Open Letter to Blizzard Entertainment from Mark Kern

[rda]

/merged into above

[Deleted]

Above all, the posts in this very thread saying all kinds of BS regarding how bad Mark Kern is, while the only thing that you can fault him with is that he failed at making his own product (which is, again, not that surprising, *many* devs try and fail at exactly that) and everything else just stupid theories and drivel, are idiotic.

There was an article linked in the thread a while ago talking about what Mark had done on Firefall and he didn't just fail at making a product but from what i read it seemed like he doomed the product, not even being present during development, firing staff because they had a different opinion and going on temper tantrums whenever he was present. This isn't just something like "oh it could happen to anyone" it discredits him from his prior achievements as new information show him being incompetent when it comes to game development, also his twitter doesn't really convey the image of a good representative.

[Thimagryn]

Mark's contribution is that he is a former dev and not a random nobody.

That doesn't excuse his behaviour. And that is my point. For you to wave it off so easily tells me that you are willing to overlook it if it means getting what you want. I think that's a bad way to go about it.

Monetization, community splitting, potential long-term viability, return of investment... these are all factors that have always existed and prevented official Legacy servers from happening. For a former Dev to come and say 'we should bring it back' is wishful thinking, because Mark Kern is not the kind of guy who thinks about how to maintain the business. He's the kind of guy who knows how to make a game. Why do we need a guy who knows how to make games when the game we want is already made? He was a writer and designer; two roles that deal with the conception of a game and nothing to do with its technical implementation. He literally offers nothing to the table. The problem is people immediately associate his role as being something important because he was a core developer; which is like thinking Stan Lee would be a good director for the Marvel movies because he created Fantastic Four and Spiderman.

It all comes back to him being the voice of official Legacy servers. His background is irrelevant.

[rda]

There was an article linked in the thread a while ago talking about what Mark had done on Firefall and he didn't just fail at making a product but from what i read it seemed like he doomed the product, not even being present during development, firing staff because they had a different opinion and going on temper tantrums whenever he was present. This isn't just something like "oh it could happen to anyone" it discredits him from his prior achievements as new information show him being incompetent when it comes to game development, also his twitter doesn't really convey the image of a good representative.

I read that article when it was published (a year ago?), it was a typical article regarding a failed company. Mark did fail, yes, but 99% of what the employees would say about him would be wrong, because everything gets misinterpreted and exaggerated to hell and back. Some team keeps failing to deliver for several months and Mark tries to simplify the task for them so they can maybe deliver that? Yeah, that's going to appear as "when he finally get around to meeting the team, he threw away everything they did and set a completely new task". You can't trust these things. Take it from someone who saw them.

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That doesn't excuse his behaviour. And that is my point. For you to wave it off so easily tells me that you are willing to overlook it if it means getting what you want. I think that's a bad way to go about it.

That "behavior" thing that is your point is insignificant. That's it. That's why I am not even arguing it and am waving it off, it's small and unimportant. Look into what's important.

For the record, I am *against* Blizzard doing vanilla servers right now and am skeptical about whether it makes sense doing them at all. It's not that I am defending Mark because I want the same as him, I don't. I am defending him because the continuous attacks on him in this thread are idiotic.

[Thimagryn]

That "behavior" thing that is your point is insignificant. That's it. That's why I am not even arguing it and am waving it off, it's small and unimportant. Look into what's important.

For the record, I am *against* Blizzard doing vanilla servers right now and am skeptical about whether it makes sense doing them at all. It's not that I am defending Mark because I want the same as him, I don't. I am defending him because the continuous attacks on him in this thread are idiotic.

So you don't support him but you defend him because people are attacking him.

1. It doesn't make him right
2. It doesn't mean the criticism is wrong.

[Deleted]

https://twitter.com/Grummz

have you never read his twitter?
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/725891964122484736
https://twitter.com/grummz/status/592717097077182465
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/725890871850242048
https://twitter.com/Grummz/status/725889649202204672

This is the man publicly representing everyone who has signed the petition. The official account. Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinions and their actions, but that does not make them free of accountability. He has taken the responsibility upon himself to represent the players, and all I see is a person in power who is treating this like a popularity contest. The flame war was completely avoidable, and irresponsible.

I don't support his petition, but what these twitter have to do with the argument he's making?

Is character assassination the only way Internet can discuss things?

[Deleted]

So you don't support him but you defend him because people are attacking him.

1. It doesn't make him right
2. It doesn't mean the criticism is wrong.

But criticism is wrong and childish. It is based on some anonymous reddit post from former butthurt employee, which Mark himself contradicted. And its completely irrelevant to WoW anyway.

I'm not sure if people who criticize him on Firefall thing are trolls, fail at reading or just ignore everything (see this article) that contradicts them on purpose to push their anti-vanilla agenda.

