Molyneux Loves Molydeux

[Karloff]

Molyneux Loves Molydeux


Peter Molyneux wants to see Twitter parody Molydeux's ideas become real games.

The parody Twitter feed @petermolydeux has a lot of fans, and one of them credits Molydeux for his decision to leave Microsoft and form his own independent game design studio. The name of that one devoted fan? Why, Peter Molyneux of course; he of Fable: The Journey fame, the man behind Lionhead, and the subject of that selfsame twitter parody. Molyneux confessed his admiration for Molydeux at Rezzed, the Brighton indie game UK convention.

The Molydeux Twitter comes out with gems like "You are a sad, lonely firework in a dusty shed on the 4th July, what if you could use ghosts to sneak you into big display in New York?" They're intended to parody Molyneux's well-known style and love of innovative concepts. "I think [Molydeux is] fantastic," said Molyneux, "and I'd love to see some of those ideas turned into games." The Twitter feed's freedom from the Microsoft PR machine allowed it to say or do whatever it liked, and that kind of creative freedom is what Molyneux wants for himself. "He just comes up with an endless supply of amazing and incredible ideas," an admiring Molyneux told the Brighton crowd.

He had 21 minutes to talk at Rezzed but, Molyneux warned, "I'm sure to overrun." In the end he spoke for twice that time on a wide range of topics; cloud gaming, using the controller as a sex toy, and unfortunate pictures to show your local vicar, among many others. It's unlikely that the two will ever work together, as one is based in the UK and the other in Canada. Still, Molyneux has nothing but love for his fictional sibling. Or as Molyneux puts it, "I hope he goes on going for a long time."

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-06-molydeux-one-of-the-reasons-molyneux-left-microsoft]


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[saintdane05]

Did a troll just out troll a troll? Who is trolling who now?

 

[darthzew]

This totally already happened and Molyneux knows about it. They had an event called Molyjam where indie developers got together and made small games based on the Molydeux account.

Here, check it out.
http://www.whatwouldmolydeux.com/

In fact, Molyneux himself gave the go-ahead, if I remember right.

EDIT:

You guys should totally check it out. Here are some fun links:
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/welcome-to-the-molyjam2012/4039/

Peter Molyneux talks about Molyjam:
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/it-came-from-the-molyjam-peter-molyneux/4096/

Finally, a recap with links to some of the games:
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/48-hours-later-some-thoughts-on-molyjam/4065/

 

[Archemetis]

As funny as it is that Molyneux would consider his parodies ideas to be worthwhile (which in fairness, they are). I am more concerned that for what ever reason the writer of this article seems to think that Peter Molyneux is only famous for Fable: The Journey? What about Populous? Black and White? The preceding (and arguably much more decent) Fable games?

I'll always be the first to admit that Molyneux has certainly fallen off the deep-end, but we can't let one game over-shadow all of his other accomplishments in the industry.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Ok, Ok, let's hear it, we all know this article is perfect bait for it. Let's hear the Molyneuxception jokes.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Im confused as to whats happening.

 

[PurePareidolia]

I totally agree. Molydeux's ideas look fun as hell and I'd love to play some more of them

 

[ElPatron]

How long has this Molydeux thing been going? I think I heard it for the first time in a podcast from 2010.

Did a troll just out troll a troll? Who is trolling who now?

Nobody. Parody was never a form of trolling, let alone agreeing with the parodies of yourself.

 

[teebeeohh]

Molyneux should work way better as an indy developer since the best work the guy did was back when you needed just an idea and a few people to turn your ideas into something great. and the guy does have some great ideas, he just seems to slowed down by all the polish and money that come with AAA titles. And Molydeux has kinda outdone the original in terms of crazy but potentially fun ideas.

oh i just had an idea: team up Molyneux with Obsidian, that would probably result in a game with a metric shitton of cool ideas that are even implemented halfway decently but would be completely unplayable under all the clutter and bugs.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I'm not exactly sure how Molyneux won the honor of being associated with such weirdness. Suda51? Sure. Tim Schafer? Maybe. The indie game market in general? Kinda, yeah. Even indie-er games made available for free on the Internet? Hell yes. But I don't know what Molyneux has done lately that makes him the poster child for unique and bizarre games.

