By John Walker on September 13th, 2009 at 10:57 am.
A quick update on the Fly Gabe Newell story, where amateur L4D campaign maker Joe W-A is trying to raise the money to fly Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson to Brisbane, Australia, so they will call off their boycott of his mod. (Read the original story to make sense of this.) He needed to make roughly $2400 to achieve this. Rather incredibly he’s just broken the $3000 barrier. Gabe, you’re going to Oz.
Joystiq spoke to someone at Valve who suggests that Gabe will honour his agreement.
However, it seems that’s no reason to stop giving money to Joe’s cause. Joe has committed that all excess money (so long as the donator agrees to it) will go to Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play raises money for providing toys and games for kids in hospitals around the world. It’s a good place for your money to end up. Of course, if you’re concerned about the ambiguity of giving the money this way, you could always just give some money to Child’s Play directly.
If we were a multi-million dollar company who could afford a billion plane flights, we’d certainly make sure most of the money raised went in that direction and still go on the trip.
13/09/2009 at 11:02 Jonny says:
God, I love the internet.
13/09/2009 at 11:04 Metal_Circus says:
This sotry just gets even nicer. Bravo valve!!
13/09/2009 at 11:04 Metal_Circus says:
I clearly meant story. Sotry just sounds depressing doesn’t it?
13/09/2009 at 11:10 Naurgul says:
Yes, it’s probably because it bears a resemblance to “sour”. ANYWAY, yay for awesome improbable internet initiatives!
13/09/2009 at 11:10 Heliosicle says:
Awesomes
13/09/2009 at 11:22 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
And he will have enough money to buy the camcorder! Splendid!
13/09/2009 at 11:26 Sweedums says:
i really hope they honour the agreement, i can just imagine them turning up at this guy’s door and just being like “we are here to play-test your campaign, may we come in?”
i guess its more a case of whether they have the time and/or can be arsed flying all the way to Australia for this lol
13/09/2009 at 11:32 Kadayi says:
The power of the internets is a wonderful thing with this and Tim Langell being taken to task. Here is hoping that not only do Gabe and Erik honour the promise, but they also do so in a timely fashion (though I imagine the jet lag will be killer) so the story stays fresh .
13/09/2009 at 11:34 cowthief skank says:
This really is great. I hope they go. I guess if they fail to honour the agreement they will get so much shit for it…
13/09/2009 at 11:35 Greg Wild says:
Excellent. Good to see my WHOLE DOLLAR has gone to a good cause.
13/09/2009 at 11:50 Xercies says:
This sounds increadbly stupid, its bot a heart felt story its a story about gabe making a joke and people spending there hard earned money on that joke.
13/09/2009 at 12:07 Lack_26 says:
@Xercies,
yeah, but it’s still a nice story, besides since when is money going to charity a bad thing? (Unless it was a charity that gave leprosy to penguins).
13/09/2009 at 12:08 TotalBiscuit says:
@Xercies I suppose it would sound incredibly stupid if you hadn’t bothered to read the story. Either 1) Gabe actually flies over or 2) Childs Play gets a ton of money. It’s a win/win, your cynicism is not shared.
13/09/2009 at 12:10 Jambe says:
I’m inclined to agree with Xercies — this is pretty moronic. At least the excess monies will be going to a nice charity! I’d rather the whole lot go to a nice charity, but only because I don’t give two shits about what Gabe and Erik do regards this Aussie modder’s joke-taken-much-too-seriously endeavor.
13/09/2009 at 12:16 Stijn says:
Oh come on people, lighten up.
13/09/2009 at 12:21 Lilliput King says:
What’d be really sweet would be if Gabe and Eric now went, but Valve paid for the flight, so all the money raised went to charity.
Can you imagine the positive publicity omigosh.
13/09/2009 at 12:23 lePooch says:
Yay Internet Philanthropy! Now I am just waiting till the other foot drops and Gabe realizes that he was not serious about wasting a week going to Oz, followed by a retraction and some concession such as adding Joe’s campaign as part of the next L4D patch.
Then what happens to the money? Here’s hoping that Joe keeps it himself, and then proceeds to post a photo op of him fake-mailing a fake check to Childs Play to avoid Angry Internet Backlash.
At least, that is what I would do. As heartwarming as it is to send $3000-odd dollars to Child’s Play, I would much rather have my heart warmed by the lifetime supply of games/munchies/peripherals/noodle soup said $3000 would get me.
So, uhm, moral of the story: Do NOT send me money.
13/09/2009 at 12:30 bill says:
It’s a cool story… but they really should put the money all to charity or something useful…. he could always send them a copy of the campaign on this thing called the internet…
…
13/09/2009 at 12:38 Metal_Circus says:
Wow, some of you guys are pretty heartless and cynical. I don’t see any of you guys giving to charity? And a modder that loves Valves games enough to make extra bits and pieces for them gets to meet a few guys from the company it self – it’s a good thing, no?
13/09/2009 at 12:40 Simon says:
Ah lePooch, lets hope he isn’t like you then! :)
13/09/2009 at 12:48 Lukasz says:
Child’s play may confirm whether he send them 3k.
if he does not i can always call a chargeback on my credit card and get my money back.
quite easy thing to do.
13/09/2009 at 12:49 Lobotomist says:
Valve managed to make piss out of boycott. Turn it into a joke. And even managed to make it into a good publicity.
Valve marketing department just thought concerned gamers a lesson : Politics 101.
Some friggin suit from management in Valve getting a fat bonus check this christmas…disgusting
I guess they got the last laugh
13/09/2009 at 12:54 Dave Gates says:
All the naysayers really need to stop complaining. Be gratefull you play on a format that not only seems to be populated by very generous people willing to share money with each other, that the world can occasionaly throw us a nice curve ball and raise a smile and that one of the most talented and powerful developers out there is willing to give fans like us the time of day. Bravo to Joe and I hope Gabe likes his work.
