Why? It seems legit to me. It was literally hours before the end of the kickstarter that the twitter community started speaking up against that project, and the offensive elements of the reddit thread weren't part of his kickstarter pitch, somebody had to go and make that connection. They really didn't have a lot of time to act on it. Their donation is a much higher amount than what they'll gain in fees from that project, so they've gained nothing by not cancelling it, so I feel like their reasoning for not cancelling it earlier are sincere.
That's not the part that's bullshit. First of all, as people mentioned, creators don't get the money for weeks usually. Second of all, it's the half-hearted apology. If they're not going to remove it, stand behind that. They're attempting to stick with both the project and the complainers and it's just stupid.
I just think they have nothing to gain from "sticking with the project," so why would they lie about it? Just because Amazon takes a while to fulfill all the payments doesn't mean it isn't out of Kickstarter's hands at that point. I generally get my notification from Amazon that I've been charged immediately after the fundraiser ends.
They're not lying. They're just trying to please everybody. Aside from anything Reddit or any comments that may have been posted, let's face it, although it's in very bad taste, there is nothing actually wrong with the project as per the rules on the project page. Has that stopped them from pulling projects before? No, but after some rough flack for letting some borderline projects go through before and the backlash regarding this one, it just looks like a solely political move to apologize. The people who reviewed the project were following the guidelines provided while someone higher up recognized this has developed bad publicity and a negative influence on a growing brand.
There was no "oops". There was a flaw exposed in their little system and perhaps they need to revisit their project rules because of it. Maybe if the whole page wasn't worded in such a political manner, I wouldn't have had such a problem with it, but it just seemed a little greasy.
It just left a bad taste in my mouth. They should have just let it go. They've neglected to cancel numerous other projects that had even more negative exposure without making a statement. Why now? Why this? Because they are starting to lose their positive image. It wasn't because they were "sorry".
Edit: In all honesty, I don't really care. It doesn't affect me or my opinion of Kickstarter as a whole. This is just my opinion of a statement they made. From someone firmly planting himself in business and PR, I just didn't agree with the way this was handled and worded.
I looked at the project page, and I can see why it got through any screens Kickstarter has up to catch offensive material. Because, while a little weird and definitely not created for female consumption, the project itself seemed fairly innocuous. Of course, some (including me) would argue that any book that focuses on "scoring" in a "game" where women are the "prize" is misogynistic and has no place in modern society, but the book certainly isn't the first of its kind, nor will likely be the last.
You know, maybe they should force the book to contain this on page one:
You want to say Hi to the cute girl on the subway. How will she react? Fortunately, I can tell you with some certainty, because she’s already sending messages to you. Looking out the window, reading a book, working on a computer, arms folded across chest, body away from you = do not disturb. So, y’know, don’t disturb her. Really. Even to say that you like her hair, shoes, or book. A compliment is not always a reason for women to smile and say thank you. You are a threat, remember? You are Schrödinger’s Rapist. Don’t assume that whatever you have to say will win her over with charm or flattery. Believe what she’s signaling, and back off.
If you speak, and she responds in a monosyllabic way without looking at you, she’s saying, “I don’t want to be rude, but please leave me alone.” You don’t know why. It could be “Please leave me alone because I am trying to memorize Beowulf.” It could be “Please leave me alone because you are a scary, scary man with breath like a water buffalo.” It could be “Please leave me alone because I am planning my assassination of a major geopolitical figure and I will have to kill you if you are able to recognize me and blow my cover.”
On the other hand, if she is turned towards you, making eye contact, and she responds in a friendly and talkative manner when you speak to her, you are getting a green light. You can continue the conversation until you start getting signals to back off.
The fourth point: If you fail to respect what women say, you label yourself a problem.
There’s a man with whom I went out on a single date—afternoon coffee, for one hour by the clock—on July 25th. In the two days after the date, he sent me about fifteen e-mails, scolding me for non-responsiveness. I e-mailed him back, saying, “Look, this is a disproportionate response to a single date. You are making me uncomfortable. Do not contact me again.” It is now October 7th. Does he still e-mail?
