an indie. Unionisation will not solve the problem. It will make things worse.

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

Oh boy, are we envisioning what we'd do to people we disagree with online if they were within striking distance?

Nah, just <Insert people you ideologically oppose>.

There, fixed.

Nah, I wouldn't punch liberals, libertarians, or conservatives for example. But people who openly intend to commit genocide and have me shot given the chance, yeah I think punching them early and often is a deserved corrective.

Interesting, this stand is not very far from the idea of classifying those people you oppose into a category which you think is a morally justified target for violence. There is a reason why we have a justice system and not vigilante rule. Is the Justice System okay? Of course not. How could it be over its short lifespan? Our job is to fix it so that it can move towards that goal.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Look at this sad fuck cutting off 90% of the post of a native who actually knows what he's talking about in order to push his propaganda.

I was agreeing with your point, Blaine, but I misquoted the whole thing because I was busy here.

 

[Blaine]

Nah, just Nazis.

Your unironic Godwinning is the perfect complement to your unironic "communism."

Typical Western Communuist

Nah, I wouldn't punch liberals, libertarians, or conservatives for example. But people who openly intend to commit genocide and have me shot given the chance, yeah I think punching them early and often is a deserved corrective.

Communists have historically been world leaders in the commission of genocide. I know, that wasn't REAL communism! or, it wasn't REAL genocide!

Anyway, your type went out to punch "Nazis" after the last US election and got their shit pushed in hard. Keep up the histrionics and Godwinning, you'll win it in the end.

 

[Wunderbar]

Kit Walker, geez man, can you change your avatar please?

Kit Walker,

 

[Prime Junta]

Interesting, this stand is not very far from the idea of classifying those people you oppose into a category which you think is a morally justified target for violence.

I do believe that such a classification is necessary, yes, and Nazis fall into that category.

There is a reason why we have a justice system and not vigilante rule. Is the Justice System okay? Of course not. How could it be over its short lifespan? Our job is to fix it so that it can move towards that goal.

Indeed, and sometimes that change requires direct action. For example, I fully support anti-fascist action violently dispersing a Nazi demonstration, "peaceful" or not.

Your unironic Godwinning is the perfect complement to your unironic "communism."

Wait a minute, are you now saying you're not an un-ironic Nazi? If that's the case, then I will immediately reclassify you into the not-punchable category.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Hey, it wasn't me who streamed part of Deadfire before the embargo ended, Anthony.

That’s funny. I read on my iPad and I’m always hitting one of these rating buttons my mistake with my thumb. I usually catch them though and undo them. Which post was it?

 

[Jason Liang]

not even even if Donald Trump showed up to do a Q&A.

LOL

knob-polishing sycophants when MCA

Speaking of MCA and knob-polishing, if Chris can't write for rpgs anymore -

- I'd wank play the shit out of a Chris Avellone eroge game

 

[Bohr]

Well that ride will live long in the memory, thanks everyone

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Nah, I wouldn't punch liberals, libertarians, or conservatives for example. But people who openly intend to commit genocide and have me shot given the chance, yeah I think punching them early and often is a deserved corrective.

Communists have historically been world leaders in the commission of genocide. I know, that wasn't REAL communism! or, it wasn't REAL genocide!.

Spoiler

 

[Infinitron]

shut up about communism ffs

Hey, it wasn't me who streamed part of Deadfire before the embargo ended, Anthony.

That’s funny. I read on my iPad and I’m always hitting one of these rating buttons my mistake with my thumb. I usually catch them though and undo them. Which post was it?

You can find out by looking at your own "Recent Activity": http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?members/anthony-davis.8589/#recentActivity

 

[Kingston]

Hey, it wasn't me who streamed part of Deadfire before the embargo ended, Anthony.

That’s funny. I read on my iPad and I’m always hitting one of these rating buttons my mistake with my thumb. I usually catch them though and undo them. Which post was it?

Yeah, the UI is a bit shit for mobile, half of a post is taken up by rating buttons.

