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Microsoft Studios' creative director has some choice words about always-online

B

BlastProcessing

Member
jay said:
Someone needs to invent a way to communicate with friends online that isn't public to everyone on the internet. Google, get on it.
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PW93
 
BadAss2961

BadAss2961

Member
RustyNails said:
There's no fucking way MS is gonna proceed with online-only crap after this debacle.

And that would mean...another delay for nextbox event.
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They probably had their plans all ready to ease people into the idea of online only. Then Adam Orth ran his mouth on twitter and blew up the internet with a shitstorm of bad press.
 
B

border

Member
dLMN8R said:
The most damning part for him was that his title is "Creative Director", even though he's actually so low in the hierarchy that he probably has absolutely no sway or influence whatsoever. But that title sounds important, which is probably the main reason why the story spread so fast and everywhere.
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Yeah, if this guy were just some random Microsoft Office engineer this probably wouldn't have had much traction at all.

Though I still kinda wonder how much this will make other Microsoft employees think twice about discussing online-DRM or anti-used games tech on their Twitter account.
 
I

I NEED SCISSORS

Banned
Don't apologize. The real villain here is MS - they are to blame for this always online bullshit, and they are the ones who ultimately decided to fire him. Orth was a bit of an ass with his condescension, but the onus is really on MS when you take into account the overall picture.

Perhaps Orth could one day be viewed as a martyr who brought to our attention the evils of mandatory console DRM, prompting this huge backlash that causes MS to reconsider... yeah let's go with that.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
We've got the 4Player update saying they've sourced one confirmation (but not multiple) of Adam Orth being let go.
bluemax seemed to reinforce that it's true in this post.
Knowing how Microsoft works that's enough proof for me.
 
S

SneakyStephan

Banned
shinobi602 said:
Holy shit.
"
Sources are telling 4Player that Adam Orth is no longer working for Microsoft. Currently tracking this down further...

...we've confirmed this with one reliable source but not two, and Orth's linkedin has currently shown no movement. We're considering this a high possibility but it currently lacks enough verification for us to confirm at this time."
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It doesn't suck, he should just deal with it, why would he want to work there anyway?

Cidd said:
Wow, sucks if you lost your job over a ridiculous comment you made on twitter.

But
AUJoYbg.png


Too soon?
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Amazing:D
 
W

Werhil

Member
In another circumstance I might find this to be an unfortunate outcome. But to get nailed by way of technology for comments made about how you are a real savvy and enthusiastic user of said technology? Well that's just fine.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
I NEED SCISSORS said:
Don't apologize. The real villain here is MS - they are to blame for this always online bullshit, and they are the ones who ultimately decided to fire him. Orth was a bit of an ass with his condescension, but the onus is really on MS when you take into account the overall picture.

Perhaps Orth could one day be viewed as a martyr who brought to our attention the evils of mandatory console DRM, prompting this huge backlash that causes MS to reconsider... yeah let's go with that.
Click to expand...

He got fired?

Called it

Grief.exe said:
Monitor Adam's LinkedIN

We might see some significant employment changes after this.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/adam-orth/44/354/b44
Click to expand...
 
J

jay

Member
If he is fired and if this is true about the next Xbox, Microsoft sure are a bunch of assholes. They're mad he made their terrible bullshit seem terrible before they could lie to us about how great it is.
 
I

inky

Member
Hmm, will wait for some proper confirmation I think.

IF he really got fired, well, that would be a very... interesting development. As much as people brought it up I wasn't really expecting anything like that to happen.
 
T

theaface

Member
Stan Smith said:
My power goes off more often than my internet does.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure my internet requires power. As a bare minimum, your internet outages are equal in number to your power outages. Just saying and not withstanding all the other perfectly legitimate and well reasoned answers people have given as to why always online is no good.
 
K

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Orth's choice to use Twitter as his bully pulpit in the wake of the PyCon debacle that swept through the tech community just a few weeks ago is also particularly bad timing. It seems every Twitter user is bound and determined to learn this lesson on their own, rather than learn from the experience of countless others before them.
 
A

Acorn

Member
I don't feel sorry for him at all. I've worked for 3 major banks and a govt department. All of them made explicitly clear anything I said or did in a public forum that reflected badly upon them was a possible dismissal.

He linked his employer to himself on his profile and commented sarcastically upon his companies unpopular and unannounced products.

Perhaps he will learn being a dick (occasionally) has consequences. Feel sorry for people laid off not an idiot losing his job for being an idiot.
 
S

Sapphire Dreams

Member
I predicted that would happen, talking shit to consumers like this is not good for any company's image, you don't just tell people to deal with it, it reminds me of the "Fuck that loser" incident with Diablo III director, though he wasn't fired.
 
