https://twitter.com/Polytron/status/361188665709436928
I’m kind of bummed about the prospect of no Fez 2. I hope he changes his mind.
Phil Fish had been taking quite a bit of Twitter abuse lately which culminated with a back and forth with a game journalist.
Anyone who is on Facebook has probably seen family or friends wilt quickly from even the mildest of criticism. Game developers, by contrast, are very closely connected with the players who often have very direct access to them. I can tell you, from experience, it gets really old really fast constantly being criticized or (since I can’t come up with a more sophisticated turn of phrase) lied about.
As a notoriously short-fused guy myself, the level of scrutiny people get, particularly "successful" people is something few people can withstand. I read insane crap on twitter all the time (and I suspect most of you do too). Being a game developer doesn't imbue someone with magic tact powers.
A lot of game developers (and I put myself in this category) have an almost unhealthy level of passion to please those who play their games. This can turn very very ugly when there are bumps in the road.
From a purely business perspective, those people (and I put myself in this category) probably shouldn't be interacting directly with people on the Internet. But the problem is, it's that interaction that fuels their passion to make games in the first place.
So on the one hand, Phil Fish should probably not be interacting with strangers, publicly, on the Internet (or at least, not without some controls) but on the other hand, if you take that away, a lot of the motivation and drive to make games goes with it. That's why the age old "You need to hire a PR minder!" doesn't work on that personalty type.
It would be, imo, financially insane for Phil Fish not to make a Fez 2. But people like him are rarely driven by financials.
Well, a while back I figured that it might be rude to be well... rude to devs who interact with people on the forums. They are doing us a service by making games, so I don't want to discourage them. Since then, I've trying harder to remain polite or neutral when dealing with devs like yourself, even when I think you are making bad decisions. Mind you, I was already polite and stuff before, but I try harder. I may even delete text (or save it elsewhere for later) instead of posting it right away. Its far too easy to make mistakes when being driven by passions. I figured I don't need to add to the barrage of vitriol that some people may accidentally, carelessly, or deliberately throw around.Basically I try to be a Vulcan.
The downside is, you get folks angry enough , they won't want to buy your products. It's really hard to change the mind of someone who is convinced of your worst.
That said, the more successful you become, the harder it is to maintain good PR.
For a little background, http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/roj70m/invisible-walls-everything-and-the-kitchen-sink the comments made there eventually resulted in Fish telling a dude to go kill himself.
It's a shame to see Fez 2 get RIP'd because of the constant PR blunders, but ultimately the whole situation has probably become unbearable for Fish and I think he's making the right decision.
More like, impossible. Even EA and Activision were once beloved.
I've had people (even you I believe) think I was horrible despite two decades of "good works" and all it took was one person to make a bunch of false allegations about me and include a single, out of context, flame email as "proof". That incident dramatically changed my attitude towards gaming communities and the level of "community outreach" one should bother doing.
I've seen people opine on my motivations or questioning my business and/or legal acumen who obviously have no personal experience with either. I've even one gaming forum who thought this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPc9Z2Dn94U) was real and ever since it has spread across the Internet. I get tweets about that video nearly every week. That's how hopelessly stupid people can be.
Phil Fish's "crime" is taking off the kiddie gloves when dealing with his hecklers. I think the closest I've come is this post (over 5 years ago but just as applicable today -- https://forums.galciv2.com/312130/). I can tell ya, when you have some snot-nosed college kid trying to tell you how to run your business it gets pretty tempting to remind them that you were worth 9 digits before you hit 40 and ask them if they even have a job. But keeping kiddie gloves on the kiddie gloves gets easier as you get older and a requirement lest you end up constantly having your bad behavior end up on Kotaku. Phil Fish is still in his 20s. I was probably just as bad as when I was his age but thankfully there was no Twitter. But on Usenet, I said some horrible horrible things in various flame wars.
