Naw he doesn't need them either. He covers PC games he could just focus on Indie devs who will have no problem talking to him.
Ha, well I'm just part of one team, but I can safely say we'd never agree to an interview with RPS after this.
Naw he doesn't need them either. He covers PC games he could just focus on Indie devs who will have no problem talking to him.
So is RPS getting hammered with traffic? I tried earlier this morning and just now, and I can't connect to the link in OP. I really wanna read this.
Sometimes, hard questions have to be asked.
Edit:
Here is a pastebin of the interview, for those who can't access the site:
http://pastebin.com/7crgkLyG
Exactly. The #1 goal of this interview wasn't to uncover the truth or shine a light on this struggling project or developer. If those had been the goal, the tone would have been drastically different and the interviewer would have tried to get him to open up instead of immediately shut down. No, the goal of this was to drive as much traffic to RPS & towards John Walker's personal brand as possible.
It has been something like 15 years of the pathological lying/overselling of games down to the second before release from Molyneux! If anything we should be shocked that it took this long for someone to say that outright. It's hardly self-righteous... Maybe it would have been during Black and White or Fable. But not now, not in 20-fucking-15, when the guy is now taking funding directly from players. At this point it needed to be asked. After all, pathological liar doesn't mean worst person ever, it means you have a habit of lying even when you don't have malicious intent.
The fact that we are discussing the interviewer and not the interview should tell you all you need to know about the success of this piece as journalism.
When I think of a respectful interview of a figure in gaming with hard questions, I think of Angry Joe's interview of Major Nelson at E3 2013. It can be done without starting the interview with an insult.
Sure Molyneux is a pathological liar, but this is nothing but cheapshot cowardice from John Walker who is happily kicking a man whose reputation is lying in the gutter. That tweet about being brutal because it's player's money is really funny, he's being brutal because a)for hits for his ad-infested website, and b) he knows the current wave of negative opinion towards Molyneux provides him with some security when going for Molyneux's throat.
Like I said, a fucking coward.
Because one is a character assassination of someone who makes games I enjoy and the other are fluff pieces I don't pay much attention to.
lololol old person alertEveryone should go watch network, because this is "Howard Beale" journalism.
Most projects have to do this and then hope that you get to the actual funding goal.
I asked for 30K on a board game that I knew needed 60K+ to actually deliver. I knew it was a risk, but had other forms of funding as a fail-safe if the project didn't get where it needed to get. He had to go to a publisher when it became clear he needed additional funds. That is more reasonable than just stopping production.
I don't have any fondness for Molyneux (I never played his games growing up and the types of games he makes aren't really to my taste), but I think this interview goes a bit far in places.
There is a huge, huge, huge difference between outright lying and not being able to deliver on a promise. I don't think Molyneux has ever claimed or stated something with the knowing intention of not being able and never trying to deliver on it.
His problem is that he makes (or made) lofty claims and had cruel reality crash down around him. Take him to task for that, absolutely, but to ask if he's a "pathological liar" because of it is crossing the line.
"We want real journalism in vidya!"
Some real journalism actually happens.
"OMG y so mean!!"
I asked for 30K on a board game that I knew needed 60K+ to actually deliver. I knew it was a risk, but had other forms of funding as a fail-safe if the project didn't get where it needed to get.
There were plenty of people demonizing Angry Joe and supporting Major Nelson as well.
Would be for Chris Brown, or would it not?
For PM however no. He has not beaten anybody. But he overpromised and "expanded" the truth for years. So the liar question was harsh and maybe stupid, but not out of context.
Video games. Serious business. Way to make a normal human being feel like a bag of shite. Good job.
This feels more like a long overdue intervention than a character assassination.
You've missed my point.
Here's how people think an interview goes:
*I sit down with the developers of Evolve*
Me: "You know your DLC plan is some shit, right?"
Dev: "You are absolutely right, but you have to understand..."
People believe that in "journalism", the interviewee just has to answer the question for some reason.
In reality what tends to happen is this:
*I sit down with the developers of Evolve*
Me: "You know your DLC plan is some shit, right?"
PR: "This interview is over."
This situation with RPS and Molyneux? That's Oprah and Armstrong. It's not normal operating procedure. Molyneux came to the table willing to be raked over the coals. Most devs won't and even if they would, PR won't.
That's... not a good thing. In fact it's horrible. You rely on people's charity and then deceive them? The whole point of not keeping the money if you don't hit the goal is to prevent projects from wasting backer's money on an endeavor that can't succeed. You shouldn't be trying to bypass those rules. How do you think your backers would feel if they found out they'd been taken for a ride? "Everyone else does it" is not an excuse.
