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[Column] Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen: It’s Just Fallen

135

Comments

  • rookiesaladrookiesalad Member Posts: 2

    I keep seeing people mentioning the Salim thing.  I can't find the interview anywhere.  Any link I found 404's.

     

    Anybody got it?

  • Charlie.CheswickCharlie.Cheswick Member UncommonPosts: 469
    .. Kicking a man when he's down.

    MMORPG.com... Keeping it classy, as always.
    -Chuckles
  • MightyUncleanMightyUnclean Member EpicPosts: 3,531
    Two spaces after a period in a professional article, please.
  • furbansfurbans Member UncommonPosts: 968
    Originally posted by Grakulen
    Originally posted by asmkm22
    5 months pay?  No, by all accounts it was 3 months.

     

    If it was $45,000 for 5 months of $45,000 for 3 months would it really make that big of a difference?

     

    It does, just goes to show the arrogance of Brad.  $108k vs a $180k salary that he thought he deserved with zero product result. 

  • furbansfurbans Member UncommonPosts: 968
    Originally posted by rookiesalad

    I get so tired of people crapping on this guy.

     

    It's a self fulfilling prophecy.  If all that is ever said is this guy and what he does is crap, then all people are gonna see when they look is crap.  It will be that way whether it's true or not.

     

    The guy is trying to make a game.  It's hard, especially so for Brad with all the shade people throw his way.  He has made mistakes, and will probably make more.  Last I checked, he is human, and therefore not perfect. 

     

    I say give him a little room to breath, even if you happen to hate him.  I think the game has a better chance to be made if every media outlet and their respective commenters aren't trying to get their punches in.  Then the game will speak for itself, as it should be.

     

    Why would you give any person any breathing room who stole 1/3 of the crowd funded project without any consultation to his team members?

  • AIMonsterAIMonster Member UncommonPosts: 2,059
    Originally posted by furbans
    Originally posted by rookiesalad

    I get so tired of people crapping on this guy.

     

    It's a self fulfilling prophecy.  If all that is ever said is this guy and what he does is crap, then all people are gonna see when they look is crap.  It will be that way whether it's true or not.

     

    The guy is trying to make a game.  It's hard, especially so for Brad with all the shade people throw his way.  He has made mistakes, and will probably make more.  Last I checked, he is human, and therefore not perfect. 

     

    I say give him a little room to breath, even if you happen to hate him.  I think the game has a better chance to be made if every media outlet and their respective commenters aren't trying to get their punches in.  Then the game will speak for itself, as it should be.

     

    Why would you give any person any breathing room who stole 1/3 of the crowd funded project without any consultation to his team members?

    Let's not forget the $45k is only what he openly admitted to stealing (which he posted in facebook and quickly retracted, but not before multiple screen grabs of the admission were obtained).  According to another dev who worked on the project, he pocketed over 50% of the funds.  He probably only admitted the "advance" he took, but he also likely pocketed another 2 months salary for his work at "industry standard" too.

  • VorthanionVorthanion Member RarePosts: 2,749
    Originally posted by koboldfodder

    This game did not fail because it is a genre that few people want to play.  The exact opposite is true.  There are millions of people waiting for a game like this, with ideas like that.

     

    The reason it failed is because McQuaid is associated with it.  Period.  No one trusts him.  As soon as their kickstarter video launched, people scratched their head.  The game looked like some sort of money grab, and that is what it turned into.

     

    The guy has no business running a development team.  The rest of us knew this YEARS ago.  Why has it taken you so long to figure this out.  Instead, we get to read a few paragraphs on how it is playing Magic with him...

     

    Those rumors are not rumors by the way.  I am not talking about the 45,000$ dollars.  I am talking about the other stuff.  It is true.  We know it, we KNEW it for years and guess what.....you cannot run a company like that.  It didn't work with DeLorean in the 80s and it doesn't work today.

     

    Keep the same game, put in a better kickstarter video and remove this guy from the equation and I bet you see a totally different result.

     

    Stop blaming other people for this guy's problems.  People are fine with this type of genre, in case you have not noticed the sudden boom in sandbox games recently.  What they are not fine with is this guy running a company.

    Please point me to the study that produces the numbers to support your theory.  Sandbox and hardcore forced grouping do not go hand in hand.  You are obviously mistaken in your beliefs as the genre has already proven the larger audience is casual to extremely casual.  Yes, there is a hardcore audience that might actually enjoy a game like this, but I have very serious doubts that they would ever be in the millions, let alone in the hundreds of thousands.

    image
  • VorthanionVorthanion Member RarePosts: 2,749
    Originally posted by rookiesalad

    I get so tired of people crapping on this guy.

