Clearly, OP, the answer is no, it is alive and well. There are still people who will flock to his next disasterous game and swoon all over again. Just look at some replies here. "Boo Hoo! My boy Brad is getting what he deserves!"
Actually, he deserves no less than a total black-balling from the MMO genre by all companies and affiliated companies. But people like some in this thread just can't wait to give him more of their money, so they can blame everyone but McQuaid when his "4th gen" (lol!) MMO flop schlepps its way to the stores.
He failed, he is responsible, and he failed. He is a failier, and I doubt that will make him laugh when he reads it on his Blackberry, ha!
I suppose he may be able to pull a 180 with his next project and redeem himself, we'll see.
Clearly, OP, the answer is no, it is alive and well. There are still people who will flock to his next disasterous game and swoon all over again. Just look at some replies here. "Boo Hoo! My boy Brad is getting what he deserves!" Actually, he deserves no less than a total black-balling from the MMO genre by all companies and affiliated companies. But people like some in this thread just can't wait to give him more of their money, so they can blame everyone but McQuaid when his "4th gen" (lol!) MMO flop schlepps its way to the stores. He failed, he is responsible, and he failed. He is a failier, and I doubt that will make him laugh when he reads it on his Blackberry, ha! I suppose he may be able to pull a 180 with his next project and redeem himself, we'll see.
Clearly, OP, the answer is no, it is alive and well. There are still people who will flock to his next disasterous game and swoon all over again. Just look at some replies here. "Boo Hoo! My boy Brad is getting what he deserves!" Actually, he deserves no less than a total black-balling from the MMO genre by all companies and affiliated companies. But people like some in this thread just can't wait to give him more of their money, so they can blame everyone but McQuaid when his "4th gen" (lol!) MMO flop schlepps its way to the stores. He failed, he is responsible, and he failed. He is a failier, and I doubt that will make him laugh when he reads it on his Blackberry, ha! I suppose he may be able to pull a 180 with his next project and redeem himself, we'll see.
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone?
I sin with envy over your perfection.
The crowd goes quiet then Agricola steps out and shouts "Well I've never sinned!" and casts the first stone, the rest of the crowd go wild and start pelting Brad with rocks!
Just kidding, I was curious to see if Brad still had a similar following as opposed to a year or two ago. It seemed that for the two years up until Vanguards release Brad was being worshipped by a legion of sychophants, whenever I or anyone questioned Brad or VG we were subject to vulgar personal attacks and insinuations.
I think Oscar Wilde said it best when concerning Brad and his present position
"Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography"
Just change great for famous and I think it fits Brad perfectly. I agree his downfall and that of VG was all his doing, he gave his people no scripting tools to work with and actually forbid the use of them. Instead of trying to hit those milestones he had his people working on BS demos to use as a smokescreen at MS to get continued funding. Understaffing the Q&A department whilst hiring everyones relative to positions that needed qualified people, and hiring a husband and wife is just asking for pain and misery down the line. He was doing all this from the start, Sigil went downhill from day one and Brad was sitting at the wheel going full speed whilost posting lies all over the net and he knew they were lies (or wishfull thinking, either way it wasn't true).
Then he follows that by not being at the VG launch, the CEO isn't at the launch of a product they spent 5 years working on with no scripting tools? He gave a weak excuse. He refuses to attend the demise of Sigil when his employees some of 5 years are fired in a car park, he gives another weak excuse. Now he's been exiled to the MMORPG shadowlands at SOE by Smedley, where he shall stay for a longtime hopefuly.
After all that I had expected even the most rabid sychophant to have felt some degree of disgust and dropped the "Leave Brad alone he cures MMO cancer one polygon at a time, hater!" line. The truth is Brad has become the cancer, eating away at the chances other new studios have of gaining any funding or publishing in the future. He's made it harder for others to be innovative and take risks, not the large companys but the little guy the studios with limited funding.
As for VG itself well I've played DnL so I'll say VG doesn't actually suck ..... that bad. However it was all the BS that Brad spouted and force fed us for years that turns people into haters, not VG itself. VG would have potential if not for Brad, VG would have a chance of gaining subs and being on a level with EQ 2 easily in one or two years if it weren't for Brad. Some might say "VG would never have been started if it weren't for Brad", and they're right. However that seems like saying "Penecillin would never have been created if it weren't for disease".
