Hello - My name is Awen, and I am the Lead Editor and a World Builder at Evil Genius Games. I have been watching the posts here, and the arguments that have been developed from them and, as a moral philosopher and ethicist by profession—with a PhD in Philosophy and specializations in Ethics, Aristotelian Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, and Formal Symbolic Logic—it saddens me to see that a few of the commentators seem more interested in promoting their own conclusions than they do in learning about our company and its policies, preferably before condemning either one. But I am not here to argue any of the conclusions reached in this thread nor to disparage any of the commentators. Instead, I am here because I care a great deal about Evil Genius Games and its CEO, Dave Scott, and about my colleagues at EGG (both past and present). In addition, as an ethicist, I am hoping that my perspectives will help some readers to reach more informed conclusions about Evil Genius Games.
Before I begin, however, I would like to state up front that I am posting here entirely on my own initiative, and not because I have been asked to do so by anyone. Moreover, I have not shared this post with anyone at EGG, other than my husband, prior to posting it.
First and foremost, like Sig and Dave, I want to wish my former colleagues—Michael, Faith, Ivis, and Matt—all the best. I truly hope that the future will be kind to each one of them, and I also hope that they know just how much they will be missed. I certainly agree with them that the team at Evil Genius comprises talented and dedicated people with whom it is a true pleasure to work, and I have no doubt whatsoever that leaving this team for any reason would be more than a little heart-wrenching.
When I first read their posts, however, I admit to confusion on my part. After all, as an ethicist, if there had been any serious ethical issues that affected either the company at large or its employees as a whole, I was fairly certain that I would have been aware of them. However, after thinking long and hard, I was personally and professionally satisfied that neither the company nor Dave Scott had committed any ethical violations of which I was aware. Of course, I cannot comment knowledgeably on any ethical violations or matters of trust about which I am not aware, and I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any issues to which I am not privy. So, it is important to me that nothing that I say here is mistakenly understood as calling into question the sincerity of my former colleagues’ stated reasons for leaving the company.
From the information at hand, then—and whether correctly or incorrectly—I can infer only that my former colleagues held personal principles that they believed the company had violated. Three of them worked closely together, and were friends as well as colleagues, and so it would not surprise me if they shared certain common principles. And, if there were issues at EGG that violated their personal principles, then I fully support their decisions to leave the company. In fact, I have left jobs because of conduct that I could not ethically condone.
In the end, then, I am posting for two reasons: to wish my colleagues well and to assure the gaming community that, as a professional ethicist, I can recommend both our company and our products without reservation.
You do not know me, however, and so have no reason to believe that I can be trusted (even though I was playing D&D before most of my colleagues were born—back in the early days, when the game was condemned as part of the great “Satanic Panic”—and despite the fact that my original ethical theories have been integrated into parts of game development theory for some time now). Yet, when I assure you that 1) the investor discussed in this thread chose our company simply to diversify its portfolio, and not to influence our choice of technology, and 2) EGG neither sells any private information whatsoever nor provides the movie studios with any information other than what is on their royalty statements, I am telling you the truth exactly as I know and understand it.
I realize that some people may sincerely disagree with me, which is perfectly fine, and that others may intentionally misrepresent my perspectives for their own purposes. Either way, I am not speaking on behalf of EGG, or Dave Scott, or our investors, or either my current or former colleagues at EGG. I am merely offering my personal understanding of the situation here, and so I will not contribute to any debate or argumentation on the topic at hand.
