Last week, a bit of a kerfuffle rose up on our forums as Greed Monger, a recently funded Kickstarter project, came under the scrutiny of players wondering about the status of the game.  GM's Executive Producer, Jason Appleton, didn't take well to the accusations floating his game's way, and heated words were exchanged between he and forum poster here at MMORPG.com. We caught up with Jason to hear his side of the story, and hopefully shed some light on the whole situation as well as the status of Greed Monger's development. 

MMORPG.com: Looking back at the events of the past few days, would you still react the same way if given the chance now? 

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.  

Read more of Bill Murphy's Greed Monger: Jason Appleton Responds to Controversy.

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors who want to see their money in good hands and they are there to ultimately sell a product and make their customers confident in the product and creators.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors, who want to see their money in good hands.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

Yep, my thoughts exactly.  Professionals don't engage in personal pissing matches publically and they shouldn't aire their dirty laundry out either.

This is why indy studios are rarely taken seriously and not likely until after they're successful.  This game got a pass from me a long time ago based on the silly things I read and the questionable revenue model.  This sort of amateurish enagement puts this developer and studio in the same bin with Derek Smart, or worse because he could have at least learned from Smart.

 Of course a developer would pull out of MMORPG.com's tear down community, there are people here with 10 pages of forum posts that are nothing but hopping from one game to another talking about how bad it is.

 Maybe it is the feature that pops threads up to the front page, maybe they just take the gaming mentality into every part of life, but whatever reason they seem to travel around the landscape and attack, most of them have never even played the games they are attacking they just recycle something they heard somewhere else.

 Even if you enjoy a game posting something that you enjoyed here is bound to attract this crowd, you will be accused of being a payed spokeman because you had fun in a dungeon or liked feature x. I am sure it is worse when you actually have a hand in the making of the project just to have this collection of trolls roll out and defecate on top of it.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors, who want to see their money in good hands.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

In today society, we are surrounded by information. Why does a person with a mission/goal have to appease to everyone. In this country, making money isn't a crime. Now, why does he need to act in a specific manner? If he acts the way he does(as unique individual) people most likely respect him or if they think hes too much of an idiot (unprofessional etc) will just ignore/troll and be about there day. The remarks about being employer....He is the CEO. Deal with it. I still am confused about why everyone wants to start drama about GreedMonger. If you don’t want to read about it, think its a scam or whatever; just don’t read it? Jesus, I feel this site is National Enquirer

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors who want to see their money in good hands and they are there to ultimately sell a product and make their customers confident in the product and creators.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

Gonna agree with this one. His problem is he puts his face and ego before the company's image . That could spell disasterous down the line. I think he's taken the MMA testosterone-induced experience too closely to heart. This is MMO nerdland he's in now. Take it down a notch.

Love the game concept, hope it comes alive, but he should not be the face of the company. Either that or take a few basic courses in corporate PR/branding. 

Well to be honest all i can say is.. welcome to the internet mr Appleton.

But to me he looks like many indie-devs, he lack all forms of media traning and thinks he can out-joust people while missing the point that most major devs have take to heart and that is that you can not win against "haters".

My friendly advice (beyond get some proper media traning) is to simply ignore the people who are trying to get a rise out of you, because right now you just come off as rather paranoid and whiney since we do not share your knowledge or position.

Originally posted by kurate

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors, who want to see their money in good hands.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

In today society, we are surrounded by information. Why does a person with a mission/goal have to appease to everyone. In this country, making money isn't a crime. Now, why does he need to act in a specific manner? If he acts the way he does(as unique individual) people most likely respect him or if they think hes too much of an idiot (unprofessional etc) will just ignore/troll and be about there day. The remarks about being employer....He is the CEO. Deal with it. I still am confused about why everyone wants to start drama about GreedMonger. If you don’t want to read about it, think its a scam or whatever; just don’t read it? Jesus, I feel this site is National Enquirer

You don't have to do anything but there are repercussions for allowing "all your info and all your thoughts out so that they can be scrutinized".

Case in point: We had someone apply to a job and they underwent a phone interview. We were on the fence but thought his answers were decent so decided to bring him into the office for an onsite.

The manager decided to go out on the interwebz and do a search on his name.

oh boy, and what we found.

We canceled the interview.

Many employers do this and it's why you will see warnings for having your facebook twitter and "whatever else" sites accessible by everyone.

So sure, please feel free to act however you would like and just know that some people will call you on it, some people will hesitate to hire you, do business with you or will use what you say/how you say it to their  advantage.