I'm very suprised to see Brad still has so many followers that care about him personally on the net. He lied to those people, destroyed his own company and reputation and hurt the credebility of other small studios trying to make it on their own. After all that I'd like to know why do they defend him and try to deflect blame and deny his responsibility for many things he clearly is responsible for? Quite frankly Brad has quickly gone from fame to infamy in the time it took to realease VG, he is the Heather Mills of the MMO industry. The buck stops at Brad he said it himself, as for why people would go on hating Brad? Well we were forced to listen to what we knew were lies for years, so what goes around comes around.
If it weren't for the Brad factor VG would be a bit naff but not a turd, it's like Porsche making a sports car that has a top speed of 120 MPH. It is not considered a turd because it's a bad car, it's considered a turd because it sucks for a Porsche sports car, that's where Brad put VG. Sorry about the long post ............ it's Brads fault!
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
However, I am pretty sure that on this forum, Brad McQuaid is arguably the most known individual, before Bush himself.
The Captain of the Exxon Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood, was pretty famous too. He's the only supertanker captain whose name I know. But that is not a good thing.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Somehow I just do not see any cartoon gaming developer as some type of messiah. Nor, do I see any MMO on the market as powerful enough to be considered as religion. Flawed thinking. Or, maybe you were simply making a joke. If not, well then maybe someone takes this a bit too seriously. Time to pull back from the computer and make actual human contact in the real world I should think. It could actually be very refreshing for you. Find a little trust and compassion, that should go far in easing your conspiracy fear.
Humm interesting topic, hope you don't mind if I jump in. Recently in the american papers there was a report of a couple that neglcted/abused their childern (1-2 years of age) SO they instead could play MMO's (think it was WoW but might be wrong) The couple wouldn't feed the children nor even change their soiled diapers. (at least this was the state the childern were found in) Sorry I don't have a link to the article but you could probably goggle it up if you wanted.
Likewise we have all heard of the man who played mmo's constantly over such a length of time he died. (was in Korea I believe)
This would seem to indicate that for some people MMO's do have a powerfull effect almost reaching that of a religion. (certainly that of a cult) Heck ask most people to kill themselves, or starve/abuse their childer for their religion these days and they wouldn't.
While i do believe the OP was making a joke, it did bring up a interesting point. Their are crazy (urr sorry insane) people in the world that don't really need rational reasons to do things. Cults are frequently (though not always) composed of people that by the average stand point do not seem rational. (save off all your hair, give all your money and belongings to the religous head, go beg/preach in a airpot for more, is one example mass suicide being another.)
Real question I see here is how many people here (Vanbois, McQuaid fans, even haters etc.) Would take their own
hard earned money and invest it in McQuaids next MMO attempt? Show hands? Comon people don't be shy post up. Urr maybe it would be better if someone started a poll thread in this forum with this question?
I am such a noob how do we set up polls in our threads?
Real question I see here is how many people here (Vanbois, McQuaid fans, even haters etc.) Would take their own hard earned money and invest it in McQuaids next MMO attempt? Show hands? Comon people don't be shy post up. Urr maybe it would be better if someone started a poll thread in this forum with this question?
I am such a noob how do we set up polls in our threads?
Somehow I just do not see any cartoon gaming developer as some type of messiah. Nor, do I see any MMO on the market as powerful enough to be considered as religion. Flawed thinking. Or, maybe you were simply making a joke. If not, well then maybe someone takes this a bit too seriously. Time to pull back from the computer and make actual human contact in the real world I should think. It could actually be very refreshing for you. Find a little trust and compassion, that should go far in easing your conspiracy fear.
Humm interesting topic, hope you don't mind if I jump in. Recently in the american papers there was a report of a couple that neglcted/abused their childern (1-2 years of age) SO they instead could play MMO's (think it was WoW but might be wrong) The couple wouldn't feed the children nor even change their soiled diapers. (at least this was the state the childern were found in) Sorry I don't have a link to the article but you could probably goggle it up if you wanted.
The game the couple was playing was actually DDO (dungeons and dragons online), believe it or not.
Yeah i was surprised too.. out of all the games it could have been... ddo???
I think about half of them moved to AoC forums and the rest are still playing "teh Vision".
BAH, AOC is completely anti vancrap....just go there and check it out. And while your there, worship Tenebroso, O Senhor Das Trevas, MWHUHAUAHUAHAUHAUAHAUHAUHAUAHUAHAHAUHAUAH
BTW Brad Mcquack wrote on his blog that after vancrap flopped, he likes to go to the mountains and play violin, and sing the songs he likes to sing....yes, hes got that kind of time.....
What was needed was some people to say no to McQuaid, tell him some of his stuff wasn't feasable and cut his ideas to a decent core and then refine what you have. God forbid a content patch once the game was solid.
