Interview Chris Avellone is still pretty mad about Obsidian

[Sentinel]

he was provoking MCA into badmouthing another company working on the same franchise. You... don't do that.

Especially if your current wage depends on that company.

 

[Lurker King]

Interview has to be a hoax... if there's one thing I've learned from Obsidian fanboys it's that only clueless Codex trolls think MCA left on bad terms

It’s almost as if these fanboys were robots with one instruction: praise developers of the group X. When the developers of the group X fight each other and the group falls apart, the robot will short-circuit because he will have to satisfy opposite demands. The only to avoid crashing is denying that the conflict exists.

 

[Infinitron]

he was provoking MCA into badmouthing another company

As it turns out, no provocation was necessary.

 

[Maculo]

MCA seemed more apathetic than angry in my opinion. I also agree with alphyna, the interviewer definitely tried steer MCA in a certain direction ("would you work for the company you just left?" wtf?).

 

[alphyna]

Especially if your current wage depends on that company.

Does his? I'm living under a rock these days.

As it turns out, no provocation was necessary.

:D
But honestly, wouldn't you agree there's an obvious difference in tone between saying "there are managerial issues in Company A" and agreeing with an interviewer shouting "OH COME ON SPEAK TO US ON BEHALF OF THE TEAM YOU'VE NEVER WORKED WITH THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT AND TOTALLY BLEW YOUR SUPER DUPER AWESOME LEGACY RIGHT RIGHT."

By the way, I'm all for asking pointed and uncomfortable questions, but not about other people's work.

 

[Sentinel]

Especially if your current wage depends on that company.

Does his? I'm living under a rock these days.

As it turns out, no provocation was necessary.

:D
But honestly, wouldn't you agree there's an obvious difference in tone between saying "there are managerial issues in Company A" and agreeing with an interviewer shouting "OH COME ON SPEAK TO US ON BEHALF OF THE TEAM YOU'VE NEVER WORKED WITH THEY DON'T KNOW SHIT AND TOTALLY BLEW YOUR SUPER DUPER AWESOME LEGACY RIGHT RIGHT."

By the way, I'm all for asking pointed and uncomfortable questions, but not about other people's work.

He's writing for Prey 2, which is under Bethesda's wing.

 

[Morkar Left]

SB: Continuing with some things said in that interview, you said you think Fallout has “room to grow” outside of the US. Considering the heavy emphasis that the Fallout games put on Americana and American exceptionalism as a central theme of that world, do you really think a game set outside of the US (anywhere except Canada which was annexed, and isn’t much different from the US anyhow) would be able to keep that Fallout personality and theme going that separates it from other Post-apocalyptic games like Metro?

CA: I don't know. It would require a lot of research and actual developers (inc. writers and artists) for those regions to really make it sing otherwise I think it would sound false if a company largely composed of Californians (or Marylanders) did it.

Wow, I think THAT strikes

 

[alphyna]

Especially if your current wage depends on that company.

Does his? I'm living under a rock these days.

He's writing for Prey 2, which is under Bethesda's wing.

Fair enough, that may cast a shade of doubt on his motivations, but I'd still say no reasonable person would spend an entire interview pointedly critisizing another team's work—as the interviewer obviously hoped he would.

 

[AArmanFV]

A pointless interview in my opinion, the interviewer was trying to generate some "polemic", a classless way to generate a story. If I were Avellone in that moment I would be thinking "I thought it was gonna be something important about my work, not some guy asking if I have issues with Obsidian, this feels like a showbiz interview, what a joke".

But maybe was an oportunity to strike about the issue from him, meh, I don't care either.

 

[Bubbles]

To me it looks like a logical consequence of the "one of us, one of us!" attitude that fan communities tend to develop towards their favourite artists. Avellone has been a subject of feverish hagiographic attention for a long time now, and it's inevitable that his followers will start projecting their viewpoints upon him without really considering the possibility that he might disagree.

 

[Kane]

he was provoking MCA into badmouthing another company working on the same franchise. You... don't do that.

Especially if your current wage depends on that company.

God forbid that a company that churns out self-determined blockbuster after blockbuster on a yearly basis and regularly(!) pays their employees well(!!) offers a more enjoyable work experience than some badly managed fly-by-night operation that barely clinges to life with badly thought-out and forgettable publisher grunt-work every 5 years and that this factors significanly into an employee's evaluation of said companies.

 

[Fairfax]

A pointless interview in my opinion, the interviewer was trying to generate some "polemic", a classless way to generate a story. If I were Avellone in that moment I would be thinking "I thought it was gonna be something important about my work, not some guy asking if I have issues with Obsidian, this feels like a showbiz interview, what a joke".

But maybe was an oportunity to strike about the issue from him, meh, I don't care either.

I think that's a bit unfair. It's an average Fallout fan asking about stuff a lot of them think or wonder, surely MCA knows that as well.
Also, the more people ask Chris these Obsidian questions, the more he seems to open up.

When I talked to Chris about an interview, I asked if there was any topic that was off-limits. He said:

People can ask anything, and if I can't answer it, I'll say so - it usually won't be because I wouldn't want to, I just couldn't for legal reasons (unannounced project, NDAs, etc.).

