I think
MRY might be having some fun in this thread right now.
Not really. I think it's kind weird and unfair to Chris that no one credits the things he says publicly, except for the rare instances when he's airing grievances. This is true for both Codexers and anti-Codexers. Chris was vocally proud of the people he nurtured and promoted in the industry and constantly said that folks like Cass, Zoe, etc. were better writers than he was. I'm sure he was being modest/self-effacing, but he wasn't saying that about everyone. Contrast the above tweets with, e.g.:
That's not to say he wasn't supportive of Vince and other developers -- I think he's very generous in providing feedback and support to almost all indie RPG developers. But the idea that he would be disappointed in the generation of writers who now hold the pen at these studios doesn't fit with the way he talked about it at the time. He didn't like the old guys in management, but he had nothing but praise for the young firebrands he was advancing.
It might be that he's disappointed in how things worked out with Obsidian, but I think he undeniably had a huge impact in shaping RPGs into what they are today -- just because the Codex dislikes those things and likes Chris doesn't mean that he should be viewed as having frittered away his talents or influence. People he disliked succeeded in making even more millions of dollars than he did, but in terms of RPG writers, my sense is that the industry now belongs to the people he wanted to own it. Is there any evidence to the contrary? For instance, didn't he have effusive praise for the lead writer of Waylanders?
