Giant Bomb Presents: Adam Orth Is Adrift

Wait, he got that much shit for such a silly comment? Wow, the internet sucks.

Edit: Sometimes. The internet sucks sometimes.

I hope Orth's game is really good, the concept is neat and I have high hopes for VR as well. Still, can't help but find the sympathy the gaming press has for his plight and resulting media coverage is built upon a strange "the internet has been mean to us" camaraderie that does not register with the general gaming public. Having notoriety for making controversial Twitter comments and losing your job over them doesn't make someone a promising game developer, though if Adrift ends up being a compelling experience I'll be happy to give credit where credit is due.

HA!

Seriously though, this is as serious as this should have ever gotten.

@paulunga: That is very VERY oversimplifying it. What Orth said was a lot more than "a silly comment".

He worked for Microsoft and was outright insulting people who lived in rural communities with poor or no broadband Internet access. He used the phrase, "Why would I live there?" when questioned by his friend about how he would feel about a console that required users to always be online if he lived in an area like that. He also suggested that users in those areas to just "deal with it." Once they saw the Internet didn't take kindly to Orth's comments, his friend tried to help him do damage control by saying, "Dudes, we're friends and just joking lol" but that Twitter conversation didn't show one bit of comedy.

Orth was making some incredibly venomous statements towards people's very valid concerns about what Microsoft was planning on doing with the Xbox One's always-on DRM and paid the price in an ultimate way. It was an incredibly reckless thing to do considering he worked for the company. That is the key to the whole thing here. He WORKED for Microsoft. There was already a lot of apprehension about what was going on. Now, here's a Microsoft employee all-but-confirming people's fears. He represented the company poorly and recklessly. He made himself the key figurehead/symbol/punchingbag/dartboard of Microsoft's new policy until Don Mattrick dropped this gem with Geoff Keighley at E3 2013: "Fortunately, we have a product for people who aren't able to get some kind of connectivity. It's called Xbox 360."

Does the Internet suck? Maybe sometimes. But one way to guarantee that it sucks is when you say or do stupid shit publicly on it where the world can see it.

@aneternalenigma: No. The entire situation was overblown and he was making a poorly aimed joke about it. The xbone would have only required a connection to check, either once a day or each time you boot up a piece of content, to be sure that you own the content that you are attempting to access. It's just a DRM check, a dial-up connection could have achieved this without issue.

It's as to be expected, as Adam resurfaces, that this issue would be revisited. But again, as was stated by many a level-headed person back in 2013, 7 million users at any given moment don't seem to have any issues with this happening on Steam. M$ should have stuck to their guns. Instead what they did was go back on their word. So in a lose/lose situation they took the road of the coward, instead of sticking to their principles they panicked.

Interesting. I'm sure I'll have a hard time figuring out how the game actually applies to his experiences, which is preferable, but it looks cool regardless.

Long story short: He doesn't deserve they sympathy he's been getting from the press. He was toxic and dismissive, loud and belligerent, and when he suffered the consequences for acting like that on the internet in a very public role, he highlighted the worst 10% of reaction he got as some sort of mitigating factor.

Trouble is, that doesn't excuse his behavior. To say nothing of the order of operations there.

The harassment Orth received was completely unacceptable.

It was interesting to me that in this interview Orth refers to the backlash he encountered as something that happened to him, rather than something his actions triggered. That's indicative of a lack of remorse and is classic psychopathic behaviour. To be fair, he follows that up by saying everyone makes mistakes and that redemption is a theme of his game. But still, his initial summary of events is suggestive of a lack of remorse. Moreover, in a brief search, I wasn't able to find anything about him personal apologizing for his comments. I am sceptical of his remorse and implied character growth.

Interesting interview @patrickklepek.

Not one interview I've ever read about this guy has ever had a tone of apology or regret for being an ass during such a critical time for the company that he represented, or the people that he insulted who were looking to purchase their product. The fact that MS was in the middle of a firestorm over that same kind of hubris with their policies didn't seem to inform his attitude then.

Him creating a game that is thematically about his experience as a victim in this self made drama speaks volumes about him now. These talks that he's been giving about the experience, of how his life was turned upside by negative feedback and his victimization haven't seemed to provide much walking room outside of that bubble he was living in.

But that's his problem that nobody needs to feel one way or another about. And if he's doing well enough to be working in the industry again, then he doesn't need our support.
Clearly he's gotten it already.

