General News - Chris Avellone Interview

Stingray said:
By the way, Chris is fairly active in the Codex thread right now if anyone wants to enjoy further.
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I'm in love with the guy, but honestly, no amount of that love would make me go there.

If I was Geralt though and it was paid by coin… Times have changed.
I'm not.
 
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Silver said:
Italians do not make vowels lightly and Chris was very loyal to Obsidian despite its problems.
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I'm part Italian, and I can confirm that we don't make vowels lightly - we really go for it. :p

But, to the main point, I think it's absolutely fine to say you believe Chris - you might be well-disposed towards him, and have contempt for Obsidian management. All I'm saying is that, to look at the claims impartially, I don't think there's enough here to convict them, as it were.
 
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Ripper said:
I'm part Italian, and I can confirm that we don't make vowels lightly - we really go for it. :p

But, to the main point, I think it's absolutely fine to say you believe Chris - you might be well-disposed towards him, and have contempt for Obsidian management. All I'm saying is that, to look at the claims impartially, I don't think there's enough here to convict them, as it were.
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While I agree it is important to be impartial I think there is more than enough circumstantial evidence of management problems. Chris's account is more confirmation at this point. Just look at all the talented writers that have departed before him. An attempted NDA just screams something indemnifying don't you think? I sincerely doubt we will hear from Obsidian management BTW and that is because they have honestly more to lose from the story being told. If this account is not true then why is Chris being so fearless? He would be worried about libel otherwise.
 
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There's definitely some evidence of management problems - I don't think that's particularly controversial. But that's a long way short of the idea that they specifically exploited his family tragedy - a claim that would make most of us say, "to hell with those guys."

I don't think it would be a very smart move for Obsidian to get litigious, but unless he can prove what he's saying about that point, I think he could be in hot water. Unless he has some sort of record of communication that says something like, "All those hospital bills must be mounting up. Be a shame if you couldn't pay them." I doubt that's the case, but if it is, I'll certainly grab a pitchfork.
 
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I get where you are coming from Ripper. You consider this a problem of specificity and having undeniable proof of intent. I think the circumstances are very leading and undeniable. There had to have been a better way to resolve this and perhaps some decisions were made in haste or someone acted thoughtlessly. Proving intent is always the tricky thing but regardless it is not a good look.
 
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Well, the Codex thread is increasing at a geometric rate, and may be approaching meltdown. :p
 
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Ok it looks like the only reason Cobra health insurance would not be available are:
the company has less than 20 employees
or
you are fired for 'gross misconduct' or similar.
 
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The whole thing about taking the family insurance away is extremely disconcerting to me. I recall when family insurance was pretty dirt cheap in the United States, but those days are gone now and the insurance that a company provides can be a main incentive to work for a certain organization. Not to mention it smacks of just being utterly nasty.
 
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Someone should write a summary about the codex thread. I won't have time to read all that even though how entertaining it must be! :)
 
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Dez said:
Someone should write a summary about the codex thread. I won't have time to read all that even though how entertaining it must be! :)
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Here you go:
(taken from the codex topic)

DpZkRk4.gif
 
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I've only scanned it from orbit. Chris Avellone has opened fire with all torpedos, and shows no signs of backing down. Someone called Erik from Obsidian wrote a response, that rather challenged his view of events, and implied that he might have a personality disorder. Infinitron has been expressing similar scepticism to mine, and Avellone has got pretty edgy about it. Then, of course, all manner of demons emerged from the earth to dance around it.

My favourite silly gif has been this one.

OU5meXn.png
 
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This feels almost as epic as one of those hundred pages long Grimoire threads.
 
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Dez said:
This feels almost as epic as one of those hundred pages long Grimoire threads.
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Agreed. I'm skimming through most of it, but there's shade being thrown around like it's nobody's business. Chris has openly stated that he is often blunt, and it's certainly showing.

I'll try to summarize as best I can:

Chris goes on to describe difficulty with Eric Fenstermaker and mismanagement by Feargus. He mentions nepotism while stating that established processes at Obsidian aren't well enforced, and that suggestions by Chris were left unheard. Eric responds by saying that is not the way he recollects events at Obsidian. Chris continues to push on, explaining his side of the story and discontent with his coworker's inability to work well with other writers, which subsequently seems to be burning bridges. Chris begins poking fun at another Codexer, seemingly enjoying the dumpster fire the thread has become. Chris states he is sharing his story because he never signed an NDA and non-competition clause, which is why he's opening the floodgates.

Lead Programmer Anthony Davis jumps in, saying how he and his family have always been treated well at Obsidian, as have other employees.
 
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Anthony Davis is not a Lead Programmer at Obsidian. At the time of PoE and before he was one of the programmers working on Armored Warfare so a different team altogether.
 
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When you leave a company they stop giving you benefits like insurance. The only exception I know of are for exec that might get benefits for a year after leaving under some situations. What should be available is cobra health insurance. He has to pay for it but it would be the same policy he had at time he resigned.

Carnifex said:
The whole thing about taking the family insurance away is extremely disconcerting to me. I recall when family insurance was pretty dirt cheap in the United States, but those days are gone now and the insurance that a company provides can be a main incentive to work for a certain organization. Not to mention it smacks of just being utterly nasty.
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you said:
When you leave a company they stop giving you benefits like insurance. The only exception I know of are for exec that might get benefits for a year after leaving under some situations. What should be available is cobra health insurance. He has to pay for it but it would be the same policy he had at time he resigned.
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I was going to make a similar post. I find it very weird that people here aren't aware that losing/leaving a job means losing the benefits that came with that job which include insurance.
 
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Ragnaris said:
Odd, his LinkedIn profile seems to state otherwise.
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Don't know what that says but he left his thoughts on Codex and described himself as one of guys in the trenches. Lead whatever usually are above that.
But maybe that is the problem Avellone talked about how Obsidian gave titles but didn't follow with expectations for those titles.
 
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