Yeah. He does. About every two weeks.
This man scores higher on the threat level scale than Man with the Cockroach Tattoos. (Who, after all, is guilty of nothing more than terrifying bad taste.) You see, Mr. E-mail has made it clear that he ignores what I say when he wants something from me. Now, I don’t know if he is an actual rapist, and I sincerely hope he’s not. But he is certainly Schrödinger’s Rapist, and this particular Schrödinger’s Rapist has a probability ratio greater than one in sixty. Because a man who ignores a woman’s NO in a non-sexual setting is more likely to ignore NO in a sexual setting, as well.
So if you speak to a woman who is otherwise occupied, you’re sending a subtle message. It is that your desire to interact trumps her right to be left alone. If you pursue a conversation when she’s tried to cut it off, you send a message. It is that your desire to speak trumps her right to be left alone. And each of those messages indicates that you believe your desires are a legitimate reason to override her rights.
For women, who are watching you very closely to determine how much of a threat you are, this is an important piece of data.
The above paragraph is part of a society afraid of human contact. I talk to everyone around me at all times.
Although I agree on the email part.
See, there's a difference between talking to someone who isn't doing anything, just sitting on a train twiddling their thumbs, and talking to someone who is pointedly doing something else. Because I don't know about anyone else, but I hate being interrupted when I'm trying to do things. And it is not unknown for me to read a book on the train specifically as a method of avoiding human contact.
"You are Schrödinger’s Rapist." Well he killed my cat! So I'd say were even.
So you're in a half-raped, half-not-raped state until someone observes it. If the rape would have resulted in a pregnancy, and you gave birth before someone observed it, then someone observed it and it turned out you were not raped, so the baby vanished, would the observer be guilty of murder or only half-murder? The Pro-Life Movement needs to get on this!
Actually, the project is poised to reach its goal. I am confident it will. And it is a good thing, too, since this is the most worthy adventure game project I have seen in quite awhile
The firm US superiority complex is one thing that might raise an eyebrow, especially from all the potential backers living in those assorted other, obviously vastly inferior countries, but comparing gay marriage to "men taking a dump in the ladies' room"?
flesk's unbacking is herewith excused.
In the context of the discussion, it was very clear what he was saying, and it was not over the line in any way. Apparently it is okay to have different opinions on certain issues, but only if you express those opinions in a meek and apologetic way.
I support and agree with Doug TenNapel 150%. The hate and vindictiveness thrown his way throughout this campaign has disappointed me greatly.
Bringing up individual team members' political opinions as a way to discredit, blackball and ostracize a whole project is really disgusting, and I am sorry to see people engage in such behavior.
Since when did it become a crime to be a patriotic American who believes his country to be the best place on earth. Those people who are terribly upset by such sentiments are the ones with the problem, not TenNapel.
Supporters of Armikrog saw firsthand the hate and intolerance in the gaming community as people tried to smear TenNapel and hurt his career. Is this the road people want to go down?
Sadly for those people (but happily for adventure gaming in general), Armikrog will be funded and made, and the brilliant TenNapel's will continue to flourish.
Actually, the project is poised to reach its goal. I am confident it will. And it is a good thing, too, since this is the most worthy adventure game project I have seen in quite awhile
I guess American McGee couldn't get the rights to Alice, because he's gone with OZombie.
I won't stop trying to make new Alice games. As you can see from all the early pre-production work we were doing on Otherlands, we're still happy to devote resources and time to developing new ideas around Alice's story. That will continue long into the future.
We're still having meaningful and productive conversations with EA regarding Alice. Truth is, it's an important bit of IP for them and for us (and for you!) which means that negotiating a deal is going to take time. This is normal. Think about it this way - it took over 12 months (yes, 12 months!) to negotiate and close a deal for "Alice: Madness Returns." This time around, we started talking with EA about a new "Alice" during GDC 2013 and those talks are still ongoing. Everyone involved in the talks knew about the upcoming Kickstarter campaign and has worked towards getting something in place that would could link with the campaign. Who knows? We might still get there before this campaign ends, but past experience has taught me not to bet on things like this.
