Whats happening at Gamasutra is embarrassing and pathetic. I wish it would just die already. Heres whats truly sad of the whole thing. Over on the official forums a guy posted the ingame population for a trial user and it was showing about 20-35 people on each server in primetime. Most posts have been made on whats going on at gamesutra than those that actually play the game. Also the negative reaction will keep people away from Alganon, not draw them to it.

Originally posted by parrotpholk

 Whats happening at Gamasutra is embarrassing and pathetic. I wish it would just die already. Heres whats truly sad of the whole thing. Over on the official forums a guy posted the ingame population for a trial user and it was showing about 20-35 people on each server in primetime. Most posts have been made on whats going on at gamesutra than those that actually play the game. Also the negative reaction will keep people away from Alganon, not draw them to it.

I have to second this emotion. The fact that this new president is trolling a forum like that is very embarrassing. Then again, QOL knew they were getting a guy who spends a good portion of his day on message boards. This can't really come as much of a surprise.
 

It really seems like Alganon failed in large part due to lack of out-of-the-box thinking in game design and taking on too much. I'm going to wager that if the original team had scaled back the scope of their vision and pushed the content envelope a bit, they probably could have monetized the game in some meaningful form.

But from his first post on the Alganon boards, this Derek Smart guy has come across a very petty and mean-spirited. Does anyone know a company whose President gets into these kind of petty back-and-forths?

There was a post in that Gamasutra thread that said that Smart's deal gave him ownership of all the QOL technology developed. Maybe he's just trying to kill the game sooner so he can move on and use the tech on other projects. Either way, it appears to be time to put a fork in this endeavor.

So the investors traded David Allen for Derek Smart.

Why does the cliche "Out of the frying pan into the fire" pop into my head?

I don't care enough to read all of what has been posted on Gamasutra, but I have read enough to know I don't want to read it all... It is seriously deranged and borderline sociopathic behavior for someone to post so much about something like this. I mean the sheer number of words that have been posted in that comments section alone by the main players in this drama is really jarringly high. I mean don't get me wrong, if it were me being bad-mouthed in public by someone in this manner I would be hard pressed not to say something, but it really has become ludicrous...

The situation is ofc embarrasing for everyone involved both ex and current developers.

But ppl should have known from start that Alganon was never about a game.   It was only about money...

A game of the quality of Alganon is not P2P - not buying the orginal content or paying sub.  The game doesn't even deserve a free to play quality mark.   You can blame the ex developers for it - but it wont get you anywhere. 

The sad thing about all this is that Alganon was developed in a open and see through enviroment where the devs did not hide the game from anyone.  Thats only good for the gamers when they are able to try the game before they buy from the get go.  I take my hats of for Ex -devs for that part.   But ofc the results are in...   It doesn't pay to be honest about the game....

Compare Alganon open aproach development to AOC none lifted NDA.  One of these games sold million copies before ppl actually knew the game's problems...  That was not good for the gamers was it ? 

Im torn when it comes to the development process.   I support Aglanon in that respect - but I knew from day one that this development team was never gonna create anything other than junk and expect ppl to pay double price for it. 

The coke machines at Quest Online's offices are trembling in fear.

Originally posted by Ginaz

The coke machines at Quest Online's offices are trembling in fear.

The coke machine is most probably the only thing that is generating revenue at QOL.

Imagine this....Derek Smart,Bill Roper,Jack Emmert,Mark Jacobs,Paul Barnett, Henrik Nystrom  and Tasos Flambouras form a MMORPG company...Hilarity ensues.

Originally posted by Drakynn

Imagine this....Derek Smart,Bill Roper,Jack Emmert,Mark Jacobs,Paul Barnett, Henrik Nystrom  and Tasos Flambouras form a MMORPG company...Hilarity ensues.

Add in John Smedley and I'm sold.