13/09/2009 at 12:56 Dave Gates says:
Incidentaly has anyone seen any of his campaign or previous work? This has pricked my interest.
13/09/2009 at 12:56 Pie21 says:
Worst case scenario, Gabe makes up some humorous reason for being unable to go and matches the donation in lieu of a visit.
Best case: all of Valve flies down and loves Australia so much that they set up a Melbourne office and knock on my door and hire me.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah……
13/09/2009 at 12:59 Chaos says:
Wait, what#s all this about sending all the money to charity? That would be fraud – he raised the money for one purpose, and doing anything else with it would simply be stealing that money.
The excess going to charity is good; if Valve pays for the flight, then all the money is excess. But people who wanted their money to go to charity, rather than pay for this flight, could have given the money to charity directly instead!
Oh, and as for it being a waste of money – one could argue that every dollar spent on computer games is wasted, and could go to charity instead. Let people spend money on what they enjoy, rather than what you think they ought to enjoy.
13/09/2009 at 13:10 TotalBiscuit says:
@lepooch LET’S START A REVOLUTION OVER A BUNCH OF $5 DONATIONS.
Miseryguts
13/09/2009 at 13:14 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
2Chaos:
RTFA, that’s all I say. Only the money of those who opted in for it (or sent them after the goal was reached) will be given to the charity in the case of Gabe and Eric not flying…
13/09/2009 at 13:19 DMJ says:
Yeah, I’d definitely fly to Australia to spend a week with someone who has vowed to fight me every step of the way over everything I open my mouth to say.
I would really want to be trapped in a room with a random Internet mouth-breather who can just about hammer “lol aVlve suxz” on his keyboard who acts like I shot his puppy.
I would so want to show yet another person some proprietary and very valuable code simply because he is an Angry Internet Man.
Doesn’t it sound like such a good idea to give special previews to the Angry Internet Men who make the biggest monkey-howls of outraged territorial angst? Doesn’t that guarantee that next time there is an announcement nobody will whine over nothing hoping they’ll get free stuff?
13/09/2009 at 13:22 Lukasz says:
@DMJ
i doubt your whining about whining being rewarded will get you rewarded with trip to RPS HQ.
13/09/2009 at 13:23 Chaos says:
Yeah, Frankie, I was referring to the comments urging him to give all the money to Child’s Play. What he’s doing is entirely correct, but bill (for example) seemed to want him to steal the money from the donors and give it away.
13/09/2009 at 13:31 LewieP says:
Me prediction: If they are impressed by his mod, he will get offered a job at Valve.
13/09/2009 at 13:33 Xercies says:
If I wanted to give money to charity I would give money to charity, and probably the others feelthe same. So I feel sorry for the people who spent money on this joke even though it might go to a good cause. Actyually I don’t feel sorry because there quite stupid really.
13/09/2009 at 13:36 James G says:
@DMJ
Where did you get the impression that they were AIM’s? It seems quite clear to me that even the initial E-mail was tounge in cheek, the remainder obviously so. I certainly didn’t see any reason to think the mod developers were of the “Valve sux” mindset.
13/09/2009 at 13:45 Post Maker says:
Hey DMJ, great job missing the point of this article! But then, I guess when a person has something that important to say, they just say it regardless regardless of context (or correctness), right?
13/09/2009 at 13:45 Post Maker says:
God damn you James.
13/09/2009 at 13:45 Jayt says:
DMJ your post confuses and bores me
13/09/2009 at 13:52 Christian says:
Hey…for Valve it’s a win-win-situation. They get some extra publicity at no cost and can even make this bigger by doubling the amount of money raised and donating all of it, as someone earlier suggested. And pay for the flights themselves.
That would be an awesome publicity stunt (and a inexpensive one), stating: “Not only do we care about our fans, we also care about charity”.
So clever job, Valve, that’s quite some marketing. (and I’m not trying to state that this is just a publicity-stunt by Valve or even that giving money to charity is in any way a bad thing, I hope all of the money goes to charity).
But giving this guy money is a bit silly…seeing that you could really do something useful with it instead of giving it to someone who wants to buy flights for the founder of a multi-million-dollar company.
But hey, it’s your money ;)
13/09/2009 at 13:58 Rinox says:
I, for one, am happy to have been a part of all this and hope something even more awesome follows out of it! :-)
To all the people who referred to anyone who donated as ‘stupid’…thank you. For deciding what anyone can and can’t do with their lousy 10 €/15 bucks. Thank god none of you ever spent 15 bucks on anything useless, you extraordinary people you. :-)
Man. All this weird anger almost makes me feel bad about it, but not really.
13/09/2009 at 14:05 Tom says:
I’m no nay-sayer, but you got to admit this is a genius piece of marketing
13/09/2009 at 14:09 Dominic White says:
Oh, undeniably good PR for sure. It’s a happy accident though, rather than a thought-out and planned maneuver, and that’s what makes it so good.
One of the earliest donators was Valves own Robin Walker, throwing a hefty $100 into the pot. Clearly he plans to get Gabe and Erik out long enough to take control of the company. Again.
13/09/2009 at 14:12 frymaster says:
This is both the source of Valve’s genius and their Achilles heel. They don’t act like a big publisher – they continue to act like independant developers (which they kinda are) only with more money. Hence things like this, like flying the boycotters in, like hiring various modders and the l4d/portal groups. Hence also whatever communications trainwreck resulted in almost no publishers updating their euro prices when they changed to regional pricing.
