Escapist magazine, Derek Smart and Star Citizen

[drewjn]

Quite recently, an article was posted (next one of a series of defamation articles) specifically against Chris Roberts and his project. If anyone hasn't already looked at the drama at this point in time, here is a decent outline of what is going on.

 

The article: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/features/14715-CIG-Employees-Talk-Star-Citizen-and-the-State-of-the-Company

Prior article from same poster: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/14695-Star-Citizen-Controversy-Reaches-a-Boiling-Point

 

 

Even though the original author of these articles are under the name Lizzy, most of the derogatory comments and phrases are directly word for word from the blog and posts (including twitter) from a mr. Derek Smart. To start off, the claims and evidence of such allegations were actually taken word for word from Glassdoor Australia, which is not at all known for being legitimate:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/3n6lum/escapist_anonymous_sources_uncovered/

 

 

Detailed response by Chris Roberts was posted on the RSI site:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14979-Chairmans-Response-To-The-Escapist

 

 

Most of what is written is practically taken word for word from Derek Smart's toxic twitter and blog posts that he constantly uses to attack the credibility of Star Citizen. What makes it further interesting is that Derek Smart and the 'author' of this post is commonly seen posting together, in addition to another account, that specifically attacks the credibility other companies and their works. Usually without any valid points.

 

Derek Smart also has a history of criticizing Chris Robert's prior games starting from Wing Commander. To the point of creating law suits claiming that certain intellectual properties, ie the name and ideas are similar to his own games (of which, each of them were actually released 3 or 4 years following the release of CR's games, not prior). Of course, the law suit was subsequently been thrown out of court. Though he is mentioned as an independent game developer, the vast majority of his games have been poorly received or even flopped. This has never stopped him from stridently forum warring other developers and other IPs.

 

A self-described "eccentric and vocal personality",^[16] Smart is renowned for lengthy and aggressive online responses to perceived criticism.^[17] Computer Games Magazine wrote that "over time, his reputation as an online defender of his games and unabashed pistol-whipper of his enemies overshadows the games themselves."^[18] In an interview which was featured on the cover page of Computer Gaming World, Smart said of his online persona: "Sometimes when I get online, and it's quiet, and I see something that attracts my attention, I'll post just to piss these guys off. That's why I do it. Because I'm in a good mood that day, I go in there and I start trouble."^[17] A 2012 in-depth article regarding the disconnect between his real-life and online alter-ego was authored by media veteran Russ Pitts and published by The Verge.^[19]

 

 

 

P.S./Edit:

Minor additional point. Even if there were legitimate sources behind the 'anonymous but verified' people that are the basis of the article, there is absolutely no validation or supporting evidence by any one of these claims. If the problem truly was bad, such as horrid working conditions, or dishonestly and misappropriation of funds, then the source should actually step up and clear the air rather than stay as an anonymous source; especially if there was any interest in caring for the game industry or the community. So at this point, even though the article says 'verified' sources, it is poor journalism to push allegations and claims without any proof. If anything it is practically character assassination without proof,

[rentaspoon]

Well written, its worth putting in the info of gamergate and the community tho

[Napper198]

Nice one @drewjn but 1st there never was a lawsuit regarding Wing Commander just the thread and 2nd I'd also add that DS not only attacked Roberts and his games but also Planetside 2 to get attention.

[drewjn]

Nice one @drewjn but 1st there never was a lawsuit regarding Wing Commander just the thread and 2nd I'd also add that DS not only attacked Roberts and his games but also Planetside 2 to get attention.

 

I believe Chris Roberts mentioned an attempted lawsuit by Derek Smart on his rebuttal, so I am going by his comments. I may have misread though, so I'll take it with a grain of salt.

 

 

Also on another point considering the Forbes article:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2015/10/01/report-star-citizen-is-almost-out-of-cash-and-chris-roberts-insatiable-ambition-is-to-blame/

 

I thought journalism was supposed to be about digging through the information, clarifying the facts and after verification, bring it out to the public.

 

Posting an opinion about a recent article that was biased in the first place (considering the influence of Derek Smart and his antagonistic history towards Chris Roberts from the 1990s) could be considered making judgement and assumption a bit too soon.

 

On a final note, sources and allegations are supposed to be verified before being claimed, with reason and evidence. Not up to the reader to assume if it is warranted. (of which, poster of Forbes article comments that he wished to bring up the point, and let 'us' decide if it is valid). Please read his responses to the comments section of his article.

 

In addition keep in mind his bias and distaste toward the "many" star citizen fanboys that attack him and how he kept on adding 'Edits' to his initial article. I personally find the comment on how people should play the 'complete' game Elite: Dangerous is kind of humorous. It isn't complete (as per the goals of the kickstarter) and it is a completely different type and scope of game. I don't really find him that good of a journalist. Usually Forbes is far better than this... Especially with the 'I am no longer sure if the sources are legit, but I'll believe it anyway' spiel.

