@Forum_User said:

@MEATBALL said:

Is it normal that I have only just now heard of the "Quarter to Three" forums. We didn't know Quarter to Three/their forums were a thing before all of this, right?

I surely didn't.

I didn't either, and considering the context, I'm just going to stick with my usual policy of 'don't click on links in articles about shitty things'. So whatever they are, I care not.

@TeflonBilly said:

Ugh, why is this being reported on? Like really, I don't see the newsworthy worth of this being reported on on a site like this. This is TMZ level gossip.

I'd rather have mroe lamenting about Triple H cutting his hair or REAL articles like the excellent Walking Dead articles you just posted. This just seems like another grab for clicks in reporting about something sexist which is barely relevant to the site's purpose.

You clearly don't visit TMZ or understand the definition of gossip if you think this is anything like that.

And if you thought it was a grab for clicks, why did you click on it?

While baffled with the nature of Mr. Wardell's behavior, I am relieved to hear that none of this news concerns Ironclad (Sins of a Solar Empire devs).

@Sankis said:

@VinLieger said:

Stardock you guys used to be cool, what happened???

Oh and that guys a fucking moron for putting that shite in an e-mail

@Kidavenger said:

@Animasta said:

here's the test if you wanna check it out, it's real nice and totally not harassment at all http://www.armory.com/tests/100.html

Ya, that totally looks like he made her take it, not a friendly joke at all.

It must have been terrible getting that in December 2008 and having to work there another 18 months, what a trooper she was...

She making a mockery of women who have real problems.

Way to be a scumbag.

I'm not going to take any of you clowns seriously until you point out a flaw in my logic. If a purity test is a heinous as everyone here seems to think it is; equal to rape in Animista's eyes; why didn't she walk right then and there? or even complain about it? She must have been upset enough to print it out and save it.

You guys defending her just because she is a woman is more sexist than anything I've read about him doing so far.

Who the fuck knows what happened... If she really did delete "marketing assets", then that's a big overreaction on her part.

Edit: After seeing some stuff in this thread, if true yes he is an asshole. But again, if she destroyed work important to the company it's still an overreaction. He touched her hair and sent her the purity test, a humorless and stupid thing to do, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be.

I like the part where she basically said don't talk to me like i'm human I don't want to be friendly. Sense when is simply talking about someones personal life harassment ?

@Kidavenger: EVERYTHING is equal to rape in Animasta's eye.s I've learned to ignore it. I'm surprised your avatar hasn't been reported for being sexist by him. Wardell certainly seems to be lacking in social graces, but this woman seems to be just vindictive if you base yourself solely on the fleeting "facts" that have been presented in these "reports". Patrick, I am disappoint.

Huh. Honestly, this doesn't make either side sound good.

And whatever happened to the Fall From Heaven designer that went to work with Stardock? Maybe it paid better than his former job, but I'd like to see him work on more Civilization mods. Civ 5 could certainly use some mods on the legendary level of Civ 4 mods.

@Kidavenger said:

@Animasta said:

here's the test if you wanna check it out, it's real nice and totally not harassment at all http://www.armory.com/tests/100.html

Ya, that totally looks like he made her take it, not a friendly joke at all.

It must have been terrible getting that in December 2008 and having to work there another 18 months, what a trooper she was...

She making a mockery of women who have real problems.

No fuck you. This is Sexual Harassment as clear as day (not to mention creepy as fuck coming from your boss) and I can't wait till' this guy gets fucked in court because he and you and anyone who defends shit like this is an asshole.

I can't side with anyone here because if what I've read in this article is true, then they are both idiots here.

@Agnosticwatermelon said:

@Kidavenger said:

@Animasta said:

here's the test if you wanna check it out, it's real nice and totally not harassment at all http://www.armory.com/tests/100.html

Ya, that totally looks like he made her take it, not a friendly joke at all.

It must have been terrible getting that in December 2008 and having to work there another 18 months, what a trooper she was...

Give me a fucking break, fuck her and fuck all you idiots defending her.

She making a mockery of women who have real problems.

No fuck you. This is Sexual Harassment as clear as day (not to mention creepy as fuck coming from your boss) and I can't wait till' this guy gets fucked in court because he and you and anyone who defends shit like this is an asshole.

Yeah, do you know hard it is for women that actually get raped? It makes this shit look like a day in the park. If this is the worse miss or misses Alexandra experienced in her life she should count herself lucky. Also, when dudes get drunk some of them become obnoxious as hell. That too is worse than this. Is he an asshole? Yeah, is it harassment? Sure, but fuckers like you are taking it way out of proportion. And for the record I'm not defending him, he deserves to get punished by an appropriate sentence that's set by the court, not you. So cool it, will ya?

Oh shit, my boss touched my hand one time. Better immediatly write her an email that if she ever touches my hand again, tells jokes about me or even looks at me, I'm going to sue her.

Seriously? Touching her hair? Okay, okay I don't what happend and what "touching" means. If he stroked her hair or anything like it okay fine. And whatever, if she doesn't like her hair to be touched thats fine and she has a right to say that. But the mail she wrote just sounds awful...

