Schilling's Green Monster Games

[Bunk]

I wonder what would happen if you charted out the general opinion expressed towards this game throughout the 43 pages, and compared it to every other game we have made mega-threads about.

We start out hoping for the next great thing, all full of hype and joy, and a little bit of starstruckedness. Then we make the required jaded doomsaying, diku complaints etc. Then the "Star" reappears and we get all frothy again. After a bit, we realize that nothing has really been said, and we start getting bitter about it. Then the "Star" reappears, something gets linked to the Vault, and we get a fresh flood of Starfuckers - that part is always fun.

20 pages later we realize that one or two of the newbs who invaded have stuck around, so we distract ourselves by pissing on them a while. Finally, we get back to our basics: "Diku sucks, this will obviously be Diku and suck, so I'll never play it! But tell us more about the game you fuck!!!1!"


Curt has done exactly what was intended here: he's gotten us to make a 43 page thread about a game by doing little more than dropping a few names, and he's avoided the deadly pitfall of past devs hyping all their pie in the sky features that they are never able to deliver.

[taolurker]

Bah that's what 38 Studios forums are for....

GASP THERE ARE NONE!!

A game with no community, say it ain't so!!

Info? Website launches? "Hype that counts"?

[Lantyssa]

Wasn't there supposed to be an information release?  What happened to it?

[amiable]

Curt has done exactly what was intended here: he's gotten us to make a 43 page thread about a game by doing little more than dropping a few names, and he's avoided the deadly pitfall of past devs hyping all their pie in the sky features that they are never able to deliver.

Yes, Curt has flawlessly executed his cunning plan to create a monster thread on a niche forum.  He will then ride the wave of F13 hype to victory!!!

Seriously, I love this place, but I think at times some of us greatly overestimate our influence.  This forum is full of bitter vets who have a love/hate relationship/obsession with video games.  Some of us do know a lot, but most of us are so grating we will have zero influence on the course of any major game.   We are basically the emo goth kids lunch table of the gaming industry.

[tazelbain]

If we are worthless, then having a 43 page thread on our board is worthless also.

[amiable]

If we are worthless, then having a 43 page thread on our board is worthless also.

Which leads me to conclude he is just posting for the lulz.

[Bunk]

43 page threads tend to have enough words and phrases repeated that they eventually show up in the average Vault trog's Google search.

[Ollie]

Seriously, I love this place, but I think at times some of us greatly overestimate our influence.  This forum is full of bitter vets who have a love/hate relationship/obsession with video games.  Some of us do know a lot, but most of us are so grating we will have zero influence on the course of any major game.   We are basically the emo goth kids lunch table of the gaming industry.

It isn't all bad. Not only has this thread given rise to a healthy dose of introspection and even some existential ennui, we've also established that baseball is the one with the stick. There has to be some value in that.

[taolurker]

[Draegan]

There are a lot of angry people in this thread.

[Nebu]

There are a lot of angry people in this thread.

This thread?  It's the internet.  People are all angry, anonymous tough-guys on the internet.  You must have figured that out by now.  It's all about the anger and angst. 

[WindupAtheist]

Jesus Christ.

[Margalis]

Hmm, a steroids in baseball apologist.  Enjoy your short stay!

Not to entirely derail, but anyone who thinks that steroids are any more prevalent in baseball than other major sport is deluding themselves. Bunch of *high school* football teams have been busted for steroids.

[Count Nerfedalot]

I believe every sport is the one with steroids, so you might need to narrow it down with something else.

Hmm, a steroids in baseball apologist.  Enjoy your short stay!

Dude, learn to read what's written instead of making stuff up and then taking offense at it.  Given the doping scandals in everything from the Olympics to High School football, it was a reasonable and aptly snarky comment.

[Goreschach]

Maybe if more baseball players were doping the game wouldn't be so fucking boring.

[Senses]

I don't know much about Curt, but the one thing I think I do know is he is an actual gamer, like me.  Whether or not that translates to the creation of a better game I do not know, but I do know that all the designers of WoW played Everquest pretty hardcore.  Probably just coincidence.

[Teleku]

This is the best fucking thread on f13.

[Bzalthek]

I don't know much, but I do know that that the designers of WoW had hands.  Chimps have hands.  Ergo, an MMO made by chimps would be fucking awesome! 

I claim credit for the snipe from left field.

[Senses]

Shrug, snipe expected.  But WoW in its original form was an answer to so many of the gripes the masses had in Everquest.  WoW was successfull in the beginning just by fixing those annoyances alone, and i guarrantee it wasn't market research that came up with that.  It was the lead designers, quest designers, play testers and even artists logging in Everquest every night at 5pm to raid EQ.  I'd just rather have players design games than businessmen.

[Margalis]

Maybe if more baseball players were doping the game wouldn't be so fucking boring.

Ban plz.

[Abagadro]

He can always call up Dykstra if he needs bankruptcy advise.   

[Khaldun]

Maybe Curt is going to buy Alganon.

Or hire Serek Dmart.

[Draegan]

Maybe Paul Barnett since he things he's a swell guy.

