Western RPG fans are often aware of games like Planescape: Torment and Baldur’s Gate, and the recently-supported Kickstarters for spiritual descendents such as Torment: Tides of Numenara and Project Eternity. Our writer Alexander Leach caught up with Creative Director and co-owner of Obsidian, Chris Avellone, at MIGS, and asked questions about the various Kickstarter’d games he’s been involved in and the direction the genres are taking.
The 2020 accusations saw multiple developers cut ties with the Jedi: Fallen Order writer
Glad to see he came out of this on top. He's one of my favorites in the industry; amazing writer and team lead. It's also good he got a good paycheck out of this. Those two jackasses definitely cost him work over the last couple of years.
Unfortunately the damage is done, and most will continue to see him as the villain regardless of what was decided in court.
There is no shortages of aholes in the gaming industry who threw him under the bus without any facts. Destroy him first and we'll sort it out later.
Time to return the favor and remind everyone what these people did to him. They are complicit with those who made the false accusations.
So in the end he gets paid and then asks that all respect the privacy of them two lying tricks? That’s strange as Hell.
Sounds like everyone got paid to just forget about it. Otherwise I would think those two would have been held accountable for telling a blatant lie.
It is odd he is advocating for them when they are the cause of this situation . But I have met rare people like that who are very forgiving . Not many though.
We don’t know all the details so who knows. It does seem like they all got paid, but that’s is conjecture .
There seems to be no punishment in accusing people for crimes they didn't commit. At least not when it comes to r@pe and physical abuse from men to women.
@sinceforever it's legally settled, I wouldn't wanna be reminded of the situation daily either by throwing them under the bus on twitter daily, even when that would be justified. Also if he applies for a new job, it's never a good look to have your socials filled with trying to give them payback, even when he is in the right.
At the end of the day Karissa Barrows and Kelly Rae Bristol lie and got caught. They could not sustain their lies in from of the judge.
And also the wording of the title should be different and most honest. It makes it sound like they have reached a settlement where Chris is the one that yielded when it was the accusers that got caught lying, they are the ones who had to settle.
It is a shame, although he got paid large sum his reputation is still ruined, I don't think that he will be working again after that.
Ideally he should have held out for convictions for those liars. But I understand the financial pressure he is under - he is now a pariah in his chosen field of work despite the facts, and his attorneys are probably getting a ton of this money anyways. However, if I were him, the terms would have included a public admission and apology from the two lying liars. Not the milquetoast “we were misunderstood” bullshit. They publicly accused him falsely, so they need to admit it and apologize to him in front of the world.
So it's took the best part of 3 years and all the legal fees and costs, also potentially destroying a man's life to get to the 2 signatures of he didn't do any sexual abusing or anything for that matter
Couldn't the 2 women have said that 3 years ago 🤔 sounds to me like 2 women trying to stick together to get a retirement package while ruining a man's life.
Imo those who make false allegations and are proven wrong should be punished I have seen this happen so many times over the years to those who are innocent. The ones who make the false allegations get away with it barely get a slap on the wrist while the accused gets their name dragged through the mud and nobody will see that person the same way anymore.
The sad part is once you're accused, your reputation is never the same even if you're completely exonerated. Bogus charges should have serious consequences like jail time or huge fees.
They're are no consequences for women, they pretty much get bailed out of every bad situation they put themselves in.
That's the talk that need to be had.
As long as there’s a difference between losing a case and blatant lying then I’m all for it. Liars should have to go on all social media outlets and tv holding up a sign that says “ I tried to destroy a human life by lying and I failed.”
Yeah, this whole situation with Chris Avellone (and others, like Zoё Quinn lied about Alec Holowka, etc) reminds me of a movie, «Jagten» (The Hunt) with Mads Mikkelsen.
Don't want to spoil, but *SPOILER ALERT* a lie lead to Mikkelsen character becoming an outcast, friends turning away from him and trying to hurt him in any way possible. And even when he proved he didn't do what she said and the little girl said she lied, people still didn't forgive him. So the character did absolutely nothing wrong, but people didn't care.*/END SPOILER ALERT*
I saw that film. It was chilling in the end when *SPOILER* someone fired a shot at him, not to hit him but just to send a message.
Agreed, and the liars making false allegations should get the same sentence the accused was gonna get imo
A lot of adults acts like kids nowadays no kids behave BETTER mane they believe every damn thing, this recently happened to someone else too they played the camera footage back and it was just a casual convo the man didn’t even inappropriately touch the lady but folks still accused smh a big part of society is filled with idiots lol
I have a friend who got accused, thankfully there was CCTV footage in the pub car park.
