RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Kingston]

I don't know, but my pragmatic guess is that maybe Take2 wouldn't mind Feargus and his cost padding out of the picture (Feargus, at the height of stupidity, forgot to remove it in his budget he sent to them - when asked, I told them I wasn't surprised, and they should expect him to inflate costs like that, but that's why you have to watch him very, very carefully when he submits a budget - he tried to fuck over Paradox, too, because he felt entitled to).

What the fuck? :D:D:D

How has Obsidian managed to stay afloat for 14 years with this genius at the helm? It's just... how? I guess Feargus just has a talent for scraping new deals and fucking them up in some self-sustaining loop. You'd think word would spread, though.

 

[MajorMace]

Google image search is getting really good

Did you intentionally leave that second entry from urban dictionary ?

 

[Prime Junta]

I don't know, but my pragmatic guess is that maybe Take2 wouldn't mind Feargus and his cost padding out of the picture (Feargus, at the height of stupidity, forgot to remove it in his budget he sent to them - when asked, I told them I wasn't surprised, and they should expect him to inflate costs like that, but that's why you have to watch him very, very carefully when he submits a budget - he tried to fuck over Paradox, too, because he felt entitled to).

What the fuck? :D:D:D

How has Obsidian managed to stay afloat for 14 years with this genius at the helm? It's just... how? I guess Feargus just has a talent for scraping new deals and fucking them up in some self-sustaining loop. You'd think word would spread, though.

 

[Maculo]

At this rate, we need another Avellone bombshell and soon. Otherwise, it looks like the Cold War is about to reignite in this thread.

You're thinking of the one before the Cold War.

Anyway, some dweeb over at the ZA/UM Discord said that the Codex is like Stormfront for nerds. I pointed out that it's really more like the Eastern Front.

And we're just about to launch Operation Uranus.

You mean Poland is going to get shanked/backstabbed again by "enlightened" communists and fascists?

Goral, you and the other Eastern Europeans better take shelter now.

 

[Jaedar]

I do believe that such a classification is necessary, yes, and Nazis fall into that category.

Since we've derailed anyway:
The danger of doing this is that it shifts the discussion from "using violence to suppress political beliefs is wrong" to "using violence to suppress political beliefs is wrong against certain groups".

You have an easy time defending the free speech of communists, anarcho-captialists and the like now, because of the universality of wrongness of violence to suppress politics.

You'll have a much, much harder time doing it once you have to argue for the specific exclusion from the groups it's ok to suppress.

So even if you don't believe in free speech for nazis, might I suggest you consider defending it anyway (or at least not actively undermine it), for your own sake?

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

 

[Quillon]

Agreed. The spoiled owners who can't take criticism should have that power instead.

You can’t assume that every owner is a crook like Feargus for the same reason that you can’t assume that every employee is a millennial snowflake. What you can assume is that people in general are susceptible to corruption if given the proper incentives. The very fact that marxists are using Avellone to push marxist propaganda attests that. That’s what you need to consider to put things in perspective and the eventual trade-offs when supporting a political decision. The empirical data of different countries will show you that unionisation creates a corrupt class of union leaders that use marxist propaganda to obtain power and creates a series of regulations that give the workers too much power and suffocate their bosses, which in turn gives incentives to people avoid being bosses or moving overseas, which in turn means less jobs, less services and a worse live for…. the workers.

If a series of regulations were enforced overnight Avellone’s beautiful development ideas about hierarchy would be rendered useless. Leads would be always walking on eggshells and afraid of getting sued, more and more developers would behave like leaches and not getting fired, more and more publishers would be hiring people from countries which are not unionised, thus creating unemployment. In other words, all the problems we already have in other segments when unionisation takes place will also happen in game development. I don’t want to sound cold-hearted, but when all things are considered, the eventual Feargus is a small price to pay for the business of game development. If a person doesn’t want to be susceptible to the whims of someone else, be a freelance or an indie. Unionisation will not solve the problem. It will make things worse.

I'm no Marxist and the solution doesn't need to be unionization -- other avenues for accountability exist (like the BBB or some such body). My main point was that Avellone is uniquely positioned to affect positive change in the industry, utilizing a wide variety of methods.

Currently, shitposting on the Codex is providing ample laughs and discussion, but he may consider something more substantial in the future.

I thought I was a Marxist but later I learned that I was a Leninist but I am actually a Kemalist but I'm not even aware of this myself.

 

[Alienman]

Oh boy, the butt-hurt levels are off the charts currently. Find it a bit weak-sauce that Blaine was put on the ignored list. Jokes are jokes, and someone that have been around the Codex for that long should know.
I see some great potential for the thread though, still far away from apocalyptic freak-out of the Apocalypse Now thread. But we got time. mustawd. You up for it?

