General News - Chris Avellone Interview

Originally Posted by Ripper
As we've said, though, I don't see how we can pass judgement hearing only one side of a story from a nasty divorce.

Agreed. We've been provided a wealth of information on the inner workings of Obsidian's upper management. And, commendably, Chris does seem to be logically responding to queries rather than emotionally responding. Though some of what he says may hurt the image of some of the employees of Obsidian, it isn't done intentionally - his problem is with the guys at the top and their not-so-secret nepotism. These vindictive lashings are a result of a few people, not Obsidian as a whole, and I think people are losing sight of that.

However, I think it's only fair we draw conclusions after statements from interested parties at Obsidian, tempting as it is to pass judgment so soon.

It's time for a new Rpg.
It's Title will be BG D (Bull…t goes Deep).
A story of a Hero that after many misadventures try to slay the dragon that stole his treasure.
The peasants are there cheer one or the other side.
Kickstarter and Fig it.
Big money ahead.
Amen.

All this "we have to hear both sides" is pretty pointless and will have to wait until "the other side" is not involved in the company anymore. Noone can seriously expect them to answer this in a similarly blunt style. Expect some generic statement that disputes his claims. No surprises coming that way.

Yeah, it's not that I'm expecting to hear from Obsidian, rather that one has to take all this with a pinch of salt without some evidence of their egregious actions, and without any comment from them.

Originally Posted by azarhal
I'm supposed to believe Paradox is not happy with Obsidian for delivering a well received game (Tyranny) for those who played it on a shoestring budget (smaller than POE1) after the lead (MCA) left halfway and Paradox forget to market the game?

Really?

I'll raise you a couple of points

Was Tyranny really well received? Also, I believe Paradox have commented on not being particularly happy with the sales.

Also, they would certanly not be happy to learn that Obsidian a) diverted devs from their (Paradox's) title (Tyranny) to other projects (PoE) and b) Tyranny was at least partially sold to them as being an Avellone title and from his accounts he know nothing about tha.

While I do have some doubts and reservations on why the exact timing - he's been gone 3 years now from Obisidian, why now except to maximize the damage to Deadfire, I kinda sympatize with Avellone. I always thought being forced out meant they paid for his share of the company, and that seems to not be the case. Not to mention how he's personal situation was exploited to try to strongarm him into a brutal NDA and seemingly perpetual RPG non-compete clause, particularly how 99% of games nowadays have some degree of RPG in them.

Originally Posted by you
Why do you say it is a joke. It is the exact same plan you had at time of separation at the same price the company (+ your portion).

Is it the cost that bother you or is it that your health plan was a joke. The only negative (imho) of cobra is that it only last 18 months.

When I went part time my entire paycheque after that went to COBRA. When you are not working, you've lost the income you had to pay for it. The only benefit to COBRA was maintaining a record of continual insurance so you couldn't be dinged by the pre-existing condition clause in US Healthcare at the time. That's not an issue now and Obamacare pretty much eliminates the need for COBRA. And Obamacare is terrible for people like myself and MCA who don't qualify for the subsidy.

Depends what state you live in quite a few states make obamacare worthless.

Well what do you know the story finally made it to a mainstream site.

Link -https://www.gry-online.pl/S013.asp?ID=109112

It's the Polish version of GamePressure. Where's the English websites?

Oh that's right just a few forums and obscure Chan sites.

Gamestar.de is on to it too, and I don't think they're a Mickey Mouse site in Germany.

https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/obsi…e,3329320.html

I do think this could still hit the mainstream English sites just before launch.

Clearly some of what Chris is doing is revenge (or pay back) (like telling paradox they did not get the resources they purchased); I don't know what really happened (obviously); but Chris perspective is they effectively fired him and did not give him compensation for his partial ownership; however he chose to not sue them so either he is not the sort that is willing to take legal action; or there is more to the story….

Originally Posted by you
Clearly some of what Chris is doing is revenge (or pay back) (like telling paradox they did not get the resources they purchased); I don't know what really happened (obviously); but Chris perspective is they effectively fired him and did not give him compensation for his partial ownership; however he chose to not sue them so either he is not the sort that is willing to take legal action; or there is more to the story….

He said that in the meantime he earned enough money to live 200 years so probably he does not need money from Obsidian and does not care to go into some legal battle.
He is just presenting his knowledge now because as he said: "Someone asked the questions..".

So is the obsidian forum topic closed? As I cant find it anymore.

Avallone is already at a legal impasse that we call defamation in the US. He keeps signaling out different people from Obsidian, and can face multiple lawsuits.

Defamation, calumny, vilification, or traducement is the communication of a false statement that, depending on the law of the country, harms the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation.

Under common law, to constitute defamation, a claim must generally be false and must have been made to someone other than the person defamed. Some common law jurisdictions also distinguish between spoken defamation, called slander, and defamation in other media such as printed words or images, called libel.