Sounded like a bunch of Yes Men in that developement office, with noone to say, hey this game is big enough for the time being, we could look over it and optimize/bug fix it before launch, Hell even putting some tails on the wolves and foxes would of made more sense then plugging the game up with graphical save states at the character creation screen. But no... don't look anything over, push in more stuff, create a sea of bugs, then run out of money and force launch it, yes that was a good call.
Somehow I just do not see any cartoon gaming developer as some type of messiah. Nor, do I see any MMO on the market as powerful enough to be considered as religion. Flawed thinking. Or, maybe you were simply making a joke. If not, well then maybe someone takes this a bit too seriously. Time to pull back from the computer and make actual human contact in the real world I should think. It could actually be very refreshing for you. Find a little trust and compassion, that should go far in easing your conspiracy fear.
There's no joke.
The obsession of the Vanboi's killed the game just as much as the prophet McQuaid was unable to see that his vision was nothing but a nightmare out of touch with reality.
The OP was mildly funny with his initial thread, and i am being very generous.
I think we do get it here Agricola1, you are not a fan of Brad McQuaid and you are not a fan of Vanguard. This is great, we applaud you. Now why dont you go and post on a forum that you care about.
Why wont people let this die??????
I was LOVED EQ and when i found out that two of the main developers for EQ were in charge of Vanguard i was VERY excited about the game. Perhaps even a Vanboi.
Sadly the game did not turn out the way people were hoping, and that is a sad thing. Why on earth would anyone who likes MMORPGs want a game to fail at launch as badly as Vanguard did. This is not good for the genre, this could make other developers a little worried about giving it a try.
I want every game that comes out to do well, i may not be interested in playing them but i do want them to do well. This generates more interest in the genre by game developers. Hell, i even want WoW to do well (It hurt saying that).
I for one hope that Brad doesnt crawl away and hide. He is a fantastic game developer, apparently not so good as the leader of the project, but a great developer. I would not mind seeing him in charge of a development team for a new game in the future, as long as someone else is controlling the money and management.
The OP was mildly funny with his initial thread, and i am being very generous. I think we do get it here Agricola1, you are not a fan of Brad McQuaid and you are not a fan of Vanguard. This is great, we applaud you. Now why dont you go and post on a forum that you care about. Why wont people let this die?????? I was LOVED EQ and when i found out that two of the main developers for EQ were in charge of Vanguard i was VERY excited about the game. Perhaps even a Vanboi. Sadly the game did not turn out the way people were hoping, and that is a sad thing. Why on earth would anyone who likes MMORPGs want a game to fail at launch as badly as Vanguard did. This is not good for the genre, this could make other developers a little worried about giving it a try. I want every game that comes out to be made well, i may not be interested in playing them but i do want them to do well. This generates more interest in the genre by game developers. Hell, i even want WoW to do well (It hurt saying that). I for one hope that Brad doesnt crawl away and hide. He is a fantastic game developer, apparently not so good as the leader of the project, but a great developer. I would not mind seeing him in charge of a development team for a new game in the future, as long as someone else is controlling the money and management.
Corrected
It's not that everyone wanted it to fail, it's that many of us realized it was a turd before release and no-one wants a company to release a turd. One thing about VG is certain, the release was a first generation release .... a bad first generation release and the Messiah has paid for forsaking his followers.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
The OP was mildly funny with his initial thread, and i am being very generous. I think we do get it here Agricola1, you are not a fan of Brad McQuaid and you are not a fan of Vanguard. This is great, we applaud you. Now why dont you go and post on a forum that you care about. Why wont people let this die?????? I was LOVED EQ and when i found out that two of the main developers for EQ were in charge of Vanguard i was VERY excited about the game. Perhaps even a Vanboi. Sadly the game did not turn out the way people were hoping, and that is a sad thing. Why on earth would anyone who likes MMORPGs want a game to fail at launch as badly as Vanguard did. This is not good for the genre, this could make other developers a little worried about giving it a try. I want every game that comes out to be made well, i may not be interested in playing them but i do want them to do well. This generates more interest in the genre by game developers. Hell, i even want WoW to do well (It hurt saying that). I for one hope that Brad doesnt crawl away and hide. He is a fantastic game developer, apparently not so good as the leader of the project, but a great developer. I would not mind seeing him in charge of a development team for a new game in the future, as long as someone else is controlling the money and management.