[Relapses]

I read that article when it was published (a year ago?), it was a typical article regarding a failed company. Mark did fail, yes, but 99% of what the employees would say about him would be wrong, because everything gets misinterpreted and exaggerated to hell and back. Some team keeps failing to deliver for several months and Mark tries to simplify the task for them so they can maybe deliver that? Yeah, that's going to appear as "when he finally get around to meeting the team, he threw away everything they did and set a completely new task". You can't trust these things. Take it from someone who saw them.

- - - Updated - - -



That "behavior" thing that is your point is insignificant. That's it. That's why I am not even arguing it and am waving it off, it's small and unimportant. Look into what's important.

For the record, I am *against* Blizzard doing vanilla servers right now and am skeptical about whether it makes sense doing them at all. It's not that I am defending Mark because I want the same as him, I don't. I am defending him because the continuous attacks on him in this thread are idiotic.

Yeah, it's idiotic to attack somebody who very clearly has proven time and time again he's completely incapable of being the CEO of a game company. The first thing he did after getting the axe at Red5 was to establish another game company. That didn't go too well as all of the employees there quit and recreated their own company. (Here's their twitter account re-tweeting the Reddit post about Mark being an incompetent shitlord. Why the fuck would they do that if there weren't some kind of bad blood?) Additionally, you tried to waive the point I made about Mark changing his tone when he realized he couldn't do what he first indicated. Before the Nost petition gained traction, he made it seem as if he was going to walk into Blizz HQ and deliver the petition personally. When he realized he couldn't do that, it became an e-mail with a shitty video (the very topic of this thread), but it's becoming more and more evident that Mike Morhaime could give a flying fuck about his position so the fact that he changed his tune so quickly only further discredits him.

I stand by what I said earlier. The dude's a fucking toolbag. These aren't baseless accusations, they're impressions I've made by researching his character. Nobody who has personally worked for him seems to have anything positive to say about the experience. He's nearly tanked two separate companies in the last 3 years. His Twitter reeks of self-importance and he repeatedly grandstands issues instead of approaching them diplomatically. I don't know why you're so hung up on defending him. He's a pretty shitty human being.

[Deleted]

Yeah, it's idiotic to attack somebody who very clearly has proven time and time again he's completely incapable of being the CEO of a game company. *snip*

See? Ether troll or fail at reading.

"Proven time and time again". He was CEO for just 1 year, given task to save dead project. He failed to revive dead project. Once.

The rest of your post is idiocy. Spewing vile hatered nonsense and spreading misinformation to discredit someone who has done more for gamers than you'll ever do in your life.

[Brewhan]

I think secretly Mark Kern has the hots for TradeChat and thats why hes tweeting her

[Thimagryn]

I don't support his petition, but what these twitter have to do with the argument he's making?

Is character assassination the only way Internet can discuss things?

Blizzard has a very defined corporate structure and policy. They have to skirt around everything they do and say. Developers like Ghostcrawler have broken that mold, but luckily he was also tactful enough to not abuse his power and position.

What does it have to do with his argument? It has everything to do with it because Blizzard isn't going to listen to Mark kern if he's creating drama amongst the community before he's even begun talking about Legacy Servers. If you were a corporate structure, would you want someone who is prone to drama with your fanbase to be the public figurehead for one of your products? It's about his attitude and his actions.

[Deja Thoris]

See? Ether troll or fail at reading.

"Proven time and time again". He was CEO for just 1 year, given task to save dead project. He failed to revive dead project. Once.

The rest of your post is idiocy. Spewing vile hatered nonsense and spreading misinformation to discredit someone who has done more for gamers than you'll ever do in your life.

Different interpretations. It wasn't dead when he took over. He had a new injection of cash and the mandate to make changes. He flip flopped on what he wanted multiple times and bought a bus.

Hes a failure. You're blindly white knighting him is because hes championing a cause you like.

[Deleted]

For those who don't know, here's the Wikipedia link to Mark Kern - a lot of good things before leaving Blizzard.

Come with a real source.. wikipedia is the worst possible thing you could go to for information.. Other than blogs

[rda]

Yeah, it's idiotic to attack somebody who very clearly has proven time and time again he's completely incapable of being the CEO of a game company. The first thing he did after getting the axe at Red5 was to establish another game company. That didn't go too well as all of the employees there quit and recreated their own company. (Here's their twitter account re-tweeting the Reddit post about Mark being an incompetent shitlord. Why the fuck would they do that if there weren't some kind of bad blood?)

Tell you what, start a company, have it fail, then see what the employees will say about you. Yes, there is going to be bad blood. Because the company failed and it was your fault, they put their time into it and you failed them.

And yes, it's your fault, but if someone then interviews these employees or if some of them start writing blogs or tweets, it's almost always going to be garbage. Because almost everyone only gets to see part of a picture, which is also skewed due to where they look from, yet they will start reasoning about the whole picture, and because the company failed, and, again, because it's on you, you are going to get blamed for every imaginary thing you did and didn't do.

