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> Hilarity ensues
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Post Jan 25 2007, 12:28 AM
Let me preface this with the fact that I have known of this person for quite a while. Many people who are respected in the indie scene also know of this person, as he also frequents many of the same sites/forums. There was a post on the Multiverse forums a couple months ago that had me scratching my head. The person in question posted a 2-minute "talk" he supposedly made at GDC Europe last year. The problem was not that he did it at all, it was that he made at a roundtable, but TOTALLY made it sound like he had given a keynote and was asked to speak. His name is not found on any of the lists of speakers, so I had planned to post a reply and call him on it, but never got around to doing so. Let me also preface with the fact that I know of him being banned at least 3 times from Gamedev.net for misrepresenting himself, his "company" and his project(s). He is 17 (possibly 18 now) and supposedly has run his company for 5 years (since 2001). BTW, I have sources for all this information, I'm not making any of it up.

I do not go attacking people normally, but when I feel offended, I do not just sit and play nice. The recent situation started with an email that was sent to "contact@projectwish.com" which I happen to check. The funny thing is that this is posted in some of PW's recruitment threads, and that is the only public place that email has ever been posted.

The email was as follows. I will try to hide the identity of said individual, but anyone who frequents the same sites I do can probably figure out who it is:
QUOTE
If your looking for MMO consultancy for specialized towards low budget companies and indie teams. Have a look below.

About
[Company name] has been around for some time within the design industry. With [game name] on our tracks we are more than ever engrossed into its development.

We have recently recruited on some small team of contract artists to help in a newly service we offer.

Many low budget game developers can't afford a good quality level of work, or some may not have enough time to get a decent amount of assets done and ready for in game. This is were we jump in. We offer many services for the developments community. These can range from:

Services:
* Game Design Consultancy
* All Genre & Type Game Advice
* Hire Game Designer
* Hire 3D Modellers
* Hire Level Designers
* Production Flow Advice
* Start Off Game Template (we create a basic game for you to buil up on)
* Engine & Technical Advice
* MMO Advice

We also sell templates for Design Documents and Treatments, from small FPS to Huge MMO's.

Clients:
Currently we have a small amount of clients, from variety of communities. Multiverse, Torque and even RC.

One RC client "Jonny" from Realm Fighter was kind enough to comment on our services, also below is a preview of there up coming town.

::Up All Night:: says:
What do you think of our services?
Jonny // Realm Fighter // says:
Very professional service offered, with frequent updates including screenshots of the high quality graphics designed by a caring team.

Note: All Renders Are Work In Progress. Permission has been given to us to post them. All Copyright is reserved to there rightful owners
[omitted images that were obviously from this "client's" project. None of which were textured.

Contact:
If you are interested or just want a quote for your team.

Email: [omitted]
Web: [omitted]

Thank you

I will let you judge for yourself, based on spelling, grammar, verbage, etc on how old you think this individual is. I decided to share this with a well-respected Game Developer friend of mine who also knows this person. We sometimes have a laugh about the things this individual does, but this one took the cake. I was outraged that he would think we wanted his help. This was a scam and made me sick, literally. This to me was just as bad as this advertisement that one can make an MMO with $249 (http://www.dayark.com/caligari.html). Hilarious isn't it?!?!?

Keep in mind, also, that this company does not have ANY screenshots on their site. Also keep in mind that this so-called game of theirs has changed a bunch of times. The only screenshots posted were straight from the Big World tech demos and they mention 3 possible engines for their game. Starting to become clear?

So, with all that, I decided to express my feelings in an email reply. Said I:
QUOTE
[omitted name],
Sorry it took me so long to respond, I was deciding what to say. I am glad you are interested in helping, but do you think I am going to fall for that? I know you have hopes of giving others advice, but I am going to give you some. I have followed you on many forums, and seen you be banned and get a HORRIBLE reputation many times because of some of this crap. I think you need to take a step back, and work on your ethics. It is one thing to advertise a real product or service, but it is an entirely different matter to lie and stretch the truth, both of which you seem to have no problem doing. You overstate almost everything you have ever said, that I have read. It is absolutely atrocious and I am insulted to think that you would even think we would need help from you. Please read this entire contents of this email, as it contains some advice that could help you regain some of your badly damaged reputation.

