My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal • Hacker News Board

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#101

Post by jszymborski » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 5:55 PM UTC

FeistySkink wrote: post #77

stingraycharles wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent, but I always wonder how these kind of payments are paid for. Would it be out of pocket money for Marty, or would he let Mick bill some phantom hours and have the company pay for it?

It's a simple contract with all conditions spelled out. The company pays.

Why would companies go to bat for these execs that are liabilities? Why not pay out the settlement and send Marty to Zenimax's St Helena division to prevent having to pay this sort of thing out again? (or worse, risk the damage of having someone not willing to take hush money like Mr. Gordon).

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#102

Post by brightball » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 5:55 PM UTC

JohnBooty wrote: post #80

brightball wrote: post #75

The most shocking thing about this situation to me is that he didn't get an attorney involved after 2 months without pay. 2 months is generous.

It's easy to say, and important to do, but also hard to do. These relationships always have a hugely asymmetrical power balance. As a contractor your reputation is so critical and the games industry is a small place. And there are far more artists than jobs.

True. Touched on this in my other comment too.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33535123

Reading through this particular situation though, he was in a unique position to negotiate due to all of management bungles.

1. Original soundtrack author.

2. Conference announcement that he would be producing the sound track as presales exploded.

There were others as well.

I'm a very patient person, but one thing I've learned over the years is that you can't drag your feet when people are intentionally stalling you.

Within 2 weeks of the E3 announcement after multiple attempts to get it resolved, you have to make it clear that you can't continue working without a contract in place.

I'm sure it's a "hindsight is 20/20" situation, but it was hard to read through all of that management abuse without seeing him put his proverbial foot down.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#103

Post by highwaylights » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 5:56 PM UTC

thefz wrote: post #68

In case we need another example to why Reddit moderation needs... moderation: Attempting to remove the Reddit post myself I’d had enough. I grew tired of having the respect I afforded Marty, and his employer, with attempts to resolve the dispute privately, get turned into a giant waste of time, effort and money. The Reddit post had been up for 15 months and attempts to resolve the dispute with Marty had gotten me now…

If removing the post offended him, then yikes - I just sorted the posts on his original open letter by date descending and it's everything you'd expect and more.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#104

Post by driverdan » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 5:57 PM UTC

Pet_Ant wrote: post #89

NickC25 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feel bad for him, the Reddit mod really needs to be taken to task for bending over to appease Marty.

If the mod was personally threatened with a lawsuit could you blame him? I think that is a very likely possibility…

They could have told them to shove it. They had nothing to bring a lawsuit about.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#105

Post by ilaksh » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 5:59 PM UTC

agentwiggles wrote: post #4

This is really disappointing to read. Mick's soundtrack was a huge part of making DOOM 2016 and Eternal such great experiences. His talk at GDC where he goes into some of the process of creating the soundtrack is fantastic, so much fun to see the creativity he brought to the game's music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FNBMZsqrY The next DOOM will be a little less DOOMy without him.

We've had enough DOOMs. Let him work on something new.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#106

Post by meanmrmustard92 » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 6:00 PM UTC

Marty came across as a slimy prick in the (otherwise excellent) Noclip documentary about the making of Doom (2016). Turns out the real-life version is much worse.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#107

Post by rasz » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 6:01 PM UTC

Chris2048 wrote: post #24

stryan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pre-OST it sounds like he kept interacting in hopes that they would pay him on time. For the OST, I suppose a combination of professional decency and the fact that his name was already attached to the release kept him going. Mick Gordon's been a household name thanks to his legendary DOOM(2016) soundtrack, so I'm not surprised he was trying to keep it up. A musician can really live or die by their name recognition an…

> the fact that his name was already attached couldn't he have sued on the basis his name was attached to it?

Zenimax is run by IP lawyers, Im sure they have everything on paper.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#108

Post by ilaksh » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 6:03 PM UTC

Anyone else have experience with Id Software Studio Director Marty Stratton? We don't want to ruin his reputation unnecessarily either. But if he really did commit defamation to this degree, it should not be a footnote.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#109

Post by boomboomsubban » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 6:07 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #104

Pet_Ant wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the mod was personally threatened with a lawsuit could you blame him? I think that is a very likely possibility…

They could have told them to shove it. They had nothing to bring a lawsuit about.

I would never face off with a giant corporation over reddit modding. The best case scenario is their threat being total bluster and nothing happens, and even there you have to deal with their loud demands making it purely a negative experience for you.

Re: My full statement regarding DOOM Eternal

#110

Post by boomboomsubban » Wed, Nov 09, 2022, 6:15 PM UTC

NickC25 wrote: post #87

thefz wrote: post #68

In case we need another example to why Reddit moderation needs... moderation: Attempting to remove the Reddit post myself I’d had enough. I grew tired of having the respect I afforded Marty, and his employer, with attempts to resolve the dispute privately, get turned into a giant waste of time, effort and money. The Reddit post had been up for 15 months and attempts to resolve the dispute with Marty had gotten me now…

Feel bad for him, the Reddit mod really needs to be taken to task for bending over to appease Marty.

They really don't. They're likely unpaid fans who thought they could help out deleting some spam and abuse. Suddenly they're forced to choose sides in a game of he said she said with corporate lawyers involved, and any choice they make will cause people to claim they should be taken to task for their bad decision.