What's certain is that your support of OZombie today will help put Spicy Horse in a better position to tackle another Alice game in the future. Our work on "Grimm" is what convinced EA to fund "Alice: Madness Returns," so it stands to reason that our continued development of technology and content helps prove we're still able to make good on any designs for a new Alice game. So, if not for the sake of OZombie today, then think about supporting Spicy Horse in general for the sake of a new Alice game sometime in the future.
Patriotic, anti-gay, pro-life adventure games are few and far between.
Personally I think Nelly Cootalot is a lot more "worthy". And the creator actually seems like a really nice guy.
Armikrog is not political in any way. With all due respect, I believe your comment is a shameful and dishonest one.
I would suggest that TenNapel is being singled out for being an American conservative who is outspoken in his views. People are taking his comments out of context and are analyzing every posted comment he has made over the years to try to decipher if it was off-color or offensive apparently in an effort to smear and discredit him. I can think of many outspoken left-leaning game developers who have expressed all kinds of political opinions online and who have not received any of the scrutiny that TenNapel has received. Honestly, I think the overblown reaction to TenNapel's views says more about the people doing the smearing than it says about TenNapel.
If no one else here will do so, then I will take this opportunity to applaud TenNapel for the classy way he has conducted himself throughout this campaign. He seems like an honest, principled, brave, passionate and obviously immensely talented individual. It is very easy to espouse political opinions among people with similar views, and TenNapel had to know how many intolerant people in his profession would respond to his very reasonable opinions. Big kudos to him for being unafraid to say what he believes is right.
The smearing of TenNapel has been personal and, at times, absolutely defamatory. I'm not speaking of this forum, but of what I have seen on other sites. Many Armikrog backers on KS have reported similar things in their efforts to promote the game.
Is this the new standard in judging the worth of Kickstarter campaigns? We are going to publicize and draw as much attention as possible to the political opinions of individual team members? Or is it only fair game to do this when they are conservatives?
My own opinion is the political views of individual dev team members ought to be IRRELEVANT to the question of whether a game deserves support. I couldn't imagine trying to hurt a campaign because some people on the team disagreed with me politically.
No matter what our political and cultural views, I hope can all agree to try to stick to the merits of the games in question and quit with this effort to punish or blackball people who disagree with us. Imagine if you found yourself in a situation where your career was under attack because people didn't like your opinions.
With all due respect, I believe your comment is a shameful and dishonest one.
You're welcome to your opinion and it was not meant as a bashing of the game itself. It looks very interesting. I think it's fair that people are aware of TenNapel's controversial views before they decide on whether or not they want to back his project though.
I would suggest that TenNapel is being singled out for being an American conservative who is outspoken in his views. People are taking his comments out of context and are analyzing every posted comment he has made over the years to try to decipher if it was off-color or offensive apparently in an effort to smear and discredit him. I can think of many outspoken left-leaning game developers who have expressed all kinds of political opinions online and who have not received any of the scrutiny that TenNapel has received. Honestly, I think the overblown reaction to TenNapel's views says more about the people doing the smearing than it says about TenNapel.
I'm not up to date with the possible smearing campaign that has been going on. My opinion of TenNapel is based solely on things he has written, and as far as I can tell he didn't really need any help in smearing his reputation.
It could be that I react more strongly to his views because I'm from a country where even our right wing political parties are mostly to the left of what's considered left wing in the US in regards to a lot of political issues. I'm mostly concerned with treating people of both genders, different sexual orientations and different ethnicities with respect, and that's somewhere I believe TenNapel fails, regardless of your political stance.