13/09/2009 at 14:20 John Walker says:
Just to clarify some of the wanton missing of the point here:
Joe has said, in the event that Gabe and Erik do not fly to Oz, that all the money will be returned unless the donator specifically says he can give it to charity.
Joe isn’t a L4D2 boycotter, as a cursory glance of anything to do with this story would reveal. He’s a big Valve fan who sent a jokey email to Newell.
This simply cannot be a Valve marketing stunt. Before Joe started raising money for this endeavour Gabe Newell had written a total of eight words in two joking emails. It’s entirely the creation of a 19 year old in Australia. Certainly Valve can now take advantage of this situation to create positive publicity, but those attempting to denounce it all as cynical marketing by Valve are utterly delusional.
In all my visits to Valve I’ve never seen anyone wearing a suit.
Oh, and to those who say it’s a waste of money/there’s better things to do with my money, etc. Thanks, but I’ll choose how I spend it without your financial consultation. I think giving a tiny amount of money to something this fun brightens my day, and hopefully will eventually brighten Joe’s. It’s none of your miserable damned business. Thanks!
13/09/2009 at 14:26 Jeremy says:
Point in favor they’ll be going to Australia…by the time they go, it’ll be summer.
13/09/2009 at 14:42 The_B says:
I know what you mean, the whole think before you speak thing never seems to apply to some parts of the net, despite the extra length of time it takes someone to type their response.
But stories like this (and just the stories ¬_¬) make me feel warm and fuzzy about the sensible majority of the internet. YAY PEOPLE!
13/09/2009 at 14:42 Funky Badger says:
+1 for the Rat Ogre.
13/09/2009 at 14:56 Gorgeras says:
Er John, the only people that have suggested even remotely that this was a Valve marketing stunt are those being 100% positive about Valve, think the Boycott are idiots and Valve can do no wrong.
Yet again before a Boycotter even posted here, we had posts being snide about the Boycott, but still it’s the Boycotters being characterised as AIMs.
13/09/2009 at 15:05 Dreamhacker says:
Heh. Good thing the boycotters havent thought about kidnapping the 2 lead guys and demanding an end to all L4D2 development as ransom.
Jokes aside, this does raise the question of how far is too far in game fandom…
13/09/2009 at 15:07 Lobotomist says:
@John Walker “In all my visits to Valve I’ve never seen anyone wearing a suit.”
Wearing suit is not required for being greedy corporate creep.
Company that I work in was almost dissembled and sold by a rich guy wearing dirty t-shirt and flip flops. Because we make lot of money , but he feels we could be making more if we add more banners and adware.
As for Valve. Dont tell me they do not have marketing department. And no business management.
Chance is they have best people their money can buy.
But boycott is now dead. Valve showed great public relation cunning. But they certainly lost their innocence.
And whatever people say about them now- they will never again have a clean rep.
As for me. I will never again buy another game by Valve
13/09/2009 at 15:15 Dominic White says:
Lobotomist.. do you ever stop being angry and bitter? How old are you? Because if you’re under 60, then you’re a premature grumpy old man.
And ‘Lost their innocence’? How? By showing two people determined to not buy L4D2 the game, and changing their minds in the process? Isn’t that the singlehandedly most innocent way of changing someones mind?
13/09/2009 at 15:16 John Walker says:
Gorgeras – the points I made weren’t all connected, clearly. Above someone has posted a peculiar rant about how Joe is an anti-Valve boycotter. Which he is not. So I said so. And I made no comment either away about this bloody boycott.
Lobotomist – the suit comment wasn’t entirely serious.
13/09/2009 at 15:17 Psychopomp says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WHptG35EWU
Relevant
13/09/2009 at 15:25 Jim Rossignol says:
“I will never again buy another game by Valve.”
I did laugh out loud just there.
13/09/2009 at 15:31 Lobotomist says:
Hehe. It is funny.
Note I said “I will never again buy another game by Valve.”
not
“I will never again play another game by Valve.”
;)
This is how it works in my neighborhood
13/09/2009 at 15:33 IdleHands says:
Lobotomist -
Valve have a marketing department?! My lord now they’ll be able to advertise their games. That is diabolical with a capital Dire! Any company with a marketing department instantly means they are unclean and they run every email through the department for the suitable response.
It’s all a marketing conspiracy! Also JFK was shot from the grassy knoll. Aliens landed in Roswell. It’s definitely a malicious marketing ploy and not a harmless joke.
13/09/2009 at 15:36 Dave Gates says:
For the love of god… I love this site because it usually has such open minded people. Why all the bile? This is a fun entertaining piece of news. I think there is more then a bit of jealousy being bounced around. Oh and all those saying that this is merely rewarding an angry nerd for the love of god look at your own posts because that is exactly what you’re becomming. Something funny has happened, rejoice in it rather than smash it down.
13/09/2009 at 15:38 Justin Keverne says:
By this point I don’t care if he gives my $10 to Child’s Play or keeps it for himself. He’s brought a fair amount of amusement to my weekend and he’s earned my money. I could rant about how I actively give to charity anyway but nobody’d believe me and quite frankly whether I do or not is nobody else’s business.
This is rather nice, if unplanned PR, but Valve aren’t stupid they’ll make sure they come out of this looking good. If Gabe and Erik go it’ll be on their dime and all the money raised will go to Child’s Play, probably with a hefty addition from Gabe himself.
Anyway, roll on L4D2 should keep me more than happy until I can can get me some Episode 3.
13/09/2009 at 15:41 Lambchops says:
i can almost see Lobotomist coming out with a team America style “The corporations are bad because they are all corporationy” type of comment.
