It’s official – Gabe Newell is heading for Australia. If you missed the story of how 19 year old L4D modder Joe W-A ended up raising $3000 (US) to fly Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson out to see his L4D map in order to convince Newell to stop boycotting it… Er, you need to go read this and this. Now Valve have confirmed that they’ll be heading to Oz next week, and less official sources are stating that of course they’re paying their own way so the money goes straight to charity.
Because clearly $3000 wasn’t going to buy one first class ticket in one direction.
Gabe Newell had this to say of the malarkey:
“The power of the gaming community and their ability to rally around a cause – be it serious or fun in nature – is amazing. In 2003, the community helped the FBI and European law enforcement officials find the people who stole the Half-Life 2 source code. This year, the community is putting me on a plane to the other side of the world to meet Joe W-A and see his MOD. It’s going to be a fun trip.”
Valve have created an interesting position for themselves. Unquestionably one of the most responsive and engaged developers, their relationship with their audience has created both a lot of love, and in turn a lot of hate. Expectations of the team are so astronomically high that when they fall short of customer’s extreme standards the backlash is enormous. The L4D2 boycotting debacle was the result of people feeling let down (legitimately or otherwise), but of course let down from expectations they’d not even pause to imagine of any other developer. Some (and clearly not all) who feel short-changed or unfairly treated by the existence of L4D2 (even after the release of free L4D1 DLC Crash Course) are now looking at anything the company does as a reason to announce more contempt for them. As was the case in response to this story. A number claimed, indeed in comments on this site, that Joe W-A’s campaign was cynical marketing on the part of Valve. What really happened was Newell sent two private joking emails to a regular correspondent, and literally nothing more. The rest happened without Valve’s involvement, encouraged by gaming websites like us who were delighted by the adorable story. The result, of course, was fantastic positive coverage for Valve, who once more came out of this situation looking friendly and extremely good natured. Which of course made a few people more angry.
I think, since I’m editorialising so heavily, that this is truly reflective of at least part of Valve. The response to this story should surely be one of realising, “Oh, Valve really are like that.” Rather than searching for a reason why this only proves how evil they must really be. Clearly they’re a large company, with strengths and flaws, and not a big cuddly stuffed penguin for us all to coo over. When it comes to releasing games their behind-the-scenes antics are irrelevant – the games are judged on their own merits and nothing else. It happens that so far they’ve failed to make a bad game (you may not like one of their games – I’m not enormously partial to TF2 – but I’d have to be madder than a sock full of Nesquik to argue it was anything less than brilliant). Oh, apart from Ricochet. I’m told.
Of course, now Valve are using this as fantastic PR. I’m writing this story because the trip was officially confirmed by a press release sent by the company. It begins, “Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced its studio co-founder and president, Gabe Newell, will be visiting Australia next week.” But hell, who wouldn’t? It occurred organically and without their creation, and it would be insane not to take advantage of it. A month before they release their new game. (Which means Gabe and Erik are skiving off right in the middle of crunch, the cheeky buggers.)
Clearly people angry about the perceived lack of free L4D1 content and/or the existence of L4D2 will remain angry. People who don’t care will carry on not caring. And those looking forward to the new game will still be looking forward to the new game. But in the end, the owner of the company is flying to the other side of the world to visit some teenager to look at his Left 4 Dead map, and that’s still fucking awesome.
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I wholeheartedly agree with your comments Mr John Walker sir. Well put.
Valve are evil because they are allowing the donated money to be given to a charity sponsered by gamers, who are all horrible murderers and baby eaters. Obviously.
Holly crap, this was one of the best articlesI’ve read here (and I really like your articles guys).
And that – is all these is.
I wish I could fly up to Brisbane to meet my gaming namesake, but alas my priorities have changed since my gorgeous “Player 3″ was born 13 weeks ago. Oh well, even knowing the other Gabe’s just 1 hour’s flight away, is pretty cool.
Nah. John’s right. It’s “fucking awesome”.
PS: No, I didn’t actually name my son Player 3. (I’m not married to Gwyneth Paltrow)
That’s right. You gave him a manly name, one he could be proud of. One that shows he’s the boss around here.