I think we all know by now who Derek Smart is. But regardless of that fact, David Allen did screw this game up and it's not his first time either. I know Derek can be off the edge and more out in the open but that does mean he's at fault. If anything, I like the fact that hes talking about the situation. It may be considered drama and not needed by some if not many, but at least no one can really say hes lying. In fact, not one post on gamesutra states hes not telling the truth. The former employees almost seem like they would rather hype up a former boss who almost stopped them from getting their last paycheck. I can almost see it now, in about 5 years, this same click of employees with David at the helm will be killing yet another company. And are people still going to gloss over that fact, or will they finally let David have it. Anyways, I hope the best for the game. And as a last note, watch the editor video for the Alganon Editor. It will show you why this game has the issues it has.

 For some reason I am slightly surprised he hasnt jumped in over here and started but then I think this is the shark tank and he would be the bait. 

I think people hating or at least disliking Derek Smart causes them to ignore the fact that what he's saying might hold elements of truth.

I read the whole thread. It was an interesting gaze into the world of game development companies, away from the charm and glamour that us regular players often associate with the gaming business (it caused me to bookmark the gamasutra.com site :))

I didn't know Derek Smart, until I read about him here on mmorpg. I don't particularly agree or like his confrontational style - he has a short fuse as can be seen when he agressively replies on some common forumposters that agreed mostly with  him but also mentioned some criticisms. But Derek's arguments are detailed, clear, and he seems ready to back it up with even more evidence and details when needed. Regardless whether this airing the dirty laundry and 'scorched earth' tactic is the right thing to do - which I don't think so - you wouldn't do that if you weren't able to make a strong case.

So, what has all this peculiar buzz around Alganon led to, at least to me?

- It made me very much aware of the game to the point I actually hope they will succeed in creating their own niche - which is good PR I think.

- Even if I feel indifferent about Derek Smart the man, his words have a ring of truth to them. The whole discussion gives an interesting and recognisable insight into an industry in which the PR communication and interviews often consists of hot air, hype and smokescreens. So Derek's openness, leading to the openness of the others, is refreshing.

- Dave Allen & companions seem to have messed up in a way that's not specifically 'evilly' or unique but that's all too familiar in companies nowadays, and like could be seen in the 'dot com bubble' era: lying/misleading your investors, missing deadlines, and when the atmosphere on management level started to become poisonous (the typical blame/shame game that starts) adding to it with making some wrong decicisons. Not good or a thing to be proud of, but also not very unique in corporate business.

Wow...

I thought I would never see a developer make a bigger ass of themselves than Tasos did when Eurogamer trashed his game... but Holy Hell batman Derek Smart takes the cake on this one.

If you are going to can some guy, you can him and move on. By making a public statement you are risking lawsuits and stoking the fires even more.... by going on a blow for blow public deathmatch on an uncontrolled forum with the previous owners makes you look like a 12 year old with an ep33n.

For years I have wondered why the hell these dev's cant get their "Stuff" together long enough to make a good game, well if this is a doorway into what the industry is like no bloody wonder. You are giving idiots like these millions of dollars and expecting them to make a good game? Derek Smart cant even make a good post about a termination of an employee, how the hell is he going to turn the game around?

Now Im not saying the previous folks were doing a good job... but they at least seemed to be friendly with the community. I tried the beta, knew it wouldnt go very far, and decided not to play, but if Derek in his arrogant fashion can turn alganon into a good game Ill be floored.

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

Now Im not saying the previous folks were doing a good job... but they at least seemed to be friendly with the community. I tried the beta, knew it wouldnt go very far, and decided not to play, but if Derek in his arrogant fashion can turn alganon into a good game Ill be floored.

All of the high level corporate suits I've ever had the pleasure (sarcasm) of dealing with are not only arrogant, but are abrasive, sexist, egotistical assholes that are so full of themselves I'm surprised they even bother talking to us "lesser" beings.

Mr. Smart's attitude seems, dare I say, a little tame compared to some presidents I've dealt with before.