 

[J_C]

It's obvious that you are new here. Prolonged exposure to the Codex destroys, transforms and rebuilds you. I'm a genuinly nice guy IRL, but I've been transformed into a complete idiot, thanks to the Codex. Unfortunately Chris got a massive dosage of the Codex in the last few days, and it shows. He is starting to have enough of some of the bullshit in this thread. For this reason, please Chris Avellone leave this place while you can. I don't want to see you turned into a typical Codexian.

Isn't there some jailbait thigh you should be assaulting?

This is MCA:

2/12/10
Hey, Pooperscooper, the interview's not going to happen. It might be because of the profanity in my answers even in the rough draft, I don't know. *I* thought it was funny, so I can't imagine anyone else thinking differently.

It's probably a good thing, I wouldn't have time to do a second pass anyway with all the other junk going on. And I don't feel like editing it to make it more public-friendly, frankly.

Anyway, go ahead and dump hate on me and declare everlasting revenge, that's fine. I'll do better due diligence next time before saying "sure, send an interview."

Chris

Stop white knighting your idea of a person.

That's nothing like the posts from MCA in the last few hours you dumbfuck. What you quoted almost sounds like having fun. These ones here sound upset.

 

[Prime Junta]

The danger of doing this is that it shifts the discussion from "using violence to suppress political beliefs is wrong" to "using violence to suppress political beliefs is wrong against certain groups".

This is true.

The trouble is that /not/ being willing to use violence (or restrict freedom of speech, etc. etc.) under any circumstances means that you risk falling victim to a group that is not so scrupulous. It's the old "tolerating the intolerant" pseudo-paradox, which is not really a paradox at all. Use of violence (or restriction freedom of speech, etc., etc.) against someone agitating for use of violence against you is not only defensible, it is necessary.

Edit: Just heard from the Central Committee, policy of use of violence against Nazis is an internal Party matter and as such I am to refrain from discussing it with non-members. Sorry for the derail, carry on everyone!

 

[ArchAngel]

Blaine getting added to the ignore list wasn't something I saw coming.

Joking about antisemitism is probably thin-ice territory. He is, after all, a very left-wing kind of guy.

I'm not here to suck up to anyone, not even even if Donald Trump showed up to do a Q&A. No one is immune and I haven't wavered from that in six years, unlike some of these glitterboys who instantly turned into knob-polishing sycophants when MCA showed up.

I don't need him to like me in order to support his cause, you simpleminded fucks, but I received your messages of disapproval via your shit ratings and other such nonsense.

We're online. He wasn't able to punch so he did what he could. Understandable, if futile.

Oh boy, are we envisioning what we'd do to people we disagree with online if they were within striking distance?

Putting people on ignore is a sign of weakness. There is something to learn even from people completely opposite to you.

 

[MajorMace]

Oh boy, the butt-hurt levels are off the charts currently. Find it a bit weak-sauce that Blaine was put on the ignored list.

Chris ain't blind. He's probably seen here and there these people claim damn, he hangs with neo nazis over there at the codex and took on this occasion to send a clear message.
Or he really doesn't like Blaine, but then again who does ?

I do, bud. I do.

 

[Blaine]

Wait a minute, are you now saying you're not an un-ironic Nazi? If that's the case, then I will immediately reclassify you into the not-punchable category.

No... no, I'm not. Then again, none of the people who unironically call themselves Nazis these days are actually Nazis, either—they're just retarded.

Something's different in the air in this thread, now. Both comprehension of and appreciation for tasteful shitposting and jokes seem to have declined sharply, and my sense of fun is draining away. There will be no more memes until morale improves.

Find it a bit weak-sauce that Blaine was put on the ignored list.

Hang on now, I consider that an accomplishment. Don't you try to take it away from me!

Let's be real here, exposure to Blaineposting would likely make most of the developers you can think of reach for the ignore button. Most of them are stridently left-wing; also, they're here professionally, and don't have time to figure out people's stupid gimmicks.

 

[Alienman]

Oh boy, the butt-hurt levels are off the charts currently. Find it a bit weak-sauce that Blaine was put on the ignored list.

Chris ain't blind. He's probably seen here and there these people claim damn, he hangs with neo nazis over there at the codex and took on this occasion to send a clear message.
Or he really doesn't like Blaine, but then again who does ?

I do, bud. I do.

Man, if that was the reason it's way too late already. Codex viewed from the outside is that we are the worst kind of white supremacy fascist pineapple-on-pizza eaters ever.

 

[ga♥]

To explain, for a long time, I thought Feargus had protected me from my early management failures back at Interplay (I definitely made some as a first lead on Torment) and watched out for me when I was under stress and working double-time on Fallout 2/Torment - and he told me as much, which I thought was a noble thing for a manager to do, so I resolved to support him as best I could because he clearly had my back.

