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[Valnen]

Full disclosure is expected in these sorts of situations.

Why? All he did was post an article anyone could have posted?

 

[Plaguefox]

.

 

[Night_Trekker]

Oh snap! I didn't think this SimCity thing could get MORE interesting!

 

[MormaPope]

GlassBox did make a thread about the woes of marketing taking priority over actual game development http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=512516&highlight=.

Point of warning, a lot of what I say is influenced by admittedly anecdotal situations I've found myself in.

I assume you're a developer or a designer GlassBox with what you said in that quote? Seems a little fishy given the circumstances.

Spoiler

I'm half kidding.

 

[Seik]

Even I admit that's pretty damning. At least there's no rule against people from game studios posting here. For some reason some people don't like that, though.

Well it depends on which company we're talking about.

Oh, EA?

EA is like the evil overtaxing government to GAF's townfolks.

Welp, they kinda earned this title if you ask me.

 

[nickcv]

They posted in the unemployed thread though.

that's damage control to prevent us from understanding who he/she really is!
[paranoid-mode-on]

anyhow, despite what is going to be the actual truth this thread will have great entertainment value!

 

[jamesinclair]

The poster has very little interest in the Wii U

Is there any actual official release schedule for the Wii U available? I have no idea when games are coming out for it. At least, nothing outside of vague "early 2013" or something like that.

www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45199740&postcount=83

Probably the msot damning evidence yet that theyre an EA employee.

Spoiler

Half joke folks

 

[LAUGHTREY]

If it is a coincidence, It's pretty funny.

 

[Nokterian]

I love DetectiveGAF, even if it's just a crazy witch hunt :lol

This gon b gud. I waited for 8 months to get my account approved. This is weird shit indeed.

 

[Valnen]

Well it depends on which company we're talking about.

That's a bad attitude to take.

 

[Kazerei]

I feel bad for the people at Maxis because they were under the impression, and I'll bet received many assurances, that the Origin team and servers were all under control and would work. Never in their worst nightmares would they think the game would be unplayable for the entire launch week.

I feel bad for you guys too

Edit:

What sucks is that the only "heads will roll" (if any do) will be the low level developers in Maxis and not the Origin team.

*sigh* sucks that Maxis cannot release a game without a ton of controversy. First it was the whole DRM thing with Spore. Now it's online-only with SimCity.

I'm torn, on the one hand I could see how the developers and designers wanted to have this vast networked SimCity and the benefits. But sucks that the infrastructure has totally failed them. I mean, if the servers had actually held true, I don't think we'd be having this discussion to these levels.

I still have a hard time believing, like some people, that this game was "engineered" solely to be customer unfriendly and online-only just to utilize DRM.

 

[deviljho]

The poster has very little interest in the Wii U


www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45199740&postcount=83

Probably the msot damning evidence yet that theyre an EA employee.

lol

 

[Goon Boon]

I feel bad for you guys too

I think their mistake was putting any faith in EA at all to do things right.

 

[shira]

Wowowowow.

 

[Htown]

What weird philosophy and environmentalist talks? I haven rapid attention to the game's development, but I may be interested in this.

So if I remember correctly, the game was announced at GDC, and they spent so much time with like charity people and environmental activists who didn't have anything to do with video games that mods actually moved the stream thread into the OT for a bit.

Here's the thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465712

 

[MormaPope]

GlassBox also posted in a EA/Maxis thread about EA suing Zynga

What is so bothersome about Zynga is that their entire game design philosophy boils down to "lets build games around copying stuff from other successful games, but monetize every aspect of it so we can prey on consumers"

Nothing remotely in that philosophy that deals with "hey, maybe we should design fun games?"

I wish there was an anonymous survey done for the employees of Zynga asking them if they enjoy making the games they do. If they are being honest, I doubt many of them would say yes. The majority of them only work there because Zynga was the only developer in the San Francisco area that was hiring in bulk while every other company cut or closed.

This response seems pretty venomous towards Zynga, a lot of Gaf is like that towards that company, but this response seemed pretty deep seeded.

Here's the thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=485237

 

[el retorno]

Works in the industry

Gotta love working in this industry.

"And here's the reward for all your hard work getting this game shipped......Right outside the front door!"

Knows about how EA works

They usually don't give press releases or any kind of notes when contractors are let go, since they're contractors and not really employees of EA (they use a temp staffing agency to employ those). So they technically wouldn't be "layoffs"

I think I'm done for the night.

 

[methodman]

Glassbox, you really thought you weren't gonna get caught?

 

[BobLoblaw]

Well I'm off to bed. Can't wait to see where this thread goes.


Lulz. I'll sleep well tonight.

 

[Danj]

GlassBox, tell us your <parameter: string> of the story.

10/10. I chuckled.

 

[Plaguefox]

.

 

[Paches]

Thank you gents for providing some late night entertainment.

 

[Valnen]

Glassbox, you really thought you weren't gonna get caught?

Did he actually do anything wrong though?

 

[Htown]

 

[Kazerei]

They posted in the unemployed thread though.

Works in the industry


Knows about how EA works




I think I'm done for the night.

Former Maxis employee, then? Can I take a guess?

