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Breaking even would prolly be a good goal if it would publicly show how they were truly wronged, if it happened to me I would gladly do it at a loss. Since none of em them took legal action, it tends to show that there probably wasn't any real wrongdoing.
Brad was in charge on the project, but it wasn't done when it was forced to go gold. He certainly have a big part of the blame, but it's not all on him. We all know that problem happen and more time is needed, can you control them all ? I never put the blame of the employee, I would say it's shared at the top of the pyramid. Yet, to me, the game was still a great idea.
I am not really interested by post of anonymous people claiming to know everything that happened, yet weren't even involved in them. Brad signed his post with his side of the story, till we see someone else do the same for the opposite side, I would say there is no need to discuss hearsay anymore.
Conman or not, he has a vision about the games he work on. If he can translate that vision in a game and polish it, he will make a lot more money than the 200k he could raise in the next 5 years as donation ...
Wtf?? There is audio from Silius breaking it down dude..
Why would anyone want to pay $30 bucks for a pair of modern day Journeyman Boots:
https://www.pantheonrotf.com/store/product/71/pair-of-sprinter-s-boots
How dare he not add the chance for gamer's to pretend Drelzna dropped the Bronze Spear instead of the boots! Seeing those boots brought back some very old school gaming memories of that camp in Nejena.
Just remember guys that:
"Your donation will go directly into the creation of the game and your feedback will go directly to the development team's ears."
This genre needs to get back to its roots. I hope Pantheon will get developed so that it can serve as an example of what is indeed possible when developers unshackle themselves from the demands of the mainstream audience.
Long live the independent mmorpg! Huzzzahhh!
behind every successful "idea man" there needs to be a team of very capable, motivated, and treated-fairly "implementation people".
Richard Garriott is another idea person but he is disciplined enough to know where his limits are and wise enough to get the right team around him. Dont get me wrong, he has a larger than life character aspect as does our friend aradune, but he knows how to leverage his vision into an actual game.
Brad has the problem of thinking his ideas will propel themselves into existence by sheer force of how-awesome-the-ideas-are. See also: vanguard. Some of the ideas behind that game would still be visionary today- of course they never happened and the game had to be released in a 1/2 done state and we all know what happens to a game when it suffers a terrible release.
COULD brad learn from his mistakes? sure. DID brad learn? i duno, but i'm gonna have to see a LOT of proof before he gets any of my money, or for that matter even a lot of my attention.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
It's a business decision. Developers aren't shackled to the mainstream, they want to make money. If the greatest potential for profit comes from the mainstream then they'll develop for it.
This.
Considering the language changed from Pledges and Purchases to Donations between development teams. I would say VRI has no money or assets and is just a tax shelter at best. All the money, as it has always been, is going straight to Brad.
So what would suing VRI do for anyone? A company that is not earning a profit and owns nothing? At best they win a judgement against Brad, how do they collect? Likely he settles out of court, sells off his fancy bike and no one is aloud to say anything about it.
We have lots of audio from the majority of the devs, from their own mouths, about this situation with Brad. Having that, is as good as being there when I can quote directly.
It's his word vs the dev team and well documented VG history. His current actions are no different and I would honestly wonder if it was actually Brad who posted here anyway. I was recently told by one of the team that all of the Text based interviews and AMA's were another team member posting as Brad because he couldn't be bothered to show up and do it. The ONLY interviews Brad did were the on camera and K-TAM Radio ones.
None of the Dev team (original) have given me enough reason to doubt anything they have to say. Everything I read about Brad gives me doubts, from the genesis of EQ1 to VG and now all this with Pantheon. Guy's Toxic.
K-TAM Radio
Can you do a recap ? I dont feel like diging all night to find an audio file.
My wife freelance writes on the side a lot and has actually had to do this because her and around 20 other writers were not paid. The company just never sent their checks. Finally one of the unpaid folks pooled money to get a class-action lawsuit against the company. My wife had to chip-in money to help pay for the lawyer to actually do the class-action lawsuit. 1.5 years later, they won... they did not get the full amount, but after the chip-in cost for the lawyer, she got about half.
