It's never a good idea to send a death threat even if you don't mean it, but to then leave the studio you work for, and then re-join, well then...
I'm no stranger to leaving something and coming back (insert trolling directed at me here, and here), but this whole situation is something to learn from.
QuoteFirst off, Mike is back. This is probably not hugely surprising to some of you, but Mike couldn't commit to his decision to leave Code Avarice.
I doubt Code Avarice would have gone far with one of their main men departing, so it's a sane move.
We had a post covering what happened, so if you missed it, go read it.
Code Avarice are the developers behind the quite good FPS Paranautical Activity, and their game was pulled from Steam after coder Mike Maulbeck vented on twitter. Mike then decided to quit Code Avarice, and now he has returned due to financial issues.
I understand their original frustrations about the launch issues they had on Steam, but venting in the way Mike did was extremely unprofessional and literally dropped a nuclear bomb on their relationship with Steam. I would be shocked if we ever saw another of their games on Steam, but if Valve decided to bring them back in then that's up to them. People do make mistakes, some big, and some small, and we are only human. The most important thing is to learn from your mistakes, and it certainly seems they have.
QuoteWe have also created a Code Avarice official twitter account so you no longer have to follow personal twitter accounts to get development updates.
This is probably something all indie developers need to do. It makes it far easier for websites like us to actually get information on games, rather than what a developer just had for dinner that night. I know, I know, that pizza was truly god-like and I'm jealous, but what about your game?
See their full blog post here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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DamonLinuxPL 15 Nov 2014
Valve was right that the studio removed the game from their store ... can not be threaten others.
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Of course he's "back", his "leaving" was only a bluff to see if Valve puts the game back into store.
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Valve was right that the studio removed the game from their store ... can not be threaten others.I disagree. They've pulled the plug not on one person, but the whole company (what, 2 or 3 more people in there?) It's an ugly overreaction and a statement “we can do what we damn want with your games, deal with it.”
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It's not an over reaction, rather, it's almost certainly a matter of policy.
Things like death threats, legal threats, threats threats threats, almost certainly will result in the immediate termination of the business relationship along with any sort of communication (except via lawyers/legal routes). This isn't Valve specific, anyone that does this will find this to be the case with many businesses.
It's kind of a crap thing to happen to someone, especially the ones close to him that are directly effected by it. Though I don't sympathize for him, he made his own bed through some very bad decisions*.
*: Plural as a result of him apparently having a history of public issues like this, with this simply being the first one that seriously bit him and others in the ass.
Things like death threats, legal threats, threats threats threats, almost certainly will result in the immediate termination of the business relationship along with any sort of communication (except via lawyers/legal routes). This isn't Valve specific, anyone that does this will find this to be the case with many businesses.
It's kind of a crap thing to happen to someone, especially the ones close to him that are directly effected by it. Though I don't sympathize for him, he made his own bed through some very bad decisions*.
*: Plural as a result of him apparently having a history of public issues like this, with this simply being the first one that seriously bit him and others in the ass.
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Crazy Penguin 15 Nov 2014
I disagree. They've pulled the plug not on one person, but the whole company (what, 2 or 3 more people in there?) It's an ugly overreaction and a statement “we can do what we damn want with your games, deal with it.”
What? If someone has overreacted then it was definitely Mike. A normal reaction would have been to contact Valve about the failure and NOT RANTING on twitter and posting a kill threat! After that Valve had every right to pull the game.
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i still think it was stupid to pull the game from steam.. it shows how much in control they are, if they dont like something they can just remove it..
ofc that death threat tweet was nasty as hell, but it wasnt meant seriously anyway, internet is full of those comments.
they could have settled this matter privately.. but pulling a game from steam because of that is still stupid in my eyes... i bought this game and i wont get updates to it anymore..how fair is that?
ofc that death threat tweet was nasty as hell, but it wasnt meant seriously anyway, internet is full of those comments.
they could have settled this matter privately.. but pulling a game from steam because of that is still stupid in my eyes... i bought this game and i wont get updates to it anymore..how fair is that?
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What? If someone has overreacted then it was definitely Mike. A normal reaction would have been to contact Valve about the failure and NOT RANTING on twitter and posting a kill threat! After that Valve had every right to pull the game.Mike overreacted too, can't argue with that.
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i still think it was stupid to pull the game from steam.. it shows how much in control they are, if they dont like something they can just remove it..In the professional word, that doesnt fly. at all. you can't just say "it was not a serious comment" and get away with it. Mike acted like a teenage boy with testosterone overload and zero common sense, and his co workers and fans got hurt as a result. that sucks, but valve has zero reason to sell anything by anyone who sends death threats, serious or not. and considering that death threats can be charged as felonies in many states, mike is damm lucky that valve didnt decide to throw the book at him.
ofc that death threat tweet was nasty as hell, but it wasnt meant seriously anyway, internet is full of those comments.
they could have settled this matter privately.. but pulling a game from steam because of that is still stupid in my eyes... i bought this game and i wont get updates to it anymore..how fair is that?
I'm also surprised that the studio let him back, either. friend or not, he screwed his coworkers over on their current project, why would they let him back?
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you can't just say "it was not a serious comment" and get away with it.
I completely agree.
Excusing it with "it was just a joke" only establishes that people can get away with nastiness. Not a signal you'd want to sent.