And when I asked about uncomfortable topics, he said:

Nothing makes me uncomfortable. I was born in discomfort, I shall die in discomfort.

Chances are MCA told the guy something similar. If he did, there was no reason for the guy to assume there was a problem with the questions (though some are definitely poorly worded).

 

[Andyman Messiah]

I was promised a "mad Chris Avellone" and I knew I wasn't gonna get it. The man exudes a calmness that could right all the wrongs in the world, dot all the i's and cross all the t's. No, really this was pretty fucking tame as far as fishing for shitflinging goes quite frankly. I mean, to the point where I think some people are reading too much into it. Maybe I have different standards. Chris doesn't even say anything negative. His responses are the equivalent of shrugging.

Dammit Infinitron! You're a walking, breathing, masturbating, shop-lifting disappointment! You BETTER get a map and you BETTER go to Chris' house and you BETTER make him mad and re-do this news post! Dammit!

edit: To clarify, yes, I want Chris Avellone to re-do this news post because I can't trust Infinitron again after this HUGE FIASCO!!!!

 

[Neanderthal]

And when I asked about uncomfortable topics, he said:

Nothing makes me uncomfortable. I was born in discomfort, I shall die in discomfort.

What a dude.

 

[Drax]

Thread delivers.

 

[M0RBUS]

Some of his answers are just terrible. I mean, it's okay if he's still angry/bitter towards Obsidian (he worked there for 12 years and things obviously didn't go as he hoped), but for fuck's sake going miles about defending Bethesda and praising them and their games while only saying bad things about Fallout 2/New Vegas is just terrible. He even goes as far as saying that Cain spends a lot of time on combat to avoid the question as if that makes Tim and Todd somehow comparable in their design goals, yeah sure, because Fallout, Arcanum and Bloodlines were all about killing things and plasma guns.
Also, New Reno was fun to play but also terribly incoherent and out of place in the Fallout Universe, better to leave that place in Fallout 2 and move on to Vegas.

He retweeted the interview. It's not a hoax, although it's pretty interesting the maneuvers done to avoid badmouthing Bethesda.

 

[you know what time it is]

As much as I dislike Bethesda, that interviewer got on my nerves 2 questions in. MCA hating on Obsidian's suits was hilarious tho, I can only imagine what kind of stories Boyarsky would tell, Obsidian must feel like heaven to him after Blizzard.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Dammit Infinitron! You're a walking, breathing, masturbating, shop-lifting disappointment!

Infinitron is a shop-lifter?

 

[Bubbles]

Dammit Infinitron! You're a walking, breathing, masturbating, shop-lifting disappointment!

Infinitron is a shop-lifter?

He stole the intellectual property of Techland by leaking confidential information.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I was promised a "mad Chris Avellone" and I knew I wasn't gonna get it. The man exudes a calmness that could right all the wrongs in the world, dot all the i's and cross all the t's. No, really this was pretty fucking tame as far as fishing for shitflinging goes quite frankly. I mean, to the point where I think some people are reading too much into it. Maybe I have different standards. Chris doesn't even say anything negative. His responses are the equivalent of shrugging.

Hey, aren't you that horse from Horsin' Around?

 

[DraQ]

The result is one of the most amazing interviews I've ever read.

You have low standards. All this Interview reveals is that MCA has grown up (likely because he had sex).

Who's the lucky Codexer?

 

[ROARRR]

If ya think about it MCA lost a lot leaving obsidian. And sayin that he could stay is an option you can´t always follow depending on your mental hygiene. It leaves a mark! Now he is sayin his opinion without beein impolite - FACT -! What ya expect? Seriously I don´t get this shit about how bad it is to say your opinion about a company! I would do that too if they used me as shit(or go for court)!

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

The result is one of the most amazing interviews I've ever read.

You have low standards. All this Interview reveals is that MCA has grown up (likely because he had sex).

Who's the lucky Codexer?

 

[Morkar Left]

I was promised a "mad Chris Avellone" and I knew I wasn't gonna get it. The man exudes a calmness that could right all the wrongs in the world, dot all the i's and cross all the t's. No, really this was pretty fucking tame as far as fishing for shitflinging goes quite frankly. I mean, to the point where I think some people are reading too much into it. Maybe I have different standards. Chris doesn't even say anything negative. His responses are the equivalent of shrugging.

Dammit Infinitron! You're a walking, breathing, masturbating, shop-lifting disappointment! You BETTER get a map and you BETTER go to Chris' house and you BETTER make him mad and re-do this news post! Dammit!

Andyman Messiah posting is like seeing a unicorn when you thought all the fairy tales were gone...

 

[Zeriel]

Nice clickbait.

I think people read too much into this one. MCA just calmy said that he wouldn't go back to Obsidian because there are some managerial issues there. But this doesn't mean that he is an angry, mad ex-developer. He seems more apathic than angry towards Obsidian.

Aye. Sounds bitter to me, not mad.

Bitterness is simply post-dated anger. By the standards of game industry interviews, this interview is surprisingly frank. I think that's what Infinitron meant.