Seems appropriate...
Indie gaming has taken off lately, bringing us great titles like Limbo, Bastion, and anything in the Humble Bundles. Add the fact that Steam is making many independent companies’ dreams a reality, and it’s jolting when something goes wrong. Early this morning, Indie gaming got a bit of a black eye from the team over at Indie Stone.
The team is responsible for Project Zomboid, a promising zombie survival RPG that is currently in a pre-alpha stage. They took a page from Notch’s wildly successful Minecraft book, allowing the community to have access to continually updated builds—provided they’ve pre-ordered the final version. The project’s had a troubled past—most notably with both PayPal and Google Checkout with regard to accessing preorder funds from the community. The knockout blow, however, came today.
Protip 1: Twitter is a stream of consciousness—collect your thoughts and think about what you're posting before you do it.
According to the lead developer, two laptops and his credit card were stolen from his house. Why is this important? The laptops had not only the most recent build’s source code, but the backups as well … on only those devices. This ominous tweet was how the theft was announced (Twitter account since deleted):
Two laptops robbed from flat. Last couple of months work on it stupidly backed up on tbe other. [sic]
Police on their way. Binky and nick out at a club. Feeling sick in tears. They came in my bedroom [sic]
We still have code but its basically before the last update. Tbis will probably finish us. Sorry let everyone down [sic]
The dev followed up this tweet with a few other gems, eventually indicating his drunkenness and turning on that same community that had supported him for so long. He had colorful choice words for anyone tweeting at him, called out Reddit for a thread describing the incident and eventually had to have the community manager reel him back in on an official statement and apology to the community. To be clear, it isn’t the act itself that I and many others are upset about—it’s how the whole thing was (and has been) handled.
Protip 2: Don't chew out the community for your mistake
The issue here is that this reaction is likely to send ripples through the Indie community for years to come. Developers need money, that’s no secret. If you don’t have the financial backing of a studio, an investor, or a wealthy teammate, you’re going to call upon the community for help. The idea makes sense: pay now to support a product that (ideally) makes it to market and feel a sense of ownership over the final cut. After all, you helped make the game what it is today, right? Without that cash, the developer wouldn’t have been able to code the game.
However, the immaturity and poor business sense on display here is what reminds everyone that, essentially, I’m giving money to a stranger on the internet … a stranger who can do whatever he/she wants with it. Again, the theft is awful; stuff happens, I understand that, but you absolutely cannot take to Twitter and begin chewing out the same people that helped you get where you are today. They are in this mess too. When you essentially say “whoops, sorry… looks like we’re done, appreciate the help guys” and close up shop, your community is going to get angry. Your customers just got more tight-fisted, and you’ve now begun destroying what can be described as the strongest link (and most personally invested) for funding: the gaming community itself.
Protip 3: Don't justify people's accusations with ranty responses
There is no publisher to hype Indie games. They are perhaps the truest link between a development studio and the end consumer. Suggestions from gamers don’t have red tape, hoops or any other corporate BS to jump through. They make it straight to the people who need to see them. The way you handle yourself will make or break your sales and determine if you can continue to do what you love: develop games. So you can understand how it leaves a bad taste in gamers’ mouths when you start a war against them—especially a misguided one. They’re not to blame for poor data security, the developer is.
If gamers weren’t already, they’re now going to think twice before donating to the next upstart project they see showing promise. Further, this type of behavior gives both PayPal and Google Checkout further justification to tie up development funds for 30-90 days. Guess what happens when Joe the Plumber realizes the money he’s paid is for a product that will never get released? Refunds. Guess who gets stuck with the bill and has to honor those refunds? PayPal and Google. There’s no level of assurance that random internet guy is going to honor his word and release a final product, so why should the payment services believe you? Those services are going to build up a pool of money to draw against to ensure that their bases are covered. They have no reason to be footing a bill for someone else’s mistake.
Indie gaming is a breath of fresh air in a multi-billion dollar entertainment business that continues to grow every year. They aren’t the same cookie-cutter overpriced $60 FPSs that are pushed on the consumer every six months. Because of this, you can even argue they’re more important than the big AAA titles themselves. After all, it was modification teams that created Red Orchestra, Desert Combat, DOTA and TF2. So remember, when you develop for the community, make sure your footsteps are the ones worth following.
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