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

[laclongquan]

Who doesn't communicate with their team on a group project?

This is absolutely not about Obsidian, but my own personal experience. But people do decide not to communicate with their team on a group project.

Why?

Because.

That's right, just because.

Personality does play a role in how they behave. Why I call them "unprofessional", because they let their personality affect their professionalism.

 

[Latro]

Durance and GM implemented as envisioned would result in less content elsewhere.

Sounds like an improvement.

But how about the amazing writing and quests of important figures such as Carrie Patel and Olivia Veras??? You are losing the touch, Roguey. Get a grip.

carrie patel is a cutie

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Who doesn't communicate with their team on a group project?

This is absolutely not about Obsidian, but my own personal experience. But people do decide not to communicate with their team on a group project.

Why?

Because.

That's right, just because.

Personality does play a role in how they behave. Why I call them "unprofessional", because they let their personality affect their professionalism.

A recipe for failure. Communication is paramount. This isn't a first year college or high school project where one person can do everything.

 

[Fry]

The motivation isn't hard to understand.

Dude, are you for real. This some insano cruel shit. I never, ever heard any that came close to this kind of shit in the game industry, and this industry is a really toxic place. Granted, I'm not a developer, but an agreement where you can't never work again IN YOUR WHOLE FUCKING LIFE? That is beyond insane. It has nothing to do with business, bra. That's pure evil. Remember the theme of Tyranny is "When Evil Wins". That's fiting for Obsidian. Here is another irony: Avellone's character Erritis in T:ToN, acting in a way because he was forced to.

It's common in the technology industry, in general, but as I said in the post you quoted: it's usually limited to a year or less, and it's used for critical persons, not your average programmer.

A non-compete that restrictive is totally unenforceable in California. It's a joke to even suggest it.

BTW, non-competes and NDAs are very common in the tech biz. I've been asked to and have signed many just as a lowly IT worker.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Durance and GM implemented as envisioned would result in less content elsewhere.

Sounds like an improvement.

But how about the amazing writing and quests of important figures such as Carrie Patel and Olivia Veras??? You are losing the touch, Roguey. Get a grip.

carrie patel is a cutie

Like them old, do you?

 

[laclongquan]

Who doesn't communicate with their team on a group project?

This is absolutely not about Obsidian, but my own personal experience. But people do decide not to communicate with their team on a group project.

Why?

Because.

That's right, just because.

Personality does play a role in how they behave. Why I call them "unprofessional", because they let their personality affect their professionalism.

A recipe for failure. Communication is paramount. This isn't a first year college or high school project where one person can do everything.

Tell that to the person I take as examples.

But they are the type who will say out loud "I am not listening. I am not listening. la la la " and holding their ears.

It's not cute no matter how they think.

Also, there is no need for "one person can do everything". They only need to do their parts only, and do it well. And that include communication.

Bah. Write about that idiot make me cringe.

 

[Latro]

Durance and GM implemented as envisioned would result in less content elsewhere.

Sounds like an improvement.

But how about the amazing writing and quests of important figures such as Carrie Patel and Olivia Veras??? You are losing the touch, Roguey. Get a grip.

carrie patel is a cutie

Like them old, do you?

she's very cute with normal people hair, yes

 

[Ninjerk]

Durance and GM implemented as envisioned would result in less content elsewhere.

Sounds like an improvement.

But how about the amazing writing and quests of important figures such as Carrie Patel and Olivia Veras??? You are losing the touch, Roguey. Get a grip.

carrie patel is a cutie

Like them old, do you?

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Spoiler

Durance and GM implemented as envisioned would result in less content elsewhere.

Sounds like an improvement.

But how about the amazing writing and quests of important figures such as Carrie Patel and Olivia Veras??? You are losing the touch, Roguey. Get a grip.

carrie patel is a cutie

Like them old, do you?

she's very cute with normal people hair, yes

It's too late for that. She has the danger hair now. You should find a nice goth girl to settle down with instead.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Who doesn't communicate with their team on a group project?

This is absolutely not about Obsidian, but my own personal experience. But people do decide not to communicate with their team on a group project.

Why?

Because.

That's right, just because.

Personality does play a role in how they behave. Why I call them "unprofessional", because they let their personality affect their professionalism.

A recipe for failure. Communication is paramount. This isn't a first year college or high school project where one person can do everything.

Tell that to the person I take as examples.

But they are the type who will say out loud "I am not listening. I am not listening. la la la " and holding their ears.

It's not cute no matter how they think.

Also, there is no need for "one person can do everything". They only need to do their parts only, and do it well. And that include communication.

Bah. Write about that idiot make me cringe.

Are you complaining that your children do not work well with you on group projects?

 

[laclongquan]

Funny right? The thing is even more funny when the specimen is 20 something girl in my company.

You can just picture the scene.

It would be tolerable if your taste run to idiotic broads. Bad luck for me, I like sharp gals. So the thing is a chore.

 

[Glaucon]

What is with you hard marxist/socialist types rationalizing the excesses of specific business and business leaders? I've seen this too many times for it to be a coincidence. Is it that anything short of a full critique of capitalism is insufficient/hypocritical, ie, to critique the specific moral acts of person(s) implies that the general system is redeemable?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Funny right? The thing is even more funny when the specimen is 20 something girl in my company.