Every bloody games company does some sort of PR whether they be a behemoth publisher or a little indie dev. That Valve happen to be somewhat adept at it doesn’t make them somehow evil and worthy of completely boycotting. I’ve got to say i’m incredibly confused by the PR = bad insinuations you appear to be making; unless I misunterstand you and you are mad at something else entirely.
Showing protesters what they are protesting against in an effort to make them understand it is an age old technique (big pharmaceutical companies, for example, used to do this with animal rights protestors before the protestors lost almost all their public sympathy by digging up people’s dead relatives) and a worthwhile one. It wont always change people’s minds but at least it stops uninformed, lunatic accusations.
13/09/2009 at 15:51 Alan Wilson says:
As John Walker says, you do rather have to love Valve. And no, I’ve never seen them in a suit. The “Marketing suit” is Doug Lombardi, who actually plays in a rock band and spent half of the GDC Valve party discussing rock minutiae with our own ex-rock-star, John Gibson.
They are hugely succesful BECAUSE they are fun and do give a rat’s bum for the game-playing public. Do they get it ALL right? No, of course not. Do they have a great sense of humor? Yes, mostly :) Will Gabe actually fly to Brisbane? Most probably!
Good story, guys!
13/09/2009 at 16:11 Lobotomist says:
So Valve people are bunch of cool guys. Check.
[Deleted. I am NOT letting this become another thread about boycotting Valve because of L4D2 - John]
13/09/2009 at 16:12 dsmart says:
wot Alan said.
The issue here is that once people make up their minds about something – e.g. vilifying Valve – nothing you do or say will change their minds. And when you try, thats when hilarity ensures.
Stunt or not, this is just fun stuff and anyone who tries to decry it as anything but, is a frigging idiot.
13/09/2009 at 16:14 John Walker says:
Just for the record, I don’t say you have to love Valve. However, I think the way they behave in this industry makes them seem loveable.
13/09/2009 at 16:14 Funky Badger says:
to support a company that made me feel like ass.
Dude, I don’t think its the company that’s at fault here…
13/09/2009 at 16:17 abhishek says:
If Gabe/Erik do make the trip, I’m sure we’re going to get more blog hilarity from inside Valve like the time when Robin fired everyone but the intern.
This is just good fun for everyone involved, I just don’t really understand why people are pissed off about even this.
13/09/2009 at 16:26 Funky Badger says:
I just don’t really understand why people are pissed off about even this.
Injured pride?
13/09/2009 at 16:30 dsmart says:
@ John Walker
For my part, I have worked with Valve (and chatted with Gabe and the higher ups as well) almost on a daily basis since our games were signed to came to Steam. They really are a class act and a clear cut above the rest. Bar none. Anyone saying otherwise is just plain jealous. Or somethin’
13/09/2009 at 16:32 nickski says:
I love valve, i love em love em love em. with cherries on top and everything, like i love my mum. lotsa love, and hugs to valve, and why not?
13/09/2009 at 16:35 Mad Doc MacRae says:
To whomever was wondering, I suspect the reason it seems like there is so much bile is because most people will read this story, smile, and go on to have a wonderful day (or at least a slightly less crappy one) without posting on the internet about it. There’s a silent majority out there who thinks this whole development is cool.
13/09/2009 at 16:43 Low Quality Beard says:
I’m always impressed how people can delude themselves into believing really anything, although I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised I do live in the US, it’s a national past time to be delusional.
Anyway, it’s a kind gesture that forces a smile to creep across ones face, that said I’d be quite impressed if Gabe and Erik actually went down to Australia, I have a feeling they wont simply because that 18 hour flight would be too daunting, at least for me. Also honorable mention for the modder, very classy move saying he’d check with those who donated first before giving it away to charity.
13/09/2009 at 16:53 drewski says:
Mo’ money, mo’ problems, eh Valve?
13/09/2009 at 17:12 Simon says:
I have more respect for Valve than any other game developer out there, they just seem more human than any other!
13/09/2009 at 17:12 Gorgeras says:
I keep seeing comments in different places by people claiming Walking_Target and Agent of Chaos have done a u-turn or actually changed their position.
Sorry, but it helps if you read what they actually wrote since the visit and not the quote-mined titbits that apparently professional journalists keep using.
I don’t recall suggesting anything along the lines of your points being all connected John. I only commented on just one: your suggestion towards some unknown group of people or person that they were dismissing this as a Valve publicity stunt. Now you didn’t give names and spoke generally so forgive me if I got you wrong.
I’m unsure about the way Valve are treating this. I remember four years years ago on the US WoW forums when Eyonix cracked the ‘bus-shock’ joke and and re-ignited all the hate shaman players had for him. Valve are giving mixed messages about whether they care about the Boycott or not and I’d be happier if they just came out and said what they thought rather than “we were suprised”. Just all about opinions they or any journalists or critics have had about the Boycott are so paper-thin they are knocked down by just reading the Boycott manifesto as it’s written.
13/09/2009 at 17:22 Mechtroid says:
I am mechtroid, and I am one of the sile–dangnabit!
13/09/2009 at 17:27 Gunhover says:
John Walker “I think giving a tiny amount of money to something this fun brightens my day, and hopefully will eventually brighten Joe’s. It’s none of your miserable damned business. Thanks!”
Jim – buy this fella a pint!
It is simultaneously hilarious and depressing that so many people here are bitching about this situation. People – strangers – on the internet that you don’t even know are freely giving a few bucks both for their own enjoyment and satisfaction, to support a fun news story, a young chap’s ambitious idea and even the potential of a charitable donation to a relevant organisation… and people are complaining like Valve just strangled their puppies.
It is a prime example that anything Valve have done, do, or will do in the future will just never be good enough for some. They are vehemently and pre-emptively against anything related to the developer for reasons known only to themselves. It’s a really bizarre twist on the fanboy concept, in that rather than blind loyalty they practice blind cynicism and hatred. Yet somehow they think they are different or better than the fans they just have to deride at every turn.