[Napper198]

I believe Chris Roberts mentioned an attempted lawsuit by Derek Smart on his rebuttal, so I am going by his comments. I may have misread though, so I'll take it with a grain of salt.

 

 

This is the same person who wrote a letter to Origin and me after Wing Commander was out claiming that we were infringing on his game and we had to cease publishing it or he would sue us. We told him we never heard of him and good luck with that. He never sued.

 

It's just that Star Citizen seems to be too popular and attacking it would cause a lot of discussion and thus a lot of clicks which in return generate money through ads. IMHO they don't even care if it's correct, they just want a piece of the cake.

 

Problem here is that if enough bad reports come in, the game itself will be seen as bad by the public regardless of the information being right or not and the sad truth is that we'll only be seen as Chris' army of trolls and therefore our opinion doesn't matter.

 

The attacks will continue until the game is fully released with all its stretch goals. There is no doubt in that, because there are just a lot of people who are not happy that this totally new approach actually works so well that it's threatening their profit,/jobs/company.

[rentaspoon]

Haven't read the Forbes article but I'll update this post with articles to read, just to add to @Napper198 point this is just before CCon so people are going to look up and click on that crap as well

August 2014

https://www.facebook.com/dereksmart3000ad/posts/10152647471632679

June 2014

http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/derek-smart-talks-derek-smarts-early-access-fee-derek-smarts-game

A fairly decent interview with DS

http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/14/3553620/the-redemption-of-derek-smart

[rucdoc]

the forbes thing was kinda crap. also people on reddit found a bunch of super recent posts to glassdoor with verbatum claims from the escapist piece

[Wauthar]

the forbes thing was kinda crap. also people on reddit found a bunch of super recent posts to glassdoor with verbatum claims from the escapist piece

The whole thing just seems all too convenient for the anti-SC people. Those 'reviews' were posted within a week DS and co talked about it...

[rentaspoon]

These guys do good coverage:

http://guardfrequency.com (get past the whiskey bit)

The simple issue I have with the article is that as a backer I have no concept of how bad the damage is (if it was true). I mean we could be talking about Wingman but on the flip side this could just be a disgruntled janitor who quit cos he didn't get a new broom (using extremes to prove my point of course) and as backers we are the most important audience, then the potential backers then the anti-sc group.

And I don't particularly like being called a SJW but it worries me when anti-GG are standing against antiSC/GGers attacking "us". Its funny to be told I'm blind because I can't see the collapse.

I think as a community we knew the risk before we pledged. IF (big IF) this is going down, I'm going with it.

[colt92]

I don't really see GG anywhere around this whole thing. Maybe it's because I just don't give an f about what people who probably have no idea about SC's development status says to fling a bunch of shit around. I'm honestly far more afraid about the negative consequences these defamers may cause on SC than any of what they're saying.

 

And I'd like to share with you a perfect saying that we have here in Spain for The Escapist's sources actually being Glassdoor posts: "A liar is sooner caught than a guy with a limp."

[Grrizz]

"Usually Forbes is far better than this..."

I disagree with this, IMO Forbes is a one stop news shop with a bunch of journalists that cover everything and anything but don't necessarily have a background understanding of the topic they are covering, most of their articles come off like an outsider who has done a days research usually missing anything deeper than what is presented in "surface" articles on the net and lacking even a basic understanding of the topics they write about, far from a good source of information and I mean that beyond just the gaming section.

[rentaspoon]

I don't really see GG anywhere around this whole thing.

Wulf, who sent out the FTC investigation letter (Smart edited his blog to take this out, I remember it being in there but I can find the original one archived) got attacked told he was stupid for supporting a pedo (among other stuff). You can trace it all back, the issue is some anti-gg have said fair comments about SC or DS so they have been retweeted, among with DS calling us SJW terms.

there is more but I'm not posting everything.

Of course not all of GG are coming after SC

[rucdoc]

you think you can remove things from the internet, but you can't. The way back machine has an unedited version of his FTC rant. though his dropbox link to the demand letter doesn't work, the discussion of it and the lawsuit are still there.

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20150912083317/http://www.dereksmart.org/2015/08/interstellar-breach/

 

also his site from january is so much different than the one from august.

[rentaspoon]

you think you can remove things from the internet, but you can't. The way back machine has an unedited version of his FTC rant. though his dropbox link to the demand letter doesn't work, the discussion of it and the lawsuit are still there.

http://web.archive.org/web/20150912083317/http://www.dereksmart.org/2015/08/interstellar-breach/

also his site from january is so much different than the one from august.

Yeah I know, it's funny how much has changed and not just with edits, fun little thing he said in 2012

"Twenty years from now my daughter will be out of college and she'll be reading all of this stuff and I don't want her memories of her dad tainting her ability to progress in life,"

Guess he doesn't care now

[KevinTipcorn]

Pretty wierd he's tweeting about Star Citizens robots.txt file blocking the whole site from archive.org today.

