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

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Ok but riddle me this, What do you call it when you like getting sexually harassed by female coworkers?

Being human.

 

[Haba]

Since we're doing brutal honesty, Chris Avellone did you get sexually harassed by Obsidian's HRM? There's are rumours and some borderline-creepy public behaviour on record there.

Ok but riddle me this, What do you call it when you like getting sexually harassed by female coworkers?

Rape.

 

[Prime Junta]

Chris Avellone dream scenario:

I'd expect his dream scenario is a lot more ambitious than that. Probably involves winged women wearing corsets of chastity.

 

[Korron]

83 God damn pages, and it ain't over yet. Fitting that the day I discover my oldfag status I open a thread of penisaurian proportions. Can we just have a filter everyone else's posts but MCA's button since he's now an official denizen of the dark underbelly and I can't stalk his profile?

Seriously though Chris, hats off to you for speaking out. Different industry, but I've worked for a boss that micro-managed, encouraged flat-out research fraud to get grants, and had a history of retaliatory firings for standing firm against them on the truth of data. I left to become a software engineer, and try not to look back. While I spoke to people in authority at the institution, I never took it further and I regret it. The potential repercussions of whistleblowing at a federal level were too scary for me.

Anyway it's particularly satisfying to see someone fight to earn their own independence to the point where they feel confident enough to speak out on this.

 

[Mustawd]

Chris Avellone dream scenario:

1) Obsidian owners resign in shame
2) Tim Cain appointed acting CEO
3) During Project Indiana's development, Obsidian acquired by Take Two Interactive
4) Chris Avellone appointed as General Manager
5) The purge begins

Ok a lot of things wrong with this.

1) Owners resigning is like when you're a kid and you angrily stack your toys against your room door to prevent your parents coming in and they open it the opposite way you were expecting and your toys just fall into the hallway like inefficient WW1 soldiers (yes, this happened to me, fuck you). Owners are still gonna be owners.

2.) Tim Cain is a horrible CEO. See Troika. I bet he is a great designer. But Tim Cain being a CEO is like Infini being a judge at a bacon cooking contest. Or is that muslim? I honestly can't keep up with your weird jedi rituals.

3.) Project Indiana is such a good name for a super duper secret project.

4.) Wot? MCA just said he is a crappy manager.

5.) We need to purge Bethesda and Bioware drones, but that'd leave our membership at like 10% of what it is. So it's never gonna happen.

 

[Blaine]

What is the job description of a Controller?

Spoiler

I am the Nightrider. I'm a fuel-injected suicide machine. I am a rocker, I am a roller, I am an out-of-controller!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fat_Controller

 

[Jasede]

I think it would be super cool to drink a beer on a patio with MCA. Wearing sunglasses, and maybe shorts.

This... But without wearing shorts.

 

[Trashos]

Let's nominate songs for the Official Epic Thread soundtrack. I nominate this:

I see you and I raise you.

Spoiler

 

[Atomkilla]

What can change the nature of a manager?

 

[Mustawd]

What is the job description of a Controller?

A Controller is like....fuck how do I describe it to you non accounting types...

Ok so a Controller is like the deputy executive chef at a high end restaurant. However, you have people at her same level (im using "her" cuz most controllers I've met are women so fuck you Resetera drone). Like you'll have the general cooking "manager" but you also have the head of pastries which would be like the Director of FP&A, and then you have the head of Soups which would be the director of Tax and likely Treasury. And the CFO would be the executive chef in charge of everyone.

Except at Obsidian the CFO is some random dude who can make macaroni in a microwave, apparently.

Like...men and ladies and third genders..I cannot express how insane having Feargus as CFO is. It's loco. I mean I used a Spanish word. So you know I'm serious.

 

[Blaine]

Let's nominate songs for the Official Epic Thread soundtrack. I nominate this:

Spoiler

I see you and I raise you.

Spoiler

Do you get it, guys? Because the story just keeps on going!

 

[Prime Junta]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.



There's clearly a mole there.

 

[Latro]

Thread just keeps on delivering, even if it's a bitch to catch up on. Have a feeling MCA is saving the biggest bombs for last... a mild bit of criticism thrown Sawyer's way would instantly add 300 pages

I don't think we'll ever going to see a substantial criticism of Sawyer from Chris. Let me explain.