Originally posted by parrotpholk

...on the official forums a guy posted the ingame population for a trial user and it was showing about 20-35 people on each server in primetime....

I can understand why. I tried it out of sheer boredom and uninstalled it literally 2 hours later, which I think is a personal record for MMO abandonment. I totally understand now why Derek wants to throw it all out, it really is that bad. Perhaps "bad" is not really the correct adjective, "mediocrity squared" might describe it better. It is a WoW clone in every sense of the word, to the point they didn't even bother to try and hide it. WoW without any of the things that actually give it character.

Originally posted by Shoju

Originally posted by Ginaz

The coke machines at Quest Online's offices are trembling in fear.

The coke machine is most probably the only thing that is generating revenue at QOL.

Let's hope they don't bring in a Pepsi machine because Coke is a WoW clone...that would be like deja vu all over again.

Originally posted by MikeB

The Derek Smart / David Allen Alganon saga continues, this time over in the comments section of a news story on the whole fiasco over at Gamasutra.

has nothing to do with anything but whats with those lips looks like its trying to kiss

 While I may not agree with Derek Smarts way of speaking the turth.  You have to admit not a single one of the employees fired has denied any of what he has said. If anything they have backed it up and patted each other on the back while walking upto the next group of investors to milk them for all there money before taking it and running.

David Allen is nothing more then a con plain and simple. The guy will look you in the face and say sure we will have it done in XX time.  And all the while know its not going to happen.

You know when they missed the first deadline for the game they should have stopped adding features to the game and cleaned up what they had and made it playable.  Not continue to dream up new ideas and half bake them into the game.

Heck its a no wander they blew threw millions on junk that people are never going to use for the game.  I wander how many millions it took to have one of David Allen's friends cook up a half baked facebook clone and a armory clone? 

I like how they continue to claim look at the engine / toolset we built for the game.  When if you even look at the code and toolset you will know right away its cooked up on middleware tech that they can no license out directly. So in order to use there tools and engine your going to have to license from them and then turn around and get licenses from 2-4 other company's on top of that just to keep yourself in the legal clear.  Heck your better of licensing out the Unreal or any other  full blown package.  Atleast then you know what you are paying for and that its legally licensable.

You know I say good on Derek Smart for bringing these so called developers / people to the light of the community and future investors.  These people that make it hard for us Indie's to get investors because they go around claiming to know how to run / do things need to be shown for the scam artist they are.

Originally posted by Drakynn

Imagine this....Derek Smart,Bill Roper,Jack Emmert,Mark Jacobs,Paul Barnett, Henrik Nystrom  and Tasos Flambouras form a MMORPG company...Hilarity ensues.

Hilarity Ensues, might be a good company name for that group!

Games fail. It happens all the time. Did the AoC big wigs toss anyone under the bus? No. Did EA toss Barnett under the bus? No.

They canned the people in charge, and moved on. That's what professionals do. They don't point fingers. They say, "We are moving forward. The past is the past. We will strive to do our very best, and bring a better product to our fans." Mr. Smart is making this painfully clear its all about Mr. Smart, his ego, and his "bank account".

Mr. Smart thinks the people in charge of Alganon are going to be blacklisted. He seems to have a personal vendetta against the three gentlemen that isn't quite clear. Stealing millions of dollars in cash is far different from trying your best, but not succeeding in making a quality game. That's why its called a risky investment.

Originally posted by Drakynn

Imagine this....Derek Smart,Bill Roper,Jack Emmert,Mark Jacobs,Paul Barnett, Henrik Nystrom  and Tasos Flambouras form a MMORPG company...Hilarity ensues.

Add Ken Karl and Gaute Godager to that list and you'd have a sitcom for the CW.

Originally posted by brostyn

Games fail. It happens all the time. Did the AoC big wigs toss anyone under the bus? No. Did EA toss Barnett under the bus? No.

 

They canned the people in charge, and moved on. That's what professionals do. They don't point fingers. They say, "We are moving forward. The past is the past. We will strive to do our very best, and bring a better product to our fans." Mr. Smart is making this painfully clear its all about Mr. Smart, his ego, and his "bank account".

