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[CrichtonKicks]

I want to just add this to the discussion:

The comment was made less than 3 months ago. I believe that should be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not 343i are being unfair.

Unless 343 hires super, extra fast it seems likely that post happened after he had already applied for the job. Maybe even after an interview.

 

[Htown]

I kind of think everybody involved is a little bit shitty.

 

[Zyae]

What a fucking moron.

 

[Poodlestrike]

He also did some kinda creepy personal attacks on other forgers from what I've heard

Yeah, wasn't he part of that weird Community Cartographers conspiracy theory?

 

[wild wild rice]

The internet is pretty fucking nuts.

 

[Blam]

Reminder: this is this guy's side of the story. And now that he's gone public and makes 343 looks a little bad (but really not that bad), I bet 343 says something publicly as well and reveals something this guy failed to mention.

I can't wait to see this being the case. But I'm sure it's not. I hope it's not.

 

[Wolf Akela]

What an utterly unprofessional thing to say.

I'm baffled at all the people defending the guy who dug his own grave. Like, do you guys work? That's not something a professional would say about his current or future employer.

 

[jelly]

I want to just add this to the discussion:

The comment was made less than 3 months ago. I believe that should be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not 343i are being unfair.

He also did some kinda creepy personal attacks on other forgers from what I've heard

Oh, well that's not good.

 

[LordRaptor]

I loathe 343's judgment here. That forum post is an obvious bit of ill-considered hyperbole, the same kind that everyone – even 343 employees, I'd wager – has dropped at one time or another. To sack him over it shows a ludicrous over-sensitivity. God help us all should we annoy the wrong kind of anonymous bottom-feeder.

Okay.

Now from the alternative perspective, you are an employee at 343 and you just found out the guy that barely 3 months ago said that you don't deserve a job might be getting hired.

Thrilled to meet your new co-worker?

 

[Lucifon]

I want to just add this to the discussion:

The comment was made less than 3 months ago. I believe that should be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not 343i are being unfair.

Oh damn, that's definitely a factor. Years ago when someone was younger and stupider sure, we all make cringeworthy comments when younger. But 3 months ago... makes it alot more uderstandable.

 

[The Jackdog]

Protip to all those saying "this is no big deal" or that a reaction like this is "petty":

Working in a professional environment necessarily involes a tight-knit group under high stress conditions. Incredibly talented people don't always fit in with a studio, even without showing this sort of published hostility to a team/studio. If someone, casually or otherwise, makes this sort of spiteful personal attacks from the outside, there's no doubt those feelings of resentment would be disruptive on the inside. Whether that means the team feeling rightfully attacked, or because that person harbors their own petty resentment.

As the person who wrote the letter very maturely notes, no one deserves a job like this.

exactly.

like imagine working there, having busted your ass on halo for a couple years now, and it turns out the person who was just hired to work with you talked shit on your work and proclaimed you should be fired.

would that be a good working relationship?

 

[Data West]

Different company but you can find forum posts from jeff Kaplan bas9cally saying the same thing about everquest

This is a little ridiculous

 

[adversarial]

LOL - damn, that has to suck. Did he not remember saying that or what? I'm surprised he didn't go back and clean up all his posts.

 

[KeyboardThug]

So, let me get this straight:

1) He gets a job offer
2) Quit his old job
3) Sells his apartment and starts moving his belongings to the new place
4) 343 retracts their job offer because of old online stuff?

My question is: Who quits his old job without having first inked the new contract?

This is my question don't you usually sign some paperwork/contract. I did for my job.

 

[Brazil]

The irony in this entire thing is hilarious.

Sucks to be the guy, but eh.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

This is making me seriously regret all the company-critical, but constructive, erotic fan art I have tweeted at Nintendo of America over the past seven years.

I'm starting to think this might have been a bad idea.

 

[DeuceGamer]

Am I seeing it correct that the post in question was "No one at 343 deserves their job"? Obviously hyperbole and not the smartest thing to say, but I have to say I expected it would be much, much, worse. Was that posted before the job offer? If so, then that makes it even more petty, IMO.

 

[blakep267]

Also you can say guys, I thought the game was lacking in X area or even say I don't like the game that much. And not say they should all be fired. Control yourselves you aren't children

 

[Yearsoflurking]

Sounds like they made the corrext decision

 

[depward]

Take the criticism, know it was likely made out of frustration and anger and that he didn't activity go out and try to "hurt" 343i in any way aside from a couple of comments, and retain the expertise that this guy offers.

Like really? Rescinding a job offer because of some comments??? Geez.

 

[Dabanton]

Salient lesson.

Going through the code of conduct at my workplace one of the rules is not to denigrate the company in public that includes forums and social media avenues.

Lesson to any of you guys on here who want to work in a corporate games company keep the online shit talking to a minimum. Especially if you plan to work there.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

And to say no one at 343 deserves their job... I'd be offended if the offer was NOT rescinded after such an overthetop remark. Sorry for his life situation, but that isn't really their problem right now unfortunately. He should've conducted himself more professionally in the process of making his criticisms.

 

[Blam]

Wait up this 343 hate post was 6 years old.

 

[whatever6352]

Good on 343 for taking back the job offer. I wouldn't want to work with anyone who wanted me fired.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

No one at 343 deserves their job... I mean, that kinda includes you too doesn't it?