D

DirtyManos

Member
It's totally fair on Microsofts part to fire him (if it did happen).

He should've known whatever he says will reflect on his company, and for sure he knew exactly what he was posting about (timing was not coincidence).

I'll never support MS if they go through with this, but they were totally in the right to be livid that an employee put them in this position.

If its not true, they can't go "dont worry people, our future console won't be always online". They would have just then confirmed the existence of their brand new console in the worst possible way. Being destroyed on the front page of reddit and countless other news sources is a pr nightmare.

I still can't imagine why people just don't stfu online, or at least do it anonymously if you want to be heard (but then how would anyone know you're so witty and cool?!)
 
P

Pristine_Condition

Member
Sera O said:
Agreed - changing course at this point would probably be incredibly difficult. It's hard to tell how deep the complacency runs right now, or what bombs they are planning to drop to distract from this mess when they are able to make their announcement.

As you say there may be technological reasons it might not be feasible. Also, they must have made arrangements with other companies that are counting on always-online, or made some deals where that was a factor.

Internet rage tends to blow over really quickly. They may be counting on that.

As for the firing, it sucks but it's pretty understandable. He really made Microsoft look bad whether he understood that or not, and his general obliviousness to time place and occasion is just what.

It's actually worse if it was completely unintentional or untrue - who wouldn't look at what happened here and conclude that this employee is a huge liability? Just think of the man-hours that will go into mitigating this.
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I agree with pretty much all this.

Like I said in my follow-up, I could only think of three real compelling reasons why this would be attractive enough for Microsoft to risk the backlash.

I think everyone on GAF that follows this stuff closely already sniffed out the obvious DRM and data collection for advertising reasons, but I don't think anyone has really had a deep discussion about what Microsoft could do with our Nextboxes and internet connections in terms of using them as assets in a giant peer-to-peer network, taking heaps of the load off their servers. To me, that might be the real reason why this is so important to them that they'd be willing to piss so many people off.
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
Yeah, I can't feel sympathy for the guy. If Microsoft are indeed doing this, then they need to be called out. As for Adam 'Sweet Billy' Orth? Well, judging by his comments, he is obviously well to do. I'm sure that he will be able to move on and just...

Orth-dealwithit-201303.jpg


Deal with it.
 
B

BolognaSoup

Member
jett said:
GAF has evolved from actively trying to fool the press to actively trying to get industry people in trouble.
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Oh give me a break. The guy said stupid and condescending stuff in public with Microsoft's name essentially pinned to all the comments. A GAF user simply posted about it and more GAF users discussed it. Orth has entirely himself and only himself to blame.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
I NEED SCISSORS said:
Don't apologize. The real villain here is MS - they are to blame for this always online bullshit, and they are the ones who ultimately decided to fire him. Orth was a bit of an ass with his condescension, but the onus is really on MS when you take into account the overall picture.

Perhaps Orth could one day be viewed as a martyr who brought to our attention the evils of mandatory console DRM, prompting this huge backlash that causes MS to reconsider... yeah let's go with that.
Click to expand...
They should get rid of whoever thought up this always online BS too.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Pristine_Condition said:
I agree with pretty much all this.

Like I said in my follow-up, I could only think of three real compelling reasons why this would be attractive enough for Microsoft to risk the backlash.

I think everyone on GAF that follows this stuff closely already sniffed out the obvious DRM and data collection for advertising reasons, but I don't think anyone has really had a deep discussion about what Microsoft could do with our Nextboxes and internet connections in terms of using them as assets in a giant peer-to-peer network, taking heaps of the load off their servers. To me, that might be the real reason why this is so important to them that they'd be willing to piss so many people off.
Click to expand...

But that just comes into a possible risk/put off factor with ISP monthly caps on internet utility in certain areas of the world.

Unless I'm missing something, if MS really is slaving the consoles behind the scenes to create a peer-to-peer network for downloading, the amount of downloading/uploading done by an always online console would be a constant drain on the limited resources people with caps have.
 
D

DICKS AHOY

Banned
BolognaSoup said:
Oh give me a break. The guy said stupid and condescending stuff in public with Microsoft's name essentially pinned to all the comments. A GAF user simply posted about it and more GAF users discussed it. Orth has entirely himself and only himself to blame.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure Jett's joking. He's referencing when a journalist last year complained on twitter that NeoGAF 'actively fools the press'.
 
N

Natureboy99

Banned
Except all my "always on" devices work just fine when they are not connected to the internet. ITS OPTIONAL. Sometimes I want to be connected, sometimes I don't. Is that old thinking now? Is it really forward thinking to accept online as an absolute requirement??? Gamers aren't dumb. We know full well the only purpose of online being required is that it fights used games.
 
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