Verno wrote on Apr 11, 2013, 10:19:
People don't need to cherry pick anything, you give plenty of ammunition away for free it seems. Hence being quiet and letting professionals handle your public relations as they are actually qualified to defuse the drama that seems to consistently follow you around. There are many developers who can speak for themselves and avoid these things, you don't seem to be one of them though so I don't think we're "losing anything" either.

If you want issues to be about your games then ignore drama and talk about the games alone. Whenever I see you responding to something about other "drama" it strikes me as someone a bit vain or immature trying to shift blame or assuage their own ego.

Verno wrote on Apr 11, 2013, 09:11:
Hire a PR manager and be quiet, if not for your own sake then the potential livelihood of your employees. Between this and the sexual harassment lawsuit it's obvious that you handle it badly and it just comes off as someone vain trying to respond to every perceived internet "attack" on their character. This thread is a great example of why.

Orogogus wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 21:16:
That's not conclusive; there are horrific stories about working in the games industry, stories which wouldn't exist if people were able to jump ship whenever they wanted. And I've worked with people who've been at companies carrying on with wildly inappropriate policies, tacit or not, regarding religion or ethnicity. Usually most people don't want to rock the boat, and people who actually work on projects are generally less likely than most to become disgruntled (apparently unless that project was Bioshock: Infinite).

Orogogus wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 20:48:
That doesn't mean that women can't work there, any more than they couldn't work in the bad old days, any more than there weren't African-Americans doing great things in sports in hostile environments. But from your own postings, you acknowledged that you make off-color jokes in the workplace, and that you considered it your right as owner to do so. People can put up with that; but they shouldn't have to.

Orogogus wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 20:22:
I thought the UPS/Glenn Beck thing was extremely minor (albeit hypocritical, as pointed out) compared to the sexual harassment suit, where his own defense of his actions came across less as patient and more as completely insane. Completely disregarding the complaint, his defense alone made Stardock sound like no place for a woman to work.

Prez wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 20:11:
Brad has always been a source of drama, which kind of turns me off to him (no offense draginol) - it's not necessarily always his fault (as he illustrated in how the whole 'UPS boycott' was overblown to the point of absurdity) but drama seems to follow him nonethelss. I just would rather do without all the nonsense.

That said, I am looking forward to (hopefully) the continuation of the great series Stardock has produced - GalCiv and Sins. Fallen Enchantress is also excellent.

Beamer wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 19:39:

Though it amuses me that UPS said they were boycotting Fox News, and, annoyed at this censorship, Brad had his corporation boycott UPS.
Isn't that just a tiny bit hypocritical?

"Your corporation is practicing censorship with its boycott, so my corporation has to boycott yours!"

RollinThundr wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 17:16:

And actually, the thing that got me *really* angry isn't necessarily that he said what Brad said, but that he clearly was public about it, there was a backlash, and then he was like "oh well the public was never meant to see that so just pretend you didn't". And then tried to excuse it as some sort of protest.

If he had manned up a little I could have at least respected him, but spinless and disingenuine and siding with a bigot? Three strikes right there. I'm done.

And it's not like the games his company has released since then have made me feel like I'm missing out on anything either.

RollinThundr wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 17:16:

Flatline wrote on Apr 10, 2013, 16:50:
Sweet "at least" two games I can completely and utterly skip.

I hope White Knighting Glenn Beck was worth it.

I'd rather people White Knight Glenn Beck than call anyone who disagrees with the Obmessiah's policies racist.

Flatline wrote on Mar 5, 2013, 02:37:

theyarecomingforyou wrote on Mar 4, 2013, 20:53:
They must have offered him a decent chunk of money, as not many developers would want to work for a prick like Brad Wardell.

Yeah after that Glenn Beck episode I promised not to ever bother with another Stardock game. Which is sad, but it means that I avoided stuff like the code abortion that was Elemental.

jdreyer wrote on Feb 7, 2013, 22:04:
I agree with Oro. What could be so revolutionary that it requires 4 cores as standard? Brad, give us a clue (Brad sometimes hangs out here)! And given the lead time it takes to bring these to market, now is the time to get started, no?

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Oct 24, 2012, 15:40:

JaguarUSF wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 21:16:
Here's me playing the game for 45 minutes.

Hrm, dammit. The game looks pretty good, only thing that seems like it could get aggravating is the permanent wound mechanic. Disposable melee + tons of strong ranged units? Or can those 'permanent' wounds be healed somewhere/somehow? I admit to skimming through your video.

Bhruic wrote on Oct 24, 2012, 00:57:
Still, in general, Ironclad is more responsible for the Sins series than Stardock is. Publishers should only be getting the credit (and blame) if they own the studio that developed it, otherwise they should be going to the developer.

bortin wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 18:38:
I'd like to chime in, as I followed the story and was concerned about it up until I read that there were, what, two or three other women who were there and witnessed the alleged sexual harassment. They all side with Brad W. and defend him.

So, we got 1 lady who got upset over whatever the heck was said and threw the sexual harassment allegation out there and we got multiple witnesses who refute that something criminal occurred. Either Brad W. has these other wo0manz on a leash (from the employee videos I saw on the E:FE site, the women who work there are not weak willed nor stupid) or the allegations are based on too much "sensitivity" in the modern work place. And, yeah, women can be abusive and manipulative as well (no duh comment there for the adult guys!).

Damn, I just wish I had time to give the 1.0 release a whirl!!!

Beelzebud wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 17:56:
You admitted to it all, you just don't see anything wrong with your behavior. I don't have to support you, you are not entitled to sales.

To the other person saying I should buy the game anyway: No I shouldn't. I don't have to support scumbags like this. He is not entitled to my money.

GayBlade wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 16:56:
Looks interesting, but Stardock still won't take my money. They banned me from making purchases from them. All I ever did was ask them to refund my purchases (Elemental and Demigod) per their own refund policy. Anyone who played either game at release knows what rubbish they were...certainly not the quality Stardock usually displayed (Gal Civ I and II and Sins of a Solar Empire).

In any event, I have to resort to less savory methods of acquiring their games these days. Such a shame really...I would have been glad to pay for SoaSE Rebellion and perhaps Fallen Enchantress.

Ah well.

Optional Nickname! wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 16:41:
Having Impulse sold off to Gamestop which now sells Gamestop Games which require Steam for activation/run-time is a deal breaker.

The Gamestop webstore isn't terrible, far from it. I'll wait for GalCiv 3 or SinS 2 based on the current version's strengths to make a Stardock exclusive purchase again.

Doma wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 16:13:
ok guys..

Now that this is out.

Get to work on Gal Civ 3.

Beelzebud wrote on Oct 23, 2012, 15:49:
I refuse to give Stardock money. Between releasing unfinished games, and their throwback CEO thinking sexual harassment is fine, I'll have nothing to do with putting money in his pocket.