     

    It's a self fulfilling prophecy.  If all that is ever said is this guy and what he does is crap, then all people are gonna see when they look is crap.  It will be that way whether it's true or not.

     

    The guy is trying to make a game.  It's hard, especially so for Brad with all the shade people throw his way.  He has made mistakes, and will probably make more.  Last I checked, he is human, and therefore not perfect. 

     

    I say give him a little room to breath, even if you happen to hate him.  I think the game has a better chance to be made if every media outlet and their respective commenters aren't trying to get their punches in.  Then the game will speak for itself, as it should be.

     
     

    Facts and history are hard to refute.  "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."

    image
  • HrimnirHrimnir Member RarePosts: 2,415
    Originally posted by Vorthanion
    Originally posted by rookiesalad

    I get so tired of people crapping on this guy.

     

    It's a self fulfilling prophecy.  If all that is ever said is this guy and what he does is crap, then all people are gonna see when they look is crap.  It will be that way whether it's true or not.

     

    The guy is trying to make a game.  It's hard, especially so for Brad with all the shade people throw his way.  He has made mistakes, and will probably make more.  Last I checked, he is human, and therefore not perfect. 

     

    I say give him a little room to breath, even if you happen to hate him.  I think the game has a better chance to be made if every media outlet and their respective commenters aren't trying to get their punches in.  Then the game will speak for itself, as it should be.

     
     

    Facts and history are hard to refute.  "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."

    So, facts and history are hard to refute:

    EverQuest - First game requiring a 3d card to play, sold millions of copies and caused the explosion of an entire genre of gaming.  Co-Developed by Brad McQuaid.

    Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Developed primarily by company owned by Brad McQuaid, ultimately failed due to a combination of mismanagement and publisher forcing early release.

    Everyone conveniently forgets people's successes when they want to demonize someone for something they're unhappy about.

    If we followed your logic then Steve Jobs should have been burned at the stake for allowing Apple to almost go out of business after a metric crap ton of terrible mistakes (like banking on powerPC processors instead of intel/amd processors).

    The fact is, people make mistakes, and i'm getting really tired of people pissing all over Brad McQuaid because its the popular/cool thing to do.

    I dont remember the exact figure but it was somewhere between 100-200k copies of Vanguard were sold, unless you were one of those people you have 0 right to be pissed at him, but like usual we have a bunch of bandwagoners jumping on board the internet hate train.  So much so it seems even one of MMORPG.coms contributors just couldn't resist making a "I told you so" article.

    Enjoy your max level in 20 hours, on rail quest a thon single player "MMORPG's" people.

    "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."

    - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • BurntvetBurntvet Member RarePosts: 3,465
    Originally posted by Vorthanion
    Originally posted by rookiesalad

    I get so tired of people crapping on this guy.

     

    It's a self fulfilling prophecy.  If all that is ever said is this guy and what he does is crap, then all people are gonna see when they look is crap.  It will be that way whether it's true or not.

     

    The guy is trying to make a game.  It's hard, especially so for Brad with all the shade people throw his way.  He has made mistakes, and will probably make more.  Last I checked, he is human, and therefore not perfect. 

     

    I say give him a little room to breath, even if you happen to hate him.  I think the game has a better chance to be made if every media outlet and their respective commenters aren't trying to get their punches in.  Then the game will speak for itself, as it should be.

     
     

    Facts and history are hard to refute.  "Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me."

    And then, there is, you know, de facto embezzlement.

  • ChaserzChaserz Member UncommonPosts: 317

    This may have been said already but Brad surely has demonstrated hes a very talented developer.  If a new MMO was released and he was lead developer I'd definitely be interested.  But didn't SoE hire him briefly as part of the team to optimize V.G.:

    "On July 6, 2012, Sony Online Entertainment announced the re-hiring of Brad to continue work on Vanguard including its Free-to-Play transition."

    Then:

    "On March 6, 2013, Brad announced that he has returned to working on EverQuest"

    Then: 

    "On September 9, 2013, Brad announced to the world that he left SOE but is still working closely with them, and that Smedley is even excited about this."

    SoE is still in business.  But Brad left, again.

  • ArcheAge2014ArcheAge2014 Member UncommonPosts: 135

    is there a way they can sue brad mcqaid for the money he stole?

     

     

  • mbrodiembrodie Member RarePosts: 1,504
    Originally posted by Wizardry

    There is one flaw in this story that Mr.Lashley fails to realize when asks why not SOE.

