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UC4 Game Director Justin Richmond Leaves ND (And famousmortimer leaves GAF #1393)

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I'm not buying what he wrote in his blog. Sounds made up just like his claims that EA were begging forgiveness to Sony for not putting Titanfall on PS3/PS4, or the mystery email some executive from MS sent him about the whole nktrnl ordeal. Why would someone high up in MS even waste their time?

If there's one thing I've learned to accept from mort, it's that there's a lot of hyperbole and dramatic over-exaggeration whenever it comes to subjective matters.

Maybe an EA/Sony meeting actually took place. But in no realistic scenario will 'begging' happen. That's obviously hyperbole. Same with the Xbox OS. It was clearly in many ways, frustrating and a step back. But it wasn't 'broken' in the way his source/news hyped it out to be.

When it comes to his insider cred, he's only really on-point when his leaks are only a 1-2 sentences long, and are clearly neutrally presented. ( like corroboration of VR, Driveclub being delayed, or whatever. He didn't spin any narrative with those, he just said 'this happens/is happening.'

I take mostly everything else assuming it's partly speculation.
 
Mort made a mistake with a rumor
Col presented why he really quit
Mort and Col talked and Mort apologized to the only person he really needed to apologize to, Col.

Mort doesn't have to owe an apology to each GAF member when he has already apologized for screwing up on his blog and most importantly when he already apologized to Col who has already accepted his apology. That should be the end of that. Right

But its odd to see people going after mort personally now that 'oh I knew he was a fraud' or ' he was taking donations for his own pocket money' and ' oh now he is lying more' really ?

80% of the people (made up number) in the thread about his indiegogo venture thought his website's business model and direction was a bad idea.

His source probably works at another studio or marketing, thus it was actually gossip and not just made up nonsense. This is what I believe. If not, he was just stupid. This is gaf, that shit is going to come back on you.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
It's over, period. famousmortimer lost his last ace, and that's the end of his dodd scientifics hopes and dreams.

It's not hyperbole, it's not fanboy drivel. It is LITERALLY it for famousmortimer. famousmortimer has nothing left, nothing he can reveal tomorrow would fix the hole now created. There is no reason left for any one, hardcore or casual, to substantively invest in his speculation. Except if they want to read his twitter. Which will also come to dualshockers at some point.

The age of famousmortimer is done.

I understood this reference.gif

And I'm dying at it.

Good thing this was nipped in the butt before his kickstarter IndieGoGo PAY MY RENT AND UTILITIES GUYZZZZZZZZZZZZ "Journalism" site was established.

Maybe now he'll go back, understand why some people are opposed to it and do some self-censoring before shooting from the hip.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
I'm talking about how he got the "scoop" on Col's leaving in the first place. Was it made up by him or was this bad info that was passed to him and he passed along

Well... he can't very well do that anymore in here now, can he.

Anyways, the two main characters in this whole saga has contacted each other and has resolved the issue between them. If the person being slandered, Col, himself has stated that the issue has been resolved, then the issue has been resolved, and it's really not anyone's place to state otherwise.

Amir0x we hardly knew ye.

Whaa? He's permed?

Since your forum personality is a guy that always jokes around or whatever, I feel like I always need to double clarify any statements you make.. he's permed?
 

Razdek

Banned
It's over, period. famousmortimer lost his last ace, and that's the end of his dodd scientifics hopes and dreams.

It's not hyperbole, it's not fanboy drivel. It is LITERALLY it for famousmortimer. famousmortimer has nothing left, nothing he can reveal tomorrow would fix the hole now created. There is no reason left for any one, hardcore or casual, to substantively invest in his speculation. Except if they want to read his twitter. Which will also come to dualshockers at some point.

The age of famousmortimer is done.

Maybe he'll startup a rival gaming forum called NeoMort and ask for donations telling us his forum won't be like other forums like his proposed website.
 

Kacho

Member
No doubt, his reputation is now in the pooper, but to say that no one will ever listen to him again... yeah, no. Not how the Internet (in all its fickleness) works.

Exactly.

