[Dennis]

Yatta, on Jun 10 2009, 07:50 AM, said:

I'm sorry, I just can't over this issue.

In my mind I have attempted to play the devil's advocate so as to spare myself from the desire to reprove George as I did above, but I just can't get around the fact that the man has the nerve to publicly admit to his ignorantly lavish splurges. If he so wishes to enjoy private life, he should by all means do so, but I am troubled in knowing that he bears no guilt in his conscience for gambling with people's lives by gambling with what could have potentially been a few more weeks of advances, or the savior of at least one faithful employee's job for an additional few months. Moreover, he posts this on Twitter without being conscious of his arrogance.

Once again, I try to play the devil's advocate in telling myself that a few thousand dollars is chump change wouldn't make a difference. But then I wonder, why must an expecting father to a second child, who, among a recession and a heartwrenching desire to remain with a company which he has shown great loyalty and dedication to, lose his position if his "friend" and longtime business colleague has the financial means to play poker with a third or possibly even half of this employee's yearly net income?

I should note that I exemplify Joe as a just instance for my exposing of George, and not because of my relationship with him, of which I have none. I will however disclose that I'm not worried as much about the other guys who might not have been with the company for as long, or who are actual developers, because it will be much more difficult to find a similar position as "community manager" versus "game designer." As far as I am aware, the more robust ex-employees have already easily found new positions elsewhere (but this is not the main point of my argument).

I have clearly nothing to gain except a feeling of satisfaction from speaking against George--in fact, I risk my website being blacklisted if he somehow takes offense to my post and decides to make the situation personal. However, I suppose the honest desire for justice and fairness can come at a price which I must be willing to accept, especially if I intend to show that I firmly stand by what I have said.

Post of the year, you should post it on the frontpage

Don't fear that Duke4.net will be blacklisted because in the last 5-10 years he contributed absolutely nothing to this site, I think the community gave the man to much credit the last decade, he has no social skills and as a manager he failed miserable. The man is highly overrated, and that is our own mistake.

[PokeThePower]

The primary counter that I mentioned to Yatta in PM is that the expenditure isn't as lavish as it seems there. The buy in was only $2,500 and he had won up to $15,000 before being knocked out. I do agree it's a bit in poor taste, but eh... I don't imagine many if any of the guys that went through the layoff begrudge him for going on the trip.

[megamustaine]

I really cannot see it being in poor taste. It is not as if he posted this stuff on the front page of 3DR. It isn't a 3DR twitter page either. It is GB's personal twitter page, that he has been kind enough to use to update us fans on the status on DNF from time to time. It sounds like a vacation to me, that was probably planned in advance. Being that George seems to be an avid poker player, I don't think this is a ludicrous assumption at all.

[PokeThePower]

megamustaine, on Jun 10 2009, 01:15 AM, said:

I really cannot see it being in poor taste. It is not as if he posted this stuff on the front page of 3DR. It isn't a 3DR twitter page either. It is GB's personal twitter page, that he has been kind enough to use to update us fans on the status on DNF from time to time. It sounds like a vacation to me, that was probably planned in advance. Being that George seems to be an avid poker player, I don't think this is a ludicrous assumption at all.

It almost certainly was planned ahead of time. No doubt about it. But seriously, when you've got people who were just working for you (and probably working a whole lot of extra hours and putting their personal/family life on hold a little) going on unemployment right about now... show at least a little respect for the time and effort they put in for you. Absolutely no need to remind them and the rest of the world that you're still wealthy and making out of it just fine when they aren't even sure when/where they are going to find a new job.

His twitter *is* the voice of 3DR and gets used as a news providing source as well as personal stuff, but he's advertising that he's gambling and traveling and staying in nice hotels while others are hoping they can pay the bills. It isn't their fault that they are in that position.

Like I said, they may not even care, and that's fine, but I can't even fathom posting publically about that sort of stuff if I were in his shoes. There isn't any reason to put something up on Twitter *except* to be public about it. You can't pretend like Twitter is some private thing only meant for close friends and family or something. The entire purpose is to advertise what you are doing and he has frequently used it to advertise 3DR/DNF and news/information surrounding it.