I used to be a full on supporter of the me too movement. Now I see how many lives it’s ruined… (not everyone who has been wronged is getting 7 figure settlements). There has to be a better way of holding people who deserve it accountable. I no longer judge until I see all of the facts. What a sad and disappointing result that shows the pettiness of humans.
Society has been broken down into a whole bunch of dialogue over things that don’t matter nearly as much as class dynamics. This is planned and supported by the corporate class. Working class solidarity cannot exist if we’re constantly arguing over petty shite. All working people (men, women, and non-binary people) are getting screwed every which way economically. We should shut up about everything else and focus on that. The pronouns that someone uses and which celebrity is (allegedly) a jerk are far less important than what your bank account looks like at the end of the month.
There are men that are assholes and there are women that are assholes . It’s really hard to tell which is which when people lie so much. We rarely get all of the facts in these cases really. You have to be there to know the true facts for sure
So annoying. Dying Light 2's story SUCKED because they scrapped all of his work. What ever happened to, "innocent until proven guilty"?
Sucks that he got such a bad rep and he will most likely lose some work because his name is already damaged. Hopefully he will have an opportunity to get his foot in the door again and continue to help make great games :)
I hope Techland feels like idiots. They fucked up so bad.
99% of these people claiming these #metoos are all fake and trying to get settlements. They almost always find in favor of the false accused. These women (and sometimes men) need to get a damn job and stop trying to ruin lives.
It really showed how screwed the modern day dynamics are that the false accusers are trying to gaslight the general public by claiming they never made their past accusations and Avellone is forced to go along with it or the false accusers could have dragged this out even longer which would have resulted in the cloud hanging over him and more lost income and distress.
I've been in workplaces and seen false accusations made by both sexes and the false accusers rarely had any real consequences while the accused endured shame, abuse and loss of standing within the company.
In one case I saw an over 65yo gay man falsely accused of SH by a 18yo female who he had told off multiple times for constantly using her phone, not working and ignoring customers and other staff and even though he was innocent and cleared by the companies investigation he was forced to move to branch over 1 and a half hours from his home. He died of heart failure 6 months later and at the funeral I was told by his relatives he'd aged more in the 3 months after the initial accusation then the prior 10 years. The 18yo female suffered no repercussions and continues to work at the branch on a casual basis (the company won't fire her because of the potential bad optics but they also don't want to give her more hours as she simply doesn't want to work while at work and has a very bad attitude).
So in this case at least the false accuser was rewarded with ongoing employment albeit with limited hours as the company now knows the type of person they're dealing with.
This older man would occasionally offer lifts to people if they'd walked or taken public transport to work and some people labelled this as creepy. He offered me a lift once when my car was being repair at a mechanic's workshop. This is the world we live in now where even good deeds are punished so it's little wonder people increasingly keeping to themselves.
I hope those two lying women get what's coming to them. This just infuriates me.
Wccftech got a statement from Owlcat Games regarding the allegations made against Chris Avellone, who wrote for their Pathfinder games.
The allegations were made over the weekend, and have prompted some studios to reconsider his work on their games.
“He got me blackout drunk on Midori Sours (on the company dime). He and two friends somehow got me back to my room”
How did a man “get you drunk”? Did he force a tube down your throat and dump liquor into it?
Yep. Here we go again. Let's just believe the female with absolutely no proof & ruin a man's career and life. I'm all for seeing someone who is guilty get what's coming to them. But YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE PROOF! Not just words. For all we know they fooled around consensually, and she saw him flirting with other women and now she's trying to ruin him.
Agreed. This won’t stop until men speak up about it. If you want to ruin a man’s livelihood, you need proof.
Twitter isn't the place for accusations. If he did something, then report it to the appropriate people
@ElementX That's just it. When a woman reports an assualt to the police, they typically ask her specific questions regarding the event and take her phone to ensure that there's nothing in her text messages/voicemails that may damage her case.
Women who are aware that their claims are false will avoid the police altogether because they know it won't take long for the police to catch them in a lie.
Since women know that most people will white knight for them, they choose to crucify the man on social media where they can not only hide their identity (preventing the accused from fighting back) while also preventing herself from being incriminated for reporting a fake crime.
Surprise Surprise! Angry Joe was just recently accused of sexual assualt as well!
https://medium.com/@WookieM...
