Useless gaming news & chatter

[Ingmar]

Yeah it is pretty amazing. I think he's gunning for Dr. Smart's world championship belt.

[koro]

The sun rises, the sun sets, the leaves turn, the seasons change, and Brad Wardell is an enormous asshole.

The cycles of the world remain as they always were.

[Malakili]

I especially loved the part where he said he wouldn't stop making sexist inappropriate jokes because he was a sexist inappropriate person, so deal with it or quit.

[Ingmar]

And he's gone on elsewhere to say that it nothing about this constituted a hostile work environment, when it actually pretty much defines it. 

[Sjofn]

In May 2010, during a dinner on a media tour, Wardell touched Miseta's hair.

That cracks me up as the "last straw" for her, because I can completely sympathize. Creepy fucks love touching hair.


EDIT: Also, purity tests? What is he, fourteen?

[kildorn]

So his defense is that they moved the case to federal court? Is that backed up in any records? Because it's pretty much the definition of retaliatory if he waited all this time to file a lawsuit over destruction of work assets.

That said: she seems to have a pretty well documented and clean case of harassment. Way to go, douchebag boss!

[HaemishM]

So yeah, in case you were still looking for reasons not to give Stardock your money:

http://kotaku.com/5940401/pc-gaming-studio-said-she-ruined-their-game-but-only-after-she-sued-the-boss-for-sexual-harassment

I'm not some manager or coworker of yours. I own the company. It, and your job there, exist to suit my purposes, not vice versa. The company is not an end unto itself, it is a means to an end which is to further the objectives of its shareholders (in this case, me).

 

Holy God, so full of Serek Dmart style awesomeness. Some of these fucktards actually cannot function in the real business world. Manbabies with ownership titles. To go on QT3 to respond to an article is just 

The whole "deleted marketing materials" thing and how that affected the game? It would have FUCKALL to do with the game being a piece of shit. No one is going to be looking at the marketing materials while trying to create levels and shit. What a fucking asshole.

[schild]

Wow, he went over to quarter to three to discuss the article while BOTH COURT CASES ARE ONGOING!

That would be because he's one of the dumbest people alive.

Edit: Can someone screenshot the entire relevant Q23 thread?

[Ingmar]

I guarantee you that there are probably 20 people from Lum's forum doing just that.

[schild]

Ok?

[Ingmar]

Well, assuming your concern is that it all will suddenly vanish, if it does, I'm sure one of them will post it somewhere.

[Mosesandstick]

Read what I think is Brad's lawyers' defence in the sexual harassment case: http://www.scribd.com/doc/105112455/Def-s-Mtn-for-SD

Looks messy. Basically paints a picture that the office was full of casual flirting, relaxed behaviour, etc. and the lady was fully aware and part of it.

I'd hope that the purity test and Brad's e-mails still bring him down.

[calapine]

[Khaldun]

Yeah, fucking brilliant. Hey, if you win over a couple of basement-dwelling shitbags off on some gaming forum, I'm sure that's going to keep your street cred as...as...a douchebag who makes computer games? Good job Brad: if you're going to "try the case in the media", maybe try some media that actually matter? Of course this is harder to do when the defense of "your case" is "I have the right  to be a sexist douchebag who harasses women because that's just how I roll, and it's my company". 

[Merusk]

Well, assuming your concern is that it all will suddenly vanish, if it does, I'm sure one of them will post it somewhere.

I think his concern is he was banned at Q23 and can't read it.

[proudft]

Anyone need a job? (No fatties!)

[calapine]

This keeps getting better, now Stephen Totilo, Editor-in-Chief, Kotaku.com posted on the Quarter-to-3 forum rebutting Wardells allegation that Kotaku wouldn't run his response:



Full post here

Edit: @proudft: Is 'not pretty but very ambitious' guy-speak for 'will give head'? 

[Merusk]

Didn't Wardell post here once upon a time? I recall seeing that same self-entitled buisnessman puffery before.

Or was that just Zepp? I forget.

[Ingmar]

Maybe the 'not very pretty' thing was just a result of raised expectations after he misheard her last name as in-a-thong.

[Segoris]

Good god that thread is a beautiful train wreck

[Paelos]

Maybe the 'not very pretty' thing was just a result of raised expectations after he misheard her last name as in-a-thong.

What was the job in question that she was interviewing for?

[Ingmar]

Given the content of his emails, I believe the jobs pretty much all boil down to "Brad Wardell's bitch."

[kildorn]

I love that his defense is essentially "we didn't harass HER, we harassed EVERYONE. See? Equality! Not guilty!"

[Sjofn]

It's like he's the "DO NOT DO THIS" portion of the sexual harrassment video people have to watch.

[kildorn]

Because fucking LOL at this being an obviously frivolous sexual harassment lawsuit. The dude in email admits to pretty much everything she's claiming. His defense includes the phrase "she was known as a 'party girl'"

[Rasix]

Edit: @proudft: Is 'not pretty but very ambitious' guy-speak for 'will give head'? 

Don't let Trippy catch that @.   

And yah, "very ambitious" reads like "DTF" given what we know of the man. 

[Sjofn]

Seriously, touch a woman's hair, you are immediately and forever a creep and should be shunned by all right thinking people.


