David Jaffe: "F**k" Being Nice in Game Development

[oranger]

Being a jerk is only useful when you are forced to contend with others.
Otherwise its a massive liability.
Like the old saying "If everyone was like that..." we'd back to the stone age very quickly.

 

[Danpascooch]

Being a jerk and giving people a stern talking to when needed are two completely different things. If you can do the second without doing the first, you're on the right track.

Basically this. This is why group leaders exist: the manager is the person to be feared, and the group leaders are the ones that encourage you and are allowed to be nice to you.

You are right in general... but not this time. Read his(Jaffe) post, he don't want to be a jerk but does it when needed. What the escapist slander party didn't mention is this line from Jaffe:"Can I still be nice? Always. But not at the expensive of the game's vision."

Dude, chill out. Did you miss the part where I quoted Jaffe as saying -- "Never allow your desire to be nice and liked to get in the way of the vision because the game will suffer. And the team will suffer as well because a failed game means the studio is at risk." ??? It's about the vision, yeah, and I put it in the post.

I fail to see how I somehow twisted Jaffe's words to make him look like a complete ass in the least, or slander him. Did you not read where I wrote this is "actually a decent piece of advice for most walks of life," too? I'm not going to re-post an entire blog, but I feel I quoted what was necessary to get the point across.

You took two quotes from two different parts of the blog, and placed them right next to each-other as if they were a single statement.

What he meant was "I cannot always be nice"

What your mash up of different out of context quotes made him mean is: "I don't try to be nice, I know it doesn't work, so I just act like an ass"

The part where you said:

"As of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive." How did it go? "Fuck that. Doesn't work," he says.

Made it sound like an interview as if that question was posed to him and he said "fuck that" to being nice, which he completely did not.

Goldman, this was supposed to be a news story, not a way for you to make people think what you want them to think by making new quotes out of different quotes in different contexts. He never said "Fuck being nice" and that wasn't at all what he meant, he said he TRIES to be nice, and when you said "he tried it as of late" and then he said "fuck that" you made the impression that he gave up on being nice altogether, which is not at all true in any way.

If the Escapist were a larger news outlet, this would border on Slander, and if it's ever to become a larger news outlet, biased and misrepresented stories like these need to either not be made, or be edited when the comments obviously show that it has been misinterpreted repeatedly due to reporter error.

Mr.Goldman, I want you to understand that I am not saying this as an attack, and I respect you and the work you do. I am saying this because I love the Escapist, and slanted and biased news reports hurt both them and you, and in turn, all of us. I am posting this because I read your stories, and I know you're better than this. Please edit it for the good of the reputation and integrity of both the Escapist, and yourself.

 

[Tom Goldman]

Being a jerk and giving people a stern talking to when needed are two completely different things. If you can do the second without doing the first, you're on the right track.

Basically this. This is why group leaders exist: the manager is the person to be feared, and the group leaders are the ones that encourage you and are allowed to be nice to you.

You are right in general... but not this time. Read his(Jaffe) post, he don't want to be a jerk but does it when needed. What the escapist slander party didn't mention is this line from Jaffe:"Can I still be nice? Always. But not at the expensive of the game's vision."

Dude, chill out. Did you miss the part where I quoted Jaffe as saying -- "Never allow your desire to be nice and liked to get in the way of the vision because the game will suffer. And the team will suffer as well because a failed game means the studio is at risk." ??? It's about the vision, yeah, and I put it in the post.

I fail to see how I somehow twisted Jaffe's words to make him look like a complete ass in the least, or slander him. Did you not read where I wrote this is "actually a decent piece of advice for most walks of life," too? I'm not going to re-post an entire blog, but I feel I quoted what was necessary to get the point across.

You took two quotes from two different parts of the blog, and placed them right next to each-other as if they were a single statement.

What he meant was "I cannot always be nice"

What your mash up of different out of context quotes made him mean is: "I don't try to be nice, I know it doesn't work, so I just act like an ass"

The part where you said:

"As of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive." How did it go? "Fuck that. Doesn't work," he says.

Made it sound like an interview as if that question was posed to him and he said "fuck that" to being nice, which he completely did not.

Goldman, this was supposed to be a news story, not a way for you to make people think what you want them to think by making new quotes out of different quotes in different contexts. He never said "Fuck being nice" and that wasn't at all what he meant, he said he TRIES to be nice, and when you said "he tried it as of late" and then he said "fuck that" you made the impression that he gave up on being nice altogether, which is not at all true in any way.

If the Escapist were a larger news outlet, this would border on Slander, and if it's ever to become a larger news outlet, biased and misrepresented stories like these need to either not be made, or be edited when the comments obviously show that it has been misinterpreted repeatedly due to reporter error.