Especially when it doesn't.  

I tried to help one of his fav/retweeters out by giving him a link to the robots txt file so he could look at it and see it only blocks the /media/ directory.

He then showed DS a google cache of the same file from Sept. 5th as evidence they had been blocking the whole site for months.  

Strange.

Edit: not Beer 4 the beer god, I saw him post about it after I posted here.  Was a random canuk.

[rentaspoon]

@KevinTipcorn if you go back to his tweets about James Pugh leaving he had the link wrong, its his favourite thing.

But if you look at glass door they block robots.txt too, funny that

[drewjn]

It almost feels like he has nothing else to do but harp about how he doesn't like the direction of star citizen.

I will grant him the fact that he does have some beef with CR and CIG, but it seems to have steamed from his over abundant negativity of how large in spite the game has gotten after he himself backed.

It seems that CR or CIG may have over zealously responded by nullifying and refunded his pledge, but it seems DS just wishes to take it to a whole new level by stringently hoping the game ends in failure.

Regardless of what he says, I think that his main focus in all of his remarks is more towards personal vendetta than any care for the game industry and communities involved. Judging by his forum warring history, I almost only see him as an arrogant hypocrite with a chip on his shoulder.

Maybe I'm mean or misinformed to think this way but I can't like his methods.

[rucdoc]

@drewjn nah you have it about right, it seems to be personal and not about SC itself.

[rentaspoon]

@drewjn spot on.

If the lawyers letter to DS is true (which I can't see why they would lie) they both happily agreed for the refund. IF he supported it, he would of just left it and said only time will tell.

IF it wasn't personal he wouldn't be attacking it daily with "new evidence", I mean its getting desperate with the rbt.txt, to the point of slander.

CR is making the game DS always wanted and he's jealous.

[Stuntz]

I was hoping to not see DS named on at least 1 SC subforum, but alas...

 

Seems CIG have threatened legal action after the good escapist folks claimed they saw ID cards proving CIG employment from those they took statements from. CIG's reponse? They don't give out ID cards. As such, CIG have released the Kraken Ortwin. Escapist has until Monday to retract their article and make a formal apology, or CIG opens up libel/slander proceedings in both the UK and US. While freedom of speech in the US does give the escapist a little more protection there, it doesn't grant them immunity to spead hate/lies. In the UK however, libel is taken very seriously, and journalists don't have that same protection.

[rucdoc]

yeah in the UK this is a straight up mess for the escapist. there libel rests almost completely on the offender to prove alligations made. IE calling someone a drunkard you need to have proof, like repeated records of DWI ect. Where as the US side, it's up to CIG to prove that Escpaist knew what they were saying was false

[rentaspoon]

I was hoping to not see DS named on at least 1 SC subforum, but alas...

Seems CIG have threatened legal action after the good escapist folks claimed they saw ID cards proving CIG employment from those they took statements from. CIG's reponse? They don't give out ID cards. As such, CIG have released the Kraken Ortwin. Escapist has until Monday to retract their article and make a formal apology, or CIG opens up libel/slander proceedings in both the UK and US. While freedom of speech in the US does give the escapist a little more protection there, it doesn't grant them immunity to spead hate/lies. In the UK however, libel is taken very seriously, and journalists don't have that same protection.

Yeah we tried so hard not to talk about him but I'm glad its kept to this thread, @ixi_your_face face can we have an unwritten rule to keep the main org thread about the game and not the company or something? (I'm probably the worst here)

Where did you get the source for that info?

Also I'm going to start giving 1000UEC to the org (when in game) every time I post about DS or related issues

yeah in the UK this is a straight up mess for the escapist. there libel rests almost completely on the offender to prove alligations made. IE calling someone a drunkard you need to have proof, like repeated records of DWI ect. Where as the US side, it's up to CIG to prove that Escpaist knew what they were saying was false

TBH I'll be surprised if they don't counter sue DS if he does go with the lawsuit.

But I don't know the law in the US but I would've thought they could get a gag order or something for harassment

[Wauthar]

Yeah we tried so hard not to talk about him but I'm glad its kept to this thread, @ixi_your_face face can we have an unwritten rule to keep the main org thread about the game and not the company or something? (I'm probably the worst here)

Where did you get the source for that info?

Also I'm going to start giving 1000UEC to the org (when in game) every time I post about DS or related issues

Bleh, you made it easy for yourself. If you're giving the UEC ingame (as in: launched PU), there will be nothing for 'him' to be nagging about

[rentaspoon]

Bleh, you made it easy for yourself. If you're giving the UEC ingame (as in: launched PU), there will be nothing for 'him' to be nagging about

Please this is DS and I'm already up to 2000

[rentaspoon]

"Based by the generous standards set by you, we believe 24hrs should be sufficient to hear from you"

That guys a bad ass

(3000)