Which brings us to the "PR damage". The problem is that statistically, the angry vocal people are not just a tiny minority, they're a minuscule minority. As I've gotten a lot better at publishing software over the years, I've found it somewhat...discouraging on how little "good will" or "ill will' actually affects sales. Game quality X distribution X marketing = sales.
99% of users don't pay attention to any of this crap. And most of the 1% who do don't care. Only a tiny % of people are so fucked in the head that they think their video game purchases amount to some sort of social commentary.
So on the plus side, Phil Fish doesn't really have to worry about any of this affecting the eventual sals of a Fez 2 (assuming he does end up making it). The downside is that the business rationale of hanging out on forums (I'm creating good will) goes away and many of us enjoy spending a lot of time on forums.
I don't want to publicly get into old stuff that is irrelevant to today and rehash things done to death. I'll just say that if I truly felt you were horrible, I wouldn't be here. The various things I heard gave me pause, but I decided to give you benefit of the doubt.
I think you're right about how little forums matter in terms of sales. I often wonder how many folks in the industry have secret forum accounts so it doesn't get connected to their business.
At a personal level, forums are how I hear about games I wouldn't otherwise try though. Without forums, I'd probably be super risk-averse. I heard about GalCiv I via a forum. I can name several other games that I wouldn't have bought and enjoyed without hearing about them through forums.
What I've understood more and more as I get older is that Developers have the fundamental right to balance their passion and desire for financial success however they want too. Us as players can praise or complain all we want but realistically, the devs can get their percentages for success however they think is best. I find it to be an exciting deal that we here on the forums at least get to offer up suggestions or alternative thought processes for them to consider and that we can have fairly rational discussions most days about all sorts of stuff. It's one of the reasons why I greatly enjoy Stardock and the forum community, even as ever changing as it is.
I honestly think Phil would be better off having partners and being part of a larger company.
Reading the comments directed at him made me absolutely disgusted with the gaming community (in general).
This is precisely why I prefer to make strategy games. The demographic who I'm working for matters a lot to me. Anything that weeds out the scum.
Being an indie developer who hasn't made it into the spotlight... I can't really understand why there is so much "drama"I am thankful for the handful of people who have fallen in love with my work and hope that the handful can become hundreds... and then thousands one day.I guess my only real insight is maybe the cancellation was a long time coming. Usually there are many things that build up and it just takes one more to push past the boiling point and decide to give up out of frustration.
LOL, Mummy, Stardock say we aren't scum if we play strategy games, ok?
(My son of 7 years adores strategies lol NOT my doing, he just came to it....Does a few arcades occasionaly, but, sins, Sup Comander2, Heroes 6, FE: LH,
his favourite being Legends of westnoth on ipad.
I'm just as astonished as others...
Damn... this is a real shame on many levels. Truly hope this isn't end of the line for Fez.
This could not be more accurately true. While this may not always be the case (especially with ultra-popular strategy games), fans like those in this community are some of the most intelligent, mature, and understanding when compared to other gaming communities. I can't help but notice in recent years some games having communities that have become completely polarized simply over extremely-crappy DLC tactics (see The Sims 3).
I can't imagine how much easier (and enjoyable) having a solid fanbase makes it for a developer who wants to be truly hands-on with their audience. If that was one of your legitimate reasons to continue working on strategy games, kudos for recognizing that.
So I guess we're not getting that Stardock Call of Duty clone any time soon??
I never played Fez, but I hate to see someone give up on their talent because of the whining chattering class who never actually get into the arena and take their shot (to paraphrase an old speech on the subject).
I thinks this has to be it too, unless Fish is just flat out unstable. Someone doesn't throw away work like this over one little timid troll.
If you watched Indie Movie, it seems his previous business partner had him over a barrel on the IP, so it is not surprising he is a bit ornery having to deal with more dip shits when he is busting his balls to make games by himself.
He should just tell the game journalism world world to F off in the most spectacular meltdown as possible (so we remember who he is) and then go make a new game in solitary.
Then when he comes back a few years later, we can be reminded of his meltdown, and we'll at least check to see if the game looks good.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