I am not trying to be vindictive or mean, otherwise I would have done this in the many public forums which you frequent. I even defended you on the Multiverse forums, because I like to see people get a fresh start and a second chance. Now, from what I gather, you have taken that second chance and thrown it away. Rather than learn your lessons, you seem to continue to push the limits of human reason. That is not a good thing.

Let me explain some of the things as I see them, so you can understand what someone with a real brain might be thinking about your actions and some of the things you write/say.

First of all, recently, you posted in the Multiverse forums that you had given a Talk at GDC Europe. I do not doubt you attended, but you refer to that as a Talk and a speech in that thread. Both of these imply that you were a speaker. You know darn well you were not a speaker. I do not doubt you said those things, but it was at a round-table discussion. That is totally different than a talk or speech. You know good and well what bending those words means. You are trying to make yourself sound like an industry veteran and an distinguished member of the gamedev industry. We both know that this is just BS.

Second, your GameDev.net shenanigans make me sick. Not only have you been banned multiple times, but you do not seem to realize that it is for the same reason each time. You lie and bend to truth to make yourself seem like you are more than just a 17-year-old kid, who knows nothing of real game development. [linked thread omitted]

Remember that? I have more if you need more reminders. You have been called out repeatedly because of your devious and dishonest wording on your posts, making yourself seem greater than you are. It is not a coincidence that this dislike from forums seem to follow you around. People can sense the dishonesty.

Thirdly, your grammer shows your age and lack of professionalism. It is atrocious. You really need more than just a spell checker to make sense when you post. I have found errors in every single one of your posts across at least 8 forums. You have errors in your new site, and all your recruitment posts.

Lastly, your screenshots are not even yours. Quit trying to lead people on. Anyone with a brain will find out that you cannot back up your word because your work is crap. Sit quiet, quit recruiting, and start learning what you need. Put together more than what you have now, and quit trying to lure people. They will find out soon enough that you are just fooling them. Then, they will not only leave, they will spread more bad press about your already damaged company.

I have read so much information regarding your farce of a company, it just makes me sick. How could you found a company at the age of 12, and now, at the age of 17, have over 4 years of consultancy under your belt. That is utter bollocks. Do you never get tired of living a complete lie? Do you think you can hide behind the internet forever? I have so much more that it really makes me want to lurch. I will not continue giving specifics, cause you know as well as I all of your lies.

I will leave it at that for now. To sum up, my advice to you is to clean up your act and start telling the truth. You have so much more to learn. I really do wish you luck, and hope you eventually achieve your goals to become a game developer, but I warn you that it will never happen if you continue on. Do you not see that you will ruin your reputation (and I hate to use that word, because it is so far damaged at this point that you cant really call it that)? One day you will have to stop playing with Daddys money, and the games will be over for [names omitted].

If you would like any more advice, I would be happy to consult for you and help you get your things in order, so maybe someday you can gain the semblance of respect that is needed to actually make a game in this industry. I will keep this private for now, but I recommend taking my advice. If I see any more misleading lies on any of the forums that I frequent coming from you, you will regret it. The truth never lies, it hurts.

Sincerely,
Erik Briggs (Jerky)
Project Manager & Art Team Lead - Project Wish
http://www.projectwish.com
jerky@projectwish.com

So, you could say, I was a little harsh. Guess what? I wasn't harsh enough. Here was the reply:
QUOTE
Hi
It was an offer for help and advice,but to be sarcastic and rude is another thing. Good luck in the future with that attitude you need it.

[name omitted]
CEO
[company name omitted]
UK

Wow!? Rude, okay, I can see that... But sarcastic? No way. I was telling it straight. This envoked yet another reply from me:
QUOTE
[omitted name],
Please point out where I was being sarcastic. I was dead serious with every piece of advice and I hope you read the whole thing. Please consider your own attitude, ethics and dishonesty in the future and do not post any more lies in forums I visit. This is your last warning from me.

Erik Briggs (Jerky)
Project Manager & Art Team Lead - Project Wish
http://www.projectwish.com
jerky@projectwish.com


Well, his reply was to be expected at this point:
QUOTE
Erik,
Stop being immature about it, you warn me? Un professional to say the least, Im sure a few of my colleagues would like to know the attitude of the team leader. Also point out what you want but are you the company with funding? Do you have a studio? When you do get back to me because thats when you can start warning me. Until then Good Luck!