False light laws protect against statements which are not technically false, but which are misleading.

It all depends on how what he says affects the people he badmouths, and if the lawyers can find a case. As its not that easy to sue an former employee/co-worker.

Frankly speaking I wouldn't hire this guy after this fiasco. At this point it's just fun watching a beloved icon of RPGs ruining his future employment & fan reactions.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Avallone is already at a legal impasse that we call defamation in the US. He keeps signaling out different people from Obsidian, and can face multiple lawsuits.

It all depends on how what he says affects the people he badmouths, and if the lawyers can find a case. As its not that easy to sue an former employee/co-worker.

First, if you'd read the rest of the Wikipedia article you were quoting from, you would have read that there is no "defamation" law at the federal level in the US, nor in the state of California. The law you're looking for, in CA, is called "libel".

Second, whether you refer to defamation in a general sense, or CA libel law in particular, it's not libel unless you're actually giving lies presented as facts. Truth is not libel, nor is simply giving your opinion. Most of what Chris Avellone has been posting is simply his opinion, and as for the things he's presenting as facts, you surely have no way to know whether they are true or not. Chris Avellone has no particular history or reputation of being a liar, so as far as I can tell, we'd have no real reason to believe they're false. It seems you are insinuating he's a liar. Care to explain why you're convinced he's a liar instead of just throwing around baseless shit?

Third, there won't be any actual lawsuits. Gimme a break. Nobody cares about this stuff outside a few fringe websites and online forums.

Frankly speaking I wouldn't hire this guy after this fiasco. At this point it's just fun watching a beloved icon of RPGs ruining his future employment & fan reactions.

Well, it's good that nobody needs to care who you would or wouldn't hire. People who actually hire in the industry will still be hiring him. Also, referring to your "fan reactions" bit: I suppose it does depend on what sites you read, but most reactions I've seen to this whole thing are more critical of Obsidian than Chris Avellone. So I'm not sure you're even portraying actual reality there.

It seems as if you just have an axe to grind against Chris Avellone for reasons unknown. I'm not sure if this is a pre-existing condition, pre-dating this info dump from the last week, or if it's butthurt triggered by him criticizing a developer that you're a fan of?

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
So is the obsidian forum topic closed? As I cant find it anymore.

Avallone is already at a legal impasse that we call defamation in the US. He keeps signaling out different people from Obsidian, and can face multiple lawsuits.It all depends on how what he says affects the people he badmouths, and if the lawyers can find a case. As its not that easy to sue an former employee/co-worker.

Frankly speaking I wouldn't hire this guy after this fiasco. At this point it's just fun watching a beloved icon of RPGs ruining his future employment & fan reactions.

I don't think he needs your employ since he said:
1. In 3 years since leaving Obsidian he has earned enough money to live 200 years.
2. He is getting new job offers every 3 days on average and works on all of them that he is interested/has time.

Since he left Obsidian he has been working from home 7 days a week for 10 to 12 h per day. He says he does not even consider it work since he is doing what he loves and enjoys. Also he said that he is being paid much more than when he was at Obsidian (this was part of his answer when people asked how he was able to get enough money to live 200 years)

So I just caught up reading the main codex thread about this again, and Avellone is at it again, posting.

I'm much more in the anti-Avellone camp, after seeing many of his follow up posts.

He started trashing other executives at Obsidian. Avellone has a reputation as a diva type, and reading these posts of his, it comes through pretty clear. People would ask him, "So what about this guy X, who also worked at Obsidian?" And the answer from Avellone would invariably be something like, "Oh man, that guy was such a jerk! He may have been good at one thing, but otherwise, he was a lazy and greedy so-and-so!"

Except for his former and also famous in these rpg circles co-worker, Josh Sawyer, then all of a sudden Avellone has nice things to say. Hmmm, we know Avellone is high intelligence, and I'm sure he is savvy enough to understand the politics here, where Sawyer is also highly favored at rpg codex, so Avellone knows if he says negative things about him, it would be a bad move on the micro political level.

Avellone seems to have a vendetta and burning grudge against Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, that much is very clear. But honestly, there is not much there. So the guy maybe fudged a little on business taxes and favors to employ family members at his company… big whoop. Oh, and he also was a big meanie at the office, and treated employees in a rude or mean way. The horror! (sarcasm) The way the Codex is treating these "revelations", Urquhart is guilty of being close to the depths of a serial killer or a war criminal… gimme a break.

Avellone seemed to hate most of his co-workers, according to his posts, and maybe he was actually the guilty one, in terms of being difficult to work with, and being too much of a Diva. Just saying what my impressions are, have mercy.

There is a saying, it goes something like, "If you think everyone around you is a jerk, well, maybe you are the one who actually is the jerk".

Originally Posted by Arkadia7
So I just caught up reading the main codex thread about this again, and Avellone is at it again, posting.