If no one else here will do so, then I will take this opportunity to applaud TenNapel for the classy way he has conducted himself throughout this campaign. He seems like an honest, principled, brave, passionate and obviously immensely talented individual. It is very easy to espouse political opinions among people with similar views, and TenNapel had to know how many intolerant people in his profession would respond to his very reasonable opinions. Big kudos to him for being unafraid to say what he believes is right.
I don't know if that's necessarily something to applaud him for.
As for the rest of your post, I can't comment on the smearing as I know nothing about it. I don't agree that the opinions of the creator is irrelevant though. There's nothing wrong in not wanting to support a person whose ideals rubs you the wrong way. I don't want to give my hard earned money to someone I don't like, so that they can live out their dream. If someone else does, fine. It doesn't concern me.
Imagine if you found yourself in a situation where your career was under attack because people didn't like your opinions.
I'd consider if there might be something inherently wrong about my opinions. If not, I'd probably be better off choosing a different career for myself.
Flesk, I appreciate the thoughtful reply. I probably misinterpreted the intent of your comment. Let's just say that I've become a little sensitive after seeing the, well, unique and disappointing reaction on various sites to what should be a no-brainer "must support" Kickstarter campaign. I mean, take a look at the games these guys have worked on. It hardly gets better than this.
And, now, a word from the Coles of the Hero-U project, who win the award for the most unbelievably classless, unnecessary, self-indulgent bit of "look at us, we support gay mariage" grandstanding in a pseudo-endorsement plug I've ever seen in one of these KS updates. They are seriously posting disclaimers regarding the political opinions of a member of another project? Yes, folks, it has come to this. They'd have been better off saying nothing:
There are just over two days to go on Armikrog (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1949537745/armikrog), which has so far raised $700K of its $900K ask. This is a stop-motion-animated adventure game from the creators of Earthworm Jim. The lead artist (Doug Ten Napel) has raised some controversy unrelated to the project with comments against gay marriage. If this is an important concern to you, you will have to decide whether you want to back Armikrog. Personally, I am backing at a minimum level just to keep up with the game's progress. The art style and proposed game play look amazing.
Imagine if someone wrote in a Kickstarter update, "here's another project you might be interested, but, be warned, their programmer once contributed to a gay marriage campaign!"
I would suggest that TenNapel is being singled out for being an American conservative who is outspoken in his views.
While that might be true, you can't really walk around with the "hey, I happen to be accidentally born in the most superior country in the world and that's why I rock" attitude and then pitch an adventure game crowd funding project to people in Europe, where these games actually sell. If TenNapel wants to go into politics and have his fake smiling face and thumbs up gesture on a poster in the next Republican campaign, sure beans, why not. But he just happens to be outspoken on a couple of views that are extremely unpopular in Europe, and if anything, that is just plain stupid in the present situation and would of course bite him in the ass.
People are taking his comments out of context and are analyzing every posted comment he has made over the years to try to decipher if it was off-color or offensive apparently in an effort to smear and discredit him.
There is no 'smear campaign' that I know of. There might have been a smear campaign (yet that rather was an uproar) two years ago when his views came to light. What happens now can only be an analysis of his most extreme comments, those he made after long discussions which might have started out with more reasoned arguments; and that is because only the extreme comments survived as TenNapel himself has deleted the reported exchange from his ratfist website. Again, possibly an understandable move; again, in light of the Kickstarter, an infinitely stupid one.
Many Armikrog backers on KS have reported similar things in their efforts to promote the game.
I grok that fans have to 'promote' crowd funding campaigns in their various social networks, although I sometimes find the modes to not be particularly classy. And when such a 'promoter' posts in a forum in which people are aware of TenNapel's political views and would not back because of them (a valid thing to do), how could the actual addressees of the promotion keep quiet about the matter? Of course there is a 'backlash' to report back to kickstarter. How could there not be?
Is this the new standard in judging the worth of Kickstarter campaigns? We are going to publicize and draw as much attention as possible to the political opinions of individual team members? Or is it only fair game to do this when they are conservatives?
