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 Nov 15, 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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Quoting: DamonLinuxPLValve 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.
4 Likes, Who?
Crazy Penguin Nov 15, 2014
Quoting: VonI 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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Quoting: Crazy PenguinWhat? 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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Quoting: Xpanderi 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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Quoting: TheinsanegamerNyou 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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Quoting: TheinsanegamerNQuoting: Xpanderi 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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