Mr. Smart thinks the people in charge of Alganon are going to be blacklisted. He seems to have a personal vendetta against the three gentlemen that isn't quite clear. Stealing millions of dollars in cash is far different from trying your best, but not succeeding in making a quality game. That's why its called a risky investment.

Don't forget both AoC and WAR were published and developed by companies with much bigger wallets than QOL, and they both sold enough copies and retained enough subs to maintain their dev teams and keep hammering away at improving the game. Funcom and Eidos (Square Enix now), as well as Mythic and EA are behemoths compared to QoL both financially and in game developing experience.

On the whole Derek Smart thing, like many of you have said already, sometimes the blunt truth hurts and it's not something Joe Public is accustomed to, but I feel it's a breath of fresh air. As someone with a stake in the company and the game project, I would be pissed off too if it turned out the lead developer's goal was to make the generic-brand version of WoW, and a poor one at that. As soon as the WoW-clone characteristics of Alganon were apparent, many here in the community knew the game would be a flop.

I still remember David Allen flexing his spin doctoring skills and trying to make all the WoW comparisons sound like a compliment. Alarm bells should have went off somewhere in the QoL ivory tower that their game producer was attempting to succeed by riding on the coattails of WoW. I say shame on David Allen for being foolish enough to think he could decieve honest gamers into thinking there was any sort of originality in Alganon, as far as I'm concerned, he's lucky no lawsuits were thrown his way from Blizz. I can just picture Tom Chilton and Chris Metzen laughing uncontrollably at the mess that Alganon is, and thinking "Nice try guys, thanks for coming out."

In closing, I feel bad for all the fans of the game that were taken for a ride, and hopefully Mr.Smart and crew can bring something positive out of this fiasco. I think refunding the money of all players who bought long-term subs and promising to re-work the engine, the character models and the UI is a step in the right direction...

There was a post in that Gamasutra thread that said that Smart's deal gave him ownership of all the QOL technology developed. Maybe he's just trying to kill the game sooner so he can move on and use the tech on other projects. Either way, it appears to be time to put a fork in this endeavor.

According to that post Derek Smart IS actually an investor so if that is true then when he says things like "you dont own this game the INVESTORS do!" or "the Investors have spoken"...then he's actually meaning himself. Im sure Mr Smart has a lot of influence with these other investors aswell including influencing there decisions because you know according to Mr Smart the investors dont have a clue about developing a game...besides him...

Is he influencing other investors to make things go his way?

Wouldnt put it past the guy or anyone else in the biz.

This is why investors have money,they are business saavy,but they are definitely not gaming saavy.The gaming business is such a FAKE environment that any investor or marketing wiz would fail if using their usual methods of insight.

A normal person would think ,ok Wow millions of income rolling around,copy that and walla even if we make 1% of that we are rolling in dough lol,......WRONG !.I can't believe how many different stories i have heard as to why Wow has so many players,and imo they are all WRONG!.

Gimmicks and big money makers just happen,they are NOT predictable,gaming in a way is like the stock market,you can make an educated guess,but it still means squat.

If i was in charge at Quest,there is no way in hell i would have accepted the direction for Alganon,not from day 1,i would predict fail.You have to be a real serious player in the gaming market,half ass ideas,trying to cut corners will not do it.Ittakes a LOT of work,just look at FFXIII,the massive amount of work that went into animations/movers/graphics is staggering and that is to create a game designed to have 40-50 hours of game play lmao.

My whole point is this,does anyone honestly think Mr.Smart can do anything at this point to save Alganon?Vanguard is 50x a better product and it could not recover,so what magic wand is Mr.Smart going to wave?It is all about money,the workers don't want to wonder where their next pay cheque is coming from,the game will not survive without money,so is this a fake ploy to try and garner some more money by giving NEW investors some fake promises?Oh well those investors i am sure are only investing what they can afford to lose,so i guess they will still be able to enjoy their Starbucks 5 dollar coffee every morn.