In the end I have no idea what really happend, if Wardell was really harrassing her than she has every right in the world to sue him, but if she really deleted stuff than Stardock also has every right to sue her as well.

@Animasta said:

wardell is a fucker and a shithead news at 10

Proof? All I see here are reasons to thing what's her face is the brat here. If she did what she did, that's much worse than... touching someone's hair. I'm not assuming anything because it's hard to know what's going on when most of what's being said is coming straight from the various accused, but it sounds to me like she's in the wrong here. If she's uncomfortable with treatment towards her, fine. But going beyond making it clear that that sort of treatment shouldn't continue is an over-reaction.

There's too much suing these days. If he really and truly harrassed her then she should have hired someone to kneecap him in the parking lot as he was going home.

Why does nobody here actually read the article goddamn.

@Agnosticwatermelon: If she didn't have a pair of tits and nothing dangling no one would even blink an eye at that test it's a double standard . I remember when feminists were all about equality not we want = pay but walk on egg shells around us or we'll sue.

Simply put treat everyone the same if they can't handle it fuck them that is equality as equal as it could possibly get.

@Rongaryen said:

There's too much suing these days. If he really and truly harrassed her then she should have hired someone to kneecap him in the parking lot as he was going home.

Followed, seriously.

@Agnosticwatermelon: legally it's not if, as Stardock says, it was a company wide message addressing multiple employees, male and female. Sexual harrassment is specifically defined as being harrased because of your sex, which this would not qualify for.

Patrick, could you update the story with dates that tell us when each case began, if that info is available? Thanks.

So I have to ask: does anyone know if Elemental is actually half-decent now that it is theoretically a finished game and not an unholy mess? I'm asking because the expansion seems to be availible for pre-order on steam and I was wondering if it was even worth thinking about obtaining via sale. I mean, Gal Civ 2 was good so Stardock clearly knows how to make that kind of game.

On topic: Hasn't Brad Wardell basically been saying dumb stuff on the internet for years now? A sexual harassment lawsuit doesn't seem out of character, honestly, and neither does him digging himself a hole by directly responding to it on internet forums.

How much is Miseta suing for? If she ends up losing that other lawsuit, she could be financially ruined. That sucks considering her alleged actions were in the heat of the moment and wouldn't have happened if Wardell wasn't such a scumbag.

If he sexually harassed the woman then he should be punished for it, however if the woman fucked up a bunch of code in retaliation she should also be punished for it. Regardless if he's a pervy creep, fucking with a company's product doesn't just hurt the guy but the rest of the people on the team as well. If someone got fired because the quality of the finished product wasn't up to snuff because she sabotaged it in an act of revenge then that is unacceptable.

@Veiasma said:

Here comes the inevitable wave of people jumping to conclusions without all the facts because the plaintiff is a woman.

She probably made it up.

@TeflonBilly said:

Ugh, why is this being reported on? Like really, I don't see the newsworthy worth of this being reported on on a site like this. This is TMZ level gossip.

I'd rather have mroe lamenting about Triple H cutting his hair or REAL articles like the excellent Walking Dead articles you just posted. This just seems like another grab for clicks in reporting about something sexist which is barely relevant to the site's purpose.

I agree. If you aren't going to post hot game rumors~~~!!!! then don't bother posting this stuff either. This has nothing to do with the games industry.

Well it sounds like a gigantic misunderstanding and both reacted poorly. I would hate to have to determine blame for this because it sounds like there is enough blame to go around. So picking just one person as the one at fault seems inappropriate. But one thing is for sure, Wardell is too damn childish to be put in a managerial position.

@Kidavenger said:

I'm not going to take any of you clowns seriously until you point out a flaw in my logic. If a purity test is a heinous as everyone here seems to think it is; equal to rape in Animista's eyes; why didn't she walk right then and there? or even complain about it? She must have been upset enough to print it out and save it.

You guys defending her just because she is a woman is more sexist than anything I've read about him doing so far.

Grow up and get a clue children.

Of course the "purity test" isn't equal to being raped. I wouldn't even say there is anything wrong the test in general. It's just not something you should send to someone that works for/with you(man or woman), and could be perceived as a form of sexual harassment.

That being said, if she deleted marketing assets or whatever before she left, then they are both pretty stupid.

This is the kind of news you read and move on. She has a legitimate but not conclusive case of harrasment and likely related is the potential insider damages committed by her. That both are potentially and likely at fault is something the courts will figure out. Man I remember when Stardock was the little indie that could. Damn shame it had to come to this for all involved.

@darkdragonmage99 said:

@Agnosticwatermelon: If she didn't have a pair of tits and nothing dangling no one would even blink an eye at that test it's a double standard . I remember when feminists were all about equality not we want = pay but walk on egg shells around us or we'll sue.

Simply put treat everyone the same if they can't handle it fuck them that is equality as equal as it could possibly get.

Yes, life and gender roles are completely and utterly devoid of any complexity or nuance. Well done, Professor Internetman.

