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

[Urthor]

It'll sell, because as we've learned from Electronic Arts, no matter how bad a company treats its employees, consumers don't give a fuck as long as they can get their fix.

Electronic Arts treats its employees super well relatively speaking according to all the surveys what are you talking about.

 

[Blaine]

Roguey agris I don't/wouldn't blame Josh (or any of the rest of them) one bit for staying far away from their official forums. I don't post on forums where professionals are forced to tolerate people with avatars like this, either. I can tolerate feminists, SJWs, white supremacists, Muslims, Scientologists, weeaboos, and even communists and furries, but I draw the fucking line at bronies.

It's not just about bronies, but where they are tolerated and people aren't allowed to bully them off the Internet, other deeply unpleasant aspects will also exist in the forum culture.

 

[Roguey]

You guise, Chris was just saying that instead of calling himself the News Jew, Infinitron should change his tag to Israeli Commentary to be more accurate, that's all.

 

[2house2fly]

It just strikes me as kind of silly to use "treated Chris Avellone well/poorly" as the main criteria for judging the moral character of a given company. I can understand boycotting companies that kill people or fund your political opponents or violate some religious commandment like dealing in pork products. But as much as I love his work, the ethical treatment of Chris Avellones is pretty far down on my list of things to get up in arms about.

I mean, is Chris himself even calling for a boycott?

It's entertainment, and anyone can support or not support anyone for any reason: treated Avellone poorly, broke kickstarter promises, don't like Muslims, etc. Or no reason. Who cares

 

[Drax]

Jesus fucking christ onna stick BEST DAY EVER.
I didn't work a single minute today because of this thread.
Now MCA has to switch to his human stretch-goal persona and go work in Disco LSDium.

 

[2house2fly]

I mean, is Chris himself even calling for a boycott?

As he's already mentioned, he's all for doing anything that doesn't help the owners make any money. The Deadfire developers have already been paid, so if Deadfire sales suffer, it's the owners who hurt the most. Maybe there's lay-offs, but a talented bunch can get back on their feet soon enough and freeing them from the yoke of Obsidian is arguably doing them a favor (though they're likely just trading one bad master for another).

He specifically said he doesn't want to personally do anything that could make them money again, so that way they can't freak out about him spilling the beans because there are no beans to spill.

Still, it would be the actions of a madman to read his posts in this thread and assume he wants people to support Obsidian

 

[2house2fly]

Hey Chris, when Eric talked about some members of management having personality disorders, who do you think he was referring to?

Follow up: which personality disorders?

I know the people he’s referring to, but it was lame to bring it up and would be lame to add to it, and it doesn’t affect their performance.

That’s the last thing I’ll say about it, it shouldn’t have been said in the first place.

Oh yeah. It would be bad form to go airing dirty laundry like that in public.

 

[Imoens pet]

:thinking:

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

so are we mainstream news yet or what


great thread

 

[Bocha]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...ompete-agreements_us_58af1626e4b0e5fdf6196f04 this is true?, check exception to the rule.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Oh yeah. It would be bad form to go airing dirty laundry like that in public.

My only point is I believe it’s one thing to criticize people for actions they take of their own volition, and another to criticize people for their brain chemistry which isn’t their fault and doesn’t affect their job performance.

Disorders can get stigmatized in the game industry like any other, and it can be used to undermine people’s work and voice, that’s all I mean.

He specifically said he doesn't want to personally do anything that could make them money again, so that way they can't freak out about him spilling the beans because there are no beans to spill.

Still, it would be the actions of a madman to read his posts in this thread and assume he wants people to support Obsidian

I don’t care if people support Obsidian, Pillars, etc. My issue is specifically with upper management, not the actual developers or the games the developers make.

I absolutely believe (and have seen many instances of this) that Obsidian’s success rarely translates into financial gain and job security for any employee – but it can help an employee's reputation and their resume, however.

 

[Jacob]

I'm just happy that I can rate a public figure's opinion with the "shit" rating, what a time to be alive.

 

[you know what time it is]

I know the people he’s referring to, but it was lame to bring it up and would be lame to add to it, and it doesn’t affect their performance.

That’s the last thing I’ll say about it, it shouldn’t have been said in the first place.

Out of curiosity, what was the best place/time to work at? In terms of development processes, personal involvement/input and relationships with your peers (in work context, that is).

 

[Lycra Suit]

I absolutely believe (and have seen many instances of this) that Obsidian’s success rarely translates into financial gain and job security for any employee

Are you saying that bonuses are rare occurrences and that Obsidian's financial situation always leaves them on the verge of laying off a lot of people?

 

[Mustawd]

this is true?, check exception to the rule.

Non Compete isnt an NDA....

 

[Chris Avellone]

Out of curiosity, what was the best place/time to work at? In terms of development processes, personal involvement/input and relationships with your peers (in work context, that is).

Interplay: First few years were stressful b/c Black Isle was finding its way, PST and F2 were fun but stressful, Icewind Dale 1 was pretty laid back (I was coming off Torment and Fallout 2 crunch and got some downtime), then fear of bankruptcy and collapse set in around IWD2 and kept growing, etc., working on Van Buren before BG3 collapse was a lot of fun, then BG3 got canceled, departures happened, etc. Interplay in the early years had a great camaraderie about it, though, especially in the “old” building where people were crammed together by necessity.

