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

[Prime Junta]

If hypothetically, the game industry is an overall "no" next year, I could relax for 200+ years and not worry about a thing. Even my funeral is paid for.

Gotta say, this thread takes the phrase "fuck you money" to a whole new level.

 

[Fairfax]

I’m not sure what you did will protect you from libel, and unfortunately, your blast was much wider than Roguey’s when you spread the news you believed was true to a wider audience - so I would accept it and hope for no consequences.

??? When did this happen? I remember him being skeptical, and I don't recall it being discussed anywhere outside the appreciation thread.

Infinitron posted it as fact on Obsidian's forums: Latest Avellone DRAMA - accuses Obsidian HR of harassment, regrets signing NDA

 

[Infinitron]

I posted "as fact" that he was accusing her, not that the accusations are valid.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

20 pages of AwesomeButton arguing with ColonelTeacup, and now we have to read documents and assorted autism about shareholders and owners.

Work called, and besides, it is pointless for me to argue with a man who refuses to see the error of his ways.

Which is why you came here where most of the audience reveres you as god among men :D

Again, the Codex was one of the few that ever asked.

Btw. we've been asking you Qs for as long as I was on codex in your appreciation thread(prolly before that also), the messenger always said something about NDA & you can't talk somehow, and you responded very rarely there. Just saying.

Answer is very simple.
Lets look at the facts first:
1. DarkUnderlord is nowhere to be seen in this topic
2. DarkUnderlord likes to troll the Codex

So the only possible answer is that DU has taken over Chris Avellone account and he is creating this drama.

EDIT: I am not the first that came up with this idea but after he has not appeared in the topic for many more pages after last time someone brought this up, it just makes him more and more guilty

I stopped caring about RPGs around about the time Troika died, when Avellone became a lost wandering soul, Leon joined the ever declining Blizzard, and Tim sold his soul to the MMO crowd.

Also, I ain't wading through 80+ pages of Codexer's shit just to find some juicy Avellone nuggets. I'm waiting for Infinitron to post the summary article.

So far, as to what's been said, none of it is surprising or unexpected. Particularly in creative fields. And particularly in the game industry. And particularly with Feargus and Co. We know he can't run a business. Don't you guys remember Interplay?

Now, the important question is who is worse with money, Feargus or Chris Roberts?

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

Looks like Infinitron and Roguey got played masterfully. Weaponised autism is dangerous. But using that weapon, willfully, that's another level.

 

[Kem0sabe]

And on a side note, I'll never understand the pedestal people put this guy in. Did he do a great job with a couple of titles? Sure. Regarding most things he was involved, though, he was one in a team of writers and designers, with minimal input, in the big picture. I mean, he designed a character for a game, a couple of quests for another, and a few more bits and pieces here and there, and he's now apparently the second coming of christ, with people crediting him for the quality of a game, and with every Kickstarter campaign featuring him in some form. It's ridiculous. I was just playing Into the Breach the other day, and I was exactly thinking how he should get a Nobel Prize for his writing. Really, nothing incredibly generic, at all, with the writing. It was completely life changing.

Those cucks over at resetera truly dont have a clue.

 

[Prime Junta]

I posted "as fact" that he was accusing her, not that I believe the accusations.

I dunno about libel laws in the US but spreading a libellous claim is actionable in lots of places even if you didn't actually originate it.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Could be cute if she prevented the fatocalypse from hitting in full force.

Still, proves that Chris Parker must be a cuck who can't keep his female on a tight leash. Silent reverence and perhaps an admiring sound every now and again is the only acceptable behaviour for her in the presence of MCA.

When I was younger I was the victim of sexual harassment as well. One day a wamen came to me and grabbed my ass, without permission. I was appalled and shocked. I immediately hit her in the solar plexus which sent her down gasping for air. Then I called the police to arrest her.
Justice won that day.

 

[axedice]

So Chris Avellone why the silence all this time until today? Fairfax has long believed that you were under NDA (which led the rest of us to believe that was the case too). Is it simply not wanting to shit where you previously ate, or maybe something more?

Here is a quote from the Appreciation Thread back from Jan 2017

Years later MCA says he "didn't want to be Lead Writer at Obsidian". I intend to ask him why in the interview, but anything specific about PoE's development is under NDA, so the best person to explain what happened in that gap would be Sawyer, I guess.

Also this is directly from the current interview

Since you can't comment on PoE's case in particular

My understanding is you bit the (financial) bullet, gave up on all your monetary claims and skipped the NDA/ non-compete / no more work on RPGs bullshit that Feargus forced you to sign (which by the way sounds very shaky, AFAIK a person can not be forced to give up on his livelihood under any contract) and at the same time you told about this abuse to nobody. Is there a point I'm missing here? I mean why?..

 

[Prime Junta]

Revenge is a dish best served cold?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Good old Infinitron, tried to post news, fell into the trap of being misinterpreted and involuntarily created some fake news.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

So Chris Avellone why the silence all this time until today? Fairfax has long believed that you were under NDA (which led the rest of us to believe that was the case too). Is it simply not wanting to shit where you previously ate, or maybe something more?

Here is a quote from the Appreciation Thread back from Jan 2017

Years later MCA says he "didn't want to be Lead Writer at Obsidian". I intend to ask him why in the interview, but anything specific about PoE's development is under NDA, so the best person to explain what happened in that gap would be Sawyer, I guess.