A few years ago I was actively hiring musicians for several projects and if I found out that they were troublesome or edgy or seemed unstable due to how they acted at concerts or by way of mouth, I would pass them over.

I want reliable and good to work with. Not issues. Why, as an investor, would I feel confident in this company and its leadership? Well "I" wouldn't. Some might.

The reason people are attacking GM is because of his attitude towards some people here.

As well as the flip-flopping on their KS project.

Originally there were gonna be only 3000 plots available, that could be purchased thru KS, then they added more and gave some excuse.

At first, the only cost was going to be buying a plot, or selling a plot they would take a % of that sale, now they are covering it up by blaming Hero, or Unity or whoever else they can.  Now they might have to have a cash shop and/or subscription.  

Here's an idea for future developers, find this stuff out AHEAD OF TIME, not after your KS project, not after you make all these announcements.  They should have known all this stuff before they came up with the pricing policy.

This game at once showed potential, imo now its gonna be vaporware, or an under 1000 people type game

Originally posted by kurate

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors, who want to see their money in good hands.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

In today society, we are surrounded by information. Why does a person with a mission/goal have to appease to everyone. In this country, making money isn't a crime. Now, why does he need to act in a specific manner? If he acts the way he does(as unique individual) people most likely respect him or if they think hes too much of an idiot (unprofessional etc) will just ignore/troll and be about there day. The remarks about being employer....He is the CEO. Deal with it. I still am confused about why everyone wants to start drama about GreedMonger. If you don’t want to read about it, think its a scam or whatever; just don’t read it? Jesus, I feel this site is National Enquirer

as a person who has worked not only in online game CS but in hospitality fields as well, i can honestly say if a person regardless of title/rank/job walked up to me and had a pissing contest with me over a post i made about their company/game. it wouldnt impress me at all. 

you walk in to mcdonalds and the guy at the tile picks his nose and tells you to choke on your burger while spitting on it, would you still eat it? or even go back?? 

same is true if a dev regardless of company success has a pow wow against posts of their game. it only makes the game/company look worse. 

if people posted about how horrible EA is and then EA pipped in that the user is an egotistical peice of poop... do you honestly thing EA would come out a heavenly angel?? LOLOL that is why instead of having pow wows on the forums against people who bash the game or deflame it, they should instead thank them for their feedback and point of view. calmly provide a counter point and go back to finishing their game.  as the only way to shutup the haters or prove the devs are right in their game, is to actually finish it and provide it to people. until then pissing contests are pointless and only boost the the points people post against the game.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors who want to see their money in good hands and they are there to ultimately sell a product and make their customers confident in the product and creators.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

While it is good PR to act "professional" (subjective), I also agree with what he has to say about the forums on this site.  It's one thing to look at an idea or concept and debate it like we do.  It's a complete other thing for users on this site to start a personal vendetta against another human being, and have it played out here on the forums.  It is slander, much of the time.

MMORPG should be looking into this a bit further.  If I launch into an attack of another user, I get warned/banned.  MMORPG.com also polices discussion of Emulators and games under NDA.  I think they should add slander and personal attacks of people across the board, especially game developers.

Put up real solid proof of wrong doing, or shut up.  There's way too much garbage theory-crafting about game developers here.  If I listened to some of the more vocal idiots here, I would have to assume every induy game in development is a scam of some kind.

Originally posted by MindTrigger

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors who want to see their money in good hands and they are there to ultimately sell a product and make their customers confident in the product and creators.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

While it is good PR to act "professional" (subjective), I also agree with what he has to say about the forums on this site.  It's one thing to look at an idea or concept and debate it like we do.  It's a complete other thing for users on this site to start a personal vendetta against another human being, and have it played out here on the forums.  It is slander, much of the time.

MMORPG should be looking into this a bit further.  If I launch into an attack of another user, I get warned/banned.  MMORPG.com also polices discussion of Emulators and games under NDA.  I think they should add slander and personal attacks of people across the board, including game developers.

 

Well, that's great and if people have a personal vendetta to invest in then anyone who is being the public face of a company or organization should prepare themselves accordingly. People aren't perfect, I think we all know that. But how you comport yourself can mean the difference in being successful or being looked at as a fool.

He is not the first person to be attacked in a public forum, whether  it's on the internet or in "real life".

My advice to Appleton-  If you want to fix the issue you've now caused, hire a pr pro, issue an apology for your behavior, then stop talking.  Let someone who can actually behave themselves, and express ideas without resorting to namecalling and threats be the face of the company.

