Yogventures Artist Paid $35k For Two Weeks "Work"

[CardinalPiggles]

Why are they leaving the artist unnamed? Why wouldn't they publicly shame him/her and report their actions to their new employers? Preferably the latter first so they aren't blamed for a media crapstorm of "Lucasarts Hires Conartist" and damaging the company's image.

Because the artist is legally in the clear. If they weren't, they would be getting dragged into court.

They signed a contract where they pay a year of an employees salary up front in a lump sum but didn't add any conditions for what would happen if that employee quit. Who DOES that? They drew up a really fucking stupid contract and now have to live with it.

Not quite, it just didn't take into consideration the artist taking another job that wouldn't allow him to continue work on their game. He didn't just "quit" working on it and say 'yeah I can't be bothered anymore, and you're not getting the money back trolololl'.

This is why contracts are so chocked full of crap that no one wants to read, to account for as many eventualities as possible. They just seemed to have missed at least that one.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

What a sad world we live in, when many people defend the artist for taking advantage of a shitty contract. Or even aplaud him for that.
It's a dick move if you take money for a job, and ignore it, just because you can. Whatever happened to professionalism, common decency or self respect?
Actually, I doubt the story with the artist is even true. Unless the Yogspeople release any source code and assets that have been produced, I will assume they are lazy thieves that just pocketed the money.
But if the artist story is true, than that guy is an asshole and they should definitively release his name, which is not illegal, as they are just stating facts of who they hired.
The fact that they are not releasing a name just makes this whole story more shady.

What could the artists (That we know of) do to make this situation any better? The game would still have gone under. If I was in that situation and I was offered a job with Lucasarts I would be out like a shot. The fact remains that all of the people working on this project are in the same boat. Lump sum payments and the game goes under. It totally the fault of the organisers. You are talking about professionalism, common decency and self respect. He did not break contract, he put his career first and as for decency, he tried to moonlight but was not allowed.

Releasing his name would just open him up to harassment from idiots who don't understand how business works. which is not decent or professional. It IS shady and the organisers deserve to hang for being bone heads. But the contracters should not be dragged into it. Maybe I am biased, but seriously I see this every day dude. I have been paid for work that never went ahead and by companies that went under. When you work in a creative field. Your future is always uncertain. You take what you get, You full fill your professional obligation. But sometimes you literally cannot. Maybe this artist is the biggest asshole in the world and is laughing all the way to the bank. I just see it as shitty for the investors and a part of the business.

 

[Karadalis]

Man, I wish that I could get paid a year's salary in one lump sum. Seriously, who though that was a good idea? What's the motivation to work if you've already been paid, and your contract doesn't say anything about actually completing the job?

Isnt that exactly how early access works?

OT: Yeah... what could ever possibly go wrong giving a bunch of youtubers a buttload of cash to make a game with the help of a dev team that wasnt even complete...

 

[J Tyran]

Who DOES that?

Exactly, sorry but this smells rotten. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the artist isn't a friend of a relation, or a relation of a friend or something similar who just happened to drop onto a $35k contract with no stipulations. It wouldn't surprise me to see that along every single step of the way there are office supplies for three times the price, outsourced work with fees over the odds and all the usual shenanigans related to "whoops we ran outta money and resources, can't finish it" you see from cowboy firms in every industry under the sun.

 

[Nielas]

What a sad world we live in, when many people defend the artist for taking advantage of a shitty contract. Or even aplaud him for that.
It's a dick move if you take money for a job, and ignore it, just because you can. Whatever happened to professionalism, common decency or self respect?
Actually, I doubt the story with the artist is even true. Unless the Yogspeople release any source code and assets that have been produced, I will assume they are lazy thieves that just pocketed the money.
But if the artist story is true, than that guy is an asshole and they should definitively release his name, which is not illegal, as they are just stating facts of who they hired.
The fact that they are not releasing a name just makes this whole story more shady.

One has to remember that they are the ones asserting that "no work" was done. The artist can counter by saying that he submitted work to them and thus fulfilled the terms of his contract. If he really did turn in work in good faith then for him it might just be a case of generous compensation rather than "rip-off". If the artist delivered enough to satisfy the terms of the contract then it's not really his fault that what he delivered was not used.