Player 1
Nice one, Psychopomp… nice one. :-)
Can’t wait until the Youtube video he’s gonna make!
While he’s here, hopefully he can go visit Michael Atkinson and talk / beat some sense into him about the L4D2 ban.
But in the end, the owner of the company is flying to the other side of the world to visit some teenager to look at his Left 4 Dead map, and that’s still fucking awesome.
Why is it fucking awesome? Because there is someone decent out there? Because you know him and he’s usually a dick head?
My point is, you seem surprised that someone out there is doing something as simple as enjoying their life and taking the opportunities that come their way. Why not fly to Australia for free? Awesome fun.
THAT’S FUCKING AWESOME. See? Doesn’t quite fit. I’m not trying to talk down the experience, you just sound a little like you don’t expect anything good to happen, or like you’re buying into the idea that all CEOs are faceless robots that don’t enjoy things that everyone else would.
Now I hope I’ve explained decently where I’m coming from, I hope you can explain where you were too :)
Bottom line of my point is, company owners are people like you or me, who enjoy getting away from things for a while, or going on adventures, or having fun which is what he said this trip is to him.
If we start getting excited that people are doing things that people like doing… we’re probably not doing what people like doing ourself because we’re living in a dream world, an idea of reality that is warped and unreal, collective false/negative ideas. GETTING A BIT PHILOSOPHICALZ ARE WE LOLO~??
I believe what he means is that it’s pretty fucking awesome that the head of a large corporation would take time from his schedule to fly to Australia simply to talk about and look over a teenagers mod. It’s like Donald Trump flying across sea to check out your lemonade stand. How often do you hear of such “high ranking” individuals taking the time to fly down to look at what a young modder has done?
Pretty fucking rarely I’d say.
Donald trump wouldn’t be welcome at my lemonade stand.
Well, the capitalist pig most certainly wouldn’t be welcome at my lemonade stand. Which isn’t my stand at all, but The People’s Glorious Lemonade Stand.
You’ve been reassigned to the coal mines. I’m giving your lemonstade stand to my neice’s husband.
No, I don’t care that you’ve go no coalmine experience. It’s for the good of my niece. Er, the country.
Oceania has always been at war with Lemonadestand.
Guess it depends on the type of person Gabe Newell is. Personally, the idea of being stuck in an airplane for 20 hours (or whatever it is) to meet some random guy and look at this mod and then turning around and flying another 20 hours back is a fucking nightmare, and I was thinking Gabe was really taking one for the team in a big way here.
Re: the adoption of puppies
No no, people would complain that they’re not working on Episode 3.
I actually enjoyed playing ricochet, shame that there wasn’t much of a community im my area.
Lol. anyone who thinks this is anything more than a publicity stunt to get more notice on l4d2 has been off thier meds to long.
Its a good one for sure, but personally it doesnt make a bit of difference to me, they blew it with the first 1, i will not fork over full price for this. ill wait until its half price or something.
Ill actually be to busy playing borderlands to even care about this at release.
I clicked reply before you wrote your next post, and I just saw it now that it refreshed, and I’m not sure it’s worth responding anymore.
However, I’m convinced Gabe and/or Erik will be taking the opportunity to discuss the matter of the R18+ video game rating in Australia. As an Australian L4D fan, this is a terribly important issue for me at this time, so it’s great to see Gabe coming down.
You may think Gabe has no chance of influencing the introduction of the R rating, but you would be wrong. Remember, this entire issue rests in the hands of one man, Michael Atkinson, thanks to a stupid legislative procedure. EVERY state must agree, and EVERYONE except M.A. has given it the thumbs up. It was the same when the whole issue got started years ago. The vast majority of the public want it introduced, but of course even 100% of the public isn’t going to persuade a single man when all he is following is his ignorant opinion.
Having the CEO of a major game development firm whose game you’ve just banned come down and talk to you would be perhaps the most influential thing that could happen, in terms of changing opinions. If public pressure worked, it would have worked by now. We need to give a face to the thing he’s arguing against, and how can you say no to Gabe’s face?
