Game developer harassment erodes the industry

[DrainoBraino]

Here's an interesting article about how game devs are being so harassed that they don't even want to make games anymore. Their lives and the lives of their families are constantly being threatened with all types of crazy tactics, everything from hacking to death threats.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/15/46...rassment-erodes-industry-spurs-support-groups

people have gone plum loco

 

[netizen]

This x 1000.

Thanks for sharing. I hope that we can continue to give FarSight constructive criticism without things descending to the level that I have seen in some corners of the toobs

 

[mpclemens]

Indeed. It's easy to feel entitled -- I'm the customer! I paid money for this! -- but social networks and forums make it all too easy to reach developers and development teams without cost or consequence. And misery loves company, so it's satisfying to grouse about bugs and whine that such-and-such table is missing a screw or the colors are off or whatever. Civility on the 'nets is now, and has always been, a rare commodity. It seems to be in pretty good supply. Just to boost the score a bit, though:

THANK YOU FARSIGHT FOR AN AWESOME GAME

I've played video pins since the Atari 2600, and always had to dream about the day when I'd be able to play a really-real table at home. That day is here, and all your hard work shows.

Now, about (insert pet bug here)...

 

[DrainoBraino]

This x 1000.

Thanks for sharing. I hope that we can continue to give FarSight constructive criticism without things descending to the level that I have seen in some corners of the toobs

I think FS is safe form the hard core gamer crowd that would do this, but judging by the facebook and marketplace reviews, you never know.

I've played video pins since the Atari 2600, and always had to dream about the day when I'd be able to play a really-real table at home. That day is here, and all your hard work shows.

Those Atari games were really expensive! And the only way you could complain was by letter, and I doubt they got any death threats over Pole Position or Pitfall kill screens. Ok maybe ET....

Back in those days you shelled out $20-$30 or more on a game, and didn't even know what it was like. All you had was those catalogs with doctored up screenshots. I begged and begged for Swordquest, and that game was complete garbage I couldn't even figure it out. I remember spending entire month of allowance and paper route money on NES games (Fester's Quest and Legend of Kage, I'm looking at you!) and those games really SUCKED! Oh well, at least I still had my bike and skateboard. I traded Fester's Quest to a friend for an Aerosmith Toys in the Attic tape, good trade!

The real kicker of this article is that it's not just one type of person doing this. It's all age groups, adults and kids....and the kids are worse. They feel like they have no consequences for anything.

 

[TomL]

It's not pinball, but I think it's very relevant with regards to the complaints some people have towards Farsight. A impatient fan of George RR Martin's "Song of Fire & Ice" asked author Neil Gaiman on whether content-creators owe it to their fans to produce fan-desired content ASAP. Here's the article, scroll to where it says "Hi Neil," in bold print:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html

 

[sharkbear]

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html

tl; dr: Farsight is not your b***h.

 

[superballs]

I enjoyed both reads. I'm suprised to see so few posts in this thread as I've opened it earlier yesterday and just got both articles done just now.

These articles raise very valid points and concerns regarding the treatment of people who create things for our enjoyment and our sense of entitlement toward them.

 

[DrainoBraino]

It's not pinball, but I think it's very relevant with regards to the complaints some people have towards Farsight. A impatient fan of George RR Martin's "Song of Fire & Ice" asked author Neil Gaiman on whether content-creators owe it to their fans to produce fan-desired content ASAP. Here's the article, scroll to where it says "Hi Neil," in bold print:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.html

Entitlement issues indeed. No he doesn't owe you any more books. Still, a bit off from death threats like "I'm going to kill you if you don't make another book!". Didn't Stephen King have a book about that? Misery

I enjoyed both reads. I'm suprised to see so few posts in this thread as I've opened it earlier yesterday and just got both articles done just now.

These articles raise very valid points and concerns regarding the treatment of people who create things for our enjoyment and our sense of entitlement toward them.

Yea I think it's a long article, some folks might get bored with it. In fact, I think it's too long. Who is the author again? I have a bone to pick with him. Where does he get off...?? :/

 

[superballs]

Lol. True. Back in grade school I was the social misfit. High school I started trading goods that helped my popularity. But I've never been thrle type to ostracise people so I hung oit with the popular crowd and the misfits. Now there are you just geeky sorts who have social skills bit gaming is a haven for bitter nerds who have been ousted for their behaviour. Im not talking about nerdy math kids who love calculus more than sex. I mean the greasy kid who is angry at everything and probably jumps obsessively from one hobby to the next. I've known quite a few people like this myself and quite frankly they are just plain miserable to be around and interact with. But guess where they love to band together...the internet on web forums and they can lash out with relative impunity. I'm not saying they are the only bad people on the net. But when it comes to this particular subject matter thwy are the source of most of the vitriol.

 

[TripleT]

Two tables a month, on multiple platforms, for any size development team is impressive... even when some bugs/regressions make it through.

I'm not sure how many employees FarSight has, but with software development it's not always as simple as throwing more people at it. At some point you get diminishing returns.

And although there are some longstanding bugs with certain tables, they do seem to go back and give older tables some TLC from time to time.

I'm guessing the oldest bugs are deceptively tricky to reproduce and/or fix.

Keep up the good work FarSight. I'm looking forward to playing tables on TPA that haven't even been created yet... by Stern, Jersey Jack, or any other company that comes along when the pinball craze is reignited!