Eclectic adventures in lots of things.
Video / Computer Games
No Warhammer Age of Reckoning For me
Aug 21st
You know, I can’t do it. I was breaking one of my own cardinal rules and pre-ordering an EA game. I thought, well hell this could be a great game and it is a local company, so why not? I can tell you why not.
Mark Jacobs’ statement about former employees, no matter what their level of input on THAT PRODUCT will not be in the credits of WAR or any other EA -Mythic product.
I can’t believe that in an industry that LIVES by giving credit where credit is due that this would even be a question. Is it any wonder that EA is pretty well across the board viewed as a potential dead end crap job of the Gaming Industry? If there will be a game developers Union it will start at an EA studio. The reputation that EA has cultivated is akin to the Wal-Mart school of Employee Relations. What next? Denying that the individuals ever worked there? I’m sorry but a mention in the credits is part of the payment that is due to a worker in this industry the same that a paycheck and health benefits are. I really didn’t like EA in general, and find that the more I learn about the type of man that Mark Jacobs is the less I am impressed. This is an affront to every one that is STILL working for Mythic/EA as well as anyone who has worked for them. What kind of individual keeps those who worked on something from getting their due?
Allow me to answer that. Mark is what I would call a “Little Man.” I know very well someone of his former acquaintance who is also a “Little Man.” They live by the Ring Giver method of leadership thinking that they can buy loyalty when they lack the ability to earn it through their ethics and integrity. Instead of being what some term a “Man” and distributing the credit where it is owed, whether they get along with someone or not, these gentlemen (and I use the term very loosely,) would try to wipe those that they feel have crossed them from the record and claim that for themselves and those that are currently in their good graces. The Little Man will whisper against the people they disagree with and try to cause the individual harm through whatever methods the Little Man has available to them. Me? I don’t ever want to work for a Little Man (or with one for that matter,) ever again.
So yeah, I’m dumping my pre-order, and I was a little excited for the game but I think I will pass from here on out on anything that Mythic puts out, just because they lack the ethics and integrity to be Human about how to treat their laborers.
Tuesday Twiddlings
Mar 18th
Received good news for school, consolidation loan going through (allegedly) Thursday. (Ferris: Let my Transcripts Go!) I keep getting the vibe that the work I do for money is less important than the work I do regarding the Sunum Bonum and Thelema in general.
Saturday was the big fucking cleaning day with some on Sunday. The Dining room is pretty well done, the Living room is at 90%, with some minor jobs to be done. The Office is a nightmare as is the Kitchen. We are planning on getting paint for the front bathroom. Hopefully next Sunday is the day to knock that bastard out. (New fixtures and shower hardware! YAY!)
Sunday was broken up some by the Symbolism classes at William Blake Lodge. They went pretty well and I got some reinforcement to ward looking to outside sources for information and hints. Brothers R and C were most helpful and I enjoyed poking through the imagery with them.
The presentation for FSG comes along. Making a tight 4 hour presentation will be interesting, and hopefully I will get the chance to run it at WBL later this year. I am working on locating a good deal on tarot decks (7-10 Rider-Waite, 3-5 Thoth decks) the best offer I have is 20% off, which is pretty good, but I’m still poking through the options.
Yesterday (Monday) Blew. Just a general asstastic day at work. I think I was tired/busy/sore and it was hard to function. I need to get my ass back to the Gym, which helps me regulate things. I declared the evening a Sabbath of rest and we had dinner in the dining room as well as vegetated and watched some season 7 Buffy. It is just getting better…
Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are on tap from netflix. Dunno if we will get to them, but I think it is likely something that may occur next week. We are starting to get into crunch time for Ecumenicon, and then C visits, then G comes for training. It is amazing the amount of stuff we can cram into a couple of months.
The New toy is fascinating. The fact that the X-Box 360 will do stuff with Microsoft’s DNA development kit means that I can also apply what I learn in school to my fun time too. I’m totally hooked on two old X box Games (under 10 dollar bin for the Win!) and working on playing on X box Live sometime soon.
In support of free and uncensored speech:
Feb 15th
I bring you the IGE class action suit information from BrokenToys.org before the admin of that site had to edit it due to legal threats. As part of my coverage here, I will make commentary through it, since it is exciting to examine and learn from. (Mr. Jennings is somewhat renowned for his insight, so this is a fine piece to look at and learn from!
My comments will be in This Color and typeface (Ow)
Pierce To Yantis To Evers To Chance: The Rise And Fall Of IGE
This was written by Scott “Lum The Mad” Jennings at BrokenToys.org, his Personal Blog.
MMOcitizen.com, a website operated by the law firm currently bringing a class action lawsuit against IGE, obtained and published a copy of a complaint in another lawsuit involving IGE: this one brought against former CEO Brock Pierce last year by co-founder Alan Debonneville. I really find Mr. Jennings to be quite thorough in his information collecting. Having Sources makes your blog, you know, somewhat credible.
