Former Concord Dev in Defense of Marathon and Against “Lack of Compassion” and “Vitriol” Attached to Games
[summaraize]
Last week, Bungie’s latest game, Marathon, was finally unveiled. While some liked what they saw about the extraction shooter, there were also critics who were ready to bash the game due to it being another extraction shooter joining the burgeoning genre, and one that’s premium (read: paid), even.
While people haven’t even played Bungie’s latest game, some won’t even give it a chance. This has sparked discussion among the Marathon community, with even one non-Bungie game dev weighing on it as well.
One of Concord’s Developers Speak Out on All the Hate on Marathon
Former Concord developer and Firewalk employee Stephan Williams, who as the Senior Visual Effects Artist for the game, posted a thread on the Marathon subreddit recently (which has since been locked). MP1st reached out to Williams who had quite a lot of things to say about the topic.
Note that the statements you’re about to read are solely the personal opinion of Williams and not that of his employer(s).
First off, Williams spoke about the main issue for him, which is the lack of compassion and vitriol attached to video games. Also why he posted in the Marathon subreddit in the first place, and even gave himself as an example of how this behavior is destructive and helps no one.
I will say that the thing that was the hardest, is to put yourself out there as a creator of something, as being vulnerable as an artist can come with both positive and negative reactions. This is something that is normal in a creative field, and I don’t think we are opposed to that. The issue I have with certain interaction read among many different media outlets, is the lack of basic compassion and vitriol that is attached to video games if they are not created by people, and the lack of understanding is troubling. Ok, that’s ok, no problem if you are not a fan of Concord for one reason or another, that’s fine, no problem.
I felt compelled to post in the Marathon Reddit, as I was reading a lot of the comments that were said about Concord. What does that gain us? Why do people feel the need to say this or that, when it just causes pain? Reviling in the idea that someone is going to lose their income, and potentially affect their career, or lose the ability to provide for their family, is beyond comprehension.
Granted, this is the internet. There is a certain level of anonymity. People who are rage baiting, or trolling for interaction, that is one thing. Hoping for someone to lose all they have worked hard for, because you don’t like the art style, the fact that they used an animation (could be placeholder), in the grand scheme, is small potatoes.
If collectively, we are able to put our focus into giving clear, honest, constructive feedback; we will grow and learn from it.
The difficult thing to know, is the age of some of the people who are discussing these things, and at the age of forty, I look at the world with totally different eyes.
I will give some perspective, as I hope people read this far. As a child, I loved Star Wars. A New Hope,Empire strikes back, and Return of the Jedi, and was inspired to make artwork while “listened” to them while creating random characters and studying Disney art. Upon the release of Star Wars “The Phantom Menace” I found myself frustrated, confused, and angry as to how my beloved work was pushed in such a different direction. I didn’t understand why it was so different, and “hated” Jar Jar Binks. I felt as if the it was personal and I was enraged.
That is powerful. I mocked that character for a time, and found myself not caring. Little did I know, or even think in my young age, that it was a person who acted as this character. There were people at ILM that were pushing VFX, and motion graphics forward to what we have today. Pioneers in the industry, making waves that could topple mountains.
Ahmed Best opened up about his high hopes and aspirations for being the next big thing, and he needed to get “ready for fame”
Sadly, I and many others reacted in a way that pushed him to the edge. For that, I feel a deep sense of guilt. He, nor anyone who worked on that project deserved that.
All in all, we can learn from what does not succeed, and move forward in a better way. Hideo Kojima said that our digital connection will liberate us, or tear us a part.
I’ll take connection any day.
I will say that Williams makes a fair point. Sure, we all know Concord failed hard, but people seemed to relish in its failure, so much so that they’d instantly attack anything that may in the slightest resemble it. Not only that, but there is a genuine distrust that some have when they see “ex-Concord” dev working on “x” game, as if it means the people who worked on these games are creatively restricted, with those particular projects doomed to follow the same path. It leaves little room for anyone to learn and grow from those experiences, so William’s perspective as a developer does help open our eyes more and see the inner workings of things.
When it comes to Marathon, I understand the apprehension given it is entering a crowded genre, but shouldn’t we at least try the game first before passing judgement? Worst case scenario: you don’t like it. Then maybe, I dunno, just don’t play it or read about it?
In other Marathon news, Bungie has lifted the NDA on the closed alpha kicking off this week, so expect loads of gameplay to surface from participants.
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Weird how they get in their feelings about this but they’ll freely label so many people as bigots etc if you don’t like their ugly designs or social engineering with pronouns
He just sounds very thin skinned. What exactly is wrong with calling out jar jar binks for what he is – an appalling character in terms of design, performance and legacy? Sometimes things are just awful and deserve to be called out.
Marathon’s first trailer is terrible. The end. Would rather just keep playing Destiny 2.
Totally agree. Limiting a classic series to just being a stupid extraction shooter is what will kill this game. If they were done with Destiny it would have been cool to turn the Marathon series into their next big MMO game. Limiting it to a single game mode is dumb, and to charge for it when it looks like it is closer to Apex Legends and should be free is also not bright.
This game is likely DOA.
I wish Bungie just went away. They have contributed nothing to gaming for me. I would actually say their existence is siphoning money away from other things and IP that I WOULD have paid money for.
As a fan of the original Marathon games I am skipping this just because I hate how it is just a dumb extraction shooter… If it was a straight up FPS or the next Destiny type game I’d be all over it but this game lacks any real depth or variety. It looks like it should be F2P and that will likely be its downfall.
Don’t care. I don’t give a single toss about any multiplayer focused game. I don’t care what it is. TLOU was a great game in 2013……….didn’t play even ONE SECOND of the multiplayer mode.
And then the existence of a new multiplayer TLOU game wasted literally 2 to 3 years development time and money that should have went towards ANYTHING else.
The comments are trying way too hard to be negative. Notice the pattern and then break the cycle. They’re only here to be negative. Stop reading comments to those of you who still are. I’ve 99% stopped and it’s so much better.
Read the article if interested then move on. You have to think the people who are miserable in the comments have low incomes if a job at all and still live with their parents. Let my comment be the last you read for awhile and see the difference for yourself.