If you had been a fly on the wall at valves studio you should have seen the following.
Valve scrub # 1 "Well guys, we really pissed off our fans by not following up with our promises, but we know that we will still sell a shit ton of copies anyway. So well, what do we do to end this boycott."
Valve scrub # 2 "Well, lets try and assure them that the game will be worth it, and we havent given up on l4d1, in fact we can crap out a small campaign in no time and claim that we had been working on it a while."
Valve Scrub # 3 way in the back of the room " we should boycott them."
Valve scrub # 1 "HaHa, ok # 2, that sounds great. lets crap one out that totally doesnt show any thing new, just the same old crap that was in the 1st one, because no one will ever notice that it took us this long to really provide nothing new."
Gabe scrub "wait wait, who said boycott them?"
Everyone tosses # 3 under the bus.
Gabe scrub " thats brilliant, it will pull the spotlight from the legit idea behind the boycott, put it on us as being funny, and will give us tons of free publicity that we can capitalize on. # 3, pack your shit, you get the office next to mine."
# 3 walks to the door, turns around and gives Double birds as he walks out backwards. Totally nerd cool.
It must be fun inside your head.
Man, I laughed so hard that my head exploded orgasmically.
If I was a fly on the wall of Hug Dealers room, it would be like this:
Hug Dealer:Oh look, a dead horse. I think I’ll flog it.
Too bad Joe wont be able to buy l4d2 in Australia. Thanks censorship!
sometimes when we think we’re being perceptive about how terrible humans are, it’s really just a projection of our own hideous nature.
Amen to that.
L4D2 is nothing compared to Ricochet.
Valve are worse than Hitlers. Not just worse than Adolf Hitler, but worse than his entire family put together!
Judgements are blunt.
When did all this Valve hating really occur? Was it when L4D2 was announced, or was it before that?
As far as the new campaign goes, I haven’t played it, so I really can’t speak about quality, but I have heard something about the length. Having some experience mapping, I can tell you that one does not “crap out” 2 quality maps in no time. Based on past map quality and level of detail, I would believe that they have been working on it for some time. If you feel that it isn’t enough, go to the mod scene. They have produced some excellent campaigns worth checking out.
I am a big fan of Valve based on what I see as a company that genuinely cares about it’s audience. That being said, Valve may, or may not have taken a advantage of the situation, but honestly, who wouldn’t? Not only would the internet have outraged at the Gabe if he didn’t go, but they might have lost what could be a very influential person in the future of L4D. Lest people forget that the whole reason that Gabe is flying down under is to preview a campaign made by a modder: a lover of games so great that he poured he’s blood, sweat, and tears into something for people to play (overkill, maybe, but I think a lot of people forget just how much work some people put into it, all without a check behind it).
Lastly, as far as L4D2 is concerned, I believe that it is, in fact, Valves IP. They have a right to do what they will with it. As far as people thinking that they won’t continue to support it, who cares?! The community is supporting it. Think it will die? There are still people developing mods for the original Half-Life! As long as there is a player base, there will be people there developing for it. I feel lucky that they even gave us the tools to mess with it like they did, considering so many other developers specifically restrict any editing access, or force people to use 3rd party tools. I’m not a *huge* fan of Valves games, but I am a fan of how they treat their community.
I might agree with you in one point: We’re running out of things to say. But it seems, some still haven’t even bothered to listen. Which would explain the same arguments being thrown around all the time.
This, however, is true for both groups. The boycotters and the anti-boycot-meta-boycotter-boycotters. And, geez, there is a THIRD group nobody is talking about: People who are just plain disappointed with the untypical lack of content for L4D and are NOT boycotting L4D2. No drama, just a drop on the goodwill-barometer.
From the “antis”, I only hear are two arguments: Valve is a business. Valve can do whatever the fuck they want with their “IPs”.