FWIW, I donated to Joe yesterday, for my own amusement and because this whole situation has lightened up my week of toiling away at work to earn the money that I can choose how to spend. If you think that’s stupid, then the implication is that you believe anyone who spends money on enjoyment is an idiot. The delicious irony of this coming from out of a community of gamers isn’t lost on me, nor the other sane voices on this thread.
Increasingly, it seems to me that the numerous sour misanthropes unwittingly trolling these sort of subjects are recent refugees from the console generation. The general immaturity, the knee-jerk reactions, the inability to even comprehend the basics of a story, the cries of “Source’s graphics are shit!” and complaints over not getting everything for free immediately on a stomping of the feet are great illustrations of this.
Anyway, that’s enough complaining about complaining (something that is also not lost on me). I’d personally like to say thanks to everyone who has been involved in covering these developments (RPS <3), donating money, commenting around the internet and generally having a laugh about the whole thing. Honestly, strange as it sounds, you've all helped bring a small fragment of comedy, entertainment and escapism to an otherwise frustrating week in my life.
Things like this are exactly why I love the true core of the PC gaming community – especially that relatively small sector of us who fondly remember things like the Dopefish, Shodan, MS-DOS installations, shoehorning in that new ISA SB card, Junktown, Bullfrog, shareware, the pixelated Apogee intro, Romero & Carmack, Hell March, the Mark Hamill Marketing Gambit, ludicrous gibs and IDDQD. There's a superb general attitude, shared nostalgia and sense of humour amongst the collective that you just don't find elsewhere in the gaming universe.
13/09/2009 at 17:32 TheSombreroKid says:
This is all good stuff anyone who doesn’t think so has a cold black heart, the end.
13/09/2009 at 17:43 Metal_Circus says:
John Walker, you are so right it hurts. I’m a happy guy, I believe in humans, but they never fail to shatter that illusion into a twinkling shower of tiny, shitty little pieces with horribly cynical and sarcastic comments like “Yay Internet Philanthropy!” courtesy of lePooch and all the other assorted grumbling douchebaggery on display here.
Some people are never happy. Plenty of people seem to enjoy shelling out 40 quid on a cheap knock-off EA title, yet they get angry when people decide they want to contribute a small portion of their OWN money to what is essentially a bit of fun. Infact i’m quite sure those who donated got more joy from doing so than they did with EA Manshoot 2009 or whatever garbage is being sold today?
13/09/2009 at 17:46 Xercies says:
Actually I’m a PC guy and not one of these console generation. And to be honest yes you can spend your own damn money to whatever you like and I haven’t stopped you from doing that, unless of course my words affect your wallet in some strange way. i was just commenting that I feel that the people who did this were kind of stupid because they spent their ahrd earned money on a joke and if they wanted it to go to charity wouldn’t they send it to charity.
And as for thsoe two boycotters, there opinions are suspect because they were being paid by valve to get on a plane sit in a nice comfy chair see nice hardworking people and maybe play a game in a nice enviroment.
Anyway spend your money I actually see Valve for what they are. A corporate entity they may appear to be on our side but that is mainly to get money from us and nothing more. Valve is not your friend.
13/09/2009 at 17:47 Kieron Gillen says:
‘But,’ said Candide, ‘isn’t there pleasure in criticizing everything, in finding fault where other men think they find beauty?’
‘Which is to say,’ rejoined Martin, ‘that there’s pleasure in not having pleasure?’
‘Oh, all right. Have it your way then,’ said Candide.
KG
13/09/2009 at 17:48 Lambchops says:
The thing for me is that i can’t just help loving silly endeavours like this – they just make me smile.
Whether it’s a guy trading up from a red paperclip to a house, people changing there names to Dave Gorman to aid one man’s drunken bet or joining a cult started frivolously by a lad called Danny (I know i did after I read the book!) these sort of crazy enterprises are just brilliant.
Then again I am notoriously easily amused!
13/09/2009 at 17:52 Guhndahb says:
This is a good laugh. Silly, yeah, but I like silly. I’ll never be over Macho Grande.
13/09/2009 at 17:57 Grey Cap says:
Why does anybody have to be flown to Australia to see a map (even a work in progress)? Couldn’t Joe’s work be checked out right in the Valve fortress of doom/office?
Other than the idea being hilarious.
13/09/2009 at 17:57 Metal_Circus says:
Xecies – that’s utterly laughable. There are clear distinctions between Valve and other development/publishing houses. Are you seriously suggesting that Valve and EA are one and the same? They’re both businesses, but i’m sure you’d agree one is absolutley more unethical than the other.
To merely say that Valve are after your money is hideously a hideously simplistic conclusion to come to as well as wildly innaccurate. Have you any idea how much time and money Valve invest in playtesting? IF they didn’t care about the players then why would they bother?
In an industry that is becoming more and more about money and less and less about fun/creativity, I think it’s fair to say that Valve are at least standing out, and that’s been the reason for their success. It isn’t some capitalist agenda for chrissakes. That’s EA’s job.
What is wrong with you guys? Some guy decides to give some money to charity and you have an issue with that? *shakes head in disbelief*
13/09/2009 at 17:59 Dominic White says:
@Grey Cap – nobody HAS to be flown anywhere. It’s just a joke that has grown into fantastic reality. Joe grumbled in a jokey email to Gabe Newell that they should fly HIM to Valves offices, and Valve said they were boycotting his campaign.
Cue him offering to fly Valve to his house to change their minds over the boycott. And lo and behold, internet legend is made overnight.