First of all, by mere fact, Kickstarters (as opposed to crowd funding campaigns in general) work out when the names attached to the project ring a bell. You support less the game and more the name. You support the people you actually like. The Tims, Jordans, Charles and Ragnars. Of course those names are under extreme scrutiny, of course their views are. Had I found articles about Tim Schafer raving around with that "bestest country, bestest religion, bestest sexual preference" bullshit, I wouldn't have only boycotted his Kickstarter. Yup, I possibly would have tried to make sure that no one in her or his right mind would support him; and that is because the information would have personally hurt me.
Armikrog. (never forget the point, dudes! ) still needs 150,000$. Judging from past Kickstarter campaigns, that will be doable although Thursday might be an awful strain of nerves. I don't really know if I wish them success. At least I don't wish them failure.
First of all, by mere fact, Kickstarters (as opposed to crowd funding campaigns in general) work out when the names attached to the project ring a bell. You support less the game and more the name. The Tims, Jordans, Charles and Ragnars. Of course those names are under extreme scrutiny, of course their views are. Had I found articles about Tim Schafer raving around with that "bestest country, bestest religion, bestest sexual preference" bullshit, I wouldn't have only boycotted his Kickstarter. Yup, I would have tried to make sure that no one in her or his right mind would support him.
I suggest you avoid learning about any political views of anyone who makes the stuff you buy. You are going to find yourself with a very limited range of options. Seems you were very interested in DT's online comments to take the time to gather all that info. Hope it was worth it to you in your Kickstarter selection process.
And it's unfortunate that you mischaracterize DT's posts with the immature "bestest" line. You know, some people have sincere differences of opinion with regard to culture and the role of government. My suggestion to you is that you try to realize that good and reasonable people can disagree on political and cultural issues and still want what's best for society.
What your response basically says is that people who disagree with you deserve to be ostracized, and you will do your best to help facilitate that ostracism.
I ask you, with respect: is that any way to get along with people or to support talented game developers?
My suggestion to you is that you try to realize that good and reasonable people can disagree on political and cultural issues and still want what's best for society.
When political and cultural views do nothing but to present one group as the best and only valid one to the exclusion of others, society's best interests are never ever met.
What your response basically says is that people who disagree with you deserve to be ostracized, and you will do your best to help facilitate that ostracism.
Ostracism is the problem here. But it's not my problem, it's the central problem with TenNapel's political view system. I have no interest in the Armikrog. project or its makers. I am not personally involved, so Doug TenNapel could not have disappointed me with his political views, hence I'm not in the mood of spreading the info like maybe others do. But I am very interested in the video game industry, so of course I read the political comments of its members should they wish to promote their political beliefs with the authority they have in fact gained as members of that industry.
I ask you, with respect: is that any way to get along with people or to support talented game developers?
If those game developers would like to distribute their games globally, I reserve the right to demand their global perspective. As for the 'getting along' part: If some peoples' political views are so incredibly geared towards the exclusion of large groups of other people, they shouldn't feel so god damn attacked by the resulting protest. I love humans, and I don't care at all whether they're bisexual, buddhist or Bolivian. I get along with them extraordinarily well.
This researcher wants to investigate the correlations between tighter gun controls, gun violence and overall regulation. NRA activism has generally made it difficult to conduct this sort of research, and the results can have significant impacts on public awareness and public policy toward guns.
Because of the lack of funding she's crowdsourcing it on Microyza, 25,000 in 100 days. Please spread the word on this important project!
I'm not going to defend Tennapel's politics, and I'm particularly annoyed by the false equivalency of suggesting that "homophobic" is a slur and that he's being unfairly picked on or something. It's really lame. So I'm not going to complain if people are choosing not to support him.
The real reason for the delay was probably that they wanted to release it on my birthday. I backed and received Giana Sisters, but this is my first one that sort of was initiated with the Kickstarter. It's a milestone for sure.
A Vampyre Story:Year One only has 66 hours left and is only one quarter of the way to its goal ($50k out of $200k).
