Dude, the thing was created for a disabled kid, then the focus was switched to HARDCOREZ, now they're backpedalling again I guess?
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Penny-Arcade: "Marketers of the Avenger Controller are thieves and liars".
- Thread starter SpeedingUptoStop
- Start date
Dude, the thing was created for a disabled kid, then the focus was switched to HARDCOREZ, now they're backpedalling again I guess?
The entire episode has been nothing to be proud of from any perspective.
cooltobeyou
Banned
They got a terrible PR firm removed from what could be a great product for a lot of disabled gamers. Hopefully Avenger can refocus and come out in a better place. I don't see how anything Mike or Jerry did reflects poorly on them. They posted on their website about someone they felt was being treated badly in an attempt to help him. They've done it before and they will do it again.
From the sound of that Kotaku article, it needed to be blown up to this size to get the dollar signs out of Avenger's eyes. Once they realized any supposed ties to retailers were being outweighed by horrible customer service they quickly rectified the situation.
reptilescorpio
Member
Much more effective going to authorities who are much more understanding of the situation than wider media venues who wouldn't see enough ratings to bother trying to help the consumer market.
Actually does this mean that Paul is STILL in charge of marketing through Ocean Marketting (or even Ocean Stratagy??)
Joking!
ElRenoRaven
Member
It really doesn't. It's the second time I've seen it mentioned that they were warned about this guy and didn't listen. Then the stuff about Kotkin and his business dealings with the guy on other stuff just makes me go hmmmmm.
faceless007
Member
I have no sympathy for the guy but when people start digging up personal info on his fiancee I think Internet justice has gone too far. Sadly I expect nothing less from the PA mob.
Gary Whitta
Member
Well I don't blame them for being seduced by this guy and all his stories about helpful industry contacts which seems like what they needed to get this product off the ground if they were coming into the biz from the outside. But "rough around the edges" sounds like a very kind euphemism and I'm a bit amazed they didn't smell a rat sooner.
Any time I think of this guy now I'm imagining him having totally insane conversations in his basement with crude waxwork versions of Cliffy B and other game industry stars.
And I agree that the internet defense force has gone a bit too far today, the mission was accomplished, he's not going to be abusing gamers again any time soon (or at least not getting paid for it), there's no need to demolish the guy personally as well.
Any time I think of this guy now I'm imagining him having totally insane conversations in his basement with crude waxwork versions of Cliffy B and other game industry stars.
And I agree that the internet defense force has gone a bit too far today, the mission was accomplished, he's not going to be abusing gamers again any time soon (or at least not getting paid for it), there's no need to demolish the guy personally as well.
reptilescorpio
Member
I agree that is messed up. There is a line and they went way over it.
Not sure why PA takes all the blame though since it was up on Reddit and Kotaku too?
They already had a marketing company on a lucrative contract who ended up bailing out because the Paul guy was too crazy. Not sure why they persisted with him for the whole year too.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Given that it spread to reddit, SA, NeoGAF, etc., how do you know it was the PA mob?
Jamesways
Member
Yes, let's all feel bad for the guy who impersonated his higher up at Hand Media in an email to downplay the incident today.
Class act all the way, really.
Regardless of how he treated customers, or his brash emails to Mike at PA, he's got a family, so the pity is completely justified. He's the real victim here. Penny Arcade and fans should be ashamed.
I bet he does tons of charity for the disabled gamers this product was created for.
*gianteyeroll.gif
Class act all the way, really.
Regardless of how he treated customers, or his brash emails to Mike at PA, he's got a family, so the pity is completely justified. He's the real victim here. Penny Arcade and fans should be ashamed.
I bet he does tons of charity for the disabled gamers this product was created for.
*gianteyeroll.gif
Gary Whitta
Member
Haha yeah impersonating the other guy is perhaps the low/high point of this whole fiasco. In one sense it was an attempt at a smart bit of damage mitigation - no doubt he knew the end was coming at that point, so the whole "temp hire to help us through the holidays" thing was a way of making it look like his imminent firing was simply his contract expiring.
The problem is, no-one was ever going to fall for it. Everything this guy said and did was being immediately splashed all over the internet at that point and so of course the real guy was going to come forward and say the email wasn't written by him. What a fucking idiot.
The problem is, no-one was ever going to fall for it. Everything this guy said and did was being immediately splashed all over the internet at that point and so of course the real guy was going to come forward and say the email wasn't written by him. What a fucking idiot.
Hell, the PA forums thread on the matter is far smaller than this one.
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
Sounds like a screenplay idea! Get on it, Gary!
Duane Cunningham
Member
Yeah, I don't see Gabe really being at fault here. He didn't slander the guy. He just put the guy's word in front of a bigger audience. If Christoforo wasn't willing to have said bigger audience hear his words, he shouldn't have said them to begin with.
ElRenoRaven
Member
Yup it really was. The guy was just an idiot. An idiot that didn't know when to stop and admit defeat. I do agree at this point justice has been served. He's out of a job he probably shouldn't have had to begin with. His reputation is mud now rightfully so. So at this point the attacks should chill. Hopefully the guy can get help for his issues and come out of this having learned a lesson. Hell hopefully everyone can learn a lesson from this.
faceless007
Member
Well, I didn't mean to exclude those sites from the criticism, no one site has a monopoly on disgusting Internet mob justice. I'm sure GAF played its part too. But this isn't the first time I've been disgusted by Gabe's passive-aggressive tactic of posting a rant against whoever's pissing him off then feigning ignorance when his followers all descend en masse on it. The fact that he basically bragged in his post about never getting over his middle-school grudges against bullies doesn't exactly make me think of him as a well-adjusted adult.
la flama blanca
Banned
I have no sympathy for what happened to this guy. You fuck up, you and those around you suffer because of it. It's called being an adult. The only positive thing that can come of this is that he learned a valuable lesson.