During the last year at Obsidian, however, one of the breaking points (and I think he didn't realize how much his Interplay protection had meant to me personally) was he then told me he had actually done the exact opposite of what he said he'd done and that he hadn't done anything at all, and in fact, encouraged some of the troubles I had experienced. Other Obsidian employees have experienced similar revelations of past actions that turned out not to be true by Feargus's own admission.

It was a big shock to me, but I made sure to double-check with him to make sure I'd heard him right, then went back to my office and thought for a while. One big problem with this revelation was it was one of the reasons I'd defended him at Interplay, gone with him to Obsidian, and then defended all he'd done for there for the past 9 years... because I thought he'd stood up for me and made sacrifices for me as an employee. But he hadn't. It was like a chunk of my life had been derailed, and I felt sick about it.

The rush of emotion died in my mind. This was the end. The words he... I... were about to speak were true, but the truth was not the truth she saw. There were no lies, only cold calculations. Of *course* he wanted you to come with him, Deionarra. I understood it clearly, too clearly: He had invested too much in the poor girl to let her go.


Echo: "Of course, Deionarra. I would not have asked you to come with me if I did not want your company. You *know* how I feel about you..."


There was a cold silence in his mind, then a hissing of a thought, a response sharp and deadly, like a dagger blade. The lie came swiftly, unburdened by emotion.


Echo: "I love you, Deionarra."


And I wanted to SCREAM as I felt the lie wash over her like a RADIANCE, but it was a SHADOW of TRUTH, A SERPENT'S KISS, AND HE MEANT ME HARM AND SHE COULDN'T *SEE* I WANTED TO CALL OUT BUT SHE WAS CRYING WITH JOY EVEN AS - EVEN AS -


I cried with joy... with frustration... with joy... with despair...


The emotion washed over me, like I was drowning, DROWNING, and I needed to speak, I LONGED to speak, but I could not...and...


I screamed, screamed as I tore my hands from the stone, bloody tears rushing from my eyes, running in streams down my arms, my hands, to coat the stone. Blood! Her blood! And... I couldn't WARN her... and I couldn't stop CRYING......

 

[ERYFKRAD]

someone that have been around the Codex for that long should know.

With the caveat that they have also browsed GD.

 

[Jaedar]

The danger of doing this is that it shifts the discussion from "using violence to suppress political beliefs is wrong" to "using violence to suppress political beliefs is wrong against certain groups".

This is true.

The trouble is that /not/ being willing to use violence (or restrict freedom of speech, etc. etc.) under any circumstances means that you risk falling victim to a group that is not so scrupulous. It's the old "tolerating the intolerant" pseudo-paradox, which is not really a paradox at all. Use of violence (or restriction freedom of speech, etc., etc.) against someone agitating for use of violence against you is not only defensible, it is necessary.

I fully and entirely disagree.

Consider your argument taken to the logical extreme: It should be ok to to go scalphunting pro-abortionists, because they are advocating murder of the defenceless (one of the worst kinds of violence!).

When the neo-nazis actually stoop to using violence, then yes, they should be crushed (ie, taken to jail and prosecuted in accordance with rhe law) by the local police (riot squads). But the thing is that they won't, because they are such a tiny minority they could never win once violence becomes the battlefield. So we let them talk, and hold their demonstrations, because as corny as it sounds, you won't defeat them with violence, you'll defeat them LOVE <3.

Your ability to resort to such excellent means is mainly due to the prospering society you live in. Also, looking at the success of your Gandhis or early christians, it's kinda hard to believe violence is necessarily ever a more effective tool.

 

[Kz3r0]

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Always find it funny when people categorize Codex when the reality is that if you ask 10 Codexers you'll get 10 different opinions/views, people around here can't agree on anything from any facet of life except turn-based>RTWP and Avellone being awesome (and even then you have PST is a visual novel retards).

 

[Black]

if you ask 10 Codexers you'll get 10 different opinions/views

At minimum.

 

[HanoverF]

Someone make a Feargus Urquhart voodoo doll for Chris. The winner, chosen by Feargus, will receive a cash bonus for the work.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

My main point was that Avellone is uniquely positioned to affect positive change in the industry, utilizing a wide variety of methods.

How? Can he magically prevent any other future owner from abusing his authority? No, he can't, because shitty people want to giver orders and good people don't want the hassle. Unless you have one magic potion that fix human nature nothing will change. This is good for the morale for people that had to deal with this at work (99% of the mankind), but it can be interpreted in the wrong way.

 

[Kz3r0]

if you ask 10 Codexers you'll get 10 different opinions/views

At minimum.

Like Italy then?

 

[Prime Junta]

if you ask 10 Codexers you'll get 10 different opinions/views

At minimum.

Like Italy then?

Huh, the phrase that sprung to my mind was "two Jews, three opinions."

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

This thread is the equivalent of the hottest, most popular cheerleader girl having a long, friendly chat with the neighbourhood hobos.

Fuck you, I'm not some unwashed vagrant. You gonna finish that can of beans, btw?