Also this is directly from the current interview

Since you can't comment on PoE's case in particular

My understanding is you bit the (financial) bullet, gave up on all your monetary claims and skipped the NDA/ non-compete / no more work on RPGs bullshit that Feargus forced you to sign (which by the way sounds very shaky, AFAIK a person can not be forced to give up on his livelihood under any contract) and at the same time you told about this abuse to nobody. Is there a point I'm missing here? I mean why?..

Didn't he mention before that the reason why he decided to come and speak out is because no one realized, other than Infinitron, that he received nothing from Obsidian when he left? And he wanted to set the record straight. I could be wrong, but I remember this being talked about 2(?) days ago?

 

[GuiltyofBeingTrite]

I'm 19 pages in, anything good happen/any nudes show up in the next 70 pages?

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Most of what Chris says is believable and shameful on Obs' management if true(prolly is) but the timing of all this is annoying. I was watching Anthony Davis' streaming Pillars 1 few hours ago and one of the QA guys from Obs dropped by and told him they are hard at work polishing the game and he has a few hours rest before overseeing that Cohh guy's Deadfire stream, despite all this he was very enthusiastic and said he's very lucky to be part of this etc bla bla you can cry now And MCA here trying to ruin it for them(the devs he apparently likes) with the timing of his gut pouring after about 3 years. Yeah :D

An unfortunate timing but that's just how business works bro, let's not be naive here. Obsidian big wigs failed to leverage him into silence so it was up to Avellone to choose the moment when to spill the beans and drop the truth bomb, it's just too bad.

 

[Phanax]

I don't have many expenses, and I don't need to work anymore - I work because I love writing for games, so I do. Shocking, I know, but... yes, it's the truth.

Answers my main question I guess. MCA doesn't give a fuck because he has no fucks to give, so why not get things off your chest without fear of repercussion. It's a very rare, very fortunate position to be in.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm 19 pages in, anything good happen/any nudes show up in the next 70 pages?

Search for posts by Chris Avellone, and you're set.

 

[Shadenuat]

- My favorite pst char is Grace
Avellone

She is also the only companion with whom you can gossip about every other companion behind their back.

 

[conan_edw]

Shit just went to sleep and then there are +15 pages.
Well Chris since you are covered for 200 years why don't you make that RPG savior studio

 

[axedice]

Didn't he mention before that the reason why he decided to come and speak out is because no one realized, other than Infinitron, that he received nothing from Obsidian when he left? And he wanted to set the record straight. I could be wrong, but I remember this being talked about 2(?) days ago?

Thats correct, but people had been signalling that they believed he was under NDA all this time so Sensuki 's assumption should not be new. I don't think he dropped the bomb out of bitterness days before deadfire's relase, but something else must have triggered him.

 

[Prime Junta]

Chris Avellone Do you get any royalties on Beamdog's PS:T EE?

(If you do, I'll buy a copy.)

 

[Harold]

Guys, it's very simple.

You see, MCA is doing this now as a favor to his old pal, Josh. Dude's first job was as web designer on PST, yet for all these years he failed to learn a very important writing lesson

Fear names. Names have power in identity. Others can use names as weapons. Names are a hook that can be used to track you across the planes.

So, MCA just wanted to give the now co-narrative lead a small nudge in the right direction, make sure that Deadfire would live up to its name and be on release by starting fire after fire in this thread.

It's a lesson all aspiring game-writers should take to heart.

 

[Sextant]

s e x u a l t e n s i o n
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-codex-interview-with-feargus-and-mca.108791/

Where they in the same room?

JMR: How many writers does Obsidian employ on Tyranny?
FU: [laughs]

FU: And, and, we just... in the end, which is, sounds like very poor business, we got really busy, and it just, it became lesser priority, partly because we felt we wanted Eternity to be further along before we did it. Whether it was going to be an MCA game? Most likely it was going to be, that wasn't a definite, but I would say that that was, that was the goal, was to be something that Chris, you know, himself really wanted to make.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

US non-compete agreements are voluntary civil contracts that can be challenged if they fall outside the norms in a particular state or jurisdiction. In some states they are barely enforceable at all, and they are generally easy to invalidate anywhere if they try to have terms that are too broad or last longer than a couple of years. The law concerning them is more set by case precedent in higher courts than by legislative statutes.

I know a guy you can tell these stories to. He signed a non-compete while working on some no-name game for mobile phones. Then he quit.

He started his company, and that company made ARK.

Then he got sued because of the non-compete and had to give up 150 million bucks.

Non-compete sure are a joke and a barely enforceable yeah. Not to be taken seriously at all.

 

[Maculo]

US non-compete agreements are voluntary civil contracts that can be challenged if they fall outside the norms in a particular state or jurisdiction. In some states they are barely enforceable at all, and they are generally easy to invalidate anywhere if they try to have terms that are too broad or last longer than a couple of years. The law concerning them is more set by case precedent in higher courts than by legislative statutes.

I know a guy you can tell these stories to. He signed a non-compete while working on some no-name game for mobile phones. Then he quit.

He started his company, and that company made ARK.

Then he got sued because of the non-compete and had to give up 150 million bucks.

Non-compete sure are a joke and a barely enforceable yeah. Not to be taken seriously at all.

Did they allege he took some technique or coding knowledge and utilized it in his own company/product? $150 million seems quite steep outside of an intellectual property context.

 

[Iskramor]

20 pages of AwesomeButton arguing with ColonelTeacup, and now we have to read documents and assorted autism about shareholders and owners.

Shut up you tatooed whore