I dunno, I kinda like Derek Smart. Say what you will about him, but he always backs up his bullshit, and even if he appears arrogant, he is never afraid to stand up for what he believes in, even if you don't like it.  I respect that.

He seems like the kind of guy you could sit down and have a beer with, and he'll tell you straight up what's happening at his development studio, and not just bandy around the truth with the usual corporate one-liners.

In short, the guy has balls.

So you go, girl!

Originally posted by joker007mo

Originally posted by MikeB

The Derek Smart / David Allen Alganon saga continues, this time over in the comments section of a news story on the whole fiasco over at Gamasutra.

has nothing to do with anything but whats with those lips looks like its trying to kiss

You didn't get the memo? Apparantly, that's the "I'm such a badass, I can purse my lips like a douchebag and think I can get away with it" expression. For further details, see Jersey Shore.

I was in early beta, bought the game, and stopped playing after the first month because of RL issues.  I had intended to come back at a later date.  I followed what was going on and as soon as I saw the name "Smart" and the words "Micro Transactions" in what I was reading, I uninstalled the game from my HD, made a couple posts in their official forums (which have been deleted) and haven't been back.

If you know anything about "Smart" you will know he is not so "Smart" when it comes to MMO's.  Alganon isn't going to get better, it's only going to get worse.

David Allen my be a failure at making MMO's, but Smart is a #$%^ and a failure.

Looking through the interaction Mr Smart has with his customers it's a surprise he can retain any at all, he continually states his ability to rise above the flames and trolls but is continually guilty of doing exactly the same thing, do any search for info on him and you can see what an ego this man has, an ego big enough that he will happily risk alienating potential players because of his need to shoot his mouth off.
 
Anyone with any sense of how  community is  important in an MMO  should realise that this mans ego is going to be the kiss of death. Algenon is going to be negatively impacted if he keeps posting on their forums, he is unapologetic in his choice of words and then threatens to delete posts and then ban anyone else who takes the same route.
 
Why  anyone would  let this man loose in public to try and save a failing game is beyond me...
 
If he reads these forums he would probably tell me to f*** off like he has so many others.

Beyond all that gotta love the drama! *grin*

Derek Smart seems to be more about sniping at people on message boards and tooting his own horn than doing anything to help this game.

The enormous (and probably very time consuming) walls of text posted by this guy leaves me ask the the question...

Doesn't he have anything else to do?

This guy is a PR wrecking ball

Derek Smart is a character, he is a weird indie guy  and totally like to enter messageboards to discuss people things.  Most people would label him troll, well.. he trully earn that title, but he is also a intelligente individual, and a cool guy.   Cool guy, but troll. 

looking at his photo it seems that it just screams Douchebag.  I wonder if he used "real talk" too.

Looking at the photos of many wellknown people in the gaming and IT business - Bill Gates, Miyamoto, you name it - makes you think 'what a douchebags'.

Doesn't mean a thing, doesn't say anything about the skills they have.

About the whole controversy and airing the dirty laundry thing, well, it could become good PR for Alganon if they manage it smartly, as in making potential players feel that Quest can make Alganon work as a fun little MMO and make people interested in giving it a try.

Zomg O.o !!! THE Derek Smart is involved in Alganon. I forsee the same great outcome as vererything else he's been involved. Any one remember the Derek Smart Battlecruiser 3000AD debacle : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Smart.

Hilarity will soon ensue as this develops.

Actualy after seeingthe threads.....i am actually more interested in his game then before.

I am not a fan of Derek Smart but after reading about his games and the time periods in which all the things happened.....

I kind  of want to see what Derek will do.....

I recall years ago when i felt bad about Drek and his game.....and i bought a copy becasue it took him so long to finaly get the rights to release it....yah it was old when it came out...but i could tell right off the technology got leaked badly...but it still had some pretty cool features.