At the very least, he's at least infamousmortimer now. He will still have a following.
 

freefornow

Gold Member
Should links to Mr Dodd's "site" now be banned? I can think of a site (one that discusses sales) that is banned from Neogaf for making stuff up? Does Mr Dodd's now fall in that category?
Sure, some could argue that is an overreaction to once incident, but do we truly know what other information he has provided in the past is not made up?
Lets face it, his post would have been accepted as "truthfact" if he had not been called out on it.
 
There's screwing up and then there's completely making up a story slandering someone's career. He still hasn't addressed that BTW, was he fed bad info or was this completely made up by him. All we get is a bunch of excuses.

From his blog post:

What I got out of the conversation the night before with Col’s friend was that I was off the mark. He was very nice, he said my contacts were wrong, he’s known Col for years, he definitely left for “personal reasons.”

Seems to me like he did address that. And as for his apology being a "non-apology"

I hate that this happened to him and I’m at fault. I feel like i’m going to vomit. It sucks. And, again, I’m sorry that I gave info that wasn’t true (not purposefully, but that’s not the point) and that it has caused you this commotion, Col. You are good guy and did not deserve this.

That seems like a sincere apology to me.

I think what got people so riled up was the timing of his snarky tweet being just after Col posted on GAF, which he now claims was made before he saw Col's post, which makes a lot of this a misunderstanding in my opinion.
 

Terrell

Member
The time of GAF "insiders" is coming to an end

Thank goodness.

I think of Dodd as a genuinely nice guy who just fucked up royal. I think it sucks for everyone involved and we should just let it rest. He was a pro-consumer kind of guy with no real agenda.

The moment you begin to openly defame another human being, you don't get to wear the white hat anymore.

And to say there was no agenda is a bit of a stretch... maybe not one against a particular person, but the agenda of maintaining self-relevance in the form of internet popularity is plain as day.
 

Mooreberg

is sharpening a shovel and digging a ditch
The whole speculation cycle of the "why" and "how" of various departures has gotten out of hand if somebody has to post on here just to protect their professional reputation. I wonder how many people involved in the SMS or Irrational reductions have wanted to clear the air on here but decided against it.
 
Well... he can't very well do that anymore in here now, can he.

Anyways, the two main characters in this whole saga has contacted each other and has resolved the issue between them. If the person being slandered, Col, himself has stated that the issue has been resolved, then the issue has been resolved, and it's really not anyone's place to state otherwise.



Whaa? He's permed?

Since your forum personality is a guy that always jokes around or whatever, I feel like I always need to double clarify any statements you make.. he's permed?

I agree with you. Then I remember that Col had to make that post to clear his name. It wasn't resolvable until then.
 
From his blog post:



Seems to me like he did address that. And as for his apology being a "non-apology"



That seems like a sincere apology to me.

I think what got people so riled up was the timing of his snarky tweet being just after Col posted on GAF, which he now claims was made before he saw Col's post, which makes a lot of this a misunderstanding in my opinion.

That cleared some stuff up for me, Thanx! I still think Pete should to sticking to just apologizing for the Col stuff and stop with all the scernarios of when he heard what and when, it'll go alot better for him.
 
Exactly.

At the very least, he's at least infamousmortimer now. He will still have a following.

Hell, I will cheerfully admit that if I see some concrete, verifiable tidbit from him on N4G, I will entertain it as being true. Why not? It's just tech gossip. Someone like me being interested in stuff like that is not a crime, and spreading such info (even if you happen to rather biased towards a console maker, as he was) is not a crime either, and it's good fodder while waiting for games to come.

