Disco Elysium creative lead Robert Kurvitz was quietly fired from ZA/UM in late 2021, files lawsuit against them

[Decado]

I'm having trouble following this whole thing but here's the main question: did the commies get fired?

 

[Decado]

I gather from Luiga's verbose ramblings that there is some sort of NDA that prevents Kurvitz and others from giving details.

If Kurvitz signed a dumb NDA like that, that's on him. Avellone told Obsidian to fuck off when they tried to get him to sign a similar NDA.

Remember that to refuse the NDA, Avellone had to forgo shares payout and equity for his original investment and for being an owner since the start. Also, it wasn't just an NDA in his case, but a contract that would prevent him from working on RPGs ever again.

When the choice is get fucked or get fucked, can't blame a guy for choosing to get fucked.

There is no such thing as a contract that prevents you from working on RPGs ever again. Even if there is such a hilariously dumb and retarded contract, it would be completely unenforceable. Non-compete clauses have to be extremely specific and are usually of short duration -- in California in particular, where Avellone's former company lives, they are unenforceable under the law. If they bluffed him with that bullshit I would be extremely surprised.

Edit: I know this because I am under a non-compete, and as anyone in my field does, I had it checked by a lawyer before I signed it (I always do this). He looked and said "yeah this is standard boiler plate non-compete but we have a million ways of getting you out of it and if they go to court, the judge throws them out 99% of the time." He then added, and I'm quoting directly, "I shit on 10 non-competes a month, don't worry about it."

 

[Ismaul]

avellone didn't cuck, some random eurocommie did

Can you read? Roguey was comparing Kurwitz's situation to Avellone's. I'm saying both had only shit choices that impacted them negatively.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

avellone didn't cuck, some random eurocommie did

Can you read? Roguey was comparing Kurwitz's situation to Avellone's. I'm saying both had only shit choices that impacted them negatively.

And one of them bent over and took it up the ass, the other worked hard to get himself out of the situation.
Can you recognize which one is the commie?

 

[Ismaul]

There is no such thing as a contract that prevents you from working on RPGs ever again. Even if there is such a hilariously dumb and retarded contract, it would be completely unenforceable. Non-compete clauses have to be extremely specific and are usually of short duration -- in California in particular, where Avellone's former company lives, they are unenforceable under the law. If they bluffed him with that bullshit I would be extremely surprised.

Here you go:

I didn’t get anything when I left Obsidian. There were no share payouts, no equity, and this was in addition to the other logistical problems around the departure – the sudden cancellation of my health insurance, problems with my 401K, errors in Obsidian’s accounting, and several existing independent contracts they refused to uphold.

Realizing my family issues and the debts therein, however, they did make an attempt to leverage that into a far more confining separation agreement that would remove my right to work on RPGs, and my silence on all issues that could pertain to Obsidian or any other company they were involved with or the CEO had a % in (Fig, Zero Radius, Dark Rock Industries, etc.). This included an inability to critique games I’d worked on – much of my critiques on my own games tend to be blunt, and not being able to speak to them felt unnatural to me.

The company involvement silence worried me more, however, as it meant that if anything illegal happened with any of those companies (these could include serious charges like accounting issues, silence on harassment issues with regards to employees, perjury related to company documents and payments), I couldn’t speak about the issue, even if I felt strongly against what was being revealed.

 

[Ismaul]

avellone didn't cuck, some random eurocommie did

Can you read? Roguey was comparing Kurwitz's situation to Avellone's. I'm saying both had only shit choices that impacted them negatively.

And one of them bent over and took it up the ass, the other worked hard to get himself out of the situation.
Can you recognize which one is the commie?

Can you understand that I'm saying that signing an NDA and not signing it both had negative consequences on Avellone, and if Kurwitz did, it was likely the same?

It's not cucking when all you're doing is getting fucked no matter what.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

avellone didn't cuck, some random eurocommie did

Can you read? Roguey was comparing Kurwitz's situation to Avellone's. I'm saying both had only shit choices that impacted them negatively.

And one of them bent over and took it up the ass, the other worked hard to get himself out of the situation.
Can you recognize which one is the commie?

Can you understand that I'm saying that signing an NDA and not signing it both had negative consequences on Avellone, and if Kurwitz did, it was likely the same?

It's not cucking when all you're doing is getting fucked no matter what.

It's cucking when you choose the most cucked option, yes.
There's a reason Avellone didn't sign.

 

[Decado]

There is no such thing as a contract that prevents you from working on RPGs ever again. Even if there is such a hilariously dumb and retarded contract, it would be completely unenforceable. Non-compete clauses have to be extremely specific and are usually of short duration -- in California in particular, where Avellone's former company lives, they are unenforceable under the law. If they bluffed him with that bullshit I would be extremely surprised.

Here you go:

I didn’t get anything when I left Obsidian. There were no share payouts, no equity, and this was in addition to the other logistical problems around the departure – the sudden cancellation of my health insurance, problems with my 401K, errors in Obsidian’s accounting, and several existing independent contracts they refused to uphold.