    SOE is not even developing their own game,they are trying to do the whole shebam using other people's money that is the EXACT reason they split Landmark and Next up to find a quick way/gimmick to start drawing in funds to develop next.

    SOE has been failing on their own for quite some time now,that has nothing to do with Brad but more to do with the President/CEO.

    Anyone that knows anything about  gaming should realize that Vanguard was a brilliant game,much better than most games out there,it's ONLY draw back was bugs,so an unfinished product>well how is that different than anything we have been seeing since that time,either inferior products or once again bugs and rushed out products.

    Point is that anything Brad can be blamed for is easily curved towards all the other developers as well.For it's time Brad was trying and DID succeed in advancing the genre even if only slightly,every game since aide from FFXIV has put out low level developing skills and horrible graphics,so in other words LESS than satisfactory efforts.

    I am not at the point to determine if Brad COULD advance the genre again but i am more than certain,he could not do it on a skeleton budget,but then guess what,neither can anyone else.

    Of course it is my opinion but there has not been one good game either than perhaps FFXIV [and only slightly] since Vanguard,nothing i would give a Triple A rating to, all sub par efforts.

     

    couple of things here... both smedley and mcquaid were on everquest... one of them become CEO of SOE the other managed vanguard that badly that microsoft cut funding to it (the original backer / publisher) because of over extended project dates that werent being met, due to mismanagement and also mismanagement of microsoft funding. SoE took him back and he basically walked away from the project pockets lined with other peoples money and now come back basically due to not working for the past however many years and now being broke and once again a blatent mismanagement of money has put this game back so far, it probably wont recover.

     

    Edit - also i'm almost 100% positive that landmark is a testing grounds for the next engine, to make sure it can handle what they're offering in terms of world capabilities, instead of releasing a game on a 3rd party engine, they have developed their own and using landmark and a beta test for next. aswel as getting potential free workers in the from things people develop on landmark.

     
  • BeckAltarrBeckAltarr Member Posts: 18

    K-TAM took the Audio files down and redacted this post at the request of Salim grant.

    May all your frustrations over this fact equal my own.

    I guess a message to the Dev's. Shut up or put up. Don't open your mouthes to media unless you are prepared to have it be put into print. This is the last favor I will be doing on this front. You have now cast doubt on everything you have been saying to the K-TAM community these past weeks.

    K-TAM Radio

  • goemoegoemoe Member UncommonPosts: 272

    Good article but I wonder, why you wrote it? Those worshippers of the Brad-hype will be pissed and everyone else got your message eventually from the kickstarter, if not earlier.

    Though everything in the article is imho correct, it feels like a meaningless bashing of Brad. Is this some personal vendetta?

  • GinazGinaz Member RarePosts: 2,470
    Originally posted by Hrimnir
     

    So, facts and history are hard to refute:

    EverQuest - First game requiring a 3d card to play, sold millions of copies and caused the explosion of an entire genre of gaming.  Co-Developed by Brad McQuaid.

    Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Developed primarily by company owned by Brad McQuaid, ultimately failed due to a combination of mismanagement and publisher forcing early release.

    Everyone conveniently forgets people's successes when they want to demonize someone for something they're unhappy about.

    If we followed your logic then Steve Jobs should have been burned at the stake for allowing Apple to almost go out of business after a metric crap ton of terrible mistakes (like banking on powerPC processors instead of intel/amd processors).

    The fact is, people make mistakes, and i'm getting really tired of people pissing all over Brad McQuaid because its the popular/cool thing to do.

    I dont remember the exact figure but it was somewhere between 100-200k copies of Vanguard were sold, unless you were one of those people you have 0 right to be pissed at him, but like usual we have a bunch of bandwagoners jumping on board the internet hate train.  So much so it seems even one of MMORPG.coms contributors just couldn't resist making a "I told you so" article.

    Enjoy your max level in 20 hours, on rail quest a thon single player "MMORPG's" people.

    You do realize he gave himself at least $45k from the donations?  Those donations weren't meant to be used as his own personal piggy bank.  How many "mistakes" does someone have to make before you realize what they are really are?  Face it, this thing is done like dinner and I'll be surprised if McQuaid ever gets a job in the industry again.

    [mod edit]

    Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?

    Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.

  • psiicpsiic Member RarePosts: 1,640

    WTH ??

     

    You guys are ok with ANYONE taking a paycheck out of crowdfunding capital ?

     

    The money is NEVER pledged for paychecks,  the money is pledged for development only.

     

    To my understanding the capital is to be spent on hardware and software ONLY.

     

    Crowdfunding does Not exist so some CEO can give himself a million dollar golden parachute on a failed project. We have enough of this shit in the corporate sector.