What is (hyperbolically speaking at least) a crime is libeling someone or listing, in an authoritative tone, assessments of an entire studio structure's performance, without a solid foundation of information. That's what he did here. When he does that -- people should shut their ears and close their eyes, because now we know how likely that is to be unfounded BS. Should have known it yesterday, like so:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=106039184#post106039184
 

ramuh

Member
As a GAF reader, I've come to respect and fear such posts. In the end, we get tidbits on the inner workings of why we are of all here. GAMES. Secondly, those posters can f things up, usually big time. To the MODS, I say do not change your ways. For you ways, has open (as least IMO) my eyes to the inner workings on how things can work. For example. As a poster, you post info, tidbits, and your opinion. I hope as a GAF poster, that people can see (literally) how I interact with information and rumors. This can build trust among fellow GAF members. But you have to take information cynically as well. Not everything everyone post will be accurate or truthful. It can be full of hyperbole or be opinionated. To me, one of the great features of this site, is correction. Through collaborative effort we can find what's real or not, what poster is being over opinionated and wrong. And we can correct that mistake by association. I love GAF. :) Keep strong.
 

onken

Member
Tough stuff. Part of being an "insider" is making people think you know more than you do, because let's face it the titbits you actually pick up are often pretty dull when laid out in black and white. The Driceclub director stuff was a straightforward educated guess for anyone to make, he just ran out of luck this time. Indeed this just highlights how terrible it is, casually trashing a guy's career to add an extra gram of weight to a run of the mill forum post. Sad.
 
Should links to Mr Dodd's "site" now be banned? I can think of a site (one that discusses sales) that is banned from Neogaf for making stuff up? Does Mr Dodd's now fall in that category?
Sure, some could argue that is an overreaction to once incident, but do we truly know what other information he has provided in the past is not made up?
Lets face it, his post would have been accepted as "truthfact" if he had not been called out on it.

I don't think it's fair to discredit him with absolute entirety. There's a number of stuff he leaked that, realistically, was impossible to make up outside of being a physic.

I don't think it's a good thing to take the mistakes he's made in the context of this events ( irresponsible sharing of stuff that were not properly corroborated and damaging to individuals, and his poor handling of the situation subsequently ), and try to drag a net over what he's shared before that was valid, and what he wants to continue doing moving forward.

Anyway, I think the mods will know best. Let them judge the situation in consideration of the full story, and how it unfolds.
 
It's been nearly 6 years, someone needs to come up with some original hyperbole to surpass the greatest work. The edits are still funny though.
 
From his blog post:



Seems to me like he did address that. And as for his apology being a "non-apology"



That seems like a sincere apology to me.

I think what got people so riled up was the timing of his snarky tweet being just after Col posted on GAF, which he now claims was made before he saw Col's post, which makes a lot of this a misunderstanding in my opinion.



https://twitter.com/atPeteDodd/status/449639903064637441
"To be clear my apology was to Col, not to gaf, which I didn't even know I was banned from until I tweeted said apology."

https://twitter.com/atPeteDodd/status/449343804663795712
"He (col) was in the hotseat and got out before it burned him. Sony allowed him (and stig, and whoever) to craft their own narrative."

more of his gossips:
"Orchestral Media who? He left because he was going to get fired. He decided to make an indie startup - which is smart."

"The director of GoW:ascension also left when he wasn't offered another director position."

"I certainly didn't mean to say stig was an egomaniac. Any game director offered a lower position leaves."

"He was offered art lead on another project which is a demotion. He left. I don't blame him"

on a side note, jaffe was creative director in god of war 2, he was game director in god of war 1.

all of these just sound like gossip, yet he's posturing them as if they were facts. that is the biggest problem with this guy. he speaks as if his words were solid evidence. reading through these, it's as if it's gossip or just made-up speculation based on everything he's heard of. he probably tried connecting the dots and throwing in his opinion there as to how/why something happened.
 
There's a notorious Harvey Dent/Two-Face quote from a beloved Batman movie that I think is appropriate here: "Ah. Fortune smiles. Another day of wine and roses. Or, in your case, beer and pizza!"

This quote of his is more fitting:

Harvey Dent said:
Well, I need more than chocolate. And for that matter, I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom and choice when it comes to our ice cream, and that, Joey Naylor, that is the definition of liberty.
 

rokkerkory

Member
Sometimes people forget at the end of the day this is just more than videogames and real people's lives and well being are involved. They mostly labor out of love and passion to give us great games.

All I have to say is best of luck to your son and family Col.
 