 

[Marcel]

So, let me get this straight:

1) He gets a job offer
2) Quit his old job
3) Sells his apartment and starts moving his belongings to the new place
4) 343 retracts their job offer because of old online stuff?

My question is: Who quits his old job without having first inked the new contract?

Yeah it seems like this guy was kind of naive about the whole thing and paid hard for it.

 

[Zeyphersan]

Shit this was just 3 months ago?

That was my first thought. This isn’t some “old comment”

 

[TripleBee]

Post was close enough that it may have been made after he applied - or even after interview process had started.

 

[Megatron]

Sucks for him, but yeah, actions have consequences. If those were aspirations of his, I dont know why he would post that.

 

[Damn Silly]

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want a guy who said that I didn't deserve my job working beside me either.

 

[emb]

Nightmare fuel situation.

Ridiculous reaction to common internet hyperbole made as a fan rather than as a professional. Only people totally disconnected from standard internet discourse could believe he actually meant that. Criticism online often has a weightless, hyperbolic quality to it. You need to be able to parse that. On top of which, they really should have found that stuff before hiring him.

Petty in the extreme.

This is probably the take I most agree with, by just a little. There are so many voices on forums, people often tinge their communications with a little more shock value, and a more absolute tone than they should in order to stand out.

At the same time though, as an employer looking at a candidate, you hope that the people you hire will generally be more level headed than that. That post--if the screenshot above is correct--is also very recent. A comment from Jun 2017 doesn't leave a lot of time for growth. So I can understand on 343's side why they would find it disrespectful and not ok. I mean, you wouldn't want to work with a guy who thought he was better than everyone else in the office. But you also wouldn't want to be someone who took everything literally.

Ugly look all around though. Giving a job offer and then rescinding it is a recipe for problems, and really seems like a failure of the company's vetting process.

 

[Gbraga]

It makes perfect sense that they'd do it, but the fact that he was already moving just makes the whole thing unfortunate. I find it hard not to feel bad for the guy, even though it was his own fault.

It is what it is, 343 isn't in the wrong here, it's just a shitty situation.

 

[jelly]

I think in the end, 343 decide what kind of workplace they want and it's just not worth it to bend to someone even if they are good. Ill judgement on his part but something to learn from.

 

[Brunire]

Why would you post something like that if you wanted to work for them? That is the baffling thing, to me.

 

[OdysseusVA]

Would Respawn hire me?

🤔

 

[Im_So_Pringles]

If you say "Nobody at 343 deserves their job" and then expect to get hired on there you have some problems.

 

[Miker]

If this is how they handle hiring, it goes a long way towards explaining the huge drop on quality the series has suffered since they took over.

lol wat

As if this has anything to do with the Halo games.

I also have to wonder if a lot of the people bashing 343i in this thread have applied for a job before.

 

[Hektor]

Wait up this 343 hate post was 6 years old.

Is it? The forumspost showed June of this year.

 

[HiredN00bs]

A reminder to everyone to be civil in their criticism. "No one at 343 deserves their job" is an awful thing to say; unfortunate for him, but understandable on 343's part.

Hire Juices

 

[Herbspiceguy]

Any company would do this.
Sucks for him though.

 

[Glass Shark]

EDIT: After seeing more of this guy's history, I have no sympathy for him

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Idk, I wouldn't blame them if they just didn't give him the job offer, but the fact that they didn't seem to actually care enough to check him out online themselves before offering the job, and then suddenly finding this relatively tame forum post super important after seeing it on Reddit makes them look petty. At least see how he does since he's already uprooted his entire life for the job you offered him.

Look at it this way, guy, even if you got the job at 343 you still wouldn't be making real Halo games.

 

[Three]

"No one at 343 deserves their job" is an awful thing to say;

Maybe they did it to prove him right.

 

[Random Human]

Take the criticism, know it was likely made out of frustration and anger and that he didn't activity go out and try to "hurt" 343i in any way aside from a couple of comments, and retain the expertise that this guy offers.

Like really? Rescinding a job offer because of some comments??? Geez.

I’m sure they can find talented level designers who haven’t shittalked the company.

 

[Poodlestrike]

If you say "Nobody at 343 deserves their job" and then expect to get hired on there you have some problems.

Depending on the timing he could've been pretty deep in the application process when he said it, to boot.

 

[The Jackdog]

If this is how they handle hiring, it goes a long way towards explaining the huge drop on quality the series has suffered since they took over.

"meet your new coworker, he went online and said all you idiots should be fired"

great start to a working relationship.

cmon

 

[opticalmace]

This is making me seriously regret all the company-critical, but constructive, erotic fan art I have tweeted at Nintendo of America over the past seven years.

I'm starting to think this might have been a bad idea.

:lmao

 

[Kill3r7]

Does no one here work in a professional setting?

There are company executives who have been terminated for bad mouthing their bosses. It is one of the unspoken professional rules of conduct.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

Is 343 run by Donald Trump? Seems like some petty shit to fire him at the last minute over an old forum post. Literally everyone in the world at this point has at least one regrettable comment sitting on a forum or blog somewhere on the internet that they hope will never be found. Firing somebody over anything less than hate speech is just stupid.

 

[Marcel]

Seems petty on 343's part in my opinion. If the guy is a good level designer, surely they could get over the past slight and decide to start things off with a clean slate.

Morale and team cohesion is important. Have you seen the kind of things people regularly write about 343 in less civil environments?