It's funny that she knew, word for word, everything he said UNTIL it got to the part about the shower. Suddenly, she can't really remember and instead has to use the term "he replied along the lines of". A tell-tale hint that she's straight up lying. SMH.
EDIT: OK, just finished the whole story. Basically the story could be summed up as "Guy tries to get laid, doesn't succeed. Girl could have left anytime she wanted but didn't. Instagram simp tries to console her. The End." This is a non-story. She's an attention whore who is trying to capitalize after other women came forward.
Gamers are not suppose to be sorry blame the victim losers. But I swear it is what I keep seeing.
Read more than just the twitter source. This article is a shit show for writing by putting the less credible stuff up front and not as "additional proof." The text to Jacqui Collins alone is pretty damning as both are industry professionals and not just random people and she showed proof.
Whatever your thoughts on how he should be treated, professional relationships are not the place for such things. I'm ashamed of a man, who has been at the core of my gaming life since the 90s, acting this way professionally.
These guys won't care if it is possible or logical. Unless the woman can remember every detail the man is innocent to them. Not saying he did or didnt, but I know who isnt going to be on the Jury IF this even makes it that far.
Why would you be ashamed? You were in no way complicit with his actions, regardless of the veracity of these claims. It always annoys me when people act like they did something wrong and should feel shame when something bad comes out about someone. Don't continue supporting him, but enjoying his work at some point, or even in the future, isn't going to make you a bad person.
Ashamed in this case being embarrassed by. It's a person I've lauded many a time and his actions only bring more questions to others in the industry. Not ashamed as I'm guilty or personally ashamed "ashamed of" is key. Not of myself, but of him.
You don't have to be embarrassed either. I used to be a fan of Kevin Spacey. I still think he's one of the best actors of our time. But, obviously, his actions make it so it's hard to want to see his movies, or support his career. I'm no longer a fan in light of new information, but it doesn't take away his achievements elsewhere, or make me wrong for liking his work in the past, or even respecting his work now. The only thing that's changed is being a fan of his.
Yes, it does indeed paint a black mark on the industry, but that black mark is way to widely painted nowadays. It's so generalized, that it's no better than the way the internet works in general. Attributing the whole based on the actions of a few. A few bad apples isn't indicative of a systematic problem.
I think what you're trying to say is that you are disappointed in him, which is understandable.
Rainslacker, I said what I meant and don't need you trying to correct me. Perhaps you don't feel what I do, that's fine, but I feel what I feel and it's also fine. You don't need to tell me how to feel.
I'm not trying to chastise you for feeling the way you do. I understand why you feel that way, and know many people who have had similar things happen in the past....if not everyone has at some point really. I'm just saying there is no shame in having respected someone who ended up disappointing you in the end. I don't feel you did anything wrong. Basically...chin up, you're a good person.
He tied her arms behind her back and shoved alcohol down her throat of course
Ffs. The whole thing fell over immediately.
Call the police not social effing media ffs
I feel like people don't understand the difference between accused and charged. There is some evidence of misconduct and inappropriate advances but there has no been an official charge of sexual misconduct or worse. Also, LOGICWINS, you should use some logic to understand that drugs can be placed within said drink causing a drunk like state etc. I'm not saying he did any of this btw, but I see some people going to the irrational conclusion that they are trying to ruin someones life. Both are extreme conclusion based on ZERO evidence.
"I'm not saying he did any of this btw, but I see some people going to the irrational conclusion that they are trying to ruin someones life."
When you publicly accuse someone of sexual misconduct or assualt....you are in fact (intentionally or otherwise) ruining their means of making money....thus ruining their life. Chris Avellone has and will continue to lose job opportunities because of this....as evidenced by the article(that apparently you didn't read).
Techland jumped on it immediately like it was a fact and not an allegation.
Arrr
“But rapes don’t generate screenshots“
They apparently don’t generate police reports either.
Nothing in those warranted a police report. You can have inappropriate behavior without it being against the law. Just like you can get fired for saying something stupid and it not be against the law.
sexual misconduct and rape are very different things. Misconduct suggest that there was no actual sex, or the actions(sexual or otherwise) are not appropriate for the situation. It often is used when talking about consensual relationships that come about from one side having some sort of authority of the other. The title would cover the more reliable source cited above, whereas the accuser the article talked the most about I'm not even sure if it's actually sexual misconduct, as opposed to some guy picking up someone at a bar, which ended up not ending with any intercourse, but no actual misconduct seemed to be cited that I could tell. Getting drunk and going back to someone's room isn't the guy doing something wrong outside extenuating circumstances, which nothing being stated here that was the case.