Mr.Goldman, I want you to understand that I am not saying this as an attack, and I respect you and the work you do. I am saying this because I love the Escapist, and slanted and biased news reports hurt both them and you, and in turn, all of us. I am posting this because I read your stories, and I know you're better than this. Please edit it for the good of the reputation and integrity of both the Escapist, and yourself.

Did you read his blog? Direct quote: "So as of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive. Fuck that. Doesn't work." They ARE right next to each other. Nothing was out of context. He said "fuck that" to "being nice." But, my goal was to get his true point across about speaking up when a game's vision is at risk. If I didn't, that's my bad and I can always admit when I screw up. Because people are having mounds of trouble, I've edited the article a bit.

 

[Danpascooch]

Being a jerk and giving people a stern talking to when needed are two completely different things. If you can do the second without doing the first, you're on the right track.

Basically this. This is why group leaders exist: the manager is the person to be feared, and the group leaders are the ones that encourage you and are allowed to be nice to you.

You are right in general... but not this time. Read his(Jaffe) post, he don't want to be a jerk but does it when needed. What the escapist slander party didn't mention is this line from Jaffe:"Can I still be nice? Always. But not at the expensive of the game's vision."

Dude, chill out. Did you miss the part where I quoted Jaffe as saying -- "Never allow your desire to be nice and liked to get in the way of the vision because the game will suffer. And the team will suffer as well because a failed game means the studio is at risk." ??? It's about the vision, yeah, and I put it in the post.

I fail to see how I somehow twisted Jaffe's words to make him look like a complete ass in the least, or slander him. Did you not read where I wrote this is "actually a decent piece of advice for most walks of life," too? I'm not going to re-post an entire blog, but I feel I quoted what was necessary to get the point across.

You took two quotes from two different parts of the blog, and placed them right next to each-other as if they were a single statement.

What he meant was "I cannot always be nice"

What your mash up of different out of context quotes made him mean is: "I don't try to be nice, I know it doesn't work, so I just act like an ass"

The part where you said:

"As of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive." How did it go? "Fuck that. Doesn't work," he says.

Made it sound like an interview as if that question was posed to him and he said "fuck that" to being nice, which he completely did not.

Goldman, this was supposed to be a news story, not a way for you to make people think what you want them to think by making new quotes out of different quotes in different contexts. He never said "Fuck being nice" and that wasn't at all what he meant, he said he TRIES to be nice, and when you said "he tried it as of late" and then he said "fuck that" you made the impression that he gave up on being nice altogether, which is not at all true in any way.

If the Escapist were a larger news outlet, this would border on Slander, and if it's ever to become a larger news outlet, biased and misrepresented stories like these need to either not be made, or be edited when the comments obviously show that it has been misinterpreted repeatedly due to reporter error.

Mr.Goldman, I want you to understand that I am not saying this as an attack, and I respect you and the work you do. I am saying this because I love the Escapist, and slanted and biased news reports hurt both them and you, and in turn, all of us. I am posting this because I read your stories, and I know you're better than this. Please edit it for the good of the reputation and integrity of both the Escapist, and yourself.

Did you read his blog? Direct quote: "So as of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive. Fuck that. Doesn't work." They ARE right next to each other. Nothing was out of context. He said "fuck that" to "being nice." But, my goal was to get his true point across about speaking up when a game's vision is at risk. If I didn't, that's my bad and I can always admit when I screw up. Because people are having mounds of trouble, I've edited the article a bit.

I looked at the blog again, and yes I see that they are actually together, my apologies, I thought they were apart.

I appreciate you adding this line to your article:
"Can I still be nice? Always. But not at the expensive of the game's vision."

That way people are getting the full story now, thanks for making the edit, sorry if I was overly harsh, I hope you know I really do appreciate your reporting.

 

[Tom Goldman]

Did you read his blog? Direct quote: "So as of late I've tried to be nicer, kinder, more inclusive. Fuck that. Doesn't work." They ARE right next to each other. Nothing was out of context. He said "fuck that" to "being nice." But, my goal was to get his true point across about speaking up when a game's vision is at risk. If I didn't, that's my bad and I can always admit when I screw up. Because people are having mounds of trouble, I've edited the article a bit.

I looked at the blog again, and yes I see that they are actually together, my apologies, I thought they were apart.

I appreciate you adding this line to your article:
"Can I still be nice? Always. But not at the expensive of the game's vision."

That way people are getting the full story now, thanks for making the edit, sorry if I was overly harsh, I hope you know I really do appreciate your reporting.

It's not a problem. I appreciate people bringing things to my attention when they feel something is not right.

 

[Radelaide]

This guy sounds like a colossal asshat. You don't have to be a jerk to get your point across. If you are a jerk, all that gets you is disgruntled employees and an eventually knife in the back when one of those employees finally snaps.

I think he enjoys the reputation he's been given.