13/09/2009 at 18:03 Simon Jones says:
RPS seemed to hit a point of critical mass somewhere in 2009 that shifted it from being a brilliant, ever-so-slightly underground publication with an insightful and open-minded readership to a brilliant, slightly less underground publication with a mixture of open-minded readers and complete arseholes.
Such is the price of success, I suppose.
What we need is some kind of AIM-filter on the comments.
13/09/2009 at 18:07 Grey Cap says:
@Dominic. Thanks for the clarification. Well, hilarity counts for a lot in my book, good for him.
@Xercies. At least agree with me that Valve’s approach to getting publicity is a lot more fun than some. Compare this to the Civony ads!
13/09/2009 at 18:07 Grey Cap says:
Sorry, Evony.
13/09/2009 at 18:08 mister_d says:
John Walker <3 Valve 4 lyfe
13/09/2009 at 18:08 Gunhover says:
@ Xercies “Anyway spend your money I actually see Valve for what they are. A corporate entity… Valve is not your friend.”
Valve are a corporate entity? I hadn’t even considered this… fancy a company making entertainment products being out to turn a profit. Shocking and horrifying, you have shown me the light.
In all seriousness, do you honestly believe everyone involved in this isn’t aware that Valve are a for-profit organisation? Somehow the fact they sell their products for a financial gain has escaped us for all this time?
Games developers have to make a profit to stay in the game. It’s not just about that man. It’s about Valve at least attempting to engage the PC gaming community on a regular basis over issues great and small. They listen to feedback, they even reply to feedback, they pull light hearted pranks and joke around. You even have often-critical journalists and industry insiders here who deal with Valve on a frequent basis tell you they are not the ugly behemoth of a faceless corporation that people like you make out. Doesn’t that tell you something?
Even I have had numerous conversations about many facets of gaming, often even unrelated to Valve’s catalogue, with people like Gabe, Chet and Zoid. This isn’t a commodity and it’s not something they can tangibly express on their quarterly earnings reports. This actually costs them time and money to reply to the fistful of irreverent emails they get lumped with every day from their customers and fans. It has a PR side to it, yes, but it’s a rare form that also benefits the community. It’s not benevolent altruism and no one is suggesting that, but it’s win-win for all of us. Why is that seen as a bad thing?
Any one who has worked in the games industry or even the wider corporate world knows the varied signs of particular corporate cultures. To imply that Valve internally are no different from an organisation like, for example, EA, shows a severe lack of understanding in this area.
It takes an extremely cynical mind to believe that 100% of everything Valve do is purely motivated by profit and profit alone. Frankly, if that’s your attitude, I also feel sorry for you… At least we share something in common there, right?
13/09/2009 at 18:26 EGTF says:
Can I start a website asking for donations to pay for a train for John, Kieron, Jim and Alec to come to my pub for a pint?
13/09/2009 at 18:27 A Delicate Balance says:
This kind of thing is definitely cause for me to smile. By “this kind of thing” I mean the article, not the bitching about Valve. Some people just seem to live to bitch. I pity them.
13/09/2009 at 18:42 Muzman says:
Don’t you poor fools get it? You’re all being taken for a ride! This is part of one of the most insidious pieces of brand boosting and profile raising in grassroots marketing history and right here is the spearhead.
The truly devious part is the warping of positive feeling by the creation of an extreme negative. Yes, Lobotomist I’m on to you, you despicable nihilistic shill. How much did they get you for? What’s 30 pieces of silver adjusted for inflation? You walk in here sowing that extreme killjoy viewpoint; knowing full well that the poor simple folk of RPS will get riled up, cementing an even more positive view of fun-loving Valve as a result.
Oh I see it. I see it oh so clearly. The genius of it. To twist the human spirit like that, by god it’d be beautiful if it weren’t so horrible.
13/09/2009 at 18:45 lumpi says:
You know, people ask me (for interviews with Vanity Fair and such), “lumpi,…”, they ask me, “why do you still like Valve despite being so negative about L4D2?”.
Then, I laugh (to get a [laughs] tag into the interview, which makes me look sympathetic) and answer: “Well, look at the whole story of Gabe being flown to Australia to try some random guy’s L4D campaign. Show me another company that does things like that!” And then they nod, knowingly.
13/09/2009 at 18:49 Dracko says:
making money is bad
you should all be starving right now YOU MONSTERS
13/09/2009 at 19:01 Jim Rossignol says:
@muzman
Very good.
13/09/2009 at 19:07 Andrew says:
I think we should start a campaign to fly all AIM. not to valve though. to an island in the middle of the ocean. or maybe antartica. though their cynicism might melt the polar ice caps completely so maybe not
13/09/2009 at 19:42 Xercies says:
@Metal_Circus
The thing is I find Valve more dangerous then EA, with EA you know what your egtting but Valve put on this smily face. And yes everything they do is to get profit, if they have happy customers they get profit from them. I’m not saying this is a bad thing but I’m saying is that people should be aware of this, they only care because your footing the bill.
13/09/2009 at 19:42 Psychopomp says:
@dsmart
OMG HOW MUCH THEY PAY YOU TO SAY THAT CORPORATE DRONE!?!?!?!?!?!?!
13/09/2009 at 19:55 sinister agent says:
I’ve never been a big fan of Valve’s games. I enjoyed Half-life, and the one with the flags, but otherwise their work has left me a tad unbothered. However, as a bunch of people, they entertain and impress me no end.
13/09/2009 at 19:55 DarkNoghri says:
@Dave Gates
Was a link to the campaign not posted anywhere? Hmm.
http://joesmoddingmenagerie.blogspot.com/
It doesn’t look half bad.