 

[synobal]

Sounds like the Yog's cast guys run their business the same way their primary demographic would (they ran it like a bunch of 10 year olds).

 

[Piorn]

oh wow, get this:
They want to program a game.
But they need to hire a lead programmer.

And people still wonder why these things fail.

 

[Amaror]

The blame here really lies with the people who drew up the contract. This artist did very well out of this deal. But as someone who works as a free lance artist in a creative field. I find it hard to be against the artist in this case. He has no obligation to the KS backers. The KS backers essentially "hired" people to make this game and they hired very, very badly. The artist was subcontracted and after getting the job at Lucasarts. Who could blame them? I mean who is there to "return" the money to. And it's not like the game was going to get made anyway. Lucky person in my opinion. There are so many stories of artists not getting paid for work done (myself included) I don't mind seeing it go the other way. This is not unusual in the creative industry.

EDIT: Consider also that this would not just apply to the artists. Everyone who worked on this would have gotten paid for very little work.

The artist wasn't hired by KS backers, he was hired by Winterkewl games.
Don't pretend like the artist is some poor fellow here, that had no chance to do the right thing.
Once he got the offer from Lucasarts he had choices:
1. He could have rejected the offer from Lucasarts to do his job for Winterkewl games. Not a very likely choice since a job form Lucasarts probably pays very well, but a choice nonetheless.
2. He could have taken the offer from Luscasarts and given the money back to Winterkewl games, because it was paid for a job he didn't do.
3. He could have abused a fault in the contract to keep the money without doing any work and still get the job at Lucasarts.

Now tell me, which of these options are the decent thing to do and which option is the choice only an dishonorable asshole would do. And then tell me which choice the artist made?

 

[Serrenitei]

If you write a contract so bad and so full of holes that someone can claim almost anything releases them from the terms of that contract then the fault is squarely yours.

I think you can't pin the blame purely on the business people. The moral thing to do would be to have returned a portion of the money consumerate with the amount of work he did. This is the same argument that people use to justify using an exploit in a game -- if it's there, it's not my fault if I use it. But yeah, it is. People make mistakes and clearly these people were horribly naive about writing contracts (and probably trying to save a couple bucks by avoiding legal review) but the artist is being just as shitty by taking the cash and walking away, knowing he didn't do what he was supposed to. I'm not talking about being able to hide behind thin justification to hide the horrible person that he is, but ethically - he was 100% in the wrong. It's something to be derided and scolded, not celebrated.

The Artist really didn't do anything wrong if he can state he fulfilled the terms of the contract. And obviously he can because they can't contest it. [\quote]

Meh, or they didn't know that they could (clearly they were completely oblivious to this) or it was prohibitively expensive to do so. And it's not necessarily that they don't have any legal recourse. Omitting something from a contract is not the same as explicitly stating it. They would have a chance if they could prove, based on the terms of the contract, that they had a reasonable expectation of X amount of work for the $35k, regardless of whether that was explicitly stated in the contract or not. Is it the easiest thing ever? Not at all, but very possible.

 

[veloper]

The lesson here is: don't support a big project by hopefuls who have zero experience and none of the required skills.

All Kickstarters carry the risk of failure, even after funding, but a backer can use some common sense to avoid the biggest stinkers.

If you must support a Kickstarter, look for things like: a clear plan, modest goals, sufficient minimum funding, team building, experience, portfolios, reputation, devs revealing their ugly mugs on vid and some work already invested into the project.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

snip

He honoured a badly, badly written contract. Immorality is not the same as illegality. The blame here is with the organisers, but people love to get annoyed about the smaller issues. If I backed it. I would be mega pissed at the legal team and money people. The artist leaving the game with his paycheck is a drop in the bucket in this cluster fuck. You are talking about "honour" & "loyalty". Talk to a C.E.O. or a manager about that over a drink and they will laugh in your face. I think we just have to agree to disagree on this one buddy.

 

[Czann]

If their words can be taken as true (what, frankly, after this disaster I wouldn't do) this project had zero chances of succeeding.

You don't even need to be a lawyer to see that giving a random guy all your money without guarantees is extremely stupid. Just being a bit cynical would be enough.