It's sad, but I really don't blame people. Mona's new voice is pretty bad.
I think the interest level was just way too low. Nobody played the original Vampire Story and those who did weren't looking for a prequel. I think he would have had better luck if he started from scratch and promoted a new adventure from the artist behind Curse of Monkey Island
We're getting intro and outro cutscenes. That'll do nicely.
Yeah, but still. I always found the cutscenes spread throughout games like 'Curse of Monkey Island', 'Grim Fandango' and the 'Broken Sword' series to be a feature that really added great value.
Unless there's cutscenes interspersed with gameplay, I know that it'll just feel (to me) like the intro and outtro sequences are kinda tacked on, and strangely separated. Whereas, with regular cutscenes, the game is more likely to feel like a well-balanced experience of cinematic sequences and the interactive sections combining in a way that feels unified and complementary.
I know I can't ask for everything in such a small-scale, independent venture, but I'm merely discussing my ideal vision for what this game should (and deserves to) be.
Comments
Why? It seems legit to me. It was literally hours before the end of the kickstarter that the twitter community started speaking up against that project, and the offensive elements of the reddit thread weren't part of his kickstarter pitch, somebody had to go and make that connection. They really didn't have a lot of time to act on it. Their donation is a much higher amount than what they'll gain in fees from that project, so they've gained nothing by not cancelling it, so I feel like their reasoning for not cancelling it earlier are sincere.
There was no "oops". There was a flaw exposed in their little system and perhaps they need to revisit their project rules because of it. Maybe if the whole page wasn't worded in such a political manner, I wouldn't have had such a problem with it, but it just seemed a little greasy.
It just left a bad taste in my mouth. They should have just let it go. They've neglected to cancel numerous other projects that had even more negative exposure without making a statement. Why now? Why this? Because they are starting to lose their positive image. It wasn't because they were "sorry".
Edit: In all honesty, I don't really care. It doesn't affect me or my opinion of Kickstarter as a whole. This is just my opinion of a statement they made. From someone firmly planting himself in business and PR, I just didn't agree with the way this was handled and worded.
Eh, I don't even know.
Although I agree on the email part.
See, there's a difference between talking to someone who isn't doing anything, just sitting on a train twiddling their thumbs, and talking to someone who is pointedly doing something else. Because I don't know about anyone else, but I hate being interrupted when I'm trying to do things. And it is not unknown for me to read a book on the train specifically as a method of avoiding human contact.
So you're in a half-raped, half-not-raped state until someone observes it. If the rape would have resulted in a pregnancy, and you gave birth before someone observed it, then someone observed it and it turned out you were not raped, so the baby vanished, would the observer be guilty of murder or only half-murder? The Pro-Life Movement needs to get on this!
On the other hand, Nelly Cootalot got funded! Yays.
Actually, the project is poised to reach its goal. I am confident it will. And it is a good thing, too, since this is the most worthy adventure game project I have seen in quite awhile
In the context of the discussion, it was very clear what he was saying, and it was not over the line in any way. Apparently it is okay to have different opinions on certain issues, but only if you express those opinions in a meek and apologetic way.
I support and agree with Doug TenNapel 150%. The hate and vindictiveness thrown his way throughout this campaign has disappointed me greatly.
Bringing up individual team members' political opinions as a way to discredit, blackball and ostracize a whole project is really disgusting, and I am sorry to see people engage in such behavior.
Since when did it become a crime to be a patriotic American who believes his country to be the best place on earth. Those people who are terribly upset by such sentiments are the ones with the problem, not TenNapel.
Supporters of Armikrog saw firsthand the hate and intolerance in the gaming community as people tried to smear TenNapel and hurt his career. Is this the road people want to go down?
Sadly for those people (but happily for adventure gaming in general), Armikrog will be funded and made, and the brilliant TenNapel's will continue to flourish.
You must not play many.
Personally I think Nelly Cootalot is a lot more "worthy". And the creator actually seems like a really nice guy.
Emphasis mine.