I guess after seeing all the tsuff Derek has been a part of....i want to see what happens next....what ever it is...i am sure it will be somethign that blow the industry away.

Oh and another hting.....i am glad he talks to people......i mean he could have been like the worlds of warcraft group and ignored pretty much everyone....but he didnt.....

Algnon looks pretty rough right now...i would say it looks not like worlds of warcraft but it looks like pretty much every other fantasy game thats been releaed...even before world of warcraft....it does have alot of potential....needs more then 4 classes though....maybe some shapeshifters or something...and a better pet system

I'm kinda intrested in where all this will go. What will become of the game an what they can pull off.Will keep a eye on this game an its forums.

Derek Smart has always had a mouth on him, but I can certainly appreciate what he's saying. I've worked at several startups, including on an MMO (Ballerium, if anyone remembers that), and I completely agree that feature creep and not realising your limitations are real killers. A product manager that can set realistic goals is a big asset, and it looks like Derek may be that. That doesn't mean he'll be a good president of the company, but it could work out.

No idea about David and Derek past project but after reading the whole thing.... Wow!! E-drama.

Seems like Derek is a bit too outspoken, there is telling the truth and there is hanging dirty laundry out in public.

The only David Allen game I played was Mordor II, which billed itself as commercial while being Nethack with a VB (LOLOL) frontend.  You can't make quality built on crappy underpinnings. 

I'm not going to offer an opinion on Alganon, because all I've done so far is head to their site (which looks nice, btw and the game looks good).  I am going to download it though, and try it, because it appears that an aggressive, experienced developer finally holds the reins.

Derek Smart has balls the size of Volkswagen Beetles.  Two of them, in fact, for being so bluntly honest.

Originally posted by VaultFairy

No idea about David and Derek past project but after reading the whole thing.... Wow!! E-drama.

 

Seems like Derek is a bit too outspoken, there is telling the truth and there is hanging dirty laundry out in public.

To be perfectly honest, if more people aired dirty laundry, we would have a better society.  Covering up BS with more BS turns it all into a shitepile.

I only read 2 pages of post, but I have worked on projects with Derek...

I am at a loss here as why the founder of the Battle Cruser series would get on with such an MMO type game.

As for other peeps on the confrentational type way he handles things, just google him...

He is a good guy, but very head strong and to the point. no deviation at all.

He was like this with the battlecruser community, fans, and beta testers. It is just him.

But to me seems very out of place for him to be with them at all.

Here is his work for the last like 20 yrs http://www.3000ad.com/

As for that picture, that is almost 20 yrs old too. LOL

If you look at the original link, he's got people like a Zionist Camp Director trying to bury him.  (Michael Malandra).  People that you know have no interest in the game whatsoever, but are trying to bury him because he publicly admitted DA got fired, and they are either related to DA or the lawyer.  It's ridiculous.

He spoke his piece.  I know his history of being a bigmouth for BC 3000AD.  If nothing else, at least he's engaged with the community whether he agrees with them or not.  At least he's not locked away in an ivory tower.  That, I can respect.

Originally posted by Aerows

Originally posted by VaultFairy

No idea about David and Derek past project but after reading the whole thing.... Wow!! E-drama.

 

Seems like Derek is a bit too outspoken, there is telling the truth and there is hanging dirty laundry out in public.

 

To be perfectly honest, if more people aired dirty laundry, we would have a better society.  Covering up BS with more BS turns it all into a shitepile.

Its not about covering it up, its the manner in which this is being done.  If there is to be a court battle or lawsuit the media would pick up on it and we would have had the story anyways. 

Originally posted by parrotpholk

Originally posted by Aerows

 

To be perfectly honest, if more people aired dirty laundry, we would have a better society.  Covering up BS with more BS turns it all into a shitepile.

Its not about covering it up, its the manner in which this is being done.  If there is to be a court battle or lawsuit the media would pick up on it and we would have had the story anyways. 