Corrected
It's not that everyone wanted it to fail, it's that many of us realized it was a turd before release and no-one wants a company to release a turd. One thing about VG is certain, the release was a first generation release .... a bad first generation release and the Messiah has paid for forsaking his followers.
What if it is a really shiny turd?
I do understand what you are saying.
I just dont understand all the taunting anymore. Vanguard did not meet the hype, the expectations or the goals that they themselves set. That is sad because it had a ton of promise and potential.
Some are still enjoying playing the game though, so why not let them enjoy it. Vanguard already had a horrible launch that perhaps hurt the industry a tiny bit, it cant hurt it more by staying alive for those who like it still. And who knows, it may actually resurrect a little and become a stable mid population game, though no where near what was dreamed of. I really hope it does because i would not mind playing that style of game again.
I think the taunting will continue due to having to listen to Brad talk BS for over 2 years about his vision, despite the fact that he knew VG was a turd and he wasn't even trying to get the game in a reasonable state to launch. The people at Sigil (not managment) worked their butts off with no support from managment. Brad was more interested in them working on demos in order to bluff MS into laying down more cash, at some point he made a decision not to focus on getting a game ready but instead to focus on getting investment.
Despiter being a card carrying member of the SOE Haters club I think VG is at the best place it could possibly be considering the circumstances. I don't think anyother company would've done this much for VG, if the plug doesn't get pulled before the end of next year it could be in a decent state. I just think we should flame developers that try to pull a fast one to get a quick and easy buck, if Brad can't find a job outside SOE it might make other CEOs and upper managment think hard about their decisions. Brad had the best 5 years of his life at SIGIL, and he didn't even have the guts to turn up when they were getting fired. They stood in a car park whilst some guy in magament laughed about how he would buy a new house in front of them.
I hope VG gets improved along the lines that EQ2 did, I have no problem with a game but I do with charlatans such as Mcquaid. That's why I'm suprised people still defend that pathetic excuse for a man, I hope SOE treat him the way he did his own staff. Remember Brad "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", you might wanna look that up in your bible. But since I'm not a born again Christian don't bother quoting it to me
A TOAST TO VANGUARD "MAY THE FUTURE BE BRIGHTER THAN THE PAST"
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
Uhm .. you obviously do care, and I think you will find it hasn't moved on as much as you may think since EQ1. You need to get a reality check business is business and companies go bust all the time. But that does not take away what he has acheived and lets think about it most of the employees were along for the ride and they leeched a good 4 years out of it.
Their are a lot more people at fault than Mr M, but I guess the blinkers are on when they suit.
Reality check ok...
" business is business" but having no balls to tell your employees there redundant YOURSELF is still having NO balls. Sorry this is the one thing that made me think : this man isn't a good responsible boss. (Wasnt there a family PR crap about sigil as well?). Being made redundant is hard. Not having the one person to alrge degree responsible for the situation is bad. It seems weak and pathetic. Couple that with Brads stupid ongoing maddening overhyped PR posting about VG AND his lack of "being around"... no I dont credit this man much at all. If it been one or the other then fine but all of them spelled disaster.
As for leeeching. Actually this might be true but at some point those programmers would have become quite disheartened at the fact VG was going no where. Every likes a feather in there cap.. not a stinking turd like VG is/was.
As for EQI that was an age ago. Brad isnt gonna slap it on his CV and say he's current. Oh wait ... given his VG handling.. yeah he probably will.
Brads fault ? Well there maybe other factors but hell I dont think the man is blameless. God if ONLY he hadnt done the stupid hype it'd just been another boring buisness finacial trauma. Let this be a warning to other companies DO NOT hype products until there is something there already to build a solid structure upon.
People are hostile to Brad because he was actively engaged in misleading people about Vanguard. Vanguard is not a bad game, but it is not the game that Brad said it was.
He admitted that the game was not finished, but that was an understatement. Today, it is not finished. The game was released completely unfinished. Yes. There is a difference. One is playable, the other is not (or barely) playable.
The game has certainly come quite a way from release.
People are hostile to Brad because he was actively engaged in misleading people about Vanguard. Vanguard is not a bad game, but it is not the game that Brad said it was.
He admitted that the game was not finished, but that was an understatement. Today, it is not finished. The game was released completely unfinished. Yes. There is a difference. One is playable, the other is not (or barely) playable.
The game has certainly come quite a way from release.
Lets hope it continues in that direction. There is a time-crunch as I see it. VG has a chance to save itself as a nice little niche game with a somewhat rabid fanbase who will forever remain loyal till the lights are turned off, but right now SoE have to really develope the hell out of it to survive. Because in a few short months, the fickle fanbase of MMO players will have moved on and forgotten all about McQuaid's so called Vision to other, newer, polished games being released.