Armikrog is not political in any way. With all due respect, I believe your comment is a shameful and dishonest one.
I would suggest that TenNapel is being singled out for being an American conservative who is outspoken in his views. People are taking his comments out of context and are analyzing every posted comment he has made over the years to try to decipher if it was off-color or offensive apparently in an effort to smear and discredit him. I can think of many outspoken left-leaning game developers who have expressed all kinds of political opinions online and who have not received any of the scrutiny that TenNapel has received. Honestly, I think the overblown reaction to TenNapel's views says more about the people doing the smearing than it says about TenNapel.
If no one else here will do so, then I will take this opportunity to applaud TenNapel for the classy way he has conducted himself throughout this campaign. He seems like an honest, principled, brave, passionate and obviously immensely talented individual. It is very easy to espouse political opinions among people with similar views, and TenNapel had to know how many intolerant people in his profession would respond to his very reasonable opinions. Big kudos to him for being unafraid to say what he believes is right.
The smearing of TenNapel has been personal and, at times, absolutely defamatory. I'm not speaking of this forum, but of what I have seen on other sites. Many Armikrog backers on KS have reported similar things in their efforts to promote the game.
Is this the new standard in judging the worth of Kickstarter campaigns? We are going to publicize and draw as much attention as possible to the political opinions of individual team members? Or is it only fair game to do this when they are conservatives?
My own opinion is the political views of individual dev team members ought to be IRRELEVANT to the question of whether a game deserves support. I couldn't imagine trying to hurt a campaign because some people on the team disagreed with me politically.
No matter what our political and cultural views, I hope can all agree to try to stick to the merits of the games in question and quit with this effort to punish or blackball people who disagree with us. Imagine if you found yourself in a situation where your career was under attack because people didn't like your opinions.
You're right, as far as I can tell from the project description and updates, and I probably shouldn't have written that.
You're welcome to your opinion and it was not meant as a bashing of the game itself. It looks very interesting. I think it's fair that people are aware of TenNapel's controversial views before they decide on whether or not they want to back his project though.
I'm not up to date with the possible smearing campaign that has been going on. My opinion of TenNapel is based solely on things he has written, and as far as I can tell he didn't really need any help in smearing his reputation.
It could be that I react more strongly to his views because I'm from a country where even our right wing political parties are mostly to the left of what's considered left wing in the US in regards to a lot of political issues. I'm mostly concerned with treating people of both genders, different sexual orientations and different ethnicities with respect, and that's somewhere I believe TenNapel fails, regardless of your political stance.
I don't know if that's necessarily something to applaud him for.
As for the rest of your post, I can't comment on the smearing as I know nothing about it. I don't agree that the opinions of the creator is irrelevant though. There's nothing wrong in not wanting to support a person whose ideals rubs you the wrong way. I don't want to give my hard earned money to someone I don't like, so that they can live out their dream. If someone else does, fine. It doesn't concern me.
I'd consider if there might be something inherently wrong about my opinions. If not, I'd probably be better off choosing a different career for myself.
And, now, a word from the Coles of the Hero-U project, who win the award for the most unbelievably classless, unnecessary, self-indulgent bit of "look at us, we support gay mariage" grandstanding in a pseudo-endorsement plug I've ever seen in one of these KS updates. They are seriously posting disclaimers regarding the political opinions of a member of another project? Yes, folks, it has come to this. They'd have been better off saying nothing:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1878147873/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption/posts/520094
Imagine if someone wrote in a Kickstarter update, "here's another project you might be interested, but, be warned, their programmer once contributed to a gay marriage campaign!"
Very low of them.
There is no 'smear campaign' that I know of. There might have been a smear campaign (yet that rather was an uproar) two years ago when his views came to light. What happens now can only be an analysis of his most extreme comments, those he made after long discussions which might have started out with more reasoned arguments; and that is because only the extreme comments survived as TenNapel himself has deleted the reported exchange from his ratfist website. Again, possibly an understandable move; again, in light of the Kickstarter, an infinitely stupid one.