[Kathy]

George can do whatever he wants with his money. And I think that is in no way poor taste to participate in some poker tournaments. But that justification ends once this becomes public thru pretty much bragging on twitter/facebook when his company went down just month ago.

And yes. Twitter is 3DR's voice. And George himself made it that way when he advertised it on DNF forums.

[megamustaine]

Well, I just don't think you can tell GB to stop living his life. His twitter is a publicly available for everyone to see and maybe he should take this into account before he makes posts, but at the same time I don't see Twitter as being any different than if he were to update a personal blog. He is just updating people who care, what he is up to. Who cares what GB is up to? Well obviously fans, and I guess this kind of makes GB some sort of small time celeb and maybe celebrities have to be more conscious about what they tell people about than the average joe does. Let me ask a question though. Lets just say I get laid off tomorrow, and the following month my boss posts a personal tweet regarding him taking a vacation, and how he is having fun and spending a bit of money. Is he afforded the privacy to do this, or is it just in bad taste? I think it is the former and not the latter. However before publicly posting anything I think people should take into account that they are always opening up their lives to scrutiny. This is even more true when you have even a little bit of a celeb status, like good old GB has garnered. The more successful a person is, the more scrutinized they will be.

[Kathy]

megamustaine, on Jun 10 2009, 12:06 PM, said:

Let me ask a question though. Lets just say I get laid off tomorrow, and the following month my boss posts a personal tweet regarding him taking a vacation, and how he is having fun and spending a bit of money. Is he afforded the privacy to do this, or is it just in bad taste? I think it is the former and not the latter.

It depends on the company. 3DR was a private "friendly in office" company, no suits or something. Plus, the 99% of the company got laid off, not just one guy.

[Lt.Havoc]

Well, of course, the best would have been for him not to post those things, I agree, but as many said, what he does in privat has nohing to do with the company. I think he is a bit naive in this regard, but maybe he knows that his reputation is already screwed so so he simply dosent care what others thing about him. He knows everyone blamews him for the reccent mess and hate him, so why should he try to act diffrent from what he did most of the time?

I also belive that it wasnt easy for him to throw out his team and whatnot, so he is trying to compentaste his frustration somehow. He led the team and worked on something for such a long time and then almost looses everything, thats hard and everyone deals diffrently with this. GB deals with it that he goes to Poker, plays Fallout 3 and does all kind of trivial or non-so trivial things.

[crunchysuperman]

His private life is his own business to do as he likes, but I agree that for all the things he stays quiet about, posting about this was perhaps a tad inconsiderate.

[Kennerado]

$35 burger,

[Delekhan]

Kennerado, on Jun 10 2009, 05:55 PM, said:

$35 burger,

I seriously want to know what they put on a $35 burger that makes it worth the price? Like a pound of coke or something? I mean seriously what the hell can you do to a burger that makes it worth a $35 price tag?

[zchri9]

Wow, Funding issues indeed.
Sure, I have nothing against George but really. Apparently the company had funding issues and he goes to vegas and is eating $35 burgers. (wonder how good the burger was!! )

[Ras]

Delekhan, on Jun 10 2009, 11:46 PM, said:

I seriously want to know what they put on a $35 burger that makes it worth the price? Like a pound of coke or something? I mean seriously what the hell can you do to a burger that makes it worth a $35 price tag?

It's not what's in it. It's what's on it. Kobe beef. Imported from Japan, and the cows are given beer, massages and maybe even a daily handjob. Wait. Then it wouldn't be a cow.

[Kennerado]

GB playing in event 24 tomorrow, lolz

[Raziel]

Kennerado, on Jun 10 2009, 05:55 PM, said:

$35 burger,

Must be a f* amazing burger...

[Floodge]

I think I will have to take a trip down to see the poker tournament.. Maybe even stop by and grab a 35 dollar burger on the way.

Living in Vegas is fun

[Yatta]

Looks like he just put in another 6 grand.

