Interplay. Kickstarter? It is...a mystery!

[Lephys]

I don't know what you guys are talking about: this is a day-1 purchase for me. Gonna save up and try to donate the $10k if possible.

 

Excellent idea! Except, with an offer like $10,000, you could probably buy Interplay and shut this whole thing down, and they'd feel like they screwed you over.

[GhoulishVisage]

It really is a pity that Chris Taylor is still with the shuffling corpse of Interplay instead of joining with a studio like Obsidian or inXile or starting up his own little studio from scratch.

Brian Mitsoda started up his own little studio, why not someone like Chris Taylor?

[Osvir]

I think this thread is a pity...

 

[Jotra]

Their fundraising seems to be going extremely poorly so far based on the fact that giving them more than 50 bucks will still get on the top10(!) "hero" list(unless that list actually needs to manually updated by them or something). PE had almost 20k people who gave at least $50...

[Amberion]

Without more information on what exactly they are doing, and absent any indication that the money is going somewhere useful, this is a pass for me.

[NOK222]

Wow this is just entertaining, that Facebook page.

[Thingdo]

That last update makes it sound like a mix between sim city and an fps.

[PrimeJunta]

More like this, which is already at the point where there's gameplay footage. (Yup, backer.)

[GhoulishVisage]

Wow this is just entertaining, that Facebook page.

 

You'll love this then.

 

I personally find this whole affair a tad cringe-inducing for the parties involved, and a little sad, like a rather pathetic fish trying to flap it's way back into the water, but you know it probably won't make it.

[Scorch]

Wow they scammed 3000$ out of people already.

[Death Machine Miyagi]

Wow they scammed 3000$ out of people already.

 

Is there somewhere they're listing the money they've taken in?

 

And yes, $3000+ and no Kickstarter, which means that they've got no funding goal to meet, can keep the money no matter what happens and they aren't obligated to use it for a damn thing. I'm not sure whether its comforting or depressing to realize how easy it is to trick some people out of their money.

[JadedWolf]

Interplay is like a sleazy pimp with no hookers.

 

Beyond pathetic.

 

This made me laugh, and about sums up my feelings when reading this.

[Aedelric]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have read in a while. To expect anyone to fund them without the promise of a game is absolutely preposterous. The sole reward is access to the forums, something almost every other company provides for free.

 

This whole situation should set alarm bells ringing for anyone reading, do not donate. Interplay is most definitely the company Feargus Urquhart alluded to, it seems quite obvious now.

[Farbautisonn]

The donor list is a "whos who" of people who can be conned into buying "magical beans".

[Karkarov]

I think this thread is a pity...

 

It is a good thing I am not a mod here as I would have locked this thread the day it started. Call me weird but I don't think topics that are about bashing and insulting an individual and the company they run are okay, regardless of who they are or what company they represent.

[Valsuelm]

I think this thread is a pity...

 

It is a good thing I am not a mod here as I would have locked this thread the day it started. Call me weird but I don't think topics that are about bashing and insulting an individual and the company they run are okay, regardless of who they are or what company they represent.

 

It is a good thing you're not a mod. Censorship sucks.

 

I don't agree with much in this thread either, but I really just think it should maybe be in another forum such as Off-Topic. Definitely not closed.

 

Any moderating much beyond moving a thread to the appropriate forum, eliminating spam, stopping a flame war, or redacting a post that has excessive amounts of profanity in it is generally just arbitrary censorship and generally makes for a bad forum.

[Karkarov]

It is a good thing you're not a mod. Censorship sucks.

If you think shutting down a thread that is nothing but a 7 page long bashing of one person and their company as censorship then I hope you never practice what you preach outside of the internet. This thread isn't a flame war, it is just one non stop long running flaming train wreck. That and it is pretty much pure spam, there is no real discussion, nothing positive is being said, nothing good is going to come out of it.

 

But then again maybe I am just some simple minded hick. I am after all from some dumb backwater where parents teach their kids things like "If you don't have anything good to say then keep it to yourself."

[Valsuelm]

If you think shutting down a thread that is nothing but a 7 page long bashing of one person and their company as censorship then I hope you never practice what you preach outside of the internet. This thread isn't a flame war, it is just one non stop long running flaming train wreck. That and it is pretty much pure spam, there is no real discussion, nothing positive is being said, nothing good is going to come out of it.

 

But then again maybe I am just some simple minded hick. I am after all from some dumb backwater where parents teach their kids things like "If you don't have anything good to say then keep it to yourself."

 

No need to insult yourself, especially with a stereotype such as that.

 

If you don't like the thread that much, don't read it.

 

As I said. I don't find much useful in this thread either (I could say this about many threads) and don't agree with the lolz at the guys at Interplays expense. And this is coming from someone who really doesn't have much respect for Interplay anymore as in the end they did much to hurt the genre of games I like, before that though they published many I did.

 

However, that's not all that's in this thread. There is some valid conversation occurring that has nothing to do with belittling anyone (such as our conversation sans your self insult). As has been pointed out by at least one other in this thread (on the very first page), this thread probably belongs in the 'Way Off Topic' forum. It doesn't deserve to be shut down no matter how distasteful it might be, and on the scale of distasteful it's really not that bad. It's a very slippery slope when you start censoring things. Aside from what I mentioned about it above almost never should be done.