Moderators:

Please use conservative deletion on these posts-- some of the other user's comments that were removed here were just opinions, they just don't like the guy. I feel not everything posted has to be praise, or even constructive for that matter. If a, "sounds good, can't wait" is allowed, why not a, "sounds dumb, not looking forward to it"? Neither of which add anything critical to a discussion, aside from polarized personal opinion. If the comment is blatantly offensive, by all means. But cultivating opinion is just wrong.

In regards to this interview:

I think most matured adults should be capable of separating themselves enough from who this guy may or may not be as a person, at least enough to try this game. There are quite a few game developers out there, for some pretty prestigious games no less, that are absolute scumbags. Good PR and fan interaction keeps you from ever knowing though. Their goal is to be on your good side so you feel equally as good about supporting their game. Their public image is all a marketing illusion.

Should that stop you from ever enjoying games again because there are assholes out there working in the industry? Not at all. Since when does a good game require honest, well-adjusted, moral individuals to be good game? It never has. This team's game sounds like it could be a cool experience on the Rift, why shut yourselves out from that because of one man who works at the studio?

He said stupid things. He's not a monster. Remember, at the end of the day, we're dealing with consoles and video games. Not lives, not medicine, not issues of massive national importance. You may dislike the guy for his thoughtless comments, but who has he killed? Who has he really hurt? No one.

Hey, have you ever said something silly or nonsensical? In your entire life? About any subject? Do you deserve to be hounded, forever, for saying something stupid? He's moved on. So should you.

@kmg90:

Jesus Christ, it's not like he raped and murdered your family. If a thousand people simultaneously started complaining about a project that you're passionately a part of, isn't it understandable to lash out in such a mild-mannered way?

He accepted responsibility and worked his ass off to bounce back. Why is everyone so hard on the guy? Over sensitive gamers are the ones that should get their heads out of their asses. (sequel to Crimes and Punishments)

Oh Adam Orth - if he wants people to get interested in his game he has to learn how to tell them something about it instead of just pimping the VR craze which is doing just find on it own.

I understand that not everyone can be a wordsmith but if you will be speaking to press and potential investors you need to have a salesman rather than a fumbling artist.

Sorry, but until VR is more affordable, it isn't going to reach widespread adoption. Deal with it.

A game called Flagship seems to have what you are looking for.

I don't think he's a monster I just think he was extremely disrespectful to a demographic of people he doesn't understand. I'm glad he's moving on with his life. You have to get back on the horse after you get knocked off and he has a family to feed so I hope he does eventually get back on his feet.

That being said, those comments he made hit pretty close to home for me because a lot of my family live in rural areas. It may have been silly to some people but it was honestly pretty personal for me. It felt borderline classist at the time. He poked the bear and got more than he was expecting/deserved. I bet it sucked. I still don't want anything to do with him just yet.

I hope he continues to prove that he's not the guy he was last year and that he's grown up and gotten some fucking perspective. No one deserves the abuse he got. Point blank. But I'm not going to buy his new game because I feel bad for him.

I'm just choosing not to support someone that I don't want to support right now.

@bhhawks78: Hot damn are you wonderful. Wow.

Actually, fuck it. I'm cool with Adam Orth. I don't want to be one of the people making his life miserable...

Did this guy really just say "the feels" in a serious, non-ironic way?
Like, cmon', man... -____-

@patrickklepek: Gamers are a petty bunch.

@patrickklepek: Adam's famous within our circles because of failing horribly at public relations. He is known for not just presenting his unpopular opinion, while in the process using the wrong podium to do it, but being a dick to people while stating those opinions.

Would you or would you not "go dark" for a few years, or, at the very least have somebody else presenting your product, knowing fully well that you may not be Mr Popular?

There's a time and place for everything.

People were, shockingly, not ready for his new thing yet. Who would have thought!?

Sad? That sounds oddly naive, coming from you. I thought you had a pretty firm grasp on the internet.

Take it for what it is, or bail the fuck out.

A lot of very interesting points from both sides about adam orth and the drama surrounding him.

I'm glad he's coming out of it with a bit of humility and attempting to right his wrongs. It's too bad people are still giving him shit but it's to be expected with drama as high profile as his. reminds me of the whole Paul Christoforo, Ocean Marketing drama

That said, he's been afforded a second chance so hopefully he doesn't squander it. Not many people get 3rd chances.

I remember thinking this looked pretty interesting, but reviews weren't great so I never checked it out.