Kinjiru Kinjiru

Stardock, I'm Disappointed

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Stardock, I'm Disappointed

from GalCiv2 Forums
It appears that the www.galciv2.com website has been (I assume inadvertently) overwritten with a personal blog. Unfortunately, an apparently quite conservative personal blog with everything from accounts of visits to Jerry Fallwell's church, to why global warming is a farce and everyone who thinks global warming is real is wrong.

Now, I'm not making this post to talk about those issues. Nor am I posting to bash Stardock. And, I know the people who run the company and the site are human and flawed accordingly, and I have every reason to believe this was completely unintentional.

However, the truth is, these views on these issues clash almost entirely with my own views and beliefs. And, despite the fact that everyone is entitled to their views and has a right to express them, I'm still feeling disenchanted with Stardock because this was allowed to be placed on the main GC2 site.

I'm not going to say anything ridiculous like I'm pulling my business, and I'm not so naive as to think one consumer's opinion makes a difference in the big picture, but this lone consumer is, for the first time, greatly disappointed in Stardock.

I still love the products I use and praise their technical merits accordingly.

Regards,

-- Rich aka "Kinjiru"
off-topic
59,746 views 57 replies
Reply #51 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I believe I speak for everybody when I give you the middle finger salute.


Yes, you have spoken for me! And what's this?
Holy S*@T Batman... it's Wheeloffire! Wow, welcome back buddy.
Reply #52 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I'm going to be locking this thread soon. I don't want this to turn into bashing of particular users or anything.

Like Sean said earlier, JU probably does have a right of center tilt (much like the blogsphere in general). But it's hard to really legitimately complain about that since anyone can blog there (your SDNET logon works there too and can create a blog in moments).   It's sort of like WoW where there are more Alliance players than Horde players. It's simply a matter of what msot people who choose to play end up choosing.

And one thing that I think sometimes gets lost is that Stardock isn't a normal company.  Virtually every PC game company (or console game company) that I know of is either a public corporation or a private corporation with many investors. 

Stardock is an anamoly in that I own it.  More than that, we are able to self-publish. So we have a lot more flexibility in what we do.  We can do things like keep releasing free updates simply because we want to.  We can put in far more features into the game because we want to.  We can interact with you guys a lot more because it's fun.  The developers directly talk to users and integrate your ideas into games.  And we have a lot of strange side-projects like a blog site or a customization community or a podcast  or a branded desktop company and so forth.   We also do a lot of unusual things at work (for instance, Stardock closed last Friday to go see Spider-Man 3 -- 40+ people just going to the movies during the day). 

In short, while we are a business and business is there to generate income. We factor in trying to do things we enjoy and believe in into that equation.  We aren't striving for optimal profitability but rather maximum freedom while still being able to be profitable. 

In other words, it's kind of like a hobby that just got out of hand.   But we do care about you guys a lot.  Your approval of what we do means a whole lot.  The free updates we do are driven largely based on wanting to please our users. 

Sorry to ramble but I guess my point is that anyone trying to relate Stardock to a traditional business is not likely to find the two very analogous.  I've seen people on-line over the years try to put together convoluted business justifications for what we do (I mean heck, why does JoeUser.com even exist?).  But often it's just driven by wanting to make cool stuff that people will enjoy.

 

It's kind of like a hobby

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #53 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As for what you read on JU, you misrepresent what you saw. The thread about the anti-christ was pointing out anti-semitism in some religious circles. There was no post praising Jerry Falwell. Just a person who relating an experience at a church that happened to be affiliated with Jerry Falwell.


I don't know anything about what was said on JU, but I have gone to Jerry Falwell's church before (Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA), and I found this very odd. Why does it come as any surprise at all that Christian churches would speak against Judaism? They're not Jews, they're Christians. What do you expect??? They're different religions, they don't believe the same things. Muslims make "anti-semitic" statements all the time, too. I mean, duh--they're Muslims. Jews make the same so-called "hate speech" against Muslims and Christians as well. That's because they're Jews! You don't have to invent Hyperdrive to figure that one out.
Reply #54 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Brad, you would be totally justified in locking this thread. It's quite possibly the most ridiculous thread I've read in a very LONG time.

You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. You guys and gals at Stardock do great work and have always put the players first!

I wonder how many people here would have gotten their panties in a knot if the site redirected to CNN? I imagine there would have been a thread along the lines of "What was wrong with the site?" and that would have been it. Instead, we have threads like this one...

Brad, I'm sorry you even had to read and respond to this thread at all.

Props to you for handling it like a logical and reasonable human being.
Reply #55 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
"A satisfied customer chiming in here to say that I don't really care what your political beliefs are so long as you guys keep up the good work on the games. Also - welcome to the western world, where people are allowed to pretty much do or say whatever they want."

Very well put.
Reply #56 from WinCustomize Forums Top
1. Kinjiru ..This thread was destined to go downhill the minute you posted. ..you have WAY too much time on your hands.

2. I don't see anything wrong with conservatism myself  

Reply #57 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Libertarianism ftw!