13/09/2009 at 20:01 Vinraith says:
Further evidence that there are large swaths of the population I’m just never going to understand. Congrats to Joe, anyway, who seems to have acted genuinely in all this regardless of anyone else. I suspect that’s the final nail for the boycott being taken seriously, which is a shame since it means we’ll not be seeing any new content beyond Crash Course. Ah well, at least it got us that.
13/09/2009 at 20:55 dsmart says:
This has become one massive meme – and we’re all a part of its history. Yay!!
13/09/2009 at 21:33 HANsVonWolfensteinn says:
@Xercies
This is all of course just my honest opinion, so take it as you may.
I refuse to believe that every human being that works at or starts a business looses their humanity just because they need to make money. Even some of the CEOs of these big companies. It is such a cynical and pathetic view of life that I just feel sorry for you, as I’m sure so many others on this site feel.
Sure much of what a company does is for-profit. But Gabe Newell sitting down and taking precious time out of his day to write back to a short, joking e-mail from some unknown dude out in Australia, is awesome first off, but surely it is not all in a “for-profit, lets get their money” point of view.
13/09/2009 at 22:16 gobion says:
Yay for Joe, yay for Gabe and hopefully all of that to say yay for Child’s Play. Like John Walker I also am free to do as I choose with my money and I chose to get involved. I’m the Chairman of a indie games company so that probably makes me “the enemy” but I neither wear a suit nor am I a drone and all the folks I have ever met at Valve have been really passionate about games and very friendly. They also work very hard – hell everyone I’ve ever met in the games industry works really, really hard. Easy to critisise, harder to do.
Anway congrat to Joe for a bit of fun and yay to RPS for covering it :)
13/09/2009 at 23:02 PHeMoX says:
“Of course, if you’re concerned about the ambiguity of giving the money this way, you could always just give some money to Child’s Play directly.”
Right, people should do that instead.
The whole ‘hey lets fly “Valve” over to Australia’ basically just to make a point is ridiculous. It’s a great way of throwing away money too, unless said mod creator hopes to land a job at Valve with his ‘bold’ move. Not so bright move if you ask me, despite the fact that his mod is probably Valve-worthy.
Good intentions and charities aside, it’s still a waste of money and time.
13/09/2009 at 23:45 whalleywhat says:
To be fair, Child’s Play isn’t exactly the worthiest charity in the world. But hey, it’s about video games, right?
14/09/2009 at 00:52 Snall says:
I say give video games to all starving children, to lighten the mood! Also, send me $3,000 to fly..uh..Bill Clinton..to…uh..play..pong…with….Don King!
14/09/2009 at 00:53 Concept says:
God, I love you all.
14/09/2009 at 01:10 sinister agent says:
I recently refused to give a publisher a discount on image reproduction rights, because those rights are our only significant source of income. OH NO I AM A CORPORATE MONSTER HOW DARE I PUT PROFIT BEFORE ALTRUISM. SOBBING BEGINS NOW.
14/09/2009 at 01:12 Gap Gen says:
“The thing is I find Valve more dangerous then EA, with EA you know what your getting but Valve put on this smily face.”
Actually, they are pretty up-front about their shallow, corporate innards, now that they’ve added Halo to TF2.
Conspiracy theories are fun, but sometimes a cigar is just a penis. Cigar.
14/09/2009 at 02:04 Vinraith says:
IF Valve were as bad as EA (and it’s not, by a long shot, at least not yet) it WOULD be more “dangerous” because it’s (wisely) built up a ravenously loyal fanbase by being a genuinely great company. Lately it’s behaving a bit less like a great company, but you’ll note than a lot of people still credit various non-generous behaviors as generous because they believe it’s still the “old Valve.” If it DID go completely EA on us (and I hope it never does, I don’t think it will) you can bet a significant portion of those fans would refuse to see it.
For now, though, I’ve really got nothing against Valve. I just don’t view them in quite the same glowing light I once did. TF2 and L4D have both evolved in, to me, uninteresting directions, so I’d just like them to get along with the business of making Half Life universe games again.
14/09/2009 at 02:53 subedii says:
I’m trying hard… I’m trying real hard to see how Valve making more money by making their fans happy is a horrendous thing.
I’m trying… and I can’t. Can anyone PLEASE explain this crazy logic to me?
14/09/2009 at 03:57 Joseph says:
@Above:
I’m trying too. I don’t know… perhaps… happiness is the new unfair?
Yeah… a company is supposed to get money. It’s actually a good thing, for like, the economy – y’know?
14/09/2009 at 04:31 Joseph says:
Shows what a good public image they (valve) have that people want to fly them over the world for a joke slash visit to someone elses mod. They really do seem like they are just awesome guys.
14/09/2009 at 04:47 lilgamefreek says:
People pay to view stand up comedy are a bunch of morons and the comedians, swindlers.
14/09/2009 at 04:54 Andy`` says:
Hmm, to explain it…to explain it…well, this might not be entirely accurate, but let’s have a try.
In short, because I know I’ll ramble on, it’s a difference between “They made me happy and so they deserve my money” and “They’re making me happy so they can get my money”. Or, seeing good or bad in everything. Or differing opinions on the value of space and time. Whatever.
The idea comes from a sort of circular logic. To preface: a business that has happy staff and happy customers (that are genuinely happy, not just kept content) creates happy staff and happy customers, productive staff and returning customers, and ultimately leads to increased profits and/or increased sustainability.
How the money’s channelled is the real biting point. The optimistic assumption is that the money feeds back into the system so that the staff stay happy, to produce things that lets the customer stay happy, to make more money. The pessimistic assumption is most easily explained as a reverse of the optimistic assumption. The goal of the business is to make more money, so the aim becomes to keep the customer happy so they buy the product, a happy customer means happy staff (because jobs aren’t being lost, and they can see the positive effect the company’s having out in the world, in a way), and happy staff leads to a decent product that makes money, and then this cycle begins (product keeps customer happy, etc).