VG is running out of time. Its already old news and not even a consideration among many players, IMO, because launch is extremely important. They flubbed VG's release, didn't provide much of anything promised, and McQuaid was pushed aside for his failer. Players see this and think, why bother? This game is dead, here comes a whole new crop of potentially great finished games to compete for my buck.
You gotta grab the customers from the get-go, and any company that thinks they can schlepp out a pathetically unfinished, buggy POS and then spend months making it playable while people pay sub fees while ignoring that other superior products are released deserve what they get. Which is a horrible reputation, no credibility, and ultimately a failed product. Its free market, you release a POS, expect a POS response. You release a finely crafted, polished product, (LOTRO for example), you get what you deserve there to.
Sad part is, that companies will continue to clone WoW because its somewhat risk-free, as is the case with LOTRO. Some of us want a game that is very deep, immersive and time-consuming, but with all that is the risk.
SoE had it, with pre-NGE SWG, but decided (huge mistake), that the take-you-by-the-hand MMOs like WoW and LOTRO are easier and more accepted. And they are, sadly. Sandbox games are not in good shape, we want the Wal-Mart MMOs, apparently.
The direction for Vanguard so far has been toward improvement.
No one who is honestly and reasonable (excluding a staff writer of MMORPG) would deny that unless they flame and troll for sport.
Vanguard has been bashed by MMORPG writers, repeatedly. The review of Vanguard low-balled it for politics. MMORPG has demonstrated fully, completely, and without reason a sense of disregard for the truth. MMORPG presents a thoroughly dishonest, unfair, biased, and even hateful (I am laughing) portrait of the game. The bias is so profound and thick that you have people that never had and never will play Vanguard bashing the game and its players.
Originally posted by healz4u Vanguard has been bashed by MMORPG writers, repeatedly. The review of Vanguard low-balled it for politics. MMORPG has demonstrated fully, completely, and without reason a sense of disregard for the truth. MMORPG presents a thoroughly dishonest, unfair, biased, and even hateful (I am laughing) portrait of the game. The bias is so profound and thick that you have people that never had and never will play Vanguard bashing the game and its players.
That post should answer the question if the vanboi cult is still alive and kicking. But.. I guess it's better than their old tactic of blaming Vanguard's problems on the people paying to play it.
I think the taunting will continue due to having to listen to Brad talk BS for over 2 years about his vision, despite the fact that he knew VG was a turd and he wasn't even trying to get the game in a reasonable state to launch.
Anyone who takes design goals of a product still in production as guarantees is an idiot. Brad was telling you what he wanted to put into Vanguard and what he intended to put into Vanguard. If you have proof he was lying all along you should post or shut up. Plans change, and under financial pressure even directions and even the genre itself changed as Vanguard approached release. The are things that can and will alter the course of a game in production, the fact that they do has nothing to do with a dev lying to you.
Vanguard was fundamentally misconceived in a few areas and it was very poorly implemented in many others but there is certainly a market for the type of game Brad wanted to make, even if it isnt as large as he anticipated. His inability to manage a company and get his production team to produce that game is a completely separate issue.
Comments
Clearly, OP, the answer is no, it is alive and well. There are still people who will flock to his next disasterous game and swoon all over again. Just look at some replies here. "Boo Hoo! My boy Brad is getting what he deserves!"
Actually, he deserves no less than a total black-balling from the MMO genre by all companies and affiliated companies. But people like some in this thread just can't wait to give him more of their money, so they can blame everyone but McQuaid when his "4th gen" (lol!) MMO flop schlepps its way to the stores.
He failed, he is responsible, and he failed. He is a failier, and I doubt that will make him laugh when he reads it on his Blackberry, ha!
I suppose he may be able to pull a 180 with his next project and redeem himself, we'll see.
I sin with envy over your perfection.
Wish Darkfall would release.
I sin with envy over your perfection.
The crowd goes quiet then Agricola steps out and shouts "Well I've never sinned!" and casts the first stone, the rest of the crowd go wild and start pelting Brad with rocks!
Just kidding, I was curious to see if Brad still had a similar following as opposed to a year or two ago. It seemed that for the two years up until Vanguards release Brad was being worshipped by a legion of sychophants, whenever I or anyone questioned Brad or VG we were subject to vulgar personal attacks and insinuations.