" There are police and FBI complaints filed by the investors , there is a lawsuit in the works etc.

Then in the midst of all this, David tried to sell and/or license the game assets (I'm not even going to bother naming names at this point) behind the backs of investors, myself and the co-founder. It was that very last act that caused him to be fired and all three of you to be gone by the time the dust settled.  "

important parts i copy/pasted from gamasutra  ,I think we will hear more .

If there was any glimmer of hope left for Alganon thit has sadly now been destroyed. Anything this guy touches turns to absolute crap. He spends all his time flaming anyone who disagrees with his egotistical opinions. All of his games are well known to be downright terrible (you only need to play his latest title All Aspect Warfare which is horribly laughable), yet any criticisms aimed towards his titles by the community will simply cause retaliation from him, as though he sees all criticisms as 'wrong'. The man is hugely unprofessional when it comes to communicating with others online.

I feel genuinely bad for the team left working on Alganon who really want their game to work, but I sadly won't even support anything related to this guy.

I swear to god if you look up "unprofessional" in the online Miriam-Webster dictionary, it just links to the Gamasutra thread.

OK not really, but it's darn close. NONE of teh players in this drama are behaving in a professional business matter, and way too much stuff is becoming public that should NEVER be aired.

Just looking at Derek Smart picture speaks volumes as to why things have gone the way they have and why his got a chip on each shoulder. One look at his pictures and you understand why the stupid choices to make a wow clone and waste money was even attempted. One look at his picture you understand why the unprofessional approach to deal with ex employees speaking the truth.

Well, I've been knee deep in the Horizons debacle back then (the company debacle, I played the released game for 1.5 years), read the chapter 11 documents back then, was pretty close to a team member and had quite some insight I just couldn't believe. My understanding since this time and a lot of similar (though more covered stories): MMO companies specifically are often founded and run by people who have no or little programmer skills themself, are egomaniac and usually designers who got (peters principle?) promoted in ranks for what they did well in the old position but without management skills and education for their new position.

Those who manage to put out the biggest PR spin get the most money but often have the least clue about what it will cost in time and experience and lack the people to make it come true.

Allen back then screwed it, under Bowman it shipped. But Bowman was a diva himself and alienated followers and supporters with his IRC chat behavior as well. I'm an observer and pretty neutral on all of this, just watching it unfold and asking some people in the background questions about their impression and details. Fascinating psychological dynamiks all of this.

Now we have Alganon and - no clue what Allen's part in this was but at least he managed to assemble a team that DID ship a game even though it is a pretty conservative design (to not say "WoW copy for the most part"). Kudos to the team for what they accomplished, I wrote the very same thing back in beta last autumn. back then I wrote something else too: I wish you all the best with this game and I hope you have enough financial support to turn it into YOUR game and less WoW clone as there is a WoW game already and you need to find reasons why people should plays "yours" and not that one which is much more polished, has a bigger community and way more content. I got a few supporting replies and then the thread was locked without comment. *shrugs*

Now Allen was fired and I plain don't care why, that is a business decision and will be. I care about what the new CEO does. From my long standing followership of Hz and thus the Allen story I chuckled when reading what Derek put up as reasons why he was removed and what happened. Unbelievable and it just strengthens my impression that unprofessional work attitudes are common in the area. Buuuut ... sorry Derek, at the same time your "vocal and eccentric" behavior on the board at gamasutra isn't making you look any better. I checked on all that PhD fraud thing refered back to you, I see how maniac you act - that isn't building trust in YOUR management abilities. I like the interviews you give, they are reasonable and seem calm.

But the way you act on Gamasutra hurts your public standing and the company. So I'd like to see that handled differently too. Be measured by your actions with Alganon and not by the vocal behavior on the boards hm?

This is so entertaining.

I would tend to side with Smart, simply because Alganon is an horrible unfinished game.

This is about all you will see from this man, talk, and attacks and drama.

Do not expect anything to happen with the game.