I found these comments on that Slate article from a purported ex-Maxis employee Jason Shankel very insightful, if this is indeed him:

 

[Professor Beef]

Saw the deleted posts. The plot thickens...

 

[Goon Boon]

Did he actually do anything wrong though?

If anything we just got a bunch of insight of what Maxis is going through and info we likely wouldn't know about, and for that I thank him.

 

[darkistheway]

It is possible that GlassBox is a studio plant... which is annoying.

It is possible that GlassBox is so obsessed with Maxis that he chose his name based on their game engine... which is creepy

Spoiler

one quarter joking

 

[Fistwell]

EA is like the evil overtaxing government to GAF's townfolks.

Welp, they kinda earned this title if you ask me.

Hahahha! That guy kinda sounds like Emperor Palpatine! Hahahaaa! That guy is so funny!

Spoiler

$1 for a reload in BF? ;_;

 

[jamesinclair]

Did he actually do anything wrong though?

some transparency is expected. If anonymity is needed, he should have spoken to a mod before hand to clear the arrangement

 

[Seik]

That's a bad attitude to take.

I know. :lol

I personally have nothing against whoever that person might be, because it ain't Riccitello or any of the big hats that probably took that 'always-online' decision. But it's still pretty funny to see DetectiveGAF at work and I think we can agree that, if he/she really works there, he/she didn't do a very good job at being subtle.

Hahahha! That guy kinda sounds like Emperor Palpatine! Hahahaaa! That guy is so funny!

Spoiler

$1 for a reload in BF? ;_;

Yeah, those are some insane thoughts he shares right there. Hopefully they'll never come to fruition.

 

[BanGy.nz]

I think we should take a moment and thank Al Gore for making all this possible.

 

[Kazerei]

I see ThoseDeafMutes's post was removed... I hope he doesn't get de-modded though

 

[el retorno]

Did he actually do anything wrong though?

I like to know when i'm reading PR or actual impressions from an unbiased gamer.

 

[darkistheway]

What is happening here?

I replied to a post, it got deleted, then my reply got deleted.

GlassBox has taken control of NeoGAF!!!

 

[kirblar]

Saw the deleted posts. The plot thickens...

What was contained inside?

 

[Valnen]

I like to know when i'm reading PR or actual impressions from an unbiased gamer.

I don't really see him pimping anything out, just posting articles anyone could have posted.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Throwing stones from a glassbox.

 

[CAVE343]

Huh? Okay, that was weird.

 

[TheD]

What was contained inside?

Wait, what is happening?

 

[el retorno]

Wait you guys...

 

[Yagharek]

What was contained inside?

Maybe this is the real ending to Curiosity?

What's in the (glass) box?

 

[jamesinclair]

I don't really see him pimping anything out, just posting articles anyone could have posted.

It appears that he was a contractor who worked on the game and was let go as development wrapped up. He's invested in making sure his hard work is appreciated.


That's just speculation based on this thread

 

[shira]

Did he actually do anything wrong though?

Well that is up to the mods to decide.

I personally don't like it at all.

 

[Paches]

What's in the (glass) box?

 

[Htown]

I think I know why the posts were deleted, and I sort of understand

 

[Killer]

GlassBox we know you work for Maxis. Come out, we won't bite .

Edit: The man has spoken! vv
Edit 2: Oh shit banned!

 

[EviLore]

We welcome members of the video game industry posting anonymously on NeoGAF. Obviously, anything someone says on the internet attached to their name can have consequences. We welcome you posting openly, whether in an official capacity or otherwise. Or posting semi-openly, where some people may know who you are but your name's not coming up in Google with everything you say. All of that's fine.

What we don't welcome is this kind of behavior: attempting to distort the news aggregate by posting apologetic articles and accompanying them with an editorial slant favoring your company, all without actually disclosing to anyone here that you work for the company in question. It's akin to when Ken Lobb was pretending to be NeoGAF's biggest totally regular guy Xbox fan.

NeoGAF users can be pretty perceptive, as you've just found out.

 

[Kageshinzo]

What was contained inside?

Something that, I think, shouldn't be shared. GAF confidentiality and all that. I understand why it had to be edited out.

 

[Kazerei]

I don't really see him pimping anything out, just posting articles anyone could have posted.

GlassBox did run a bit of damage control in one of the Sim City threads. Here's a few:

It's not just a case of DRM. The game is designed with core features of the simulation to be run on the cloud. It's a completely different beast than simple "Digital Rights".

And despite what a lot of uneducated people think. You can't just "flip a switch" and turn that functionality off like DRM

I just have a problem with calling it "DRM", because this isn't a case of simple DRM, as noted in this article: http://www.vgrevolution.com/2013/03/what-game-publishers-can-learn-from-simcitys-troubled-launch/

If people just want to throw out "DRM" as a boogeyman word to describe what is going on here, well, can't help that I suppose.

But you're assuming that the primary reason for this was piracy only. Where's the evidence to back that up? Other than just "lol EA"?

All the interviews with the Maxis producers, designers and Creative Director Ocean Quigly have indicated that the primary reason for online only was gameplay. I assume though you won't take their word for it and assume they're lying right?