PS. Please dont use this email address again your emails are not welcome.

[omitted name]
CEO
[omitted company name]
UK


So yes, I warned him. The good news is he has not posted again on any of the forums. This was The very beginning of December, so maybe he got the point?! I doubt it.

So what spawned this? Sinbad (the main programmer of Ogre3d) recently had an experience with some kiddie which reminded me of this one. What else? I was checking another GameDev.net project's image gallery today and he had a couple screenshots of him replying to someone on the forums who sounded an awful lot like the kid who emailed me. Upon further inspection, I found a reference to his username, so it was him, once again. Its good to know that I am not the only one who is not fooled by crap like this. I take offense to someone offering me/us help who has less to show than we do. This kid may have his Dad's money, but he does not have any class, skill or professionalism. I am no the end-all, be-all hobbyist game developer, but at least I don't try and con people. One thing I pride myself on is telling it straight. If you want to know PW's status, I will tell you. I wont hide it so you think we are the best thing since sliced bread. Dishonesty doesn't pay. Maybe he should go into car sales?
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> Comments for: Hilarity ensues
wspnut
post Jan 25 2007, 10:44 AM
 


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Haha, I hope that kid reads this. What a complete moron.

...and I never typed that bad when I was 17.
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Anigav
post Jan 25 2007, 09:17 PM
 


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I hope you don't judge all 17 year olds by that guy! I'm 17 and I have almost perfect grammar (the SATs say so :-P) He probably has some emotional disorder and/or is a chronic liar. I know someone like that, although he isn't as overt.

It's quite creepy, really. This person I know actually believes his lies....
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Jerky
post Jan 26 2007, 01:43 AM
 


Former PW Project Manager
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Well, the funny thing is that part that I am not sure I can dispute. He does have a company, and he does seem to have a studio. Rich daddy's ftw?
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Anigav
post Jan 26 2007, 09:00 PM
 


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Whatever, with that attitude, those social skills, and that grammar, he is not going to go anywhere in life. I don't know him, but judging from how nice you generally are Jerky and how harsh you were to him, I'm guessing he deserved it.

I guess all you can really do is live and let live, to be so banal.
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Maxwell
post Jan 31 2007, 01:32 PM
 


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I can't believe someone would actually try and pull this on professionals and hobbyist that have been in the game a while.
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FLintCLeaver
post Feb 24 2007, 05:24 PM
 


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o_O im fifteen... hope ppl dont look at me liek this... oh wellz i dont lie and i dont "own a company" so im kool 8-) and my work is original
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RicoSuave
post Mar 2 2007, 12:45 PM
 


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It's interesting to see the one word that ties what I was thinking all together: 'indies.' I learned at a fairly young age about the social, business ethics of Indies from my father who has a very good friend (from India). As much as a friend as he is, my father cannot do business with him, ever. Because as Jagat (his name) discribed, "Friends are friends, and business is business." At the time I really didn't understand what that meant; I was too young.

I learned a few years later that the custom of the people there is to always try to come out on top in business (while being 'righteous'... not 'moral'). Here in the USA and other Western Civilizations we have a legally defined code of business ethics. Even if we don't know the law, our social upbringing teaches us what is 'right and wrong.' There, they don't have that. To us what seems like lies and falsehoods, is to them good tactics to lure business to you.

This is why so many Americans have a difficult time with Indian businesses. Our inherant core values are opposites. That doesn't make one right and the other wrong. It makes them different. I'm not saying that I don't have a problem with it and that it doesn't affect me. On the contrary, much like Jerky, it burns me to the very soul. In the Air Force, anyone who shows the slightest deviation from our Core Values: (1) Integrity First; (2) Service Before Self; (3) Excellence in All We Do, is severely disciplined and in some cases Court-Marshalled.

Tying in to what I said before, we are different. We need to know how they operate, and just as important, they need to know how WE operate. I think we have the easier task; they, on the other hand, have to learn an entire code of ethics.




Jerky, I commend you. I hope I would be able to handle the situation the same if I was in your shoes.
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