Aradune gets a rez

[Tale]

Vanguard Post-mortem, part 2 in which the hero addresses the problem of ego.

So what would I do differently?  Well, it sounds hard-core, but I’d fire the problem person immediately.  I wouldn’t let what they could potentially bring to the team and project blind me.  

This is a follow-up to Vanguard Post-mortem, part 1. And on his homepage, writing about himself in the third person, he says "he's starting to get that itch again": http://www.bradmcquaid.com

[Fabricated]

He should get some ointment for that itch, stat. And stop picking at it so it gets better and he never gets it again.

[jakonovski]

Heh, there's curious parallels with Mythic's fate. The best part is how in the beginning he says he's mostly gonna pin it on himself, then goes on to blame Microsoft and other people's egos. And then puts huge professional picture of himself on his blog site.  

[Hawkbit]

Dude lives in fantasy land and I don't mean EQ or Vanguard.

[tmp]

Heh, there's curious parallels with Mythic's fate.

Yup:

Ultimately I realized that I’d rather hire somebody less qualified, but who thrived in a team environment, than somebody with unparalleled experience and talent, but also an untamable ego.

burn heretics, 3 star yes-men are better. Not sure if the world needs another WAR, though.

[Khaldun]

The comments to Part 2 are pretty hardcore: several direct comments on his drug abuse including an accusation that he broke into employees' desks to steal their prescription meds and a remark on how several of the Big Ego designers were banging each other in the office routinely.

[Mrbloodworth]

Wouldn't it be in his best interest to just move along, and make a game if he is going to, instead of talking about the past.

[Goreschach]

Wouldn't it be in his best interest to just move along, and make a game if he is going to, instead of talking about the past.

Talking about making games is what he gets paid for.

[Koyasha]

Heh, there's curious parallels with Mythic's fate. The best part is how in the beginning he says he's mostly gonna pin it on himself, then goes on to blame Microsoft and other people's egos. And then puts huge professional picture of himself on his blog site.  

I didn't read it as him blaming Microsoft or other people's egos, I saw those comments as 'these are the problems that I didn't deal with correctly'.

[Tale]

Apart from the stuff at http://www.bradmcquaid.com/Brad_McQuaid/Blog/Blog.html there are some earlier posts that have slipped into his archive:

"most people's issue was performance"
"I was doing the best I could at the time."
"bradmcquaid.com is registered to Keith"

[kildorn]

This is very much a "I've learned from my mistakes, look how minor they really were, someone give me money to make a game again" series of blogs.

He's not addressing anything specifically, and he's just running down the subject headers for the post mortem meeting. Is this isn't designed to be the background for a sales pitch, then it's perfectly explaining why things went so wrong. Nothing specific is being mentioned, or exactly what should have been done instead. Just generalized "we didn't get anything in writing" "we hired people whose egos clashed" and the upcoming "system specs were high" and "world size!"

I see no solutions or learned lessons, just acknowledgment that these things were problems.

[jakonovski]

I didn't read it as him blaming Microsoft or other people's egos, I saw those comments as 'these are the problems that I didn't deal with correctly'.

I took it basically as, "if things had been really done my way, it'd all be peachy". As if his active decisions played no part in the failure.

[sam, an eggplant]

Brad's bullshit posts aren't even worth a raised eyebrow, the only real surprise is that he let those comments referencing drug abuse and rampant misbehavior remain. It's like he really didn't think people would be attacking him, and didn't even think to check. Wacko.

[Khaldun]

Seriously. If this is actually meant as a calling card for more development money, with a promise of lessons learned, you really don't want a number of quite specific comments up about your oxycontin habit, details of your mismanagement, and so on, all very clearly from ex-Sigil employees. Though frankly even if he was riding herd on comments, vague stuff about how you needed more money and have learned a few lessons about managing other people's egos wouldn't do it either. I think we're past the moment where everybody wanted an MMO and the suits just started pulling in designers from everywhere and anywhere to make it happen. I'm guessing that if you want to drop some money on an MMO now and you're not a complete n00bcomer to the industry, you're going to want some really specific, clear-headed ideas about design AND you're going to want a record of successful project management. Which pretty much disqualifies outright people like McQuaid, Godager, and Jacobs.

[Ratman_tf]

So what would I do differently?  Well, it sounds hard-core, but I’d fire the problem person immediately.  I wouldn’t let what they could potentially bring to the team and project blind me.  

Physician, fire thyself.