For almost 5 years, Debonneville has dedicated his entire life to the creation, development, and success of IGE US, LLC (”IGE”). IGE’s meteoric rise from an under funded startup to the market leader culminated in a Goldman-Sachs investment of $60,000,000, which set the value of IGE at the time of $220,000,000. While Pierce, a flamboyant former child actor, has always been the public face of IGE, Debonneville has been the tireless working founder, responsible for the expansion and operation of the company.
The filing goes into great detail about IGE’s rise and fall from Debonneville’s point of view, with, just in case you weren’t already glued to your PDF files, added dirt from the dot-com-money-and-man-boy-love days of DEN. This nicely breaks up the fairly monotonous material being presented and establishes the “something is not quite right’ aspect of the piece.
After living and working in Spain for a few months, Debonneville observed that Rector and Pierce had a very close relationship, one that did not seem normal between a 40-year old man and a 20-year old young man…
…Apparently, there were a multitude of charges related to the prior operation of a company specifying that Pierce, Rector, and Shackley had stolen money from the company and wasted corporate assets for things like the purchase of illicit drugs, living a lavish lifestyle, and criminal allegations of transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes. Upon learning this information, Debonneville questioned Pierce regarding the allegations, and Pierce stated that the claims were false and contrived as a setup by some competitors and former employees…
Wild enough? It gets… something. Worse? Better? Uwe Boll? Wit! It is truly Wonderful!
Debonneville was told by Pierce that the “Spanish FBI” came to their house with a “SWAT” team in helicopters, kicked in their door, shot their dog, and threw all of them in jail.
The complaint eventually leaves the Mallorca Vice portion of history and gives a breezy history of much of what we knew already – IGE’s quick rise and huge cash infusions, and the use of that in a quest to purchase respectability through hiring executives and purchasing websites. Eventually, it all falls apart around the time of the Goldman Sachs investment as the principals began to fall out over arguing over how to divide up the huge amount of stock, which is dealt in the document (from Debonneville’s viewpoint, of course) in point-by-point detail. This bridges the time between the man love and the stock asshattery, which is leading to the crux of the biscuit, so to speak.
Debonneville was starting to discover that Pierce had not only lied to Debonneville about the Yantis Stock Repurchase, but also that Pierce had benefited personally to the detriment of Debonneville from the Salyer and Maslow sale of stock. Of course, Debonneville was shocked to learn that Pierce had sold any of Pierce’s stock in IGE…
…On July 14, 2006, in an apparent attempt to convince Debonneville that his interest in IGE was becoming worth less and less money, Debonneville was sent an article regarding a crackdown on the sale and purchase of game items for cash in Korea. The implication was that IGE’s recent acquisition of Itemmania, a Korean online house, was going to be a failure. In hindsight, it appears that this was just another one of Pierce’s attempts to manipulate Debonneville into selling his stock to Pierce for a less than fair value, certainly for less than Pierce realized on the sale to Maverick. Today, it is likely that this may in fact be IGE’s most valuable remaining asset…
And just in case you started nodding off with tales of stock screwballery… enter everyone’s friend in space, Jonathan Yantis. This introduces the villain who uses what essentially is cheating to make money from other people’s IP and resources.
Yantis also advised Debonneville that if a deal was not reached with IGE, Yantis had already put a network in place to compete with and destroy IGE. Yantis stated that through the hiring of certain individuals who he had a long time business relationship with, Yantis would sell currency that had been exploited or duped.
Exploiting or duping is a process whereby an outsider hacks the game program into creating currency for the individual or duplicating an item and then selling it over and over which also results the creation of currency. These actions allow for the exploiter/duper to create an endless supply of currency without any real cost to that currenct. This is something Yantis has done in the past and made large profits from. The exploiter/duper would typically receive a commission for any currency sold of about 40% of the sales price. Due to the currency being exploited, Yantis was and would be able to sell currency at a price significantly below market, since the cost of the currency sold was non existent. This also allowed for an infinite supply to be created in what could take as little time as a few minutes.
Yantis indicated that this was also how he could turn the trading arm of IGE around and make it profitable, almost instantly. Pierce was aware of Yantis’ intent to use these exploits. In fact, Pierce counted on them as part of the rationale behind why Yantis should be brought back to work for IGE.
A clearer explanation of the toxic effects of RMT on online gaming has yet to be written. (I know. I tried.) My personal reaction tends to be OMFG IT SUCKS for people you know actually playing the damn game.
I’m sure that as this hits the commentariat there will be more to be said. Oh, there will be more.
Ordinal Malaprop is an Angel of Hope
Jan 3rd
I had truly been hoping for a firearm that would deter the neighbor’s children from digging in the rose garden.
Ordinal has delivered a fine device to make any child think twice about grubbing in the garden.
