Evil Genius Games bleeding personnel?

[Dire Bare]

Honestly, I regard the majority of all gaming fiction as pretty bad, regardless of publisher or game. It's not a large majority (much better than Sturgeon's Law suggests) and has gotten a bit better over the decades, and there are many quite enjoyable exceptions, even a few gems. But overall, there's a lot of stuff I regret spending time on, and a rare few I just gave up on partway through, something I almost never do. YMMV of course, but I've had far more disappointments with gaming fiction than the general run of scifi and fantasy that I've read.

Have you read the majority of gaming fiction? There's an awful lot out there . . .

I've had the opposite experience. I haven't read the majority of gaming fiction . . . but I have read almost every single D&D novel published by TSR and then later by WotC. There are only a handful of titles I didn't pick up, or did pick up and couldn't finish. Some of these books were stinkers, some were amazing, most were okay and fun.

Just like every other category in fiction.

 

[Dire Bare]

I guess I have an unpopular opinion. I like most of that fiction. I read for enjoyment only, and sometimes I enjoy reading vanilla fantasy with basic plots. I enjoy reading Terry Brooks more than I enjoy reading Guy G Kay. I enjoy Salvatore more than Robert Jordan. Something I can just ride along with on the plot without reading twenty pages describing the relationship between two neighboring city states. It’s hard for me to focus sometimes (my adult adhd), so I like books where I don’t have to keep track of every proper noun and history mentioned. It’s a bonus when I can read a book and related to the things in that world, like monster names, spells, or locations.

I doubt your opinion is all that unpopular. These types of books sell very well because, IMO, folks like coming back to their favorite worlds over and over again.

When you like something . . . you rarely make it a point on the internet to tell everybody. "Hey, I love me those shared-world franchise novels!!!"

There are fans who do make it a point to let everybody know what they don't like, often using strong hyperbole, and couched as objective truth rather than simply their own experience or opinion. "D&D novels all suck!"

The loud and negative fans make it seem like the accepted truth is that licensed fiction, shared world fiction, tie-in fiction is 90% crap . . . but the popularity of these novels suggest otherwise.

Not trying to pick on @Wofano Wotanto, and I'm not suggesting they are doing what I'm complaining about here . . . it's just that bagging on D&D fiction is a sensitive spot for me, as the books have brought me a lot of joy over the decades and I'm tired of that toxic narrative.

Shared world novels in large franchises, like Star Wars or D&D, do often "play it safe" and don't often rise to the greatest heights of some more innovative fiction . . . but they regularly make the NYT best-sellers list and can be fun, enjoyable reads. And that's okay, not everything needs to hit like Le Guin's Earthsea novels or Lord of the Rings.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Have you read the majority of gaming fiction? There's an awful lot out there . . .

These days, no. Up to about ~2001 when I was no longer working for game and book stores and reading essentially for free, yes, absolutely.

There was not so much gaming fiction in the 70s, 80s and even 90s that a reasonably quick reader couldn't keep up with it to the point where you really could read the majority of it, especially the non-D&D material that was my primary focus. By 2024 standards entertainment options were very limited when I was young, especially as a fairly isolated rural kid. There also wasn't a much of an internet to distract you for most of that period, and if you go back far enough there wasn't even cable TV. These days it's difficult to consume the majority of any type of media, even much smaller niche subgenres than gaming fiction has become.

I'll say one thing for gaming fiction as a whole, whether I liked a given book or not none of them were slogs to get through. As a literary subgenre they're light, easy reads and rarely if ever overstay their welcome. The few I didn't finish lost me due to lousy character writing or long passages of inadequately disguised game mechanics masquerading as a fiction, not breaking a metaphorical axle in a plot hole or getting bored. It certainly used to be my "pure relaxation" read of choice, but as I said old pulp fiction (which is effectively free online these days) has become my go-to for that now.

 

[technoextreme]

Then I will do your homework for you, as you could not seem to be bothered to. Evil Genius Games is apparently located in California. California's relevant code covering NDAs is here.

Specifically:

The problem with this logic is that your assuming that NDAs are the only reason why anyone would hesitate to talk. Their could be safety issues. Fear of bystanders getting hurt in the blow back.

 

[NativeDev]

@NativeDev welcome to the site. Like I said to the other one, hope you stay around longer than just this thread and contribute in other areas.

Given the language I've witnessed from the moderator toward other members, no, I don't think I will. The hypocrisy of the ethics police in a fake conversation about ethics. No thank you.

 

[overgeeked]

Given the language I've witnessed from the moderator toward other members, no, I don't think I will. The hypocrisy of the ethics police in a fake conversation about ethics. No thank you.

Everyone’s ethics are selective. Some are just more honest about it than others.

 

[NativeDev]

Everyone’s ethics are selective. Some are just more honest about it than others.

That any of you argue ethics as subjective is a strong indicator of why I don't care to participate any further here. It's like arguing with the antagonist from Billy Madison.

 

[JLowder]

The problem with this logic is that your assuming that NDAs are the only reason why anyone would hesitate to talk. Their could be safety issues. Fear of bystanders getting hurt in the blow back.

The legal issues for former employees also extend beyond the letter of contract-specific NDAs to, for example, general confidentiality and trade secrets laws. The repercussions from these can be serious. The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, for example, allows companies to go after former employees on both the state and federal levels, with a very broad definition of what constitutes a trade secret.

There are also serious career and publishing market implications. Speaking out about problems at a publisher for anyone in the industry comes with a price, potentially quite high. This is true even when the matter is cut and dried, like the publisher failing to pay royalties or overtly ripping off creators in other ways, as with Guardians of Order (reconstituted now as Dyskami).

 

[Umbran]

That any of you argue ethics as subjective is a strong indicator of why I don't care to participate any further here. It's like arguing with the antagonist from Billy Madison.

Mod Note:
As you wish. Good gaming to you.

 

[Raven110]

I am the partner of someone who has been a contractor at Evil Genius and resigned in Dec. Whatever the reason, these current employees are willing to leave without other jobs to support them. That says something. Odds are they have not been fully paid for their work prior to leaving and leaving seems like a way you definitely don't get paid.

My partner submitted invoices for payment and at the point of resigning he had not been paid anything for his work at EGG. To date, over a month since he should have been paid we have received 1/3 of the money that is due to him. Ironically we were paid for the later work he did and not the earlier.

Dave Scott wants to publicly come out and paint himself as a "nice guy", but I am sure he did not stop living his lifestyle while he was asking employees to keep working while not getting paid. Correction, contractors not employees, because my husband was a contractor even though he was paid hourly/monthly and was expected to work 40 hours. I am 100% convinced he did this to avoid employment laws and avoid paying the FICA taxes, which speaks volumes to his character.

Also, I appreciate how he definitely tried to make it sound earlier in this thread like he was against Web3 technology, when 2 months ago his LinkedIn listing EGG had Web3 in the main header and in the description. Personally, I think he wanted to use Web3 and/or had investors that wanted to use Web3, but no one at his company would stand for it and slowly left till it became too much for those remaining and a larger group left. Now he is creating a "code of ethics" and trying to sound like he wasn't the one trying to make it happen the whole time. Another thing that makes me question his character.

We had in generally washed our hands of the negative experience that was EGG and I thought I would never have to think about it again, but then I heard about all this chatter and found out Dave was on here trying to make himself look like a Rose. We had bills to pay and debt that was expected to be paid off with those funds. Luckily us having a roof over our heads wasn't dependent on that money, and I hope that isn't the case for some of the others that left. Maybe after he pays people for the work they did for him, he can start talking about Ethics.