Realizing my family issues and the debts therein, however, they did make an attempt to leverage that into a far more confining separation agreement that would remove my right to work on RPGs, and my silence on all issues that could pertain to Obsidian or any other company they were involved with or the CEO had a % in (Fig, Zero Radius, Dark Rock Industries, etc.). This included an inability to critique games I’d worked on – much of my critiques on my own games tend to be blunt, and not being able to speak to them felt unnatural to me.

The company involvement silence worried me more, however, as it meant that if anything illegal happened with any of those companies (these could include serious charges like accounting issues, silence on harassment issues with regards to employees, perjury related to company documents and payments), I couldn’t speak about the issue, even if I felt strongly against what was being revealed.

All that may be true, but what I'm saying is that there is no contract in this country that would prevent a guy from working on RPGs. Completely and utterly unenforceable. Maybe he just didn't feel like arguing with them or whatever. But that contract could never on God's green earth be enforced, not in the US.

 

[Ladonna]

I'm having trouble following this whole thing but here's the main question: did the commies get fired?

The old style ones that created the game, plot, world, etc did. The neo They/Thems, that joined a week before the old ones were fired, are there now.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

You must realize that unlike squishy Kurwitz, muscular fat chad Avellone could threaten Feargus to rape him. He probably said something along the lines of

"Feargus, either you shove that NDA up your own ass, or I'll fuck you so bad that you'll need plastic surgery and titanium pins to rebuild your ass!"

 

[Ismaul]

what I'm saying is that there is no contract in this country that would prevent a guy from working on RPGs. Completely and utterly unenforceable.

Maybe, but since Avellone took them seriously, there might be more to it. He was facing a huge monetary loss or a huge freedom and work loss. He must've consulted a lawyer. And as he says, he chose not to take the money because he taught he would lose his career opportunities and freedom to speak, despite needing it for his ailing mother.

It's cucking when you choose the most cucked option, yes.
There's a reason Avellone didn't sign.

What's the best option in the case of Avellone: accepting money to help your mother, or refusing to be able to speak up and work in your field? The choice is not that simple. Kurwitz might have had such a difficult choice, we don't know.

I find it funny that with Kurwitz you defend immorality on the part of the company because "that was the contract", but demand the employee take a moral stand at a potentially great personal cost without considering the contractual consequences.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I find it funny that with Kurwitz you defend immorality on the part of the company because "that was the contract", but demand the employee take a moral stand at a potentially great personal cost without considering the contractual consequences.

Where did I defend the company? I'm defending people reading the contract before they sign it rather than whining afterwards.

 

[Ismaul]

Where did I defend the company? I'm defending people reading the contract before they sign it rather than whining afterwards.

And that's great. All for it.

But again, what choice did Kurwitz and co really have: sign over the Disco IP, or never make the game? Not obvious, and reading the contract doesn't change a thing to the dilemma. It also doesn't change the fact that ZA/UM owners have been assholes, as owning the IP and profiting from it in exchange for investment to create the game is one thing, but firing the creator after he made you said profit and developing his creation with other people is another.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

or never make the game

I'll take this one

 

[Decado]

I'm having trouble following this whole thing but here's the main question: did the commies get fired?

The old style ones that created the game, plot, world, etc did. The neo They/Thems, that joined a week before the old ones were fired, are there now.

Commies and SJW woke tards are fruit from the same ridiculous tree. The former gave birth to the latter. Fitting they should be ousted by the only creatures worse than them.

 

[Ladonna]

Commies and SJW woke tards are fruit from the same ridiculous tree. The former gave birth to the latter. Fitting they should be ousted by the only creatures worse than them.

Whatever. All I cared about was the fact that the people that made the game what it is were ousted, and replaced by retards that I know are incapable of not fucking things up.

(though I still don't see where in the game it is a "communist" game apart from a few NPC's, some backstory, and one plotline that is equally represented by other political plotlines)

 

[Ladonna]

"And this is a good thing"

There you go Rusty, saved you the bother of posting again.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"And this is a good thing"

There you go Rusty, saved you the bother of posting again.

You seem angry that I dislike mediocre visual novels.

 

[Ladonna]

"And this is a good thing"

There you go Rusty, saved you the bother of posting again.

You seem angry that I dislike mediocre visual novels.

Damn. You must have this thread on perma-watch.

No, I don't care what games you like. I just find it hilarious how you watch this thread, about a game designer that designed a game you apparently hate, night and day.

 

[Ismaul]

or never make the game

I'll take this one

Would you? You'd be robbed of complaining about commies, CYOA, and using the reddit button. That cannot be!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"And this is a good thing"

There you go Rusty, saved you the bother of posting again.

You seem angry that I dislike mediocre visual novels.

Damn. You must have this thread on perma-watch.

No, I don't care what games you like. I just find it hilarious how you watch this thread, about a game designer that designed a game you apparently hate, night and day.

Why are you so upset?

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm having trouble following this whole thing but here's the main question: did the commies get fired?

Only the inconvenient ones, the ones which made the game fun.

 

[AwesomeButton]

(though I still don't see where in the game it is a "communist" game apart from a few NPC's, some backstory, and one plotline that is equally represented by other political plotlines)

Anyone calling the game "communist" is immediately and irrevertably outing himself as a prime retard.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

"game"
it's an interactive book

 

[rusty_shackleford]

you know it's communist tho because they cheated to win a meaningless award on an obscure website, something a true communist would do