He is right though. Some people are sadists. I mean lying to consumers so they give you £40 then doing nothing to addressing their concerns and bragging about how much money you made.... god damn that is sadistic.
Gearbox CEO On Gamer Criticism: "Some People Are Sadists"
- Thread starter Steven Bogos
- Start date
Yeah, I might have been tempted to pick this up for $4, just to see how bad it really is. However, Randy shooting his mouth off made me decide that I don't want to give him any money. I'll go spend that $4 on a cheeseburger or something.Xan Krieger said:
"People who make fun of our bad games are less sophisticated and intelligent than us, the fatheads!"
You put your shit out to the public, they will tear it apart - and it is entirely their creative right to do so.
You put your shit out to the public, they will tear it apart - and it is entirely their creative right to do so.
Randy, as someone who adored Borderlands 2, lemme say that you are just being flat-out delusional. You flat-out lied to people with what the final product would be, people called you out on that lie while highlighting everything wrong with the game, yet you're convinced you did no wrong.
I honestly believe that, if directly confronted Pitchford about his lies, his denial would give him a nervous breakdown and he'd lash out.
I honestly believe that, if directly confronted Pitchford about his lies, his denial would give him a nervous breakdown and he'd lash out.
Say what you will about Peter, the guy at least does actively TRY, and he seems to genuinely love being in the industry. He just keeps trying to write checks that the tech can't cash.NinjaDeathSlap said:
It sounds as though Pitchford is saying "We're making this beautiful thing, and most people like it, but the people who dislike it dislike it so much that they ruin it, and they're determined to make other people dislike it as well to affirm their point of view."
Okay, well, there's some truth to that; the people who are loudest on an issue aren't necessarily the ones who are right. Nor do the people whose passions cause them to want to remove people's teeth with rusty pliers necessarily have a more reasoned and accurate view of the situation than those who mete out their praise and criticism with a less absolutist bent.
But...
And you know there's a big enough but attached to the statement that Sir Mix-a-Lot would do a double-take...
It also sounds like Pitchford is working really hard to construct a reality that allows him to filter, if not shut out entirely, reasonable criticism.
You see, both DNF and A:CM were poor games. They were poor games based on the expectations they raised (DNF through a prolonged development, A:CM through an extensive and targeted advertising campaign), but also just poor games based on the competition within the genre at the time they were released.
And the bottom line is that Gearbox isn't making sand castles; sand castles are free. Gearbox is making creative products that they expect people to pay for, ones that people's lives and livelihoods count on people being willing to pay for them. When a significant number of people are saying that your products aren't worth what they're being asked to pay, you would be wise to listen.
It's all very well to keep a positive outlook and believe that your "children" are special. But you should at least try to wrap your mind around where the people who say your children are monsters are coming from before you write them off as having motivations that have more to do with wanting to cause you pain than wanting you to stop making monsters.
Okay, well, there's some truth to that; the people who are loudest on an issue aren't necessarily the ones who are right. Nor do the people whose passions cause them to want to remove people's teeth with rusty pliers necessarily have a more reasoned and accurate view of the situation than those who mete out their praise and criticism with a less absolutist bent.
But...
And you know there's a big enough but attached to the statement that Sir Mix-a-Lot would do a double-take...
It also sounds like Pitchford is working really hard to construct a reality that allows him to filter, if not shut out entirely, reasonable criticism.
You see, both DNF and A:CM were poor games. They were poor games based on the expectations they raised (DNF through a prolonged development, A:CM through an extensive and targeted advertising campaign), but also just poor games based on the competition within the genre at the time they were released.
And the bottom line is that Gearbox isn't making sand castles; sand castles are free. Gearbox is making creative products that they expect people to pay for, ones that people's lives and livelihoods count on people being willing to pay for them. When a significant number of people are saying that your products aren't worth what they're being asked to pay, you would be wise to listen.
It's all very well to keep a positive outlook and believe that your "children" are special. But you should at least try to wrap your mind around where the people who say your children are monsters are coming from before you write them off as having motivations that have more to do with wanting to cause you pain than wanting you to stop making monsters.
You compare your games to a sandcastle but I think they bear more resemblance to a sandy bumhole. Irritating and unpleasant for veryone involved.
Except it wasn't. The sandcastle wasn't built on lies. It was just not sand, rather shit. It was a rather spledid shitcastle that he was selling as a sandcastle. But apparently that makes me a sadist.NathLines said:
I have to respect a developer honest enough to just come out and say: "Everyone who doesn't love our game is a twat."
That said, I think he is somewhat groping towards a valid point: there's definitely a sizable subset of people who just want to hate something, anything about a game and often towards an unreasonable degree.
That said, I think he is somewhat groping towards a valid point: there's definitely a sizable subset of people who just want to hate something, anything about a game and often towards an unreasonable degree.
Well.
He is right in this statement.
Some people ARE just sadists.
...as evidenced by certain game releases.
They certainly seemed to enjoy kicking over the sandcastle of my hopes and dreams for a colonial marines game with that release.
I always envisioned something else...
Four to six characters picked from marines,company man, synthetic, survivor style archetypes but then given voice actors and personality expanded upon by interactions during the quiet moments of the game (also to build tension).
Left for Dead style alien horde spawning under director guidance.
Special alien breeds for diversity, spitters, bursters, leapers, face huggers, praetorian guard taking up range, group splitting, elimination and 'tank' duties.
