While, on the one hand, it's almost cathartic to see someone I've long considered a pathologically lying, overzealous, irresponsible manchild get pretty much told that he is a pathologically lying, overzealous, irresponsible manchild, the way the interview went about it was just so unforgivably sloppy. -_- Was like trying to extract water from a coconut by hitting it with a sledgehammer; sure, that coconut milk is definitely coming out, but it's going to make one hell of a mess. And so now, instead of having an essentially unified voice of 'Goddamnit Molyneux, STOP TALKING,' with yet another example of his idiocy fresh and ripe for warning away any poor souls who haven't yet heard of the False Prophet, the discussion around Godus and Molyneux is divided, with one group obviously thrilled with the interview, and the other group mortified at its tone. And both have valid points.
In my case, on the one hand a reckoning WAS needed. Sorry, but if you're having an interview with Molyneux and you do NOT bring up the truly staggering number of times this exact pattern of behavior has occurred, and you do not in fact hammer it home with quiet determination, pointing out all his irresponsibility, his inability to learn from his countless mistakes, and hold it up as a mirror to his now Tots Serious Guys new project, then you're basically playing to Molyneux's narrative. "Right, right, last game was horrid, but the next one will TOTALLY be awesome, no reason to doubt you there!" If nothing else, so that any reader who God Forbid is unfamiliar with Molyneux will have an essential primer of 'Why You Should Ignore This Man's Every Word.' The vastness of the Molyneux Cycle (my new favorite term) is such that any interviewer who doesn't bring it up is clearly either coddling the man, or is being told that bringing it up will basically end the interview. The fact that he has now had at least the one project on Kickstarter, where his irresponsibility could actually work to the detriment of Kickstarter's own reputation as he joins the list of people who got lots of money and utterly failed to deliver, makes it all the more urgent that his bullshit be contained before it infects anyone else.
HOWEVER, by turning it into, basically, a boxing match, the interviewer provided Molyneux and any hardcore sympathizers with ample ammunition to deflect from the main issue. "Look at the mean man being a butthead to Molyneux." And the more the conversation turns towards "WAS the mean man being a butthead?" the less the conversation drifts towards the far more useful topic of "ARE there any laws that can ban a man from making PR statements or having any notable impact in the industry? ...can we petition to have one drafted? ....how about banishment, is there a tropical island we can leave him at?"
If Molyneux plans to use Kickstarter with any regularity, he has the potential to be an absolute wrecking ball if someone doesn't slap a choke chain on him. -_- Before, when he was with Microsoft, it was fine just chortling fondly like he was a particularly eccentric uncle who always wore dead animal pelts, but at this point big, red warning signs need to be put up saying "DO NOT GIVE MONEY TO THIS MAN! SERIOUSLY, JUST THROW YOUR MONEY AWAY OR LIGHT IT ON FIRE, AT LEAST IT WON'T BE ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING STUPID BEHAVIOR THAT WAY."