FLAguy954

Junior Member
Mort made a mistake with a rumor
Col presented why he really quit
Mort and Col talked and Mort apologized to the only person he really needed to apologize to, Col.

Mort doesn't have to owe an apology to each GAF member when he has already apologized for screwing up on his blog and most importantly when he already apologized to Col who has already accepted his apology. That should be the end of that. Right

But its odd to see people going after mort personally now that 'oh I knew he was a fraud' or ' he was taking donations for his own pocket money' and ' oh now he is lying more' really ?

Seriously. People need to get over this "I told you so" bullshit.
 
Should links to Mr Dodd's "site" now be banned? I can think of a site (one that discusses sales) that is banned from Neogaf for making stuff up? Does Mr Dodd's now fall in that category?
Sure, some could argue that is an overreaction to once incident, but do we truly know what other information he has provided in the past is not made up?
Lets face it, his post would have been accepted as "truthfact" if he had not been called out on it.

Hes going to get $4k of probably mostly Gaffers money from his Indiegogo (which hes set to receive the money for even if - when, he doesnt hit the full amount), would seem like overkill to ban it on Gaf, how will he get the other $4k to pay his bills and rent if Gaf no provide advertising clicks for him?
 
Evolution being an incompetent set of developers who can't deliver a game and that DC has been "last guardian'd" has been the residing point in nearly all Driveclub threads since November.

The recent rumours on here specifying people involved in development are exceptionally toxic, but lets not pretend huge swathes of GAFers aren't out to slander whole development teams when rumours pop up on here about delays and downgrades.
 
Hello, all.

This is my first post on NeoGAF, and whilst I'm not generally one to deal in internet speculation, I have to put the record straight with regard to Pete Dodd's comments above.

Everything he has said with regard to myself and Driveclub is incorrect. It's also libellous.

As Putty (who is a personal friend of mine, and has been for about 25 years) suggests, I left Evo in February for personal reasons. The personal reasons being that my son, who is 4 years old, has been diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, which is a potentially life threatening condition. I live 220 miles (4 hours drive) away from Evolution Studios, and was away from home 5.5 days a week. Given the circumstances, I could not continue to work there.

Driveclub is a great game, and the direction hasn't changed since my departure. This has been confirmed by SONY in various press releases over recent days.

I have no problem in dealing with very large projects, as I've been working in the games industry for the last 19 years, and have worked on some very prestigious titles, so there is genuinely no truth to anything posted by Mr Dodds at all. My departure (and indeed the setup of my 'indie' operation, BigRedSwitch) is 100% driven by family necessity, not some professional failing on my part.

I left SONY on very good terms. There is no animosity there, and I was absolutely nothing to do with the recent redundancies - in fact, the news of those redundancies was probably linked on here before I knew about them.

The games industry is a tough place at the moment. My circumstances with my son mean that I've had to leave secure work in order to try to make my own way in the world. This may entail getting another job. With people who obviously know nothing about the situation blackening my reputation for the sake of internet 'fame', this could be made much more difficult. It's nothing less than trolling.

I've contacted Mr. Dodd on his email address on his site. Due to the factual inaccuracy of his statements, I've informed him that he needs to remove the statements and apologise for the damage they have caused, as posting incorrect information and claiming it's true is quite simply libel.

I'm sure you can all appreciate just how difficult things are for myself and my family at the moment. I'd genuinely appreciate it if you can take my statements as word from the origin, and realise that there has been no big cover-up when it comes to my departure from SONY/Evo.

Thanks, all.

Col.

Perfect example of why speculation and witch hunts are harmful for everyone. This goes for Justin Richmond and Amy Hennig too.
 
Evolution being an incompetent set of developers who can't deliver a game and that DC has been "last guardian'd" has been the residing point in nearly all Driveclub threads since November.

The recent rumours on here specifying people involved in development are exceptionally toxic, but lets not pretend huge swathes of GAFers aren't out to slander whole development teams when rumours pop up on here about delays and downgrades.