     

    What Brad did is THEFT and the guy should be in jail.

     

    p.s. yes I know it was not a million dollars he stole, just making a reference to his corporate counterparts.

  • RhazmuzRhazmuz Member UncommonPosts: 208
    Originally posted by psiic

    WTH ??

     

    You guys are ok with ANYONE taking a paycheck out of crowdfunding capital ?

     

    The money is NEVER pledged for paychecks,  the money is pledged for development only.

     

    To my understanding the capital is to be spent on hardware and software ONLY.

     

    Crowdfunding does Not exist so some CEO can give himself a million dollar golden parachute on a failed project. We have enough of this shit in the corporate sector.

     

    What Brad did is THEFT and the guy should be in jail.

     

    p.s. yes I know it was not a million dollars he stole, just making a reference to his corporate counterparts.

    So you dont think the people working on these kickstarter projects get paid?

     

    Get out of here!

    The kickstarter money from most projects goes into getting hard and software sure, but I bet the main post is salary. 5-10 people (just an estimate) working full time on something for a year +, and you dont expect them to get paid??

  • psiicpsiic Member RarePosts: 1,640
    Originally posted by Rhazmuz
    Originally posted by psiic

    WTH ??

     

    You guys are ok with ANYONE taking a paycheck out of crowdfunding capital ?

     

    The money is NEVER pledged for paychecks,  the money is pledged for development only.

     

    To my understanding the capital is to be spent on hardware and software ONLY.

     

    Crowdfunding does Not exist so some CEO can give himself a million dollar golden parachute on a failed project. We have enough of this shit in the corporate sector.

     

    What Brad did is THEFT and the guy should be in jail.

     

    p.s. yes I know it was not a million dollars he stole, just making a reference to his corporate counterparts.

    So you dont think the people working on these kickstarter projects get paid?

     

    Get out of here!

    The kickstarter money from most projects goes into getting hard and software sure, but I bet the main post is salary. 5-10 people (just an estimate) working full time on something for a year +, and you dont expect them to get paid??

    Absolutely NOT, Not from the crowdfunding funds. 

    These companies are businesses, and have a responsibility to operate as such.  

    That means taking on debt for salary like every other business out there, and seeking investor capital to scale growth.

     

    I've NEVER heard of any business ever, paying salary out of project funds, the accountability would be a nightmare.

     

    From the smallest mom and pop, to the biggest corporation, salary is always paid from a line of credit. 

  • BeckAltarrBeckAltarr Member Posts: 18

    You couldn't be more wrong. As a business owner myself I never went into debt. I changed some habits to make sure I could afford it but I am single and have no kids and I could make some sacrifices.

    Many of these people have families, kids, mortgages and any number of other payments. These people are already in debt. Where do you expect them to get loans from?

    K-TAM Radio

  • jesadjesad Member UncommonPosts: 882

    Brad, if you are reading this, what you need to do is you need to get with Garriott, Jackson (the American one), the folks from Artifact, and whoever else you know from back in those MMORPG action hero days, head over to Jordi Grau Davis' house and have him introduce you to his crazy assed friends and bring this thing to life in that Sly Stallone "Expendables" kind of way as the creation of all of the developers who had great ideas but who, for one reason or another, got kicked around a little bit and ended up on the short end of their own fame.

    Pantheon "The Rise of the Fallen".  I was with you on that title from the very beginning and what it was all about.  I think you just need to get those guys in on it and really just do the damn thing.  And THEN come out with your kickstarter.

    People may not be able to wrap their minds around investing in just one guy with a spotted past, but put a whole gaggle of crazy bastages on the ticket and I bet you guys would have made all kinds of bank just out of the spectacle of the thing.

    I mean christ, Garriott went to SPACE.  You could even have a reality show about the such a crazy concept.

    Think of all the stories you guys have to tell.

    image
  • ArakaziArakazi Member UncommonPosts: 911

    This incident may be the last we hear of McQuaid, this was certainly his last chance to develop a game. After this no respectable development house would touch him.

    Shame really, I liked his games EQ was my first MMO and I loved it, Vanguard was something of a love hate relationship, but when it worked it was great.

  • Erinak1Erinak1 Member UncommonPosts: 205
    Originally posted by psiic
    Originally posted by Rhazmuz
    Originally posted by psiic

    WTH ??

     

    You guys are ok with ANYONE taking a paycheck out of crowdfunding capital ?

     

    The money is NEVER pledged for paychecks,  the money is pledged for development only.

     

    To my understanding the capital is to be spent on hardware and software ONLY.