Obsidian: KOTOR2, NWN2 were stressful, MotB was an upswing (I liked working on that very much), things started going sour again around AP/Aliens (inc. the layoffs), I didn't work on DS3, New Vegas was stressful, the DLCs were a fun time, but the next round of layoffs kind of ruined the end of that run. The morale of the studio did go up after South Park was released, as a lot of people liked the game so there were more eyes on the studio, but the rise in morale wasn’t because of working on South Park (which was stressful). After that, it was pretty uncertain and had a lot of ups and downs. Armored Warfare kept most of the studio afloat, though, but the drawback was once the deal fell through, it looked like there was no way to place everyone on a new project, so again - more layoffs (I wasn't there when that happened).

 

[Chris Avellone]

Are you saying that bonuses are rare occurrences and that Obsidian's financial situation always leaves them on the verge of laying off a lot of people?

I think there might have been a bonus once in the ten+ years I was there, but it was very early on. It wasn't normally done (nor were the yearly reviews regularly done and apparently, still aren't).

EDIT: And this isn't a secret, but the payscale at Obsidian is definitely on the low end of the industry as well - the tradeoff is you get to work on RPGs, though (usually).

EDIT 2: I didn't answer about layoffs, but the rate is about once every three years, if I'm tracking the numbers correctly. The end of a project doesn't always mean a layoff, though - but at other times with cancelled/lost projects like Armored Warfare, there apparently wasn't enough funds to keep people on while securing a new project (which takes time, usually months).

The Stormlands cancellation definitely had no back-up plans (as has been relayed), but I don't blame Microsoft for that - while I wasn't on the project, it turns out there were signs they were unhappy with the project and the team a long time before they finally canceled the game, and the warning signs were there, but no contingency plans were ever made.

Once things really started going south, the producer-owners definitely worked hard to try and persuade Microsoft to keep working with them but it was too late - a lot of what you see related in the media and documentaries is mostly a result of the fact you can't do anything else but try and put yourself in a noble light vs. the demands of the big evil publisher when something like that happens - but in fact, there were big problems on both sides. The former, however, definitely makes for a better story.

 

[Imoens pet]

Out of curiosity, what was the best place/time to work at? In terms of development processes, personal involvement/input and relationships with your peers (in work context, that is).

Interplay: First few years were stressful b/c Black Isle was finding its way, PST and F2 were fun but stressful, Icewind Dale 1 was pretty laid back (I was coming off Torment and Fallout 2 crunch and got some downtime), then fear of bankruptcy and collapse set in around IWD2 and kept growing, etc., working on Van Buren before BG3 collapse was a lot of fun, then BG3 got canceled, departures happened, etc. Interplay in the early years had a great camaraderie about it, though, especially in the “old” building where people were crammed together by necessity.

Obsidian: KOTOR2, NWN2 were stressful, MotB was an upswing (I liked working on that very much), things started going sour again around AP/Aliens (inc. the layoffs), I didn't work on DS3, New Vegas was stressful, the DLCs were a fun time, but the next round of layoffs kind of ruined the end of that run. The morale of the studio did go up after South Park was released, as a lot of people liked the game so there were more eyes on the studio, but the rise in morale wasn’t because of working on South Park (which was stressful). After that, it was pretty uncertain and had a lot of ups and downs. Armored Warfare kept most of the studio afloat, though, but the drawback was once the deal fell through, it looked like there was no way to place everyone on a new project, so again - more layoffs (I wasn't there when that happened).

Why did you stick with Obsidian for so long?

 

[Glaucon]

Do you ever plan on founding/co-founding another company, Chris?

 

[Blaine]

Oh yeah. It would be bad form to go airing dirty laundry like that in public.

Hello everyone, I'm from Something Awful and I genuinely can't tell the difference between blowing the whistle on shitty treatment of employees and publicly announcing that individuals are afflicted by this or that mental illnesses.

By the way, fat women aren't responsible for being fat, should never be mocked, and refusing to date them is sexist; but short men are responsible for not being tall, mocking them is hilarious, and women are entitled to their preferences. Only short, involuntarily celibate fucking white males find this even remotely hypocritical. If you agree, come join us on our forums where we can all agree together for a one-time payment of $10.

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

wow lot of new members joining yesterday i wonder why

 

[Sentinel]

what's up with the increasingly complex Inconceivable pics

 

[Mustawd]

Monty Markland did something similar to this to inXile not long ago. He seemed unwell (and disappeared shortly thereafter). I hope you aren't.

Yah, I tried talking to him about that....

By the way, fat women aren't responsible for being fat, should never be mocked, and refusing to date them is sexist;

It's not sexist, but it's just wrong. I love my chubs.

Also:

 

[Jacob]

Benefits at Obsidian
Being a part of one of the few remaining independent developers in the world creating role-playing games is only the start! Obsidian offers many benefits to its employees:

• Competitive salaries
• Immediate 401k with matching and no vesting periods
• Complete comprehensive employee health coverage, including medical, dental, and vision
• Paid vacation, sick leave, holidays and an additional week off during the December holidays
• A well maintained games, book and DVD library with hundreds of titles available to borrow
• Movie Fridays where the company takes a workday field trip across the street to see the latest and greatest blockbuster movies

 

[Mustawd]

By the way, fat women aren't responsible for being fat

Umm. wot? Did fat women do something wrong? Chubs rule. We gon fight soon Blaine. I see it. Don't fuck with my chubs.

Movie Fridays where the company takes a workday field trip across the street to see the latest and greatest blockbuster movies

Inb4 these are just Feargus home movies.