I do question whether or not an impartial observer would have interpreted the situation the same way. His assertions that Mark came there to ridicule indie devs to be preposterous. Who does that?
Clearly there is at least some level of bias at play, and that in turn questions how clouded his perception is.
C’mon, once you’ve made up your mind that someone’s an asshole, you look at their actions through that lens. And it’s no secret that Cliffski spends a lot of time damning the man and raging against the machine of AAA developers. Of course Cliffski took umbridge to a AAA guy offering a counterpoint to how he does business. He said so himself! Only indie guys have any right to offer counterpoints to how he does business.
But does that mean Mark meant to belittle the panel or be a dick? I find it extremely unlikely that was his intention.
So yeah, I see reason to doubt cliffski’s version of events. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and said point blank that someone in Mark’s position has no place commenting on what he does.
I do. I think cliffski is a bit predisposed to interpret things a certain way when it comes to his business. Again, I’m not saying he’s a liar. I fully believe he felt Mark was being inappropriate. I just don’t think he’s the most objective source for this incident.
Hunh? You advocate calling people out on being dicks without proof? Really!?
If somebody is a jerk toward you, do you say anything about it without video evidence or corroborating witness testimony?
I understand a blog of an indie game developer is a bit different than most people’s usual venues for blowing off steam, but not by a whole lot. I think everyone who reads Cliff’s commentary understands that it’s his opinion. Likewise, I think almost everyone has a grip on the fact that we all see things through our own perspective first and foremost, and this doesn’t always jive with the perspective of someone else.
I’m happy for people to comment on how I run my business. I am fascinated with how other people run things, and very keen to learn how to get better at stuff.
I’m pretty sure mark could teach me a thing or two about selling games, making money, public relations, advertising etc. And as I keep saying, there are a ton of guys at epic that could teach me a ton of stuff about coding.
There isn’t that much I feel that I’m definitely right about, but one of those things is that building a close community relationship between an indie dev and his/her customers is the best way to do it.
They sure showed me by having the game be a huge hit anyway, didn’t they? Wait, did I say hit? I meant flop. Wait, I meant massive flop for a game that took over five years to develop.
Rein went on to champion Apple’s iPad and other handheld devices as ‘the consoles of the future’
TG: Were you pleased with the sales of the PC version of Gears or War?
Mark Rein: Yeah it’s doing OK actually.
TG: Do you think that releasing it so long after the Xbox 360 version had already been out was–
Mark Rein: Oh Gears of War. I thought you were talking about Unreal Tournament. Sorry.
TG: No, Gears of War on PC.
Mark Rein: I don’t know. Yeah… I think… you know… I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about that. Let’s move on to a different question.
TG: Has–
Mark Rein: Nobody’s asked me that, to be honest. I don’t have a great answer.
TG: You don’t have a premade PR answer for a question about Gears of War on PC? Is it not even an issue? No one has brought that up?
Mark Rein: Gears of War is a console game. TG: Well why did you put it on PC?
Mark Rein: I don’t know.
As stated before by another poster, our industry needs moar fisticuffs. Simply because “fisticuffs” is an awesome word, and every time I hear it, I think of a couple of barefisted dudes with greasy hair and outrageous handlebar mustaches squaring off in a smoky warehouse somewhere.
That and some of the folks in our industry would be greatly improved by the application of a knuckle sandwich.
The ironic thing is that Epic built their business specifically on the back of their customer relationships during the Unreal Tournament era of the company’s history. They gave away free maps, free mods, made their game supremely moddable and even held a contest to “make something Unreal”.
Back then, they were happy to give stuff away and be talking straight to the end users. Now you get what you had to deal with…
Nope. And cliffski’s within his rights to say whatever the Hell he wants to say on his blog. I think his interpretation of events is probably true to him. As a reader, I’m within my rights to hold off on cheering until I see something that satisfies me.
Yeah, I thought this was a known? It’s not like this is the first or twentieth retarded thing he’s said. Not to mention former employees have such a great opinion of him almost across the board…
I could post links to my blog where I called him and Epic dumb (more than one), but this isn’t so much not a new development it’s not even worth it.
Yes, Epic makes interesting shooters…no, they have no clue about community or how to not look like giant douches.
I was actually there at the panel, but haven’t had a chance to write my notes up. Hopefully will do it tomorrow. Until then, I just have to spend my time photoshopping stuff like this:
You know, one thing I’ve noticed is that to a lot of people these days “supporting the community” means “give me free stuff”. We run forums and moderate them, we offer our engine as a free download for anyone to take a shot at content creation, we still run the ‘Make Something Unreal’ contest and give away a metric shit ton of money and prizes, we routinely schedule “play with devs” gaming events, and we do stuff like this to surprise fans sometimes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNBaJ1EZPwc).
I mean … I dunno, how does all of that equate to having “no clue about community”?
You’re a bit of an ass yourself, but so am I, so I’m not saying it’s your fault. I’m saying your company comes off sound like arrogant assholes a lot. Specifically, your boss.
Maybe if he’d just shut up and let the other things the company does speak for itself (like the things you mentioned above), the opinion of him wouldn’t be so low.
It’s called PR. Your boss stinks at it. I pretty much feel about Epic like I did about Ion, but Epic releases quality games from time to time…
I was asking for clarification on the “no clue about community” comment. I think we do a lot for the community but you apparently differ on that opinion.
You can like Mark Rein or don’t, that’s not really my concern. :)