Long story-short, in this case it may not even be worth the people's time and additional money in hopes of getting funds paid out and it most certainly would not be the agreed upon amount in the contract due to legal fees and generally is a settlement, assuming this is the issue with the ex-Devs.
I certainly commend Brad for trying to speak out and clear his name and the situation. I want to see his game made, I do. I am an EQ vet, Vanguard vet, and p99 fan. My trust is long lost and I personally wouldn't donate to him or his cause, but I would personally buy his game if it ends up being even half as good as either EQ or Vanguard (years after release) was.
What would be the point you ask ? Maybe simply to make the truth come out. If they really want to protect people from loosing more money. Them suing and winning would be the last nail in the coffin. Why is none of them willing to go for it.
But that's exactly what I am saying. If there was wrong doing, isn't it at least as important to just prove it and show it to the public. The reward for winning this is much more than the check you could get.
Not sure why I'm even entertaining you at this point but for starters.. A lot of these Devs were strapped for cash and already behind on bills.. They have priorities.. You know like playing rent and taking care of the family. Even tho they felt ripped off by Brad, the best thing they could do, and did.. Was go find work to support themselves.
To be fair, I should also point out that Vanguard had potential and I personally enjoyed (very much so) the community of players. I have many ideas of what would make a good game and what players would enjoy, however, most people don't let arrogance or delusions cloud themselves from knowing what they are good at and what they aren't good at. For Brad, he is and has always attempted to do everything from marketing to game play to implementation and that has never ended well for projects (of any kind).
Does he even have a finance individual who is handling the acquisition of funds and their distribution or is it more of a piggy bank on a desk situation? Point being, there are absolutely no guarantee's to anyone who donates that this money won't be used to finance "medical expenses" or personal needs. It is a shot in the dark situation where people are being asked to trust it will be utilized where there is a clear track record of issues. To any logical person they would not be involved with that until or unless a business foundation is created that shows a transparent appropriation of funds. Pocketing money because you feel it is "owed" based on your position may not be illegal on its face, but it presents a poor quality of the person and also presents (to me at least) a trust issue.
Do I hope a game can be produced that is something I would enjoy and has implemented many of the ideas I have in my own mind? Absolutely I do but, long story short, I just don't see this project going anywhere with the current issues, the current management structures, and until old issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the larger gaming community.
Take my money!
wait
When the unmitigated desire for profit supersedes fidelity to artistic expression, a developer's reason for existence has certainly been compromised. How could this be anything other than bondage?
Low income people don't have free prosecution options in the US ?
To sue someone? No. You can represent yourself but thats it. You are only guaranteed a lawyer for legal crimes against you.
Edit: sorry not legal problems meant criminal cases.
Scroll down to the Pantheon Tab, click on it and take your pick. http://www.ktamradio.com/?page_id=88
For some reason the links are adding an " in the URL text and I can't figure out why, but removing it will make it work correctly. I am trying to fix it.
K-TAM Radio
A rep for Edward Jones saw my mother was mentally ill. He convinced her to give him her entire estate (1.4 million). In her last days dying of cancer she was still convinced he was going to help her only son and grandkids (me and my kids). But he never gave up a penny.
I couldn't find a single law firm that would help prosecute this guy. Out of a dozen calls and messages...only 1 lawyer was kind enough to tell me that while I most certainly had a case, that it would cost me a bit of money to get it going.
Low income people rarely have options in regards to free prosecution. Sadly.
Unfortunately scumbags like that are becoming more and more common with targeting the elderly. Horrible situation and needs serious oversight.
Well, generally they aren't allowed to speak of the settlement after it's agreed upon. They kind of have to let bygones be bygones and move on. Hard to say what everyone's situation is and what their time is worth. Social outcry could be worth more to them, who knows :P It is very clear that there are some uphappy devs that feel swindled a bit.
Wow, thats some hardcore conspiracy theorizing. False agenda?
He was absent for the last 6 months of development because Microsoft changed CEOs of their gaming division and the new one didn't want an MMO. So Brad spent 6 months shopping Vanguard around to investors, and SoE gave them the most time, which was way less time than they needed.
This isn't a mystery, it's a well documented fact. VG wouldn't have launched at all if he hadn't found 6 more months of funding.