[rockmx8]

Dang George you really are quite a gambler.......

[PokeThePower]

Yatta, on Jun 11 2009, 05:38 PM, said:

Looks like he just put in another 6 grand.

Nah, that's just his current chip count after the previous rounds.

[Splat]

I hope he wins big and buys a new Porsche. And posts pics of it on Twitter. Haha. F*** Empathy.

I'm just a fool who thinks George is cool, no matter what.

[Kennerado]

lol Georgie boy busted out again. Looks like he went pretty far in that event though.

[dalbrech]

Looks as if George is as good at poker as he is at Game Program Managment.
He has a right to do what he wants with his own money, and I have been known to play poker now and again myself, but twittering about it when his company is bankrupt , it employees out of work, and in the middle of a lawsuit is incredibly stupid from a Public relations point of view if nothing else.
I just do not understand why this guy has any fans left. His incompetence is really staggering.

[Raziel]

I also don't see this as a big deal... I mean, did you guys honestly think because 3DR has no funding to continue internal development George would be bankrupt? Of course not, he would have pulled the plug before his personal funds ran out. He has accomplished a lot in his life, yes, DNF = epic fail, but he still deserves the money he earned and I don't see an issue with how he chooses to spend it. A lot of it went into DNF, some of it just went into Poker and an expensive burger, it's not what I would have done, but it's his money, he can spend it as he wants.

[Dennis]

Raziel, on Jun 15 2009, 06:06 AM, said:

I also don't see this as a big deal... I mean, did you guys honestly think because 3DR has no funding to continue internal development George would be bankrupt? Of course not, he would have pulled the plug before his personal funds ran out. He has accomplished a lot in his life, yes, DNF = epic fail, but he still deserves the money he earned and I don't see an issue with how he chooses to spend it. A lot of it went into DNF, some of it just went into Poker and an expensive burger, it's not what I would have done, but it's his money, he can spend it as he wants.

No we don't think that.

[ryche]

George should just give me the money. He can claim he's gambling weither I'll pay the bills or fix the Camaro I have that's falling apart on me each month.

[PokeThePower]

Raziel, on Jun 14 2009, 10:06 PM, said:

I also don't see this as a big deal... I mean, did you guys honestly think because 3DR has no funding to continue internal development George would be bankrupt? Of course not, he would have pulled the plug before his personal funds ran out. He has accomplished a lot in his life, yes, DNF = epic fail, but he still deserves the money he earned and I don't see an issue with how he chooses to spend it. A lot of it went into DNF, some of it just went into Poker and an expensive burger, it's not what I would have done, but it's his money, he can spend it as he wants.

People are not complaining about him choosing to go play poker. They are complaining that he chooses to advertise it publically when he has people who dedicated years to him are looking for work and some of them probably filing for unemployment.

[mrsunshines]

Maybe not just stupid, but also a fraud?

DNF Banking Shenanigans?


I don't feel much sympathy for George or Joe if any of these allegations are true, only the people who never saw their work see the light of day.

As for the money conundrum, IMHO a person can do whatever he wants to do with his capital so long that capital doesn't endanger the welfare of the company that other people count on. That's just my 2 cents
btw

[Shax]

mrsunshines, on Jun 15 2009, 03:48 PM, said:

Maybe not just stupid, but also a fraud?

DNF Banking Shenanigans?


I don't feel much sympathy for George or Joe if any of these allegations are true, only the people who never saw their work see the light of day.

As for the money conundrum, IMHO a person can do whatever he wants to do with his capital so long that capital doesn't endanger the welfare of the company that other people count on. That's just my 2 cents
btw

I agree 100%, if the allegations prove true George will be well on his way to being the most hated man in video game history.

[Delekhan]

Shax, on Jun 15 2009, 04:09 PM, said:

I agree 100%, if the allegations prove true George will be well on his way to being the most hated man in video game history.

Well other then Jack Thompson.

[Kathy]

He probably meant the insider to the vg's industry. Jack is not, just like Uwe.