Well, duh. I guess nobody on either side is questioning their “right” to do whatever they want, unless it’s illegal. That’s not anybody’s point though. If a telecom company offers the “best service in the industry” and nobody even answers their $2.50/minute hotline… people will complain. It’s the company’s “right” and “freedom” to not seat anyone next to their hotline telephones, but that’s not really the point. As a customer, I’d be disappointed, politely speaking. Now Valve is still nowhere near as bad as this example, but if you buy a game from them, trusting their promises (and them always delivering for the past 10 years), and you only get a ho-hum bonus-map, a few rushed game-modes and a half-a-year late SDK, you might be disappointed.
You might decide not to buy their next product, dramatically speaking “boycotting” it. That’s the purpose of a capitalistic system: The customer decides whether to buy stuff or not. Based on quality, value and price. What’s so disgusting about it? If you actually tell Valve, by doing a little Steam group, you’re already doing more than you had to. You’re giving them a chance to see what is going on in customer’s minds, something other companies spend millions on researching.
Where’s the evil in that? The douchebaggery? The communist/anti-capitalistic irrationality? I just don’t see it.
Also, and this might be my most “opinionated/emotionally charged” view so far: Pulling the (6 months late) SDK and community self-administration into this strikes me as a little cynical. If Valve owes nothing to it’s loyal customers, it at least does owe a lot to it’s community that stood by Valve since the beginning. Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Garry’s mod… even before HL, Team Fortress was a community-created mod for Quake… I would guess all of these made a lot of money for Valve. Not to mention the continued support, custom maps and campaigns still created for free, for love of the game, of Valve’s openness and fairness towards the community. When I think of Valve titles, I think of user-created content 50% of the time. It’s equivalent.
If you seriously suggest that Valve diminishing support for L4D in favor of L4D2 so quickly is OK, because the community will take over their job of supporting a full-priced game that always lacked content from the beginning… that’s just disrespectful towards the community. Spending 4 months to create a decent L4D campaign only to find out, “Guess, what? The SDK released a few months ago is already old news! Prepare for L4D2(r)!!!”… it feels like crap. I can tell you that.
There’s no such think as “lack of content” in L4D. The game shipped as it was intended. Anybody who believes otherwise is hopelessly deluded.
The Boycott has given absolutely no comment on Gabe’s trip to Australia, nor the events leading up to it being confirmed. This doesn’t seem to matter to those who seem to think(originating as a joke) that the Boycott itself has been criticising Valve non-stop. Walking_Target’s posts are downright moderate, but it’s like religious nuts with Richard Dawkins: there must be an evil twin version of him going around saying strident and controversial things that only religious apologists can see and hear because the man himself is as polite as you get and fills his statements with buts and ifs. Walking_Target must have one too, saying all the crap that people come up with about the Boycott.
The Boycott did have a position statement on the Australian ban; of course hardly anyone bothered to read it and just assumed the Boycott was delighted.
It would help Jakson Breen if he at least made it look like his generalising and glossing over were accidental.
In a large way it is. This was the only article I’ve really read on the subject, and everything else I’ve heard is due to glossing over or hearsay. Sorry if I was mis-informed about something, and going back I’ve realized that the boycott and this are two different things. However, I still think that the boycott (those serious about it) is useless…
Useless to who? While journalists and anti-Boycotters have been going out of their way to attach views and statements to the Boycott which it’s never expressed, Walking_Target was gathering feedback(because the Boycott does actually want L4D to improve) and talking directly to Valve about it. The feedback is apparently useful otherwise Valve wouldn’t be answering. Criticism and feedback is useful and it’s why there is a Boycott.
I give up. I’m annoyed at the fact that this is news, when I don’t think it should be (Opinion). The definition of “useless” as I used it was to mean that I have a strong dislike for it. I don’t like the group because I’ve yet to see anything constructive come out of it (Opinion). I also hereby quit propagating this subject by posting to it anymore. I’ve done my best to fill this last post with my opinions, and since opinions can’t (logically) be argued, there should be no more to say. Let us move on to the next outrage:
Kieron was Murdered?!
If you want news go to a news site.
John wins yesterday.
KG
I was part of the L4D2 Boycott group. I didn’t agree with the release so soon after L4D, and i said i would NEVER buy L4D2.
I have to say, this has changed my views completely.