I grok that fans have to 'promote' crowd funding campaigns in their various social networks, although I sometimes find the modes to not be particularly classy. And when such a 'promoter' posts in a forum in which people are aware of TenNapel's political views and would not back because of them (a valid thing to do), how could the actual addressees of the promotion keep quiet about the matter? Of course there is a 'backlash' to report back to kickstarter. How could there not be?
First of all, by mere fact, Kickstarters (as opposed to crowd funding campaigns in general) work out when the names attached to the project ring a bell. You support less the game and more the name. You support the people you actually like. The Tims, Jordans, Charles and Ragnars. Of course those names are under extreme scrutiny, of course their views are. Had I found articles about Tim Schafer raving around with that "bestest country, bestest religion, bestest sexual preference" bullshit, I wouldn't have only boycotted his Kickstarter. Yup, I possibly would have tried to make sure that no one in her or his right mind would support him; and that is because the information would have personally hurt me.
Armikrog. (never forget the point, dudes!
I suggest you avoid learning about any political views of anyone who makes the stuff you buy. You are going to find yourself with a very limited range of options. Seems you were very interested in DT's online comments to take the time to gather all that info. Hope it was worth it to you in your Kickstarter selection process.
And it's unfortunate that you mischaracterize DT's posts with the immature "bestest" line. You know, some people have sincere differences of opinion with regard to culture and the role of government. My suggestion to you is that you try to realize that good and reasonable people can disagree on political and cultural issues and still want what's best for society.
What your response basically says is that people who disagree with you deserve to be ostracized, and you will do your best to help facilitate that ostracism.
I ask you, with respect: is that any way to get along with people or to support talented game developers?
Ostracism is the problem here. But it's not my problem, it's the central problem with TenNapel's political view system. I have no interest in the Armikrog. project or its makers. I am not personally involved, so Doug TenNapel could not have disappointed me with his political views, hence I'm not in the mood of spreading the info like maybe others do. But I am very interested in the video game industry, so of course I read the political comments of its members should they wish to promote their political beliefs with the authority they have in fact gained as members of that industry.
If those game developers would like to distribute their games globally, I reserve the right to demand their global perspective. As for the 'getting along' part: If some peoples' political views are so incredibly geared towards the exclusion of large groups of other people, they shouldn't feel so god damn attacked by the resulting protest. I love humans, and I don't care at all whether they're bisexual, buddhist or Bolivian. I get along with them extraordinarily well.
Mission: Success.
But today's the last day of the Armikrog drive, and they're teetering really close now to looking like they'll make it. So if anyone is still on the fence and leaning towards supporting the art despite the artist, now is the time.
(Guess I'll have to do a little money juggling tomorrow to make sure I have enough in there! XD)
They're also working on setting up a paypal option for latecomers and people without amazon accounts
I'm still somewhat disappointed by the fact that it probably won't reach the £28,000 stretch goal, though. Those extra cutscenes would be great.
I checked my emails and didn't find it.
EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out. Apparently you have to register an account on Replay Games' website using your KS info.
It's sad, but I really don't blame people. Mona's new voice is pretty bad.
I think the interest level was just way too low. Nobody played the original Vampire Story and those who did weren't looking for a prequel. I think he would have had better luck if he started from scratch and promoted a new adventure from the artist behind Curse of Monkey Island
Yeah, but still. I always found the cutscenes spread throughout games like 'Curse of Monkey Island', 'Grim Fandango' and the 'Broken Sword' series to be a feature that really added great value.
Unless there's cutscenes interspersed with gameplay, I know that it'll just feel (to me) like the intro and outtro sequences are kinda tacked on, and strangely separated. Whereas, with regular cutscenes, the game is more likely to feel like a well-balanced experience of cinematic sequences and the interactive sections combining in a way that feels unified and complementary.
I know I can't ask for everything in such a small-scale, independent venture, but I'm merely discussing my ideal vision for what this game should (and deserves to) be.