     

    Crowdfunding does Not exist so some CEO can give himself a million dollar golden parachute on a failed project. We have enough of this shit in the corporate sector.

     

    What Brad did is THEFT and the guy should be in jail.

     

    p.s. yes I know it was not a million dollars he stole, just making a reference to his corporate counterparts.

    So you dont think the people working on these kickstarter projects get paid?

     

    Get out of here!

    The kickstarter money from most projects goes into getting hard and software sure, but I bet the main post is salary. 5-10 people (just an estimate) working full time on something for a year +, and you dont expect them to get paid??

    Absolutely NOT, Not from the crowdfunding funds. 

    These companies are businesses, and have a responsibility to operate as such.  

    That means taking on debt for salary like every other business out there, and seeking investor capital to scale growth.

     

    I've NEVER heard of any business ever, paying salary out of project funds, the accountability would be a nightmare.

     

    From the smallest mom and pop, to the biggest corporation, salary is always paid from a line of credit. 

     

    So what do they spend the money on? Aside from software licenses, the majority of development costs are paying people. You say it should be spent on development but you don't just throw money at the computer and it makes a game...

     

    Edit: I do think 45k for 3/6 months is quite a bit overkill though. I have no objection with people being paid - I don't work for free either but 15k a month is crazy.

  • Pratt2112Pratt2112 Member UncommonPosts: 1,636
    Originally posted by rookiesalad

    I keep seeing people mentioning the Salim thing.  I can't find the interview anywhere.  Any link I found 404's.

     

    Anybody got it?

    Same. I'm seeing plenty of references to it, have Googled a number of different things trying to find it, but have yet to find any actual interview with Salim Grant at all on May 6th. I *think* it's a reference to a K-Tam interview, but I can't find that, either.

     

    So, for now, I'm going to chalk this up to what usually happens...

     

    Someone says something in an interview... In this case, Salim.

     

    People, usually with an ulterior motive (e.g. trashing someone they have an irrational hatred of), deliberately cherry-pick and spin it out of context to make it sound as horrible as they can

     

    Same people start spreading misinformation around the 'net as "fact" in order to fulfill their ulterior motive (trashing someone they have an irrational hatred of).

     

    The 'net at large - forever hungry for drama to jump into and a Hatewagon to jump on - take what they read as 100% fact without bothering to do any investigation for themselves - because the reality probably doesn't have a bandwagon they could jump on. And drama is always "tastier" than boring old reality. It's no fun unless someone's being thrown under a bus, after all. At least not for those who thrive on trashing others.

     

    There are people Bashing on Brad who - by their own admission - had never even heard of the guy before, and are unfamiliar with any of his previous work. Yet, they're right there at the front lines, pitch-forks in hand, ready to burn him at the stake.

     

    So, I don't care what someone tells me on a message forum, or how many interviews they "reference" where someone allegedly said something. Good chance they're deliberately taking the whole thing out of context... or just going on what they heard from someone else. And as we all know, hearsay is the last thing one should rely on to get the facts.

     

    If I can find, or if someone can provide me a link to the actual interview.. where Salim Grant, in his own words and his own voice, says what people are claiming he said... so I can listen to it and hear it from the source, and in the proper context... then I'll see if the remarks are fair and true. Based on my past experiences with similar situations (people taking others' words and twisting them out of context), I expect to find that what people are claiming was said, wasn't actually said at all. Until then, it's just the Hatewagoneers doing their thing - trying to ruin other people, from the safety of their own online anonymity. In other words: Business as usual.

     

    Edit: I did find an article discussing the money situation and, while the money was taken out by McQuaid... there are a number of details people are (conveniently) leaving out and/or ignoring, which put the situation in a light that is still sad and highly unfortunate... but not nearly so criminal and underhanded as many (read: the McQuaid Hatewagoneers) are depicting it. Again... as I suspected, people taking things out of context in order to trash someone they have an irrational hatred of. I will acknowledge that it underscores why McQuaid should let someone else do management of the project, so he can focus on the creative aspects. Here's the article

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
  • RobbgobbRobbgobb Member UncommonPosts: 674

    The comments were too funny. I have did very little kickstarter because I have not felt like many of them. Know a guy that spent $10k on one of the campaigns but did not tell his wife. He got caught because his gaming group was at his house and asked him about it. 

    There is a couple that I hated missing because I was in an accident that wish I had but Star Citizen was the only game I regret not getting to. Pantheon sounded too good to me so did not donate to it. Sad to see this all happen but such is life. I would be living in a cardboard box if I threw money at all the things that caught my eye on kickstarter

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