I'm much more in the anti-Avellone camp, after seeing many of his follow up posts.

He started trashing other executives at Obsidian. Avellone has a reputation as a diva type, and reading these posts of his, it comes through pretty clear. People would ask him, "So what about this guy X, who also worked at Obsidian?" And the answer from Avellone would invariably be something like, "Oh man, that guy was such a jerk! He may have been good at one thing, but otherwise, he was a lazy and greedy so-and-so!"

Except for his former and also famous in these rpg circles co-worker, Josh Sawyer, then all of a sudden Avellone has nice things to say. Hmmm, we know Avellone is high intelligence, and I'm sure he is savvy enough to understand the politics here, where Sawyer is also highly favored at rpg codex, so Avellone knows if he says negative things about him, it would be a bad move on the micro political level.

Avellone seems to have a vendetta and burning grudge against Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, that much is very clear. But honestly, there is not much there. So the guy maybe fudged a little on business taxes and favors to employ family members at his company… big whoop. Oh, and he also was a big meanie at the office, and treated employees in a rude or mean way. The horror! (sarcasm) The way the Codex is treating these "revelations", Urquhart is guilty of being close to the depths of a serial killer or a war criminal… gimme a break.

Avellone seemed to hate most of his co-workers, according to his posts, and maybe he was actually the guilty one, in terms of being difficult to work with, and being too much of a Diva. Just saying what my impressions are, have mercy.

There is a saying, it goes something like, "If you think everyone around you is a jerk, well, maybe you are the one who actually is the jerk".

Have we been reading the same posts?!
He mostly bashing Obsidian management, and didn't touch any of the developers except a bit about Eric and Gonzales having issues that led to Gonzales leaving Obsidian.

He mentions multiple times that he has nothing against developers working there and that most of them were being treated unfairly.

And Sawyer is not (was not) loved by Codex, wtf. Until this Avellone topic he was most hated person in Obsidian on Codex because Codex blamed him for every bad part of Pillars of Eternity. Now Feargus is the most hated person while Avellone words make Sawyer no longer a bad guy.

Avellone seems to have a vendetta and burning grudge against Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, that much is very clear. But honestly, there is not much there. So the guy maybe fudged a little on business taxes and favors to employ family members at his company… big whoop. Oh, and he also was a big meanie at the office, and treated employees in a rude or mean way. The horror! (sarcasm) The way the Codex is treating these "revelations", Urquhart is guilty of being close to the depths of a serial killer or a war criminal… gimme a break.

I hope this is a joke part of your post?!
Otherwise I hope you are not in any position of power in your own job because I am sad for everyone working under you.

Also Urquhart got money from his developers to help keep Obsidian afloat during bad times and later didn't want to pay them back until other owners made him do it.
As far as company managers go, he might as well be a war criminal.

ooh getting into some hot fanboi on fanboi action in here.

Nobody involved, MCA included, is coming out of this looking good.

Originally Posted by Archangel
Have we been reading the same posts?!
He mostly bashing Obsidian management, and didn't touch any of the developers except a bit about Eric and Gonzales having issues that led to Gonzales leaving Obsidian.

He mentions multiple times that he has nothing against developers working there and that most of them were being treated unfairly.

And Sawyer is not (was not) loved by Codex, wtf. Until this Avellone topic he was most hated person in Obsidian on Codex because Codex blamed him for every bad part of Pillars of Eternity. Now Feargus is the most hated person while Avellone words make Sawyer no longer a bad guy.


I hope this is a joke part of your post?!
Otherwise I hope you are not in any position of power in your own job because I am sad for everyone working under you.

Also Urquhart got money from his developers to help keep Obsidian afloat during bad times and later didn't want to pay them back until other owners made him do it.
As far as company managers go, he might as well be a war criminal.

You are obviously one of the fans of Avellone. One, ok, I accept what you said about the Codex regarding Sawyer. I may have got that wrong, because I have not spent much time reading the codex site.

But the rest, oh please. Feargus Urquhart has nothing to worry about. The Codex and Avellone fans are making a mountain, not out of a molehill, but of a few grains of sand. It's nothing, not in terms of any crimes. I was thinking about making an account, to go and troll the codex about this, asking things like how much prison time do they think Feargus will get, and so on.

If you and the codex think that this means the ruin of the reputations of Obsidian and Feargus Urquhart, then you are entitled to your opinion. I see it differently. Maybe Feargus Urquhart is a driven CEO, who has a passion for making rpg games, and is rough around the edges, because that is what it takes to get things done. Pssst, many CEO types are like that, they are assholes with type A personalities, always very demanding from their employees. Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs is well known to have been this way, when he was running Apple. I doubt you will find many CEO types who are gentle and easy going people, who treat people with kid gloves and very in touch with their sensitive side.

Anyway, not going to get into a debate over this, we both have opinions that are opposite - in different universes.

Oh my days…