[UnSub]

I don't know much about Curt, but the one thing I think I do know is he is an actual gamer, like me.

Please list the MMOs created by non-gamers.

Also, I do think that part of the excitement here is that a celebrity of sorts is funding this title and that he occassionally pops in to say hi. I'm in the wrong country to care about baseball, but having a serious jock behind a nerd enterprise does make it stand out.

That said, all odds are against Copernicus. That Project Mercury gets announced much later than Copernicus sounds like later term decision to start generating revenue. That EA is attached despite also doing SWOR makes me wonder not if EA is going to turn on Copernicus, but when.

Also if Schilling has spent most of his fortune by now on 38 Studios, I hope he has something to show for it. If he has we, overly jaded and entitled potential players, haven't seen it.

[Ollie]

That said, all odds are against Copernicus. That Project Mercury gets announced much later than Copernicus sounds like later term decision to start generating revenue. That EA is attached despite also doing SWOR makes me wonder not if EA is going to turn on Copernicus, but when.

Not knowing all the details or the full extent of the publishing deal between EA and 38 Studios, it's hard to say how much desperation factors in on either side. We do know EA is itching to add some MMOG success to its portfolio, as the company's forays into the genre have been nothing but abject failures thus far. Publishing Project Mercury gives EA a way in, should Copernicus ever come close to anything resembling a finished article.

Given EA's willingness to gut even its own IPs if they fail to perform, there's little doubt they'll cut the cord and run if things go sour. That mercenary attitude should hold doubly true when it comes to a start-up like 38 Studios; a company that has some proven talent (Ken Rolston) but no portfolio of successful titles.

And while we're on the subject of talent, I'm hesitant to put Salvatore and McFarlane in that column when talking about game development. All the lore and art in the world won't make a turkey fly if there's no game there. Not to mention Bob keeps gushing about EQ, which makes me think he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near game systems design. It's 2010, very few people will pay a monthly fee (or microtransactions) to have their gut punched on a regular basis.

[schild]

That Project Mercury gets announced much later than Copernicus sounds like later term decision to start generating revenue.

No it doesn't. It sounds like they needed something to do with the half complete BHG game they had just bought. I'm not sure it has anything to do with generating revenue so much as the Man Behind the Man doesn't know when to call something quits and feels like tossing all that stuff away would have been wasteful - so development continued to the point that releasing it was the "only sound choice."

[Nija]

Please list the MMOs created by non-gamers.

UO, EQ2, AC2, Tabula Rasa.

[schild]

Please list the MMOs created by non-gamers.

UO, EQ2, AC2, Tabula Rasa.

[Stabs]

I wouldn't call someone who thinks he's a fantasy lord, lives in a haunted castle and takes holidays in space a non-gamer.

I just think he can't tell where the game ends and real life starts.

[Tearofsoul]

8 Hour Interviews with 38 Studios

[taolurker]

38 studios flew the guy who camped out in front of Blizzard to Boston for an interview?

Seriously, if Schilling is reading this... WTF?

[Grimwell]

I hate it when people interview and then blog about it.

There is no second chance. You were there, you interviewed, they will hire you based on your strengths and weaknesses as you have demonstrated - based against what strengths they need and weaknesses they can tolerate. Posting a blog about the experience is interesting from the outsiders point of view, but it's not professional and disrespects the people who interviewed you.

Winning your comments section over with your "Aww shucks, I was nervous!" post may feel good and get one all emotional, but it's absolute tripe in terms of winning me over.

I also loathe it when a job is posted and people complain because something trivial like them not living where the job is is a limiting factor.

Nobody is going to move a company to you just to hire you. Nobody is going to forgive a shit interview if you follow it up with a blog post about your jitters. Nobody but a God damned fool who's destined for failure.

This post has absolutely nothing to do with 38 Studios either. The crazy guy who camped out in front of Blizzard (which I can respect as creative naiveté) is who I'm reflecting on.

[Ollie]

I've come to terms with the fact that most people use the internet as a venue to stage an on-line love affair with themselves. Even so, the amount of sheer wankery on that blog brought a tear to my eye.

I wonder if these people have held any position of accountability a day in their lives. Call me old-fashioned, but when it comes to company business, Behind Closed Doors by Charlie Rich is one of my favourite songs.

[Numtini]

He seems very much the fit for the studio from what I've seen here.

[Stabs]

I think it's a pretty clever blog post - or at least it would be pretty clever if pre-meditated.

Reading between the lines the interview went pretty well. You know how the kid at school who always gets straight As goes around after an exam flapping that he might have got question 3c wrong (when everyone else got nearly everything wrong). It reads like that to me.

He's attracting attention to his application in a way which is probably going to get back to 38 Studios and emphasising how keen he is.

It also subtly reinforces the notion that this is a fairly fanatical gamer, someone who would love to spend a few years in crunch as well as someone with the e-social skills to be a well-liked member of a blogging community.

Like I said, I don't think it's pre-meditated but if it were it would be a clever way to follow up an interview with a small company.

Edit: ah, I noticed Curt posted in the comments. Looks pretty good for Ixobelle.