I guarantee that Hero will look at your behavior when considering a relationship witlh your company.  So will any potential investors.  YOU poisoned the well, damaged your company and hurt your employees.  Now hire someone to fix YOUR mistakes.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by MindTrigger

Originally posted by Sovrath

Jason Appleton: Who knows? Look, I just call things how I see them and I don't tend to pull punches. People think that because you are a developer that you have to act like a priest. I'm not a priest. I'm an indie game developer and I speak my mind.

 

I would say that you have to act professionally as it's a company, possibly one with investors who want to see their money in good hands and they are there to ultimately sell a product and make their customers confident in the product and creators.

Not to mention.you want to always put on a good face. We have to do this in interviews, with clients, maybe meeting our new relationship's parents, etc.

It's part of making first and lasting impressions.

If I was an employer and I  found his remarks, I wouldn't hire him.

I don't see being "an indy" developer as a free pass to act like a hurt kid. Then again, I have worked in a lot of professional ciurcumstances and I'm a bit older so maybe that's just me.

While it is good PR to act "professional" (subjective), I also agree with what he has to say about the forums on this site.  It's one thing to look at an idea or concept and debate it like we do.  It's a complete other thing for users on this site to start a personal vendetta against another human being, and have it played out here on the forums.  It is slander, much of the time.

MMORPG should be looking into this a bit further.  If I launch into an attack of another user, I get warned/banned.  MMORPG.com also polices discussion of Emulators and games under NDA.  I think they should add slander and personal attacks of people across the board, including game developers.

 

Well, that's great and if people have a personal vendetta to invest in then anyone who is being the public face of a company or organization should prepare themselves accordingly. People aren't perfect, I think we all know that. But how you comport yourself can mean the difference in being successful or being looked at as a fool.

He is not the first person to be attacked in a public forum, whether  it's on the internet or in "real life".

He's hardly the first businessmen to defend himself  in the public eye.  It may have been a futile effort, but I understand why he did it. This site is full of people who have nothing better to do than tear people and things down.  Frankly, I'm finding myself avoiding MMORPG.com more and more these days because of the gross culture growing here. The best thing he and other developers can do for themselves is just avoid contact with these forums, unfortunately for all of us.

Alas, this is happening all over the internet though, and it's the reason why companies like Google are trying to do away with anonymity on their social sites like YouTube. Apparently when you give people something to hide behind, many are perfectly content to be as disgusting as they can to each other.

Originally posted by Quailman

This guy is such a piece of trash. I will never spend even a dime on any project he is a part of, and I will make sure my friends and acquaintances (especially the ones looking for a sandbox MMO) never spend a dime either. I'm sure he'll be adding this game to his resume of failed ventures soon enough. I do feel bad for the developers and people working under him though, especially that JamesP guy. He actually seemed like a down to earth and decent person.

 

That said, after seeing the development of this game and all the controversy surrounding it, I doubt it will be a good game anyway. I'm sure the market will speak for itself, and Mr. Appleton will be looking for the next way to get rich, deceiving investors along the way.

Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about.  Now if I direct these comments at one of the MMORPG.com users, I will be warned or banned (and by the way, he *IS* a forum user). Why should Quailman get a free pass to bash on a developer with his opinions?  If they are going to allow this, then let's just go full PvP on the forums and go all the way.

Sorry, but if you think less of this guy because he got in an argument here with one of the forum warriors, you're the biggest fool of all.

He makes mistakes.  Jesus had his flirations with Mary Magdalane.  MLK Jr  plagarized , etc etc.

People make mistakes. He acknowledges that he shouldn't have engaged in an argument with the forum warriors, but doesn't regret the things that he said.

The world would be a lot better place today, if you all, and everyone around you had this same amount of personal integrity.

I read that entire interview and what I got out of it was Jason is combative and he danced arround the questions while apearing to have a chip on his shoulder.  What I just read made him look like an arogant punk. 

I'm sorry you feel that way Mr Appleton.

While I agree that people calling your project a scam wasn't really warrented and for the most part those threads stuck scam in them to basicly attract attention I still don't think you will actually deliver.

I mean your history is one of jumping from one project to another.  You do relise that developing evan a bad MMO takes at least 3 years of full time development and right now what you have is several part time staff, some Unity assets and the Hero engine.  Heck you couldn't evan stick to the one engine to develop your game for 3 months.

It's this kind of thing that makes me leary of throwing money at you.  Now I am sure your not doing it on purpose and right now you have every intention on actually producing a game but in 6 months time when the novelty of it all wears off your history suggests it will all be scrapped and you will move onto something else.