Peter deserved all of those questions, and while I appreciate some of the candor in his answers he still comes across as unreasonably hedging and vacillating.
When will the game be complete? When will Bryan Henderson start to accrue payment? Has that started already? When can he honestly expect to get paid? Are there no internal dates or projections that can be shared? Easter has been provided as a provisional date for one of several features that have to come to pass before the God of Gods mode can get started, so what are we talking about here? Where are the no-bullshit assessments?
And yes, the tone of the piece, right from the first line, was antagonistic. It put Peter off his guard, but after all of this time I don't think its unwarranted. RPS wanted to get something beyond the usual platitudes, and sometimes you have to disturb somebody's peace and equilibrium to start to shed some of the bullshit, spin and PR pufffery.
This feels more like a long overdue intervention than a character assassination.
I must've missed this "real journalism" you're referring to. All I saw was a rather childish interview with antagonistic questions and name calling.
This is proof of how bad game journos have become. This was nothing more than a game journo acting like a journo (ok a bit of a jerk, but that's how journos should be), instead of treating it as a future job interview.
If more game journos were as honest and direct as this maybe they'd have some actual credibility and wouldn't be so reviled as a general rule.
This is proof of how bad game journos have become. This was nothing more than a game journo acting like a journo (ok a bit of a jerk, but that's how journos should be), instead of treating it as a future job interview.
If more game journos were as honest and direct as this maybe they'd have some actual credibility and wouldn't be so reviled as a general rule.
They fear it may happen to them as well.
You can open with that question, but you should follow up with "Do you realize that's the public's perception of you?" or something along those lines. As a journalist, you're supposed to come off as impartial, but calling him a liar destroys that.
This can hardly be called journalism, it's badgering. A shame, because there is some good stuff in Herr, but instead we're focusing on the tone.
That's good journalism?
Wow, that interview reminds me of so many internet trolls. Do people really forget that game developers are people too? I mean, the interview treated him like absolute crap.
I don't know about individuals, I know about companies, Sony, MS, EA, Ubisoft, etc. Why does it need to be individuals?
Exactly the way I feel after reading the interview. shameful.
Maybe the site is getting hammered? Still loading fine for me.
Apologies if you already saw it in previous post: http://web.archive.org/web/20150213...yneux-interview-godus-reputation-kickstarter/
Go with that fine link that I quoted.So is RPS getting hammered with traffic? I tried earlier this morning and just now, and I can't connect to the link in OP. I really wanna read this.
Call Molyneux incompetent all you like, but when you call him malicious, I object. Everything I've seen and heard of him indicates he's got the enthusiasm & naivety of a little kid. He's not trying to scam anyone. Someone with ill intent would have heard that first insult and immediately called the whole interview off.
Peter deserved all of those questions, and while I appreciate some of the candor in his answers he still comes across as unreasonably hedging and vacillating.
When will the game be complete? When will Bryan Henderson start to accrue payment? Has that started already? When can he honestly expect to get paid? Are there no internal dates or projections that can be shared? Easter has been provided as a provisional date for one of several features that have to come to pass before the God of Gods mode can get started, so what are we talking about here? Where are the no-bullshit assessments?
And yes, the tone of the piece, right from the first line, was antagonistic. It put Peter off his guard, but after all of this time I don't think its unwarranted. RPS wanted to get something beyond the usual platitudes, and sometimes you have to disturb somebody's peace and equilibrium to start to shed some of the bullshit, spin and PR pufffery.
This feels more like a long overdue intervention than a character assassination.
Ha, well I'm just part of one team, but I can safely say we'd never agree to an interview with RPS after this.
I'd rather interviews abruptly come to an end like that in the chance someone would have the balls to answer the question than get nothing but the ridiculous amount of utterly useless PR fluff shoved down our throats that we get now. The filtered marketing "interviews" that flood "Games Journalism" now are absolutely useless to consumers.
This can hardly be called journalism, it's badgering. A shame, because there is some good stuff in here, but instead we're focusing on the tone.
That's good journalism?
But what point is that making? What information does that impart?
Those are some pretty big words to be throwing at someone.
I had a line of credit for more than enough money and was willing to dip into that to make my project happen. There is no requirement that 100% of funding come from Kickstarter funds.
however you have to agree that it won't dissuade a lot of people.
But what point is that making? What information does that impart?