I’m not a Star Citizen backer, personally don’t believe the game is going to ‘live up to the hype’ (mostly because at its current hype level, that would basically be impossible), and have in the past taken small shots at either the game itself or the ‘true believers’ heavily backing it. Taking shots is what happens here on occasion.
That said I’ve always believed you only shoot stuff that’s fair game. I’ll make fun of Smed doing Smed things because Smed is a public figure who puts himself out there. I’ll take shots at WoW or LotRO or Trion. I’ll take plenty of shots at other bloggers. The line I have never crossed is pulling something that wasn’t originally in play just to further my cause. I won’t dig up a bloggers real identity just because they made fun of Darkfall, or post the home address of Forumfall idiots who found this blog that one oh-so-special time. What we do here under our blogger names is its own weird little world, and it should stay that way.
Derek Smart is a public figure, and his obsession with SC has long crossed the line of ‘random gaming nerd raging about a game’ and into “you should be in jail or worse” territory. Trying to bring down SC because he himself is a failure of a developer is low, but almost understandable. It must drive him crazy that no matter how hard he tries, he can’t produce anything of value, and here is this huge company with a massive following doing things he can’t even dream of.
Bringing Robert’s daughter into this whole mess is so insane it honestly shouldn’t be legal. Ignoring a troll is IMO only an option until the troll goes so far that you are forced to respond, as Roberts was forced when The Escapist published Smart’s words under the disguise of ‘sources’. Lost respect for The Escapist aside, pulling a stunt like that has to have serious consequences, or the next bitter little Smart-wannabe is going to do it, or take it up a notch further when he/she doesn’t get the attention they so desperately need but can’t get on their own merits.
Hardcore Casual 
I want to read the Escapist article, but at the same time I don’t want to give them my view and encourage them to do similar things in the future. I guess I’ll file them next to RockPaperShotgun in my “No longer visiting due to abusive journalistic standards”
Curious, what did RPS do? (I don’t visit them regularly)
I thought their February interview with Peter Molyneux was less “Tough impartial journalist striving for the truth” and more “Interviewer with a grudge dismissing, bullying and abusing a developer for two hours.”
Good journalism holds people accountable for their mistakes. The interview was using those mistakes as an excuse to hurl a unending stream of insults.
Ah ok, wasn’t on my radar.
Derek Smart is just batshit crazy in the worst possible way. Today’s events should put no doubt in anyone’s mind just how dangerous the guy is.
Regardless of my opinions of Star Citizen I really feel sorry for Roberts and family and the hundreds of employees toiling away at CIG who must be wondering just what the hell is going on.
If Derek Smart died in a fire, the world would be a much better place. That’s not hyperbole.
How do you figure Smart is a failure of a developer?
Roberts actually appears have more failures under his belt.
(Not taking sides in this, but let’s at least be clear).
Which of Smarts titles would you call not a failure? Battlecruiser is an infamous failure, Line of Defense is his current joke, and then he also has that little wonder called Alganon or whatever the WoW-copy/paste game was called. Does Roberts have a single title on the failure scale of any of those?
Roberts on the other hand has a solid list of successful, and sometimes genre-defining titles (Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld). Does Smart have a single title you would put up against those?
Again, how exactly are Smart’s titles failures? You’ve asserted they are. But how?
How is repeatedly asking questions but never answering return questions not trolling? Not taking sides here, but let’s at least be clear about your trolling.
Smart has mostly survived through litigation. He is basically the premier copyright troll of the gaming industry. His games have never been deemed “successes” and in almost all cases have barely been playable especially his flagship title BC3000.
I haven’t invested a cent in SC nor do I follow most of the hype or news. But holy crap that was some of the worst “journalism” I’d ever read. It actually made me want to invest. Well, that and I’ve been digging Elite: Dangerous lately, but wow, what a shitty article.
Wow, such amazing “journalism”.
They gave the freakin CEO of a company 24 hours to respond before they publish, which he did, and the lost the e-mail in the SPAM folder? That’s their excuse?
Holy shit.