You spent some time coding something yourself? Good, then you were complete shit because you were getting carried away with toy activities or you were micromanaging, too afraid to believe that others will do it right. You didn't spend any time coding anything? Great, then you were a babbling idiot who never understood how things in your own project worked and never ever get your hands dirty. I can write you ten pages of such generic BS, it always happens the same way. A company fails -> someone is responsible -> he gets tons more of the blame than he deserves and everyone else stays clear.

Additionally, you tried to waive the point I made about Mark changing his tone when he realized he couldn't do what he first indicated.

It's a non-point. Mark wants to have a talk with Blizzard, he says "I can do it any time you want, does Monday work?". Blizzard are silent. What's Mark to do - take an AK47 and storm their offices so he can then say on Twitter "I said Monday, bitches, I am keeping my word" and keep you happy?

Stop being a child.

YES, when he sees Blizzard not responding, he sends them an email. That's what people do.

You have nothing.

[Relapses]

See? Ether troll or fail at reading.

"Proven time and time again". He was CEO for just 1 year, given task to save dead project. He failed to revive dead project. Once.

The rest of your post is idiocy. Spewing vile hatered nonsense and spreading misinformation to discredit someone who has done more for gamers than you'll ever do in your life.

Are you fucking serious? I fail at reading? There are direct accounts in that reddit thread of people who both played Firefall and worked for the company which support a very clear narrative that Kern did close to absolutely fucking nothing while he was in charge of the project. He also commissioned a $3 million bus which didn't even serve the purpose it was originally designed since it wasn't able to be used until after most of Firefall's press circuit was over. Great work. Then you further discredit the rest of my post where I even post a fucking link to a gaming company he founded after Red 5 retweeting the defamatory Reddit article about his stay there. I can't think of any reason a company would do that unless there was some kind of bad blood between them. This is FACT. I'm not making any of this shit up. You can call my words vile hatred but it's laughable for you to say he's "done more for gamers than I'll ever do in my life" since the last few years Kern has done nothing but make a mockery of whatever good he may have accomplished while working at Blizzard.

[Thimagryn]

But criticism is wrong and childish. It is based on some anonymous reddit post from former butthurt employee, which Mark himself contradicted. And its completely irrelevant to WoW anyway.

It's irrelevant to WoW, but not completely. He was a developer on Firefall, and if he is to be working on Legacy Servers in the future, he will be a developer once again. But just because he was a former WoW dev doesn't mean he has the answers to making official Legacy Servers work. It's doubtful he has any answers at all, considering Blizzard is a very different company from what it was 10 years ago.

He was a designer. Most people don't even know what that role even means, but they will associate it as being a role of great importance to getting Legacy Servers back online.

My criticism isn't about him being competant or not as a developer/CEO. It's about his relevance and his role, and how he is portraying himself in the public eye as a representative.

[rda]

Different interpretations. It wasn't dead when he took over. He had a new injection of cash and the mandate to make changes. He flip flopped on what he wanted multiple times and bought a bus.

Hes a failure. You're blindly white knighting him is because hes championing a cause you like.

You don't know what happened and are taking a recount of some anonymous know-nothing who only saw a small part of the picture as a gospel. It's you who are blind here, except you are attacking.

[Deleted]

It's irrelevant to WoW, but not completely. He was a developer on Firefall, and if he is to be working on Legacy Servers in the future, he will be a developer once again. But just because he was a former WoW dev doesn't mean he has the answers to making official Legacy Servers work. It's doubtful he has any answers at all, considering Blizzard is a very different company from what it was 10 years ago.

He was a designer. Most people don't even know what that role even means, but they will associate it as being a role of great importance to getting Legacy Servers back online.

My criticism isn't about him being competant or not as a developer/CEO. It's about his relevance and his role, and how he is portraying himself in the public eye as a representative.

He knows way more than anyone posting in this thread, including you and me. That's more than enough to make his opinion valid, way more valid than anyone else's opinions, except for other former Blizzard developers and current developers.

Since none of other former Blizzard developers stepped up to contradict him, current developers are silent apart from one blue post, there is nothing to counter Mark's validity.

[Deja Thoris]

You don't know what happened and are taking a recount of some anonymous know-nothing who only saw a small part of the picture as a gospel. It's you who are blind here, except you are attacking.

How am I attacking? The information is out there in the public domain, its had years to be discredited but it hasn't been. Hes also had a decade to do something worthwhile since leaving Blizz but he hasn't.

I mean, be a Kern groupie by all means. You aren't going to change my mind and I've read enough of your spam to doubt you have one to change.

[Deleted]

Since none of other former Blizzard developers stepped up to contradict him, current developers are silent apart from one blue post, there is nothing to counter Mark's validity.

Except for 10 years of NO from "Current" blizzard employees, who according to you know more than Mark?