Parallax Scroll
Banned
He's not. He has more or less said this himself.
BobTheFork
Member
wow... That youtube video is both hilarious and fucking sad at how fast it came out. Welcome to the world in which we live.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
I was hoping for a twist ending where there actually was no control pad or something 
Didn't you just do what Gabe did, though, slant an internet argument to slam him and make him look bad?
I'm not saying you're evil btw, just pointing out that it's human nature.
True, your counter argument would logically be "well, I don't have followers." And you'd be right.
It's how life works, though, and raging against it is naive at best.
This thread includes a lot of the PA mob. Don't expect many replies agreeing with you.
I have a hard time feeling bad for a guy who, by everything we've seen so far, has a history of lying about his "connections" to try and bully people into getting what he wants. This wasn't a one time thing. This is how this guy seems to act on a regular basis. That video of him complaining about road noise coupled with the video description really drove it home for me. He literally said "Help a family out," like road noise is some horrible tragedy. Then in the description he made veiled threats based on all the supposed connections he had. Let's also not forget that he implied that he had mob connections when he responded to Gabe. He lost a client and possibly his job, which he should. He'll have to deal with some temporary harassment from internet people, which I think is hilarious. People will forget and he will move on with his life. His life isn't being "destroyed" in any way.
Because he's not, I have no idea why the PA haters are trying to use this whole fiasco as ammunition against PA or its community, especially with the whole white knight/high horse "Think of his family!" argument. You know what? He should have thought of his family before he decided to be a shitty businessman and treat customers like dirt. If he fucks up and loses his job up because he's being an asshole, then its because of him and no one else.
Don't blame Gabe for this guy's bullshit coming back to bite him in the ass, its his own fault he decided to be a tool and treat a paying customer like garbage. He gets no sympathy from me.
Regardless of the quality of the product, N-Control is getting the shitty end of this deal by being caught in the cross-fire of all this and having their product slammed with negative reviews on Amazon and the like. They're the ones I feel sorry for. They've done everything in their power to distance themselves from this guy as much as possible since all this started, but it looks like the damage has been done.
Neuromancer
Member
Well alls well that ends well.
You should right an awkward comedy screenplay, focusing on a completely unselfaware giant douchebag based on this guy. Starts off with this episode, then follows him around as he tries to land on his feet again through the same shit he's done before (i.e. bravado and bullshit), only to be repeatedly shut down - and in the end has to reconsider the life choices he's ... you can figure it out from there.
I'm just saying. it would be funny seeing a movie about an unlikeable guy that slowly comes to understand that.
funkystudent
Member
I hope I never piss off the internet.
While I agree that this probably should have stopped after he lost his job, I don't think PA should be blamed for the way this went. They posted the story, and from that moment it was not a Penny Arcade thing, it was an Internet thing. If they had posted an article telling everyone to wrap this thing up, that would have held 0 weight to people on here, on Something Awful, on Reddit, and everywhere else.
People aren't going after this guy because Penny Arcade told them to, people are going after him because he is an all too familiar douchebag. This is just overstaying its welcome like everything else that has ever been on the internet.
People aren't going after this guy because Penny Arcade told them to, people are going after him because he is an all too familiar douchebag. This is just overstaying its welcome like everything else that has ever been on the internet.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA from one random tag to another!
http://myworld.ebay.com/theangrydude/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
What everyone should know about me
I am a god person to do business with
Humorous on many levels. I can't get enough, everything this guy puts up is filled with conceit and horrid spelling.
What everyone should know about me
I am a god person to do business with
Humorous on many levels. I can't get enough, everything this guy puts up is filled with conceit and horrid spelling.
Well, its all with the attitude. Don't be a dick and people won't piss you off.
The guy became aggressive and was outrageously unprofessional, he asked for it so much. If only he wouldn't act like such a douche in the first place nothing in all of this would have happened.
The guy lost his job, he was doing it way wrong, its just logical. That's what you get for thinking you are some kind of superior being and for treating your customers like ants.
You have learned something very important today.
Aruarian Reflection
Chauffeur de la gdlk
Hrm... I know a girl who works at that news agency, I'll send her the link
I took a peek at the PA forums to see what they were saying about this. It's no wonder their thread is so small, PA forums are a no fun zone thanks to the nazi moderation
uhhh............................................................................... yes please do.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Rev3 FTW.
BoobPhysics101
Banned
Yeah that's weak. Just leave the guy and his family alone, he got owned in less than 24 hours, job is done, let's go home.
Not for all of this, but the situation was knowingly aggravated by a known aggravator. As much as the PA boys like to think so, there doesn't need to be quite so fine a line between representing gamers and being shit-flingers.
Yeah, the SA mobsters are really vicious sometimes. You don't want to piss them off, they'll remember you for YEARS to get revenge.
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
I'm waiting for the Docpan "So I just got fired" post.
Yeah. Gabe's always been a childish asshole--this isn't an insult, he's quite proud of this. He's always been vicious with his tongue and especially on the PA forums. Most people here probably remember the early PA forums where Gabe would completely and totally lose his mind whenever anyone didn't agree with his Christian beliefs.
To balance that critique, though, his organization is well run and he is a generous donator to charity, so he's not a BAD person ALL the time.
Loww blow
reptilescorpio
Member
Only MOST of the time?