[March]

Ultimately I realized that I’d rather hire somebody less qualified, but who thrived in a team environment, than somebody with unparalleled experience and talent, but also an untamable ego.

Managing talent is the sine qua non of management.

Admitting that you cannot manage talent is simply the Peter Principle made flesh.

[Lum]

Brad's bullshit posts aren't even worth a raised eyebrow, the only real surprise is that he let those comments referencing drug abuse and rampant misbehavior remain. It's like he really didn't think people would be attacking him, and didn't even think to check. Wacko.

Given that he posted a comment later in the thread it's pretty obvious he saw them and chose to let them remain.

[sam, an eggplant]

True, so he chose to let them remain but not to acknowledge them. That also makes no sense to me.

[sam, an eggplant]

It's bradmcquaid.com. If some random internet lowlife slandered me as I planned my big comeback on samaneggplant.com, I would damn well delete the post.

Edit: I was replying to a deleted post saying something like "he ignored a troll, big deal."

[Lantyssa]

Physician, fire thyself.

I'm surprised that wasn't the first post in reply.

[dusematic]

True, so he chose to let them remain but not to acknowledge them. That also makes no sense to me.

I actually give him credit for leaving them up.  Takes balls. 

[Bzalthek]

I'm surprised it wasn't "BURN IT! BURN IT WITH FIRE!"

[satael]

Probably better for him to have those "strong" comments now on a relatively meaningless blog than later associated with whatever his next project might be...

[tazelbain]

Ardune asking for a rez

[March]

Probably better for him to have those "strong" comments now on a relatively meaningless blog than later associated with whatever his next project might be...

I'm pretty sure you can string together the same words from one internet post and use them again in another internet post.... so I'm not sure exactly what you mean here?

[Simond]

The quest for a rez is working as intended.

[Musashi]

On some level you want to say, "Internet superhero is proved to be merely human."  But this guy just keeps shooting himself in the foot.

[UnSub]

Irony.

Lastly, I’m not going to get big time into rehashing all that went down with the demise of Sigil, the lay offs, the flames and accusations, etc.  I’ve pretty much said what I’m going to say.  I don’t see it as productive to do interviews, join threads on other sites, etc. and get mired down in all of the controversy again.  My focus now is on the future.

... and in less than a month, he's into the demise of Sigil.

The future isn't what it used to be.

[Soln]

blog#1:  always write things down, especially contracts
blog#2:  manage people well, have professional standards
blog#3:  keep shoes tied, where did I put my bong?


I mean, come the fuck on.   How did this guy ever get money to do anything?

[Shatter]

If MMO's were music he would be nothing more then a 1-hit wonder, hes the Rick Astley of MMO's

[UnSub]

There aren't many 2-hit wonders in MMOs, for that matter.

[Azaroth]

Probably better for him to have those "strong" comments now on a relatively meaningless blog than later associated with whatever his next project might be...

One would get the feeling that he has a good idea of who he's dealing with. It may be better not to delete the comments, since the person may be a rather dedicated hater who would proxy up and keep posting the same stuff. The comments might get more detailed, even. Better to let them post the comments there than delete them, start a pissing contest, and have acid reflux follow you around for two or three years.

Hell, you can delete them in a few months so they're not linkable and they become internet legend, anyway.

[Sophismata]

A friend once told me, that in HR, there are four kinds of people:

Those with talent and no drive. This is fine - you can steer them in the needed direction, and they're never a danger to the project.

Those with talent and drive. These people are great - they require little management, get shit done by themselves and do it well.

Those without talent, nor drive. Easily manageable. These people aren't your star performers, but they are easily directed and won't get ahead of themselves.

Those without talent, but with great drive. Avoid! They will actively screw things up (not intentionally, of course), and require constant vigilance.

[Musashi]

That was on my CO's wall when I was in the Marines.

[NiX]

A friend once told me, that in HR, there are four kinds of people:

Those with talent and no drive. This is fine - you can steer them in the needed direction, and they're never a danger to the project.

Those with talent and drive. These people are great - they require little management, get shit done by themselves and do it well.

Those without talent, nor drive. Easily manageable. These people aren't your star performers, but they are easily directed and won't get ahead of themselves.

Those without talent, but with great drive. Avoid! They will actively screw things up (not intentionally, of course), and require constant vigilance.

Sage advice. It still boggles my mind that both McQuaid and Jacobs both said star performers were no good for their teams.