 

[The_Time_Master]

Unionize

That has been brought up quite a bit, and with some of the working conditions in the industry, it definitely bears examination.

It's far too late for that Chris - the time to unionize was the 1980's and even I recognized that when I graduated high school in the early 90's before the internet blew up. And with the constant push for STEM STEM STEM, well it's just to force wages down in technical fields such as programming, system administration, development and the like. Globalization, race to the bottom, why pay workers their worth when you can get an H1B by claiming no one can fulfill your company needs, etc.

 

[Otterz]

Hey, it wasn't me who streamed part of Deadfire before the embargo ended, Anthony.

That’s funny. I read on my iPad and I’m always hitting one of these rating buttons my mistake with my thumb. I usually catch them though and undo them. Which post was it?

Fair. No hard feelings.

 

[Maculo]

At this rate, we need another Avellone bombshell and soon. Otherwise, it looks like the Cold War is about to reignite in this thread.

 

[Black]

Chris Avellone Are you responsible for writing Ulysses for NV?
If so, how dare you.

 

[Quillon]

Which post was it?

I'm curious too, maybe it was really a retadred post and what happened was a divine intervention!

 

[M. AQVILA]

Oh boy, are we envisioning what we'd do to people we disagree with online if they were within striking distance?

Nah, just <Insert people you ideologically oppose>.

There, fixed.

But people who openly intend to commit genocide and have me shot given the chance, yeah I think punching them early and often is a deserved corrective.

How about people who support an ideology that brought misery and death to millions of people? Look into a mirror and you'll see someone who supports an ideology just as bad, if not worse, than nazism. You most of all is the one deserving to be punched here.

 

[Infinitron]

Google image search is getting really good

 

[Fowyr]

That’s funny. I read on my iPad and I’m always hitting one of these rating buttons my mistake with my thumb. I usually catch them though and undo them. Which post was it?

I know your pain. Use this:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?account/ratings-given

 

[Edmund Spenser]

Agreed. The spoiled owners who can't take criticism should have that power instead.

You can’t assume that every owner is a crook like Feargus for the same reason that you can’t assume that every employee is a millennial snowflake. What you can assume is that people in general are susceptible to corruption if given the proper incentives. The very fact that marxists are using Avellone to push marxist propaganda attests that. That’s what you need to consider to put things in perspective and the eventual trade-offs when supporting a political decision. The empirical data of different countries will show you that unionisation creates a corrupt class of union leaders that use marxist propaganda to obtain power and creates a series of regulations that give the workers too much power and suffocate their bosses, which in turn gives incentives to people avoid being bosses or moving overseas, which in turn means less jobs, less services and a worse live for…. the workers.

If a series of regulations were enforced overnight Avellone’s beautiful development ideas about hierarchy would be rendered useless. Leads would be always walking on eggshells and afraid of getting sued, more and more developers would behave like leaches and not getting fired, more and more publishers would be hiring people from countries which are not unionised, thus creating unemployment. In other words, all the problems we already have in other segments when unionisation takes place will also happen in game development. I don’t want to sound cold-hearted, but when all things are considered, the eventual Feargus is a small price to pay for the business of game development. If a person doesn’t want to be susceptible to the whims of someone else, be a freelance or an indie. Unionisation will not solve the problem. It will make things worse.

I'm no Marxist and the solution doesn't need to be unionization -- other avenues for accountability exist (like the BBB or some such body). My main point was that Avellone is uniquely positioned to affect positive change in the industry, utilizing a wide variety of methods.

Currently, shitposting on the Codex is providing ample laughs and discussion, but he may consider something more substantial in the future.

 

[Prime Junta]

At this rate, we need another Avellone bombshell and soon. Otherwise, it looks like the Cold War is about to reignite in this thread.

You're thinking of the one before the Cold War.

Anyway, some dweeb over at the ZA/UM Discord said that the Codex is like Stormfront for nerds. I pointed out that it's really more like the Eastern Front.

And we're just about to launch Operation Uranus.