You can just picture the scene.

It would be tolerable if your taste run to idiotic broads. Bad luck for me, I like sharp gals. So the thing is a chore.

An odd thing for Sulik of all people to want. I'd expect spirituality first.

 

[Sentinel]

did drama reach its peak or is it worth it to take a day off to read freely?

it's dead jim

 

[Mustawd]

I think there’s some confusion here. It’s doubtful MCA’s mom was getting her health insurance from Obsidian. They cancelled MCA’s health plan, which typically covers spouse and kids, not parents (unless he already had her as a dependent before she got sick and even then many plans won’t cover a parent). His mom was probably old enough to be eligible for Medicare, not that that’s necessarily adequate for treating cancer. But Feargus wasn’t kicking Mrs. Avellone off her chemo, except insofar as he was denying Chris the money he needed to pay her treatment costs out of pocket.

Pretty sure this all would’ve played out differently if his mom’s cancer treatment was genuinely in the balance.

Well like you said it depends. And it is possible she was on his insuranc eplan before:

Spoiler

To claim a parent as a dependent for health insurance purposes, you already must list him or her as a dependent with the IRS. To meet the IRS' criteria, the parent must have earned less than $3,700 in the past year, and you must have provided at least half of the parent's financial support for food, lodging, transportation and other basic necessities.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

That NDA is some Stormy Daniels-level shit. Chris, have you ever met this man

lol.

I like that it says he is 5'4" to 6'....He is either a midget or actually maybe he is Tall...

 

[Fairfax]

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves.

The interview started in 2016, you can blame Infinitron for not releasing it earlier in chunks.

That was all me. I never sent Infinitron anything but my own versions of the finished interview. The interview had already taken a while, and most of the interview is recent, so I didn't see the point in releasing it in chunks.

But the timing of the interview's publication is not an Avellone action.

It's Fairfax action; deciding to part the interview in two and publish it around its publishing time

It was split because it was always going to have two distinct parts: my interview and the users questions.

The interview itself ended around 2 weeks ago. It was published right after it was edited and deemed publishable by Infinitron and the staff. I didn't have a say in the final edit or when it was published, but it was going to be published around this time anyway.

 

[agris]

That NDA is some Stormy Daniels-level shit. Chris, have you ever met this man

lol.

I like that it says he is 5'4" to 6'....He is either a midget or actually maybe he is Tall...

An average 5'8".

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Eeesh. Just binged this thread and now I feel like I need a shower for multiple reasons. Hopefully MCA and Eric can work out the bruised feelings because I like both of them, and hopefully Anthony Davis Brandon Adler stay hidden safely in the closet until Mommy and Daddy are done fighting.

Seriously though, a few years ago I left a senior management position at a company with just shy of 200 employees. I was not an owner, but I was one of 2 employees who reported solely to the owners (the other being our H.R. head who, contrary to Chris's experiences at Obsidian, was perhaps the most moral and principled individual I have ever met, but I realize that such people in such positions are a relative rarity). I was with the company for 7 years and in the position for 3, and due to a variety of reasons (almost all of which I attributed to incompetence and bad-faith on the part of ownership) during the last two years I became increasingly and intensely disgruntled. There is no question in my mind that this affected my work-performance, and the resentment that it bred between myself and the owners is undeniable. What it took me some time to realize though was that this was a "chicken and the egg" scenario. I was frustrated with my owners because I thought that they were lying and immoral idiots, who were upset with me because I thought they were lying and immoral idiots and it was demonstrably affecting my work-performance (for the record, after a fair amount of reflection, I continue to think that they are lying, immoral idiots, but I could just be completely lying to myself). It's also become clear to me in the intervening years that my former employees (almost all of whom I respect and admire and have endeavored to remain on good terms with) had no idea who was at fault between the proverbial chicken and egg, and were told very different, very plausible stories from all involved parties.

I wish Chris, Eric, and all other affected parties (primarily meaning the Obsidian wageslaves who have a major and uncertain product launch in 7 days that might determine their continued employment ) the very best, and hope that someday they'll all be able to smile and hug it out.

Also, not to be rude, but anyone who didn't realize that OES has massive problems in management hasn't been paying attention.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

That NDA is some Stormy Daniels-level shit. Chris, have you ever met this man

lol.

I like that it says he is 5'4" to 6'....He is either a midget or actually maybe he is Tall...

An average 5'8".

yes, but the problem is they included every height from extremely short to tall. Its not a helpful description at all, it includes like 90% of men or something.

 

[Mustawd]

Also, not to be rude, but anyone who didn't realize that OES has massive problems in management has been paying attention.

hasn't*

But yes, I agree with you.

 

[Mustawd]

That NDA is some Stormy Daniels-level shit. Chris, have you ever met this man

lol.

I like that it says he is 5'4" to 6'....He is either a midget or actually maybe he is Tall...

An average 5'8".

I know you're joking, but you're actually right. In the United States at least, 5ft 8 inches is average, if not above average.

 

[agris]

mustawd. really? is that for men or the general adult population?

 

[Mustawd]

Spoiler

IM 5FT 8IN DON'T BREAK MY BRAIN.

Yes, it is.

Spoiler

HE'S LYING