I think Oscar Wilde said it best when concerning Brad and his present position
"Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography"
Just change great for famous and I think it fits Brad perfectly. I agree his downfall and that of VG was all his doing, he gave his people no scripting tools to work with and actually forbid the use of them. Instead of trying to hit those milestones he had his people working on BS demos to use as a smokescreen at MS to get continued funding. Understaffing the Q&A department whilst hiring everyones relative to positions that needed qualified people, and hiring a husband and wife is just asking for pain and misery down the line. He was doing all this from the start, Sigil went downhill from day one and Brad was sitting at the wheel going full speed whilost posting lies all over the net and he knew they were lies (or wishfull thinking, either way it wasn't true).
Then he follows that by not being at the VG launch, the CEO isn't at the launch of a product they spent 5 years working on with no scripting tools? He gave a weak excuse. He refuses to attend the demise of Sigil when his employees some of 5 years are fired in a car park, he gives another weak excuse. Now he's been exiled to the MMORPG shadowlands at SOE by Smedley, where he shall stay for a longtime hopefuly.
After all that I had expected even the most rabid sychophant to have felt some degree of disgust and dropped the "Leave Brad alone he cures MMO cancer one polygon at a time, hater!" line. The truth is Brad has become the cancer, eating away at the chances other new studios have of gaining any funding or publishing in the future. He's made it harder for others to be innovative and take risks, not the large companys but the little guy the studios with limited funding.
As for VG itself well I've played DnL so I'll say VG doesn't actually suck ..... that bad. However it was all the BS that Brad spouted and force fed us for years that turns people into haters, not VG itself. VG would have potential if not for Brad, VG would have a chance of gaining subs and being on a level with EQ 2 easily in one or two years if it weren't for Brad. Some might say "VG would never have been started if it weren't for Brad", and they're right. However that seems like saying "Penecillin would never have been created if it weren't for disease".
I'm very suprised to see Brad still has so many followers that care about him personally on the net. He lied to those people, destroyed his own company and reputation and hurt the credebility of other small studios trying to make it on their own. After all that I'd like to know why do they defend him and try to deflect blame and deny his responsibility for many things he clearly is responsible for? Quite frankly Brad has quickly gone from fame to infamy in the time it took to realease VG, he is the Heather Mills of the MMO industry. The buck stops at Brad he said it himself, as for why people would go on hating Brad? Well we were forced to listen to what we knew were lies for years, so what goes around comes around.
If it weren't for the Brad factor VG would be a bit naff but not a turd, it's like Porsche making a sports car that has a top speed of 120 MPH. It is not considered a turd because it's a bad car, it's considered a turd because it sucks for a Porsche sports car, that's where Brad put VG. Sorry about the long post ............ it's Brads fault!
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
The Captain of the Exxon Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood, was pretty famous too. He's the only supertanker captain whose name I know. But that is not a good thing.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Humm interesting topic, hope you don't mind if I jump in. Recently in the american papers there was a report of a couple that neglcted/abused their childern (1-2 years of age) SO they instead could play MMO's (think it was WoW but might be wrong) The couple wouldn't feed the children nor even change their soiled diapers. (at least this was the state the childern were found in) Sorry I don't have a link to the article but you could probably goggle it up if you wanted.
Likewise we have all heard of the man who played mmo's constantly over such a length of time he died. (was in Korea I believe)
This would seem to indicate that for some people MMO's do have a powerfull effect almost reaching that of a religion. (certainly that of a cult) Heck ask most people to kill themselves, or starve/abuse their childer for their religion these days and they wouldn't.
While i do believe the OP was making a joke, it did bring up a interesting point. Their are crazy (urr sorry insane) people in the world that don't really need rational reasons to do things. Cults are frequently (though not always) composed of people that by the average stand point do not seem rational. (save off all your hair, give all your money and belongings to the religous head, go beg/preach in a airpot for more, is one example mass suicide being another.)
Real question I see here is how many people here (Vanbois, McQuaid fans, even haters etc.) Would take their own
hard earned money and invest it in McQuaids next MMO attempt? Show hands? Comon people don't be shy post up. Urr maybe it would be better if someone started a poll thread in this forum with this question?
I am such a noob how do we set up polls in our threads?
http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/1541341/thread/141513#1541341
Humm interesting topic, hope you don't mind if I jump in. Recently in the american papers there was a report of a couple that neglcted/abused their childern (1-2 years of age) SO they instead could play MMO's (think it was WoW but might be wrong) The couple wouldn't feed the children nor even change their soiled diapers. (at least this was the state the childern were found in) Sorry I don't have a link to the article but you could probably goggle it up if you wanted.