Eh. We all talk some shit, but we're just pigeons at a crumb party. Very few posters here lay claim to any legitimacy, but Pete most certainly did. If I say "Peter Molyneux is a liar and can't be trusted" then it's opinion, if someone revelling in their status as an insider does that then people think it's a fact that should be given more scrutiny.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Hes going to get $4k of probably mostly Gaffers money from his Indiegogo (which hes set to receive the money for even if - when, he doesnt hit the full amount), would seem like overkill to ban it on Gaf, how will he get the other $4k to pay his bills and rent if Gaf no provide advertising clicks for him?

Did you know: He extended the funding period despite the fact his funding was gonna fall short of paying his rent? :lol at that.
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Perfect example of why speculation and witch hunts are harmful for everyone. This goes for Justin Richmond and Amy Hennig too.

Speculations are fine... what we need to cull is the tendency of people trying to worship speculations as truthfact. People need to be more adult about stuff like that.

I mean, if we aren't allowed to speculate stuff I'd imagine half of GAF content would just vaporize to thin air, hahaha.
 

Tripon

Member
Did you know: He extended the funding period despite the fact his funding was gonna fall short of paying his rent? :lol at that.

Yes, because Indiegogo offered to extend it another 30 day because most campaigns are 60 days, not 30 as he initially set it.
 

ZehDon

Member
My Dear Lord in Heaven. I take one day off - one day! - and this happens. I just can't trust you people with anything!
{/sarcasm}

This thread is heart breaking in so many different ways. I have to admit, I get swept up in a good info leak, and often hang on every word a "mod-verified insider" posts. The Xbone reveal saga was the drug that got me hooked - and I think this thread is the intervention.
 

Kacho

Member
Did you know: He extended the funding period despite the fact his funding was gonna fall short of paying his rent? :lol at that.

I thought that was the case...heh. Curious if this little episode will give him enough visibility to make his goal.
 

freefornow

Gold Member
I thought that was the case...heh. Curious if this little episode will give him enough visibility to make his goal.

If he receives positive donations as a result of this sad state of affairs, then the internet is seriously one messed up place.

Edit: not sad as in what happened to Mr Dodd!
 

Nerokis

Member
The air of authority Mort consistently tried to cultivate never materialized in my eyes, and I always found it puzzling that so many people put so much stock in his claims. I now find myself wondering, though, why everyone is vilifying the guy with such reckless abandon.

When I first read the regretful post that lead to all this, I took it as being in large part a "here is a plausible - more realistic, even! - scenario that does not require a 'oh my god, Sony is going to hell' narrative to make sense of recent events" sort of post. His primary goal was to give a sense of perspective, it seemed, not to give the absolute version of what went down. Now, it wouldn't have been surprising for his scenario to be informed by things he heard, and it seems that was the case. I can imagine, though, that his threshold for making those particular claims was lowered because his specific goal was not to leak, but to craft a more nuanced picture of things. Undoubtedly ego played a role here, and false claims were made, either way. But this is also a case of a normal person failing to be conscious of the impact his words can have, of the line between informed-speculative claims and facts, and so on. I find it difficult to be morally outraged by his admittedly still serious mistake.

Yes, his threshold for making such negative claims about someone he knew next to nothing about in particular was much too low. It's unfortunate he had to go there, and even more unfortunate doing so ended up having a real impact. But most of us know how easy it is to forget these names we throw around are attached to complicated, vulnerable human beings who may not be quite as distant as we imagine. I highly, highly doubt Mort had any negative intentions when he threw Roger's particular name around so carelessly.

I'm not saying Mort didn't badly mess up, because yes, he messed up...badly. That thing about these names being attached to "complicated, vulnerable human beings" applies no less to him, though, than it does to Rogers. The lifetime ban seems appropriate enough, but his capacity to have a very low moment doesn't cancel out whatever good he's done, and it certainly doesn't cancel out the fact that in his day to day life he's probably a perfectly fine guy.

In other words, the incredible explosion of cannibalistic, righteous impulse coming out of this thread and directed to someone who was once so pedestalized...neither side seems to deserve it.
 
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