As knickstr states, not all sexual misconduct is illegal sexual acts. It's also a term used by businesses, or for non-felony criminal offenses. As an example, flashing someone is considered sexual misconduct that is unlawful, and isn't a felony in most states for a first offense.
Proof was shown, an industry professional has come forward about this but it’s still not enough for the aholes in this comment section.
Not proof of sexual assault, but proof of truly inappropriate behavior towards an industry professional.
See the tweet from Jacqui Collins in the article with screen grabs of his admitted texts to her.
Sending that to someone would normally get someone fired. It was unprovoked and insanely inappropriate. It's not sexual assault, but it is very inappropriate.
https://twitter.com/jacquic...
The stuff the article focuses on at first is pretty much hearsay and not enough to come to a conclusion, but that text message is damning to say the least.
@ Christopher
"Inappropriate behavior" is wildly subjective and not the least bit illegal. Going to conventions and picking up someone to have sex with is hardly a new thing. It's been going on for decades. By men and woman. Where do you think "Prostitutes/Escorts hanging out in convention lobbies" came from? Where do you think "Men/Women having affairs while away on business at conventions" came from? At worst, he is guilty of being a creep. At best, trying to get laid. Stop demonizing people.
***"Inappropriate behavior" is wildly subjective and not the least bit illegal.***
No one said it was. But it is definitely something I would fire someone over at any company and so would most others. Especially as this is in relationship to their work, not just a private incident.
***Stop demonizing people.***
I'm not, but you really need to stop forgiving people of wholly inappropriate communications with work-related persons.
Please note anywhere in my comments here where I've accused Avellone of anything more than inappropriate communication or said that the other woman was "credible" as a source. I even said, directly above, that the other stuff was hearsay. What the heck more do you want from me?
How about this, stop ignoring a valid issue just because the other item presented isn't as credible.
I’ve been drunk countless times and even then I knew if something I was doing was right or wrong. There’s a point t where you gotta take responsibility for your own actions.
It’s just the world we live in today. Everyone is just making up reasons to be offended and pass the blame instead of owning it.
That's just it. No one wants to take responsibility for their own actions anymore because that doesn't garner them sympathy. Way more beneficial to play the victim. What's the term, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil"?
Generally, even if a person is drunk, if they consent to go to someone's room, even if they wouldn't have if they weren't drunk, means that it's still a consensual decision. The case cited by the article only states that he said she refused him, which I assume means that they didn't do anything more than make out.
There are extenuating circumstances sometimes, usually involving things like unknown drugging, but that didn't appear to be the case, and her saying, "He got me drunk" makes me wonder how he forced her to drink to the point she ended up becoming completely unaware of what happened.
The workplace instance cited is worthy of review, but this article did a piss poor job of researching the issue, because while his actions were highly inappropriate for the work place, there is nothing that says it's a persistent issue.
Just goes to show you why people are the way they are. People in charge condone playing the victim role because instead of using their common sense, they're trying too hard to white knight. It makes the person (with zero evidence/lying) feel like they're protected and can do and say anything they want. And the people who use their brains and need evidence look like uncaring jerks.
Yeah, it's pretty obvious a lot of people do. And the funny thing is the admin note is to say why it's being kept up even though the majority of it is hearsay that we normally wouldn't allow. But, it seems people think it's up for white knighting? The opposite of the purpose of the admin note.
I think the note should say the case cited the most in this article has no real merit to accuse the man, despite a more reliable source existing. The flaky source doesn't sound like sexual misconduct, just some girl being picked up at a bar. While not all of us would be that eager to go home with a drunk girl, it still isn't something out of the ordinary that warrants going to the effort to start a campaign against the guy....which is what this is, saying he needs to be moved up to the trash pile of shitty men in the industry.
@rainslacker: ""There's some poor quality sources on some of these, but you can't deny the one from Jacqui Collins"
I think you're arguing word usage when I pretty much said just that in the first line.
Maybe. But it all started with a flaky source, and it's the one the article focuses on the most.
Not that upset about it, and really, people should read these articles before starting their hate or defense campaigns, but I've noticed there's been too much reactionary attitudes towards these things of late, and not just in gaming.
Sometimes you have to spell it out a bit more for people is all I was really trying to get at I guess.