Multiplayer implemented in Left for Dead oppositional style, with specials on a respawn timer and player controlled.
Story told by the set pieces they travel to and encounter through the levels (refuel the apc, purge the reactor core, regroup and hold at the landing pad for extraction, etc etc.).
Settings from a hadleys hope style colony, alien landscape and facililty like promethius, a beleaguered starship suffering an infection, a larger devastated terrain of a colony, weyland yutani orbital facility being overrun...
Basically, Left for Dead with aliens exploiting the unique environments and characterful appearance of the setting.
He is right in this statement.
Some people ARE just sadists.
...as evidenced by certain game releases.
They certainly seemed to enjoy kicking over the sandcastle of my hopes and dreams for a colonial marines game with that release.
I always envisioned something else...
Four to six characters picked from marines,company man, synthetic, survivor style archetypes but then given voice actors and personality expanded upon by interactions during the quiet moments of the game (also to build tension).
Left for Dead style alien horde spawning under director guidance.
Special alien breeds for diversity, spitters, bursters, leapers, face huggers, praetorian guard taking up range, group splitting, elimination and 'tank' duties.
Multiplayer implemented in Left for Dead oppositional style, with specials on a respawn timer and player controlled.
Story told by the set pieces they travel to and encounter through the levels (refuel the apc, purge the reactor core, regroup and hold at the landing pad for extraction, etc etc.).
Settings from a hadleys hope style colony, alien landscape and facililty like promethius, a beleaguered starship suffering an infection, a larger devastated terrain of a colony, weyland yutani orbital facility being overrun...
Basically, Left for Dead with aliens exploiting the unique environments and characterful appearance of the setting.
I believe Randy was a magician before GBX was a thing.bossfight1 said:
Maybe he's working on his final vanishing act.
Yes, some people ARE sadists- but not to you, you smug, gloating, fraudulent ****.
I wouldn't hate Randy Pitchford so much if he wasn't blatantly gloating about "we made a worthless shitty game which took a steaming big dump all over a once-revered franchise because we didn't give a shit about it and we conned all you losers out of your money with fake, doctored trailers that totally misrepresented the finished product to scam you into preordering it, and now we get away with it, we keep the money, and I'm going to sit here telling you that it was a great game and you're all whiners who are picking on me, ha ha ha".
The guy has managed to reach the level of possibly the biggest douche in the AAA games industry in record time just by how unapologetic he is about blatantly ripping people off. Make a bad game and we'll get over it. Keep rubbing it in and we will fucking pillory you forever.
I wouldn't hate Randy Pitchford so much if he wasn't blatantly gloating about "we made a worthless shitty game which took a steaming big dump all over a once-revered franchise because we didn't give a shit about it and we conned all you losers out of your money with fake, doctored trailers that totally misrepresented the finished product to scam you into preordering it, and now we get away with it, we keep the money, and I'm going to sit here telling you that it was a great game and you're all whiners who are picking on me, ha ha ha".
The guy has managed to reach the level of possibly the biggest douche in the AAA games industry in record time just by how unapologetic he is about blatantly ripping people off. Make a bad game and we'll get over it. Keep rubbing it in and we will fucking pillory you forever.
"There's a dark part of us all that likes the idea of crushing a sandcastle, but most of us will respect it and let it be."
Speak for yourself, Mr. Pitchford; a proclivity for pettiness would neatly explain your behavior. The "Vocal response" you took note of was a result of your dishonesty, and your work's lack of resonance.
These people who bother to criticize your work are making a positive contribution; telling an artist that their work is perfect when it clearly is not is the far from decency, and it is a classical immaturity to mistake it so.
I would like to momentarily direct your attention to Peter Molyneux, a similarly dishonest game creator. Why is it that, despite his habit of promising the world and failing to deliver, Molyneux is still fondly thought of?
Discounting the fact that some of his games are actually worth a damn, it's because he is earnest. Peter is irresponsible, but never let it be said that he is not a true artist. Yeah, he fucks up, but when he fucks up, he digs in his heels and tries again; he doesn't retreat into a narcissistic head cannon that casts his detractors as shallow sadists.
If you want to avoid criticism, Mr. Pitchford, I would first tell you that no honorable artist would wish such a thing, and I would tell you second that the reason they never would is because their passion for their work dwarfs your passion for craven excuses.
Speak for yourself, Mr. Pitchford; a proclivity for pettiness would neatly explain your behavior. The "Vocal response" you took note of was a result of your dishonesty, and your work's lack of resonance.
These people who bother to criticize your work are making a positive contribution; telling an artist that their work is perfect when it clearly is not is the far from decency, and it is a classical immaturity to mistake it so.
I would like to momentarily direct your attention to Peter Molyneux, a similarly dishonest game creator. Why is it that, despite his habit of promising the world and failing to deliver, Molyneux is still fondly thought of?
Discounting the fact that some of his games are actually worth a damn, it's because he is earnest. Peter is irresponsible, but never let it be said that he is not a true artist. Yeah, he fucks up, but when he fucks up, he digs in his heels and tries again; he doesn't retreat into a narcissistic head cannon that casts his detractors as shallow sadists.
If you want to avoid criticism, Mr. Pitchford, I would first tell you that no honorable artist would wish such a thing, and I would tell you second that the reason they never would is because their passion for their work dwarfs your passion for craven excuses.