Until I finally left in frustration this year, I was in the video game industry for over a decade, and I observed that most game coders are arrogant assholes. Only the game designers ever seemed to be socially adept. So I don't think it's right to trash a game series just because the lead developer (and designer) is a jerk. Most of the games all of you love to play are coded by jerks. The difference here is that, as the lead developer, designer, and head of his own company, Derek Smart is required to have a public face. If you stuck the programmers of a popular game (say, WoW) into the public, 65% would be about as rude as Mr. Smart is.

Furthermore, it doesn't really matter if his games only serve a tiny niche. If it's a profitable tiny niche, and it very clearly is since Mr. Smart's company is still operational and not in financial straits after many years, then Mr. Smart seems to have earned the right to be a vocal prick, which is more than can be said for most snarky, uninformed and/or misinformed forum posters on the Internet. Besides, what exactly is a "tiny niche"? He's sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his games. Even if you believe that his target market is too narrow, you can't deny that he has a firm hold on that market and is successful enough with it that his games outsell many other "niche" games.

Mr. Smart, you're an asshole... and I salute you for it.