This article caught my eye. I bought this game a while back on sale. I played it a bit but didn’t get super into it, which is neither here nor there, but I do remember looking at the forums and reading about the game a little bit at the time.
This game had a bumpy ride. Originally they submitted it through the Greenlight service, then somewhere along the way Adult Swim offered them a distribution deal, but Valve interfered. Valve felt at the time that allowing a game with a publisher to submit to Steam via Greenlight undermined the philosophical integrity of the service. They took the game off Steam then too.
If someone imparted this info earlier I apologize, I didn’t read all the way back through the comments, but I do think this bit of backstory is important. It provides a bit of context for Maulbeck’s accelerated anger. This wasn’t a guy flipping because one thing went wrong. This was a guy flipping because of a series of difficult experiences working with Valve.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending what he did. In my opinion the guy waived his right to release on Steam as soon as he took to a public forum and started accusing them of incompetence. If he was vying to have his picture amended to the dictionary next to the word “unprofessional” I think he made a good bid for it. If he was trying to make a change and get things fixed, well, then he bogeyed the bogey of all bogeys. But the guy is not a demon, he’s just an over entitled guy that fucked the mustard and needs to grow up.
Another thing to note is that the developer had a reputation of sometimes being at odds with the community on the forums. I don’t know what person or persons was involved with any of that, but I’m certain that Valve was hearing about it and that it may have affected their relationship with Code Avarice well before this particular incident.
When I was looking into this earlier today I saw that one of the other developers, Travis, had posted this on twitter:
“watching my wife cry over this is killing me. For once in my life, i dont have a clue how to fix something. I have to figure this out.”
That sucks. Because one guy didn’t have an accurate sense of how much his actions could affect the people around him, this other guy’s family is suffering and that’s not fair.
If Paranautical was a AAA title by EA, or something like that, with high sales projections and a massive promotion campaign, I’m not sure this situation would be playing out the same way. If the numbers were more significant to Valve on the business end, they might accept the resigning or firing of Maulbeck as a suitable apology and continue their relationship with the company. But since this is a small single-digit development team they’re spanking the entire team as a single identity.
Of course there is a chance they might change their minds. Ample time hasn’t been allowed for them to react to Maulbeck’s resignation, but if they choose not to go that route, I’m not sure that sits well with me. The whole of EA or Square or Ubi doesn’t get screwed when one guy does something stupid. To me this kind of “ethical scaling” is, well, pretty unethical.
So don’t be a dick kids, on the internet or otherwise. If you have to be a dick just to feel okay with yourself, then treat it like masturbation and do it privately with the windows and doors closed. If you can help it, don’t even make sounds with your mouth. Just swallow it down, say the words inside, and spare yourself the pain and embarrassment of having to look back at the person you were later in life.
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