Having read portions of the cases for both sides, I feel sorry I wasted the time doing so. There is nothing here but he-said, she-said bullshit surrounding the fairly trivial issue of whether a line was crossed in an (overly?) informal work environment. Newsflash: people flirt at work. Sometimes they even drink with colleagues and say dumb shit. Whether it should constitute a pay day for either side is something that the courts will sort out. Whether or not it makes for a story worth discussing should be an easier question to answer (hint: no).

Meh, who cares. Tell me the verdict. Call me a jerk, but I'm tired of hearing about these types of cases. Because we dont really know what is going on and of course each side wants to win the legal battle they'll present the best evidence in their favor. I could care less, let the case play out and then I'll make my decision on Wardell or anyone. Wardell could be a huge asshole, or the woman could be trying to get a settlement. As it stands now, Wardell looks like a gigantic fucker, but I'd rather have not known what I know now from reading his quotes on here and elsewhere. I'd rather just know if he is guilty instead of thinking he's guilty.

Like others have posted, never do anything outside of the office with your employees or coworkers, especially if you work over them. And its terrible thing to say, but even more so if they are the opposite sex. The risks are just too great for you screwing up, getting drunk and then accidentally slipping and getting a handful of Ms. Secretary. "You drunk perv!"

So as he's clearly a scumbag, the only real question is whether she did actually tamper with intellectual property. It would be unfortunate if true (if only because it weakens her moral ground), but completely understandable as a heat-of-the-moment reaction.

Sounds like he's a total scumbag and she hugely overreacted by sabotaging the business when she left. None of these things should have happened. If these allegations are true, I hope they both get what's coming to them.

I find it crazy that a business of this size dont have some redundancy set up for its data... I mean this is like the most common thing you try to protect against when you run a network. Also i find it odd that were finding out about this 2 years later...

"#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 need to find another job.

"Oh no! You're creeped out by my weird behavior in an environment where I'm in power. WHAT ABOUT MY FEELINGS AND RIGHTS AS A MAN?"

What a skeevy piece of shit. I loved the hell out of Galactic Civilizations 1 and 2, but ugh, fuck him so much.

And now for the comments, in which heterosexual white men decide what is and isn't offensive.

@dudy80 said:

I find it crazy that a business of this size dont have some redundancy set up for its data... I mean this is like the most common thing you try to protect against when you run a network. Also i find it odd that were finding out about this 2 years later...

As someone with experience in IT, you would be fucking shocked.

Yeah, there's too much one sided back and forth here for me to care.

@Lightningproof: Gender roles are utter nonsense and life well life is simple it's not fair.

It's cool, you guys. You can't be found guilty of sexual harassment if you had been quoting Family Guy. No issues here.

What’s interesting is how Wardell has chosen to publicly responded.

Nyaraghharrghargh...

I was just going to post a video of Limp Bizkit repeating "It's all about the he said she said bullshit" but apparently that video doesn't exist and frankly I find that more disturbing than this whole story.

I stopped reading at "Kotaku"

P.S.: This is why news sites need to eliminate their comments section.

P.S.: This is why news sites need to eliminate their comments section.

Haha, some lunatic is whining about what I said on Something Awful, I'm E-famous now.

@MrOldboy said:

Meh, who cares. Tell me the verdict. Call me a jerk, but I'm tired of hearing about these types of cases. Because we dont really know what is going on and of course each side wants to win the legal battle they'll present the best evidence in their favor. I could care less, let the case play out and then I'll make my decision on Wardell or anyone. Wardell could be a huge asshole, or the woman could be trying to get a settlement. As it stands now, Wardell looks like a gigantic fucker, but I'd rather have not known what I know now from reading his quotes on here and elsewhere. I'd rather just know if he is guilty instead of thinking he's guilty.

Like others have posted, never do anything outside of the office with your employees or coworkers, especially if you work over them. And its terrible thing to say, but even more so if they are the opposite sex. The risks are just too great for you screwing up, getting drunk and then accidentally slipping and getting a handful of Ms. Secretary. "You drunk perv!"

I agree. Not really a fan of these "still occurring" types of news articles. I got nothing from this article except a "he said/she said" scenario. Based on zero proven facts, I can't posit anything but a vague opinion on circumstantial evidence.

@Kidavenger said:

Haha, some lunatic is whining about what I said on Something Awful, I'm E-famous now.

that's because it's easier here to be a shithead rather than SA.

@Animasta said:

@Kidavenger said:

Haha, some lunatic is whining about what I said on Something Awful, I'm E-famous now.

that's because it's easier here to be a shithead rather than SA.

I must be special to manage both then.

@Kidavenger said:

@Animasta said:

@Kidavenger said:

Haha, some lunatic is whining about what I said on Something Awful, I'm E-famous now.

that's because it's easier here to be a shithead rather than SA.

I must be special to manage both then.

it's true! and it's extra impressive you managed to have one of the worst opinions in this thread, we should all be in awe of your l33t tr0lling skillz

This fucking 'sexual harassment' bullshit is getting out of control. Really? The court entertains a lawsuit about a woman claiming a man touched her hair at a pub? It's just his words against hers. And I can't figure out why some guys here are jumping to conclusions and shitting on Stardock as a whole, when nothing is conclusive. Oh wait, this is the fucking Internet, what am I saying.