[The realistic assumption is probably somewhere in-between: once a business becomes aware that what it's doing is making money or creating some other positive effect for their business, it'll try to keep doing that, or improve on it. In the majority of cases, save for those few entities that aim to squeeze all the money they can out of everyone they can, neither the process nor the result of that process is inherently bad, or evil, or kitten killing - all parties mean well, to co-exist, so they can survive]
The pessemistic assumption only seems more “evil” than the optimistic assumption because the focus has changed from “making something that makes people happy, to make money from it” to “making the customers happy, to make money from something”. It’s a subtle but powerful change of context that on the face of it seems like an insignificant change.
But then you add another factor: like disappointment, surprises, misunderstandings, good experiences, unexpected consequences. Positive factors amplify the positive response to something like “they made something that made me happy, so they deserve my money”. Negative factors amplify the insignificant change to a negative response into something that makes a person feel like they’re being used, because they’re “making me happy so they can make money from me”.
Similar processes govern the viewpoints of “this is an awesome joke”/”this is a waste of time” and “yay, money’s going to charity”/”they’re not exactly a worthy charity”, etc.
There’s plenty of external factors, mainly charted along a person’s history in the world and the experiences they’ve had along the way defining their personality. Most of the time those external factors change what’s viewed as an infraction against them, or how severely they respond to it, thus increasing the likelihood of one response over another, and the intensity of the response.
None of the resulting responses is inherently wrong: perception belongs to the perceiver, there’s no such thing as an incorrect opinion, all that stuff [but it is possible to jump to huge conclusions and proclaim them as fact, like I've been doing this whole post ;) ha]. But in certain environments, the mixture of responses is bad: happy people don’t understand how others can be sad about it, sad people don’t understand how people can be happy about it, arguments start, tempers rise and an otherwise compatible group of people can be divided and pushed to the edges believability – the optimistic end up too optimistic, the pessimistic end up too pessimistic, and newcomers think everyone is wearing rose-tinted or blood-tinted goggles, when in fact everyone’s just wearing red goggles.
Welcome to the Internet.
Maybe Joe will run the Internet one day, and it will be a happier place.
14/09/2009 at 09:59 Kommissar Nicko says:
Whenever I think that two or three bucks is a waste of money (like my subscription to RPS!), I stop and think, “I make roughly two dollars when I take a nice long shit at work.” And then it doesn’t feel so bad to give a little bit away, when you think that in the time it takes to make stool, you might be drastically changing someone else’s life.
Think about it the next time you take a crap on the job.
14/09/2009 at 10:02 vasagi says:
well they are gonna fly out as soon as some pressing bussiness is taken care of.
YAAYYY Interwebz
14/09/2009 at 10:08 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
*sobs at sinister agent*
14/09/2009 at 10:09 Dirty Jesus says:
I hope to god Joe’s campaign is good after all this.
It’d suck for him if Gabe and Erik turned up only to tell him what utter rubbish it was :D
14/09/2009 at 10:20 autogunner says:
All this is just some massive cover up campagain by valve to make sure no one is thinking about Ep.3
14/09/2009 at 10:39 Catastrophe says:
I agree with Lilliput King’s early comment, that the best outcome would be that Valve announces they are honouring the agreement of flying over if he could accumulate the funds but then states the funds should all go to the charity and Valve will pay for the flight.
14/09/2009 at 13:50 Ergates says:
Yay for t’internet.
14/09/2009 at 14:00 Ergates says:
The best outcome isn’t that Valve agree to pay of the flights, it’s that they donate an equivalent amount. If they pay for the flights themselves then Joe has to go back to each and every donor and ask if they want the money back (or if he can give it to charity).
Though it’s actually funnier if they just go with the original agreement (i.e. Joe pays for flights, Valve don’t pay for anything).
14/09/2009 at 17:28 Nahual says:
It’ll be even funnier if Joe arranges for them to sleep on his couch because he can’t afford a hotel and Valve agrees to it.
14/09/2009 at 17:37 Nick says:
How many of the miserable boycotters were slagging off the people at NMA over the fallout thing I wonder. Hmm. Eh?
14/09/2009 at 22:20 Funky Badger says:
Xercies: do you, you know, actually have a job?
And wouldn’t it be fantastic, if Joe’s campaign was picked up, and released as free DLC for L4D1!
There’s an actual and legal difference in the levels of evil between a publically listed company (e.g. EA) and a privately owned one (e.g. Valve) – EA have a responsibility to act evilly, and their corporate officers can be legeally defenestrated should they not act in an evil enough manner. Facts. Scary, scary facts.
15/09/2009 at 07:48 Gunhover says:
From Joe’s blog:
http://flygabenewell.blogspot.com/2009/09/big-news-internet.html
===
The English language lacks the words to express the level of excitement Erik and I feel that you and your friends have pulled this off. Give us some time to organize our affairs, as we are trying to ship a product, and then we’ll let you know the time and date of our arrival. Give our best to Robin’s mother, as she is apparently a neighbor of yours.
Gabe & Erik
===
Hahahaha. Get your arse to Brisbane, Gabe!
15/09/2009 at 08:04 Gunhover says:
Also – people can say what they want, but ultimately in just a few days, using only a combination of mouse clicks and key presses, the random degenerate PC gaming addicts of the internet just made the president of a major games company fly halfway across the world to Australia.
I’m simultaneously awed and amused. Give yourselves a round of applause (even you, Xercies :)
01/10/2009 at 02:43 Joe W-A says:
Latest news: All the proceeds have been donated to charity and Gabe and Erik are coming to Australia on the 7th of October.