The game the couple was playing was actually DDO (dungeons and dragons online), believe it or not.
Yeah i was surprised too.. out of all the games it could have been... ddo???
BAH, AOC is completely anti vancrap....just go there and check it out. And while your there, worship Tenebroso, O Senhor Das Trevas, MWHUHAUAHUAHAUHAUAHAUHAUHAUAHUAHAHAUHAUAH
BTW Brad Mcquack wrote on his blog that after vancrap flopped, he likes to go to the mountains and play violin, and sing the songs he likes to sing....yes, hes got that kind of time.....
Did Vanguard fail because McQauid was CEO and not a creative director/developer?
CEOs must, or should, have an MBA regardless of the school. It helps you think, plan, manage, coordinate, control, etc..
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WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
Yes.
What was needed was some people to say no to McQuaid, tell him some of his stuff wasn't feasable and cut his ideas to a decent core and then refine what you have. God forbid a content patch once the game was solid.
Sounded like a bunch of Yes Men in that developement office, with noone to say, hey this game is big enough for the time being, we could look over it and optimize/bug fix it before launch, Hell even putting some tails on the wolves and foxes would of made more sense then plugging the game up with graphical save states at the character creation screen. But no... don't look anything over, push in more stuff, create a sea of bugs, then run out of money and force launch it, yes that was a good call.
McQuaid who ?
The obsession of the Vanboi's killed the game just as much as the prophet McQuaid was unable to see that his vision was nothing but a nightmare out of touch with reality.
The OP was mildly funny with his initial thread, and i am being very generous.
I think we do get it here Agricola1, you are not a fan of Brad McQuaid and you are not a fan of Vanguard. This is great, we applaud you. Now why dont you go and post on a forum that you care about.
Why wont people let this die??????
I was LOVED EQ and when i found out that two of the main developers for EQ were in charge of Vanguard i was VERY excited about the game. Perhaps even a Vanboi.
Sadly the game did not turn out the way people were hoping, and that is a sad thing. Why on earth would anyone who likes MMORPGs want a game to fail at launch as badly as Vanguard did. This is not good for the genre, this could make other developers a little worried about giving it a try.
I want every game that comes out to do well, i may not be interested in playing them but i do want them to do well. This generates more interest in the genre by game developers. Hell, i even want WoW to do well (It hurt saying that).
I for one hope that Brad doesnt crawl away and hide. He is a fantastic game developer, apparently not so good as the leader of the project, but a great developer. I would not mind seeing him in charge of a development team for a new game in the future, as long as someone else is controlling the money and management.
It's not that everyone wanted it to fail, it's that many of us realized it was a turd before release and no-one wants a company to release a turd. One thing about VG is certain, the release was a first generation release .... a bad first generation release and the Messiah has paid for forsaking his followers.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
It's not that everyone wanted it to fail, it's that many of us realized it was a turd before release and no-one wants a company to release a turd. One thing about VG is certain, the release was a first generation release .... a bad first generation release and the Messiah has paid for forsaking his followers.
What if it is a really shiny turd?I do understand what you are saying.
I just dont understand all the taunting anymore. Vanguard did not meet the hype, the expectations or the goals that they themselves set. That is sad because it had a ton of promise and potential.
Some are still enjoying playing the game though, so why not let them enjoy it. Vanguard already had a horrible launch that perhaps hurt the industry a tiny bit, it cant hurt it more by staying alive for those who like it still. And who knows, it may actually resurrect a little and become a stable mid population game, though no where near what was dreamed of. I really hope it does because i would not mind playing that style of game again.
I think the taunting will continue due to having to listen to Brad talk BS for over 2 years about his vision, despite the fact that he knew VG was a turd and he wasn't even trying to get the game in a reasonable state to launch. The people at Sigil (not managment) worked their butts off with no support from managment. Brad was more interested in them working on demos in order to bluff MS into laying down more cash, at some point he made a decision not to focus on getting a game ready but instead to focus on getting investment.
Despiter being a card carrying member of the SOE Haters club I think VG is at the best place it could possibly be considering the circumstances. I don't think anyother company would've done this much for VG, if the plug doesn't get pulled before the end of next year it could be in a decent state. I just think we should flame developers that try to pull a fast one to get a quick and easy buck, if Brad can't find a job outside SOE it might make other CEOs and upper managment think hard about their decisions. Brad had the best 5 years of his life at SIGIL, and he didn't even have the guts to turn up when they were getting fired. They stood in a car park whilst some guy in magament laughed about how he would buy a new house in front of them.