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i still think it was stupid to pull the game from steam.. it shows how much in control they are, if they dont like something they can just remove it..In the professional word, that doesnt fly. at all. you can't just say "it was not a serious comment" and get away with it. Mike acted like a teenage boy with testosterone overload and zero common sense, and his co workers and fans got hurt as a result. that sucks, but valve has zero reason to sell anything by anyone who sends death threats, serious or not. and considering that death threats can be charged as felonies in many states, mike is damm lucky that valve didnt decide to throw the book at him.
ofc that death threat tweet was nasty as hell, but it wasnt meant seriously anyway, internet is full of those comments.
they could have settled this matter privately.. but pulling a game from steam because of that is still stupid in my eyes... i bought this game and i wont get updates to it anymore..how fair is that?
I'm also surprised that the studio let him back, either. friend or not, he screwed his coworkers over on their current project, why would they let him back?
Of course, it's also not cool in the professional world to screw out other people just because one person did something stupid.
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He was working for them; he represented them!
When an employee of company X does something shitty, of course that reflects badly onto company X! It always does, everywhere.
When an employee of company X does something shitty, of course that reflects badly onto company X! It always does, everywhere.
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i just hope it doesnt affect that company in a way that valve will deny their request to put the game back to steam because the mike guy is back now. i really think they should contact valve - and by that i dont mean email or twitter but actually calling them to say sorry.
with all the shit flying from A to B in the internet i guess everyone has made a short-tempered decision at some point that eventually harmed the people one wouldnt have wanted to be affected at all. in times like this its just important to learn to take a step back, take a deep breath, focus on both topics and people that are really important. 99% of whats happening doesnt actually matter at all and its a sheer necessity to have an emotional distance to that.
I'm no stranger to leaving something and coming back (insert trolling directed at me here, and here):>
with all the shit flying from A to B in the internet i guess everyone has made a short-tempered decision at some point that eventually harmed the people one wouldnt have wanted to be affected at all. in times like this its just important to learn to take a step back, take a deep breath, focus on both topics and people that are really important. 99% of whats happening doesnt actually matter at all and its a sheer necessity to have an emotional distance to that.
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lucifertdark 16 Nov 2014
Mike is a dumbass, he's bloody lucky he's not staring at prison walls & worrying about who is going to ask him to pick up the soap next. If they want their game back on steam Mike has to go, whether the company survives or not without him they're sure as hell not going to with him still part of the company.
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He was working for them; he represented them!
When an employee of company X does something shitty, of course that reflects badly onto company X! It always does, everywhere.
Maybe in some country like in Japan that has a heavy work culture. I don't know where you work, but over here in the US, if the boss does something stupid then he gets fired or he's forced to quit. Jay Wilson anyone? Nobody else's lively hood is usually effected.
Valve wasn't being fair to the other people in the company who didn't make any death threats. So, I don't think it really matters that he came back. They were no going to put the game back on steam anyway.
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if the boss does something stupid then he gets fired or forced to quit
wat.
Gets fired? Forced to quit? This is a two man studio. Privately owned, I'm pretty sure. There is no board, no nothing.
And even for big, publicly traded company: yeah, when the boss does something stupid, there are consequences besides "the boss gets fired". Assignments will be lost, severance will be payed, the stocks will take a hit. Very likely that other, uninvolved people will be fired to balance it out.
In what world are you living?
Valve wasn't being fair to the other people in the company? Mike is literally half the company.
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lucifertdark 16 Nov 2014
Valve wasn't being fair to the other people in the company? Mike is literally half the company.So what you're saying is to be fair to the other people in the company Mike has to have a free pass? You know in some countries I'd be looking at prison time for calling him a dumbass & he can threaten to kill Gabe & not suffer any consequences, that seem fair to you?
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lucifertdark have you read my comment at all? This is exactly what I'm not saying. I'm saying the contrary. I am questiong a statement made by BillNyeTheBlackGuy.
Seriously, what the hell, people.
Seriously, what the hell, people.
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lucifertdark 16 Nov 2014
lucifertdark have you read my comment at all? This is exactly what I'm not saying. I'm saying the contrary. I am questiong a statement made by BillNyeTheBlackGuy.Sorry, re-read your previous comment & see I'm a dumbass for not reading it properly first time round, I can't be fired though. ;)
Seriously, what the hell, people.
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I don't think valve abuses power forbidding a game whose one of the developers has threatened a member of the company.
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Gotta say if I ran a company and someone dealing with my company threatened my life, I would stop doing business with that person. And you know, I don't have a responsibility to do business with anyone I don't want to. If I'm willing to take the hit to my profits, I can stop doing business with people because I don't like their tie. Now that might be an overreaction, but cutting someone off because of a death threat? No, that's even good business--it's bad if everyone else you might do business with thinks you're a pushover who lets people treat you like that.Valve was right that the studio removed the game from their store ... can not be threaten others.I disagree. They've pulled the plug not on one person, but the whole company (what, 2 or 3 more people in there?) It's an ugly overreaction and a statement “we can do what we damn want with your games, deal with it.”
But good business or not, money or no money--no. Too bad. A death threat?! Mess with me like that, I don't do business with you. Why would this be a controversial concept?
Some people here seem to be under the impression that Steam is a public utility. While that might be nice, it isn't, it's a private outfit that gets to decide who it does business with.
One key difference between Mr. Dawe and Mr. Dork is that the latter quit because he sinned and the former quit because he was sinned against. Coming back because you conclude you have more fortitude than you feared and can suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous trolls a bit longer is not wrong. Coming back because you unilaterally decide there's no need for penance after all is a bit skeezy.
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