(The obvious exception is if you are dating/married to/fucking/all of the above said woman. And even then, don't do it at work, for God's sake.)

[Llyse]

He spelt discretely instead of discreetly.

Hang him

 

[Khaldun]

He's said this sort of thing before in all sorts of places except not about harassment: that an entire company exists entirely for his pleasure and that if it stop pleasing him, it should cease to exist. Sure makes me want to spend money on a game where I expect that there might be some commitment to product beyond an asshole getting his rocks off.

[Selby]

Seriously, touch a woman's hair, you are immediately and forever a creep and should be shunned by all right thinking people.

Very true.  I've even had random strangers at bars come up to me and start stroking mine (who then proceed to get offended that I tell them to stop or won't give them the time of day).  No one with short hair understands just how creepy it is.

Game developers who are assholes?  Always a good story...

[Merusk]

He's said this sort of thing before in all sorts of places except not about harassment: that an entire company exists entirely for his pleasure and that if it stop pleasing him, it should cease to exist. Sure makes me want to spend money on a game where I expect that there might be some commitment to product beyond an asshole getting his rocks off.

Yeah that's the part that fucking hacks me off.  Harassment isn't acceptable but I can fathom the mindset behind it from douchebags.  People who think they're smoother than they are, or that the harasee really DOES love it.  Some people really are that oblivious and I get that.

The whole, "Hey, let me get away with whatever I want because you're my slaves and if you don't you'll be unemployed" thing?  What the fuck.  Get that guy some lithium because the sociopathy to pull that kind of passive-aggressive craziness needs serious help.

[Maledict]

I love how his email to HR ends with a rant about his rights and that he would shut down the entire company if they were in any way restricted. It's such a laughably stereotypical right wing nut response, and totally out of place in the email but by god he has to make his point!

[Khaldun]

If you read the Qt3 thread, you get the extra plus of finding out that the HR head is his sister-in-law. I think Brad and Curt Schilling should get together, they can be the corporate equivalent of Team Rocket.

Some fascinating bits in the ongoing carwreck:

a) Brad Wardell thinks that his counter-filing is independent evidence of what really happened rather than a document prepared by his lawyers trying to put the best possible face on this. (Good luck to them on that score.)
b) He really doesn't get the "hostile environment" concept. In particular, he thinks that if you don't say or do something to someone directly, it's never actionable. I have to think his lawyers have tried to get him to understand otherwise. If you sit around talking with other workers about the breasts of an employee who is not present, for example, that's a textbook example of hostile environment--if the person in question ever finds out about it. (which they almost certainly will if you do that a lot)
c) He keeps falling back on the "she never said anything about this until that email, and everyone else here loves getting sent purity tests and being asked about their bra sizes and doing that Robot Chicken stuff", even as a Qt3 poster quotes bits of the depositions to him that have employees verifying that this woman and others were often upset at his behavior and said so to colleagues.
d) He doesn't seem to have even the slightest awareness of why "I can do whatever the fuck I want with this company, shut it down if I feel like it on a whim" is a devastating thing to have made public regardless of the harassment case--both for how it affects Stardock's already iffy relationship to consumers and for retention of other talent. Would I be looking for another job if I worked at Stardock even if I liked all the Robot Chicken jokes and taking purity tests and think it's ok if my boss fondles the hair of female employees and tell them their nipples would look great in PR presentations? Yes, I think so--generally when the boss says, "This company is subject to any whim I have and maybe I'll just take my toys and go home, so there?" that company is not very secure for the future.

[Signe]

That whole purity test thing is a anti-riot!  They weren't funny when they first showed up eleventy billion years ago.  Anyway, I always get the answers wrong so purity tests can foad.  Same with that scrotally challenged Brad whastisthingyname douche.  He seems to be a sub-human Klein bottle filled with smeggy cheese.  I hates him and his nasty gameses, whatever they are.

Did that make sense?  I'm having a day.   

[Segoris]

So supposedly there was more to Brad's email response, bolded below the part that was originally left out. It's like he's so close to understanding but then stays on his high horse.

Hi Alexandra,
 
Thank you for bringing these up to me as I certainly do not want you to feel uncomfortable at work.
 
I don't recall item #1 but will certainly endeavor to be extra careful.
 
I understand #2. I will be more conscious of this in the future.
 
#3, however is not acceptable to me. I am an inappropriate, sexist, vulgar, and embarrassing person and I'm not inclined to change my behavior. If this is a problem, you will need to find another job.
 
#4, Again, I am not willing to adapt my behavior to suit others. IF you find my behavior problematic, I recommend finding another job.
 
I'm not some manager or coworker of yours. I own the company. It, and your job here, exist to suit my purposes, not vice versa. The company is not an end unto itself, it is a means to an end which is to further the objectives of its shareholders (in this case, me).
 
While I certainly agree that your rights as a person (certainly in terms of physical contact or interms of comments made towards you regarding your private live) take precedence over my rights as the owner of the business, that is as far as it goes.
 
I sincerely apologize for offending you while on our trip. I certainly would never intentionally try to upset you or make you uncomfortable and will endeavor to avoid doing so in the future. However, I won't change my basic personality to suit anyone (i.e. being an inappropriate, sexist, vulgar and embarrassing person).
 
Kind regards,
 
Brad

Also - should this topic be split to it's own thread?