 

[veloper]

snip

He honoured a badly, badly written contract. Immorality is not the same as illegality. The blame here is with the organisers, but people love to get annoyed about the smaller issues. If I backed it. I would be mega pissed at the legal team and money people. The artist leaving the game with his paycheck is a drop in the bucket in this cluster fuck. You are talking about "honour" & "loyalty". Talk to a C.E.O. or a manager about that over a drink and they will laugh in your face. I think we just have to agree to disagree on this one buddy.

A smart CEO is big on honor and loyalty...in his employees. No manager can police a team all the time. Unmotivated or disgruntled employees can and will underperform in many less obvious ways. You need commitment.
You also need the legal bits, but that's not enough by itself.

The explanations given reek of disinterest and lack of motivation. An unnamed "friend" (still a friend?) walks away with 35K and the company does nothing.
A mere 35K out of whopping 500K for a modest 250K goal Kickstarter is lost and the plug gets pulled on the entire project?
It's like nobody gave a damn.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

snip

He honoured a badly, badly written contract. Immorality is not the same as illegality. The blame here is with the organisers, but people love to get annoyed about the smaller issues. If I backed it. I would be mega pissed at the legal team and money people. The artist leaving the game with his paycheck is a drop in the bucket in this cluster fuck. You are talking about "honour" & "loyalty". Talk to a C.E.O. or a manager about that over a drink and they will laugh in your face. I think we just have to agree to disagree on this one buddy.

A smart CEO is big on honor and loyalty...in his employees. No manager can police a team all the time. Unmotivated or disgruntled employees can and will underperform in many less obvious ways. You need commitment.
You also need the legal bits, but that's not enough by itself.

The explanations given reek of disinterest and lack of motivation. An unnamed "friend" (still a friend?) walks away with 35K and the company does nothing.
A mere 35K out of whopping 500K for a modest 250K goal Kickstarter is lost and the plug gets pulled on the entire project?
It's like nobody gave a damn.

Or maybe the artist is just a small part of the overall issue. I think it's very bad what has happened to all of the investor's/ KS public's money. But The buck starts and ends with the organisers. If you are suggesting the money was embezzled. My point stands doubly so. They are criminals if that is the situation then they should be prosecuted.

I think this is just a classic case of people being over their heads and getting carried away with themselves. This kind of thing happens all the time to new businesses in any walk of life. Just because you are a good chef, it doesn't mean you can run a restaurant. Most people do not know how to run a business.

 

[senordesol]

I know it's easy to claim nobility before being tested, but I don't think I would've taken that money were I the artist.

Yes, technically he's done nothing illegal, but to take so much money for nothing in return (particularly where there was an expectation of return in spirit if not in writing) is just wrong --just completely morally bankrupt.

But it just goes to show, before you spend a cent on employees, purchase some legal counsel...because people will screw you out of every cent you've got if given the chance.

 

[Riotguards]

personal opinion

artist is pretty bad because he could have returned the money

however if i was in his shoes and given $36k without any real work involved, i'd take it
.
.
the only people who should take 98% of the blame are the people responsible for the contract, if you can't manage a contract i doubt you can make a full fledge game

 

[furluge]

I don't know what the defamation / libel / slander laws are in the UK, but in the US, you have to prove that what is said is untrue and malicious. If the story with the artist is true then they have nothing to worry about releasing the identity of the artist beyond defending against a frivolous lawsuit.

Personally I think that, if the story is true, they should release it. Reputation management is a key economic factor that allows freedom to work. If you don't have the risk of your reputation going to shit when you do dickish things then you remove the disincentive for being a dick, ergo, why not be a dick?

There's /lots/ of perfectly legal, dickish things that happen every day that just because they're legal doesn't mean they should happen. Just because my local municipality can decide tomorrow to bulldoze my house doesn't make it right. I know this sounds trite, but people have to remember that legality != morality. At certain points in history it's been legal to own people too, but that didn't make it right.

Also, I agree with you Riotguards, I think I might leave with the money too. But that doesn't make us good people, and if we did do that then we shouldn't be surprised that our reputations turned to shit afterward. We'd deserve it. Of course then again, if I was in Winterkewl's position, said artist may have probably already found all his personal information quietly left out where identity thieves could find it by "accident".