Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaylena  But by then the battle lines were drawn. You had those who really wanted the game to work on one side and those who swore it wasn't going to happen on the other. The thing was though, those that wanted it work could talk freely without repercussions. Those that saw Brad as a con-artist were afraid to say anything, so they gave it to Ut because he had the nerve to do it. |
Absolutly, there were two fanatical sides battling it out on the forums, and the real information was lost between the flames. It was easy to think "Oh, XXX is just bashing away now because he wants to flame XXX". Easiest way to avoid that is to reply to one typical post with your own thoughs and then let that be that. That one side was gagged by a NDA didnt help either.
That Brad is a con-artist is a bit harsh I think. I dont belive he wanted Vanguard to fail, but ended up in a position where he could either admit defeat and say "look guys, we simply cant get this to work, we need to cut down on features and try to get the game into shape for release" or he could hope for the best and try to spin it to make it look good to the money-guys and pray Sigil could get the game out the door in a somewhat playable shape and retain enough subs to actually get most of the fluff in. If you work on something you love, its bloody hard to take a step back and admit to yourself that this simply wont work and that you fucked up.
Brad gambled and lost, unfortunatly being a visionary dont mean you have the skill to pull such a huge undertaking off. Im sure he is a great pal outside work, but he has shown that he could simply not cope in a management position and that he needs someone to look over his ideas to determine what is actually possible within the framework of the project.
No, Im not excusing Brad for his role in this, but Im also realistic. People around him should have noticed and put up a red flag when it was obvious it went down the shitter. Just read that interview. If that is correct, management was a joke and everyone knew about it. I guess its easier here in Sweden. You cant get fired just because you speak out against the boss. People are not afraid to speak their mind for fear of their own jobs, our laws protect us from that for good or evil.
