General News - Chris Avellone Interview

Originally Posted by Silver
Feargus sounds like a total narcissist. The narcissist strips a person of self esteem and makes you think its your fault but also that they are helping you. In this way Feargus controlled and utilized Avellone. It probably helped his egotistical need to be at the center of everything too.

Well said but unfortunately true almost everywhere, especially as managers try to hide their incompetence.

All quiet on the western front?????

Yeah, the Codex thread seems to have died down a little. Pretty much exactly when PoE2 was released.

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.

For me this is the most important thing to take away from the whole debate. Even if you support Chris Avellone, he is not asking that anyone stop buying Obsidian games, nor does he wish the company as a whole ill. He is attacking the management of Obsidian, and if we believe his own words, its not to ruin the company, but in hopes that things will improve.
I also still buy games from Bethesda, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts, and the management of those companies have done things at least as shitty if not shittier. They, nevertheless, provide jobs and training for many talented people, some of whom have left over the years and made very good independent games.

Originally Posted by forgottenlor
I also still buy games from Bethesda, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts, and the management of those companies have done things at least as shitty if not shittier. They, nevertheless, provide jobs and training for many talented people, some of whom have left over the years and made very good independent games.

But isn't it just a cop out foegotten? It's just an extension of the well known phenomenon that there is a citizen and a customer in each of us. Citizen has morals and likes to to say that he/she supports local economy by buying local products. Customer buys what he/she thinks is the better value for their money regardless of the producer. And customer has to have an excuse why he/she thinks like a citizen but doesn't act like one.

You can think that way if you like, and I think we debated this before, I think it was with Grimoire. There are some products I won't buy. For example, I buy fair trade flowers from Africa, or local flowers from Austria, but I won't buy non fair trade flowers from Africa, because I know the workers don't have adequate protection from pesticides. The same goes for non-fair trade bananas from anywhere. I also don't buy clothing from stores which have been accused of using child labor. However, that's a line far worse than what is being practiced here. I suppose I could limit myself and only buy from independent developers who share my political views, but I refuse to limit myself in such a way. If you choose to, more power to you.

To me, it's a bit of a moot point without better evidence. I have to bear in mind that Feargus might be all he is accused of… but I also consider it possible that Avellone could be the toxic narcissist in all this, or indeed that they're a pair of nightmares!