Valve are a company and companies need money. Valve cannot continue to release free content, they have to make their money from somewhere. Most companies release a game and that’s it, they offer no more content after release.
This is why i have left the “Boycott”, and this is why i will buy L4D2.
So your argument is “companies make money”?
I can think of several good reasons to get L4D2 (including that you just like to check out the new tweaks and content). But “A COMPANY NEEDS MONEY” is… wow, it’s just depressing to hear that being mentioned everywhere as the best reason not to complain.
Whatever happened to money-making for money-making’s sake being seen as something negative?
I will get L4D2. But statements like the above really make me consider joining the “boycotters”. I always enjoyed buying games from Valve because it seemed to me like a company that cares, that loves games more than money. That’s right, not equally, but more! Hearing how well-accepted the notion of game developers being nothing but corporate profit-factories has become over the past few years, really breaks my heart.
It’s just really freakin bizzarre, like they’ve discovered some profound truth and they’re letting us scrubs benefit from their wisdom: companies make money.
If he was a Boycotter, surely he bothered to read the manifesto? It begins:
“WE RECOGNIZE(bloody ‘merican spelling):
-Valve is a company with financial needs and can not be expected to survive without the release of new games.”
That’s always been there, it hasn’t changed and signing up to the Boycott means you either agree with it or don’t significantly disagree with it and that you respect that this is the view of many other members and the adopted position of the collective.
The Boycott isn’t and never was a dispute over ‘free-content’; it was a dispute over content we already paid for: a full-game price-tag for what was not a full game, even for a multiplayer(ESPECIALLY for a multiplayer if we include balance and bug fixing support).
We recognise what we need to, but capitalism doesn’t go just the one way.
John walker, i still love you.
Great news, loved this whole thing.
Angry men of the internet and tinfoil hats always give me a chuckle.
Editorialise more.
Yeah, this is great stuff. It’s nice to have a game developer I ca wholeheartedly root for. Seriously all a developer has to do to win my support is to patch games when they need fixing and have some sort of mod support for their games. Once you release the SDK anything after that is beyond the icing on the cake; It’s like another serving!
The cynical side of me wonders how good this person’s map/mod is. I mean seriously, imagine a worse case scenario of flying around the world, walking into someone’s house and them showing you a killbox survival map? Awkward! That said the work this person has done could be really good. I haven’t seen it.
Just seen on Steam that LFD2 will be selling for $50. I'm sure the game will be good, but I'm simply not prepared to pay that kind of money for a game that is so similar to its predecessor. LFD2 really sounds like a standalone expansion from all I've heard so far, and I'm surprised it hasn't been priced accordingly.
And in the usual bout of Steam idiocy – L4D2 is 50 €. That’s about 80 of your dollars. With no discount for the fucked-over L4D1 buyers.
Oh, for anyone who wants to see the actual campaign, it should be here.
http://joesmoddingmenagerie.blogspot.com/
Photobucket screwiness notwithstanding, there used to be NSFW pics at the bottom, that may have moved to the second page.
Map looks good though.
50 pounds for a new game that is more or less just a fancy expand alone is a bit of a crazy price point. . . and I'm a Valve fan boi so that's saying a lot coming from me. I'd never pay 80 bucks for a game unless it came with a vial of zombie juice so I could make my own live action zombie slaying action :)
As several comments have pointed out, L4D2 was recently refused classification in Australia, a fact not mentioned in the article. I would of thought Gabe Newell visiting has alot more to do with highlighting this silly situation (as the first game passed the censors with no problem), than with appeasing some petty nerd rage.
Well put Mr Walker – I have enjoyed this entire event and no amount of sourness from a minority will convince me otherwise. Making use of a fun situation for some good PR is not a crime. I hope the money does go to charity however :)
I hope they have a good trip :)
Gobion
I love this story. Regardless of the naysayers, this just goes to show that Valve are team players. Go team Valve!
I’m tempted to link to the wikipedia page on strawman argument. Especially 1) assuming people who had a problem with the l4d2 announcement hold valve by a higher standard than other developers and 2) assuming all those people are still angry.
I don’t mind the editorialising, but most of the rest of this article is just name calling.