Sawyer is like a cat. He's a slightly moody and memetic creature, sort of amicable, if not always readily approachable which guarantees that he stays out of politics that could otherwise endanger prospects of him satisfying his feline urges. It follows that as a cat, he can do what he wants most of the time and people grew to accept his fluffy eccentricities. It can be also implied that his circumstance warrants he has a different set of definitions for phenomena such as fun and rewards. Just think about it; for a cat, walking from one side of the room to the other while musing on a fly it slaughtered the other day would be a perfectly fun and rewarding experience, however dull it would be to an average specimen of genus homo. Cat really is a romantic creature, and so is Sawyer. I think Chris realizes that better than almost anyone here because he has actually seen Sawyer's true form–his nature. He knows that criticizing Joshua Sawyer would be practically pointless, as criticism is beyond a cat's interest, or even understanding. Besides, who really wants to punish a cat that just goes about doing cat things? That would be heartless.

go to bed sawyer

 

[Latro]

Chris Avellone

But seriously, you mentioned that Feargus was buying stuff without any foreknowledge or approval from the rest of you guys, mind divulging what sorts of "waste spending" he was doing?

 

[Infinitron]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.

Bonus: Kem0sabe being his usual lovable self

 

[Big Wrangle]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.

There's clearly a mole there.

Theory: The community manager is in cahoots but used Durance memes to keep the heat off, now he dropped a hint at Codex but he didn't remove the nose to reduce suspicions.

 

[Brancaleone]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.

There's clearly a mole there.

It's the nose picture, a calculated insult towards MCA. Obsidian is clearly retaliating (in their own passive-aggressive way).

 

[Big Wrangle]

On may 4th DarkUnderlord will change all our avatars to noseless Darth Nihilus, to show who we stand with.
#IStandWithAvellone #WeAreDarthNihilus

 

[Nas92]

I'm a bit late to the party, but how do you legally forbid a person from working on RPGs ever again?

Anyhow, this whole thing should remove the good old illusion that Obsidian are the good Kickstarter grifters.

 

[Mustawd]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.

Bonus: Kem0sabe being his usual lovable self

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/how-do-you-report-suspected-tax-fraud-activity

The IRS Whistleblower Office pays money to people who blow the whistle on persons who fail to pay the tax that they owe. If the IRS uses information provided by the whistleblower, it can award the whistleblower up to 30 percent of the additional tax, penalty and other amounts it collects.

https://www.irs.gov/compliance/whistleblower-informant-award

Spoiler

This is sheep's cat. KYS.

 

[Atomkilla]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.

Bonus: Kem0sabe being his usual lovable self

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/how-do-you-report-suspected-tax-fraud-activity

The IRS Whistleblower Office pays money to people who blow the whistle on persons who fail to pay the tax that they owe. If the IRS uses information provided by the whistleblower, it can award the whistleblower up to 30 percent of the additional tax, penalty and other amounts it collects.

https://www.irs.gov/compliance/whistleblower-informant-award

Spoiler

This is sheep's cat. KYS.

Can Codex become an IRS informant and use that 30% of money to pledge for the next Obsidian project on Fig?

 

[Mustawd]

I'm a bit late to the party, but how do you legally forbid a person from working on RPGs ever again?

Meh. This is likely an aggressive position that could be disputed by a good lawyer. Provided that MCA is sharing all the facts.

 

[Mustawd]

This just showed on my Twitter timeline.

Bonus: Kem0sabe being his usual lovable self

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/how-do-you-report-suspected-tax-fraud-activity

The IRS Whistleblower Office pays money to people who blow the whistle on persons who fail to pay the tax that they owe. If the IRS uses information provided by the whistleblower, it can award the whistleblower up to 30 percent of the additional tax, penalty and other amounts it collects.

https://www.irs.gov/compliance/whistleblower-informant-award

Spoiler

This is sheep's cat. KYS.

Can Codex become an IRS informant and use that 30% of money to pledge for the next Obsidian project on Fig?

Dude...with GPU prices as high as they are, I would not be surprised by codexers calling this in. FO4 doesn't play itself .

 

[Chris Avellone]

Chris Avellone dream scenario:

1) Obsidian owners resign in shame
2) Tim Cain appointed acting CEO
3) During Project Indiana's development, Obsidian acquired by Take Two Interactive
4) Chris Avellone appointed as General Manager
5) The purge begins

Based on these steps, I wouldn’t do a purge – and I also wouldn’t want some of the owners to go, either – but they would need bosses. I'd even consider working with Feargus if he had someone watching him (production-wise and accounting-wise, I wouldn't let him near finances).

I also wouldn’t want to be a GM, I’d want Cain (and Boyarsky) to do whatever they’d like and support them because I believe based on their track record, that would pay off in the end – for everyone, including them.

But, before you think I’m being overly kind, the poorly-performing nepotism hires would, yes, all be let go. They are evident even to the folks still at Obsidian, and it causes problems to this day to see some underperformers getting special treatment for no other reason than, well, "the owner knows them and drinks beer with them."

 

[J_C]

Since we're doing brutal honesty, Chris Avellone did you get sexually harassed by Obsidian's HRM? There's are rumours and some borderline-creepy public behaviour on record there.

Ok but riddle me this, What do you call it when you like getting sexually harassed by female coworkers?

Dreamjob?