I hope VG gets improved along the lines that EQ2 did, I have no problem with a game but I do with charlatans such as Mcquaid. That's why I'm suprised people still defend that pathetic excuse for a man, I hope SOE treat him the way he did his own staff. Remember Brad "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", you might wanna look that up in your bible. But since I'm not a born again Christian don't bother quoting it to me
A TOAST TO VANGUARD "MAY THE FUTURE BE BRIGHTER THAN THE PAST"
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Reality check ok...
" business is business" but having no balls to tell your employees there redundant YOURSELF is still having NO balls. Sorry this is the one thing that made me think : this man isn't a good responsible boss. (Wasnt there a family PR crap about sigil as well?). Being made redundant is hard. Not having the one person to alrge degree responsible for the situation is bad. It seems weak and pathetic. Couple that with Brads stupid ongoing maddening overhyped PR posting about VG AND his lack of "being around"... no I dont credit this man much at all. If it been one or the other then fine but all of them spelled disaster.
As for leeeching. Actually this might be true but at some point those programmers would have become quite disheartened at the fact VG was going no where. Every likes a feather in there cap.. not a stinking turd like VG is/was.
As for EQI that was an age ago. Brad isnt gonna slap it on his CV and say he's current. Oh wait ... given his VG handling.. yeah he probably will.
Brads fault ? Well there maybe other factors but hell I dont think the man is blameless. God if ONLY he hadnt done the stupid hype it'd just been another boring buisness finacial trauma. Let this be a warning to other companies DO NOT hype products until there is something there already to build a solid structure upon.
People are hostile to Brad because he was actively engaged in misleading people about Vanguard. Vanguard is not a bad game, but it is not the game that Brad said it was.
He admitted that the game was not finished, but that was an understatement. Today, it is not finished. The game was released completely unfinished. Yes. There is a difference. One is playable, the other is not (or barely) playable.
The game has certainly come quite a way from release.
VG is running out of time. Its already old news and not even a consideration among many players, IMO, because launch is extremely important. They flubbed VG's release, didn't provide much of anything promised, and McQuaid was pushed aside for his failer. Players see this and think, why bother? This game is dead, here comes a whole new crop of potentially great finished games to compete for my buck.
You gotta grab the customers from the get-go, and any company that thinks they can schlepp out a pathetically unfinished, buggy POS and then spend months making it playable while people pay sub fees while ignoring that other superior products are released deserve what they get. Which is a horrible reputation, no credibility, and ultimately a failed product. Its free market, you release a POS, expect a POS response. You release a finely crafted, polished product, (LOTRO for example), you get what you deserve there to.
Sad part is, that companies will continue to clone WoW because its somewhat risk-free, as is the case with LOTRO. Some of us want a game that is very deep, immersive and time-consuming, but with all that is the risk.
SoE had it, with pre-NGE SWG, but decided (huge mistake), that the take-you-by-the-hand MMOs like WoW and LOTRO are easier and more accepted. And they are, sadly. Sandbox games are not in good shape, we want the Wal-Mart MMOs, apparently.
The direction for Vanguard so far has been toward improvement.
No one who is honestly and reasonable (excluding a staff writer of MMORPG) would deny that unless they flame and troll for sport.
Vanguard has been bashed by MMORPG writers, repeatedly. The review of Vanguard low-balled it for politics. MMORPG has demonstrated fully, completely, and without reason a sense of disregard for the truth. MMORPG presents a thoroughly dishonest, unfair, biased, and even hateful (I am laughing) portrait of the game. The bias is so profound and thick that you have people that never had and never will play Vanguard bashing the game and its players.
That post should answer the question if the vanboi cult is still alive and kicking. But.. I guess it's better than their old tactic of blaming Vanguard's problems on the people paying to play it.
lancebird, want to know something nuts?
I enjoy this more than you.
Anyone who takes design goals of a product still in production as guarantees is an idiot. Brad was telling you what he wanted to put into Vanguard and what he intended to put into Vanguard. If you have proof he was lying all along you should post or shut up. Plans change, and under financial pressure even directions and even the genre itself changed as Vanguard approached release. The are things that can and will alter the course of a game in production, the fact that they do has nothing to do with a dev lying to you.
Vanguard was fundamentally misconceived in a few areas and it was very poorly implemented in many others but there is certainly a market for the type of game Brad wanted to make, even if it isnt as large as he anticipated. His inability to manage a company and get his production team to produce that game is a completely separate issue.