The screen shot tweet seems like he sent it while drunk, I mean who hasn't sent crap they regret while drunk I know I have several times, its why I quit drinking 4yrs ago. Some of the other stuff mmm Idk seems like another round of Metoo# but this time hitting the gaming world.
I haven't. I definitely haven't sent it to work-related persons. Why are people trying so hard to play off him doing something that gets other people fired for good reason (inappropriate is still inappropriate, even if you do it when drunk)?
Yeah I have been completely off my face drunk and done many silly things but never have I contacted a work colleague who I might fancy with inappropriate thoughts, there is a switch in my head that would never let me do that no matter how much alcohol I have consumed, it's the same switch which stops me murdering or raping people when drunk lol.
To the update: there's an insane amount of "me too"s on social media. It's pretty crazy.
Lol N4G never fails the impress. 90% of the comments about how the accusers have no proof as evidenced from a pcgamer article.
this is one of the things that makes true sexual harassment, and things like that so difficult.
there's just too many people that want to wield it as a weapon after the fact,
I also agree with the got me drunk bulshit if you don't want to drink, don't drink.
so reminds me of the back door shit that was tried on Chris Hardwick, not that I like him or care about him.
but his ex-girlfriend tried to drop a bomb on him, (accusations about control/ abuse long after the relationship had ended)
fortunately it didn't work.
she also tried to claim that he somehow derailed her career.
she was about 30 steps below Olivia Munn and doing really horrible cosplay, she had no "career" prior to knowing him, and he actually tried to farm work and opportunities for her, to no avail.
of course that didn't work out and neither did the relationship, so .. now you have to pay! 😭
The internet is quick to judge, and people are more than willing to grab the pitchforks at the mere mention of bad behavior. Proof be damned.
The internet is also good at getting to the facts as well.
Unfortunately, it's rare that the facts make the news cycle to the degree the bad behavior does. People move on real quick to their next cause. People are often cleared of wrong doing with even the most cursory of investigations, and companies are supposed to do serious inquiries regardless because they can be held accountable for firing someone based on no proof.
I'm not for any kind of inappropriate behavior, sexual or otherwise, personal or professional, but nowadays, I'm more likely to defend until better proof is given, than assume the worst, because I've seen way too many flimsy or false accusations over the past 10 years or so, compared to the time before social media, where the press was more likely to do research to verify claims before running a story.
The mob: He is guilty!
Media with an agenda: We must always believe the woman without any proof!
People that use their brain: If the evidence shows that he is guilty, then I will believe it.
Men need to take responsibilities for that actions. With that said, women need to take responsibilities as well. How in the world did you allow a man to get you black out drunk? Im not saying, "you asked for it". But you need to take responsibilities in protecting yourself from predators. You willingly to get passed out drunk and him getting passed out drunk as well is not a good combination. Because all we know, you both can have "consensual" sex while both are black out drunk.
I'm tired of this bullshit. If someone has committed a crime, go to the police and report it. Stop gossiping on social media.
This should be removed! This is not gaming news its gossip and doesn't belong here.
It applies to an industry professional with evidence from one accuser, also an industry professional, AND it shows that at least two companies who were working with him have severed ties with him because is these accusations.
"Let me just wait 7 years to post a screenshot of 2 inappropriate texts some dude sent me while he was drunk and apologized immediately the next day"
I'm pretty sure right then and there he figured the incident had been settled and they moved past it, but as they say, Men tend to forget but not forgive, Women tend to forgive but not forget.
If nothing comes of this how much you want to bet no one talks about it. Also like joe rogan said why is it if you get a dui you’re responsible for your actions but not when you decide to sleep with someone when your drunk
I agree inappropriate to Collins but dammm, he apologized and SHE said she forgave him...even called him well after for career advice & remained friendly. -I'm lucky I dont drink alot but when I do sure I think about wildly inappropriate things BUT I still have a "no dont go there filter". YES its his fault for texting thatto a co-worker but come on its still just 1 creepy pick up line. One where she wasnt so offended to report it and forgave him and remained friends. Come on should he be ruined for that now? I have a daughter & wife and if a man mentally hurt them Id let him know it for sure, if he physically hurt them, well I cant say whats gonna happen but seriously for the average pick up line or 1 time innapropriate behavior from a coworker they are perfectly fine with just telling a guy its unwelcomed and moving on with not a second thought about it. Privately Im glad they're that type= protect & treat women with respect BUT stop the ruin culture for just about any comment.