 

[weirdee]

it's less the things he has made so far, and more the things he's said, to the point where a parody of himself has gained his own express and sincere approval to propagate ideas which were created in order to poke fun at his "logic" but then ended up actually becoming a real thing, to the point where people actually thought the "fake" one was his actual twitter account (this was before molyneux teamed up with his doppleganger)

it would be funnier if it wasn't inevitable

that is, inspiring a caricature, then merging with that caricature to become more powerful than you can imagine (if you can't imagine a man swallowing his own shadow, that is)

 

[Scrustle]

So much irony here. When I first heard about this block experiment idea I said that it looked more like a Molydeux parody than an actual Molyneux game, and it turns out the parody was his inspiration! It's baffling to me how even Peter himself can't tell how bad this idea is.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I'm not exactly sure how Molyneux won the honor of being associated with such weirdness. Suda51? Sure. Tim Schafer? Maybe. The indie game market in general? Kinda, yeah. Even indie-er games made available for free on the Internet? Hell yes. But I don't know what Molyneux has done lately that makes him the poster child for unique and bizarre games.

His first 21 cans game is worthy of that title

 

[Deadyawn]

It is rather telling that this parody was so accurate that the person being parodied actually likes it. This whole thing is completely hilarious.

 

[lacktheknack]

So much irony here. When I first heard about this block experiment idea I said that it looked more like a Molydeux parody than an actual Molyneux game, and it turns out the parody was his inspiration! It's baffling to me how even Peter himself can't tell how bad this idea is.

I don't see how it's a bad idea. If someone BUYS that diamond pick, then his point on curiosity will have been demonstrated beautifully.

I know I'll be in there on occasion, chipping away at that block. Because seriously, what's in there?

 

[Scrustle]

So much irony here. When I first heard about this block experiment idea I said that it looked more like a Molydeux parody than an actual Molyneux game, and it turns out the parody was his inspiration! It's baffling to me how even Peter himself can't tell how bad this idea is.

I don't see how it's a bad idea. If someone BUYS that diamond pick, then his point on curiosity will have been demonstrated beautifully.

I know I'll be in there on occasion, chipping away at that block. Because seriously, what's in there?

But there can't be any enjoyment value in it. This thing isn't even a game. No-one will find enjoyment in chipping away at a block which is magnitudes too big for any effort to be even slightly significant. It's an experiment to see how much money you can make people pay for the promise of what's in the magic box. It's exploitation. And we all know whatever's in the box (if anything) will be a disappointment. There's no way it could ever live up to anyone's expectations, especially the ones that Peter has tried to inspire in us. Just look at his track record. Even if he's right and it's objectively the most amazing thing in the world then it doesn't change the fact that the whole idea of the experiment was to exploit people.

 

[lacktheknack]

So much irony here. When I first heard about this block experiment idea I said that it looked more like a Molydeux parody than an actual Molyneux game, and it turns out the parody was his inspiration! It's baffling to me how even Peter himself can't tell how bad this idea is.

I don't see how it's a bad idea. If someone BUYS that diamond pick, then his point on curiosity will have been demonstrated beautifully.

I know I'll be in there on occasion, chipping away at that block. Because seriously, what's in there?

But there can't be any enjoyment value in it. This thing isn't even a game. No-one will find enjoyment in chipping away at a block which is magnitudes too big for any effort to be even slightly significant. It's an experiment to see how much money you can make people pay for the promise of what's in the magic box. It's exploitation. And we all know whatever's in the box (if anything) will be a disappointment. There's no way it could ever live up to anyone's expectations, especially the ones that Peter has tried to inspire in us. Just look at his track record. Even if he's right and it's objectively the most amazing thing in the world then it doesn't change the fact that the whole idea of the experiment was to exploit people.

You seriously underestimate the entertainment value of massive impossibility. It's why people buy tickets for the lottery.

And considering how the base version is free (at least, so I've been told), then the exploitation point is null and void. He's stated that the "point" is to demonstrate that curiosity is extremely powerful, and if he's right, then people will invest in it. If people are derpy enough to buy that diamond pick, that's THEIR problem, not Molyneux's.

 

[Scrustle]

You seriously underestimate the entertainment value of massive impossibility. It's why people buy tickets for the lottery.

And considering how the base version is free (at least, so I've been told), then the exploitation point is null and void. He's stated that the "point" is to demonstrate that curiosity is extremely powerful, and if he's right, then people will invest in it. If people are derpy enough to buy that diamond pick, that's THEIR problem, not Molyneux's.

But people don't buy a lottery ticket because buying the ticket is fun to do. They do it because they want the prize. And when you buy a lottery ticket you know what the prize is. With this box we have no idea.

If the point of it is just to demonstrate people's curiosity, then that's a pretty cynical point to make. Like I said before, it's an experiment in how much money you can get people to pay based on nothing but curiosity.