 

If the immature gleeful bashers bother you that much, take heart, karma will likely find them someday unless they discover the err of their ways. And again, just don't read the thread if it bothers you that much.

Edited December 26, 2012 by Valsuelm

[Osvir]

I don't think this topic fits in the P:E section, had I been a mod I would have moved it. Which is what will probably happen as this isn't P:E related, more "Kickstarter" related (making this topic more valid when the Kickstarter was going on).

 

I think getting in on the forums is actually a good thing, Black Isle gets a narrowed down player base that can help with pre-production and discuss design choices and/or even help with lore and stuff like that (Pretty much "I pay you to volunteer work for you"). Likewise, with a narrowed down forum with only a 100-200 members you probably get easier noticed and can perhaps even use whatever you did as a merit for a future job. In some ways it could be "Helping out with development", which basically means that you'd be a part of the development process. Heck, perhaps even use your real name in the credits (If that is possible, don't know how Black Isle Studios is going to go about with this, we'll see in some 25~ days or so I guess).

 

Having an open forum restricts the communication/transparency between developer and the forum.

 

Didn't Obsidian have some "VIP Forum" for some higher tier backers? Yep, pretty much that. They'll probably get in on information earlier than these forums and have less transparency. I suspect this forum (the open/free one) requires more secrecy. At the same time, it could get dangerous to have such a forum as well if the fanbase/volunteerbase isn't devoted enough and someone leaks stuff on a regular- or even casual basis.

Edited December 26, 2012 by Osvir

[Rostere]

If you think shutting down a thread that is nothing but a 7 page long bashing of one person and their company as censorship then I hope you never practice what you preach outside of the internet. This thread isn't a flame war, it is just one non stop long running flaming train wreck. That and it is pretty much pure spam, there is no real discussion, nothing positive is being said, nothing good is going to come out of it.

 

But then again maybe I am just some simple minded hick. I am after all from some dumb backwater where parents teach their kids things like "If you don't have anything good to say then keep it to yourself."

It would be in any decent person's interest to warn his friends against the villain responsible for BG:AA and FO:BoS, when he makes use of the classic Black Isle trademark in order to trick fans of their original games into donating money towards similar dumbed down, banal, ****, boring games. That is without going into the scam- like nature of the project in general. A lot of people will be tricked into donating money simply because of the Black Isle brand, not knowing they are throwing their money on someone opposed to the development of games similar to the classic Black Isle games they played in the 1990s.

[NOK222]

- Update #2 -- Why you shouldn’t donate.

 

Something you should think about before donating or telling your friends to donate. You might be the cause of a small number of people sitting in their cramped, dark f****** shelter depressed because they’re not sitting in their cramped, dark f****** for real because the world didn’t really end.

 

Got that? Some people won’t be happy you’re helping.

 

So, if you have no compassion for those apocaleptics who want it all to come down around our ears (but not theirs), then you probably shouldn’t put in a contribution. But if those people, sitting in their ivory dungeons, annoy the hell out of you with their barrels of water, stacks of freeze dried, and smug attitudes, then maybe you should just empty the bank account on this project. Just to spite them.

 

Create some apoplectic apocaleptics. (Yeah, try saying it out loud.)

 

This is the update from interplay that has caused the ****storm, just in case anybody hasn't seen it.

[Osvir]

- Update #2 -- Why you shouldn’t donate.

 

Something you should think about before donating or telling your friends to donate. You might be the cause of a small number of people sitting in their cramped, dark f****** shelter depressed because they’re not sitting in their cramped, dark f****** for real because the world didn’t really end.

 

Got that? Some people won’t be happy you’re helping.

 

So, if you have no compassion for those apocaleptics who want it all to come down around our ears (but not theirs), then you probably shouldn’t put in a contribution. But if those people, sitting in their ivory dungeons, annoy the hell out of you with their barrels of water, stacks of freeze dried, and smug attitudes, then maybe you should just empty the bank account on this project. Just to spite them.

 

Create some apoplectic apocaleptics. (Yeah, try saying it out loud.)

 

This is the update from interplay that has caused the ****storm, just in case anybody hasn't seen it.

 

Then you need to read their Update 1.

 

Here is their Facebook page by the way.

 

And a Gamasutra article I haven't read.

 

That Update (#2) also sounds like a trick to gather more seriously devoted backers (who actually wants to help out with the project). The game seems to already be in production, they are just trying to grab some free employees.

 

Ask Obsidian, how much does it help to have a forum which discusses ideas and finds problems that you haven't seen or thought about? Sounds like a "Creative QA" to be honest. Black Isle seems to be going for a more specific targeted group. Like I said in another post, a closed forum "with purpose"-discussion.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Osvir

[Tale]

I let the thread stay here because I thought it could serve as a sort of containment. However, its location has become a distraction to actual discussion.

 

If you want to discuss Interplay/Black Isle's crowd funding campaign, let's move it to the existing thread in Computer & Console.

http://forums.obsidi...k-isle-returns/