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Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

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Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#171

Post by Aqueous »

Varcht wrote: post #148
Aqueous wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's morally objectionable to waste a rare opportunity when one could just as easily channel that opportunity towards the benefits of others.

This really does not compute for me, so it's bad to stop ruining people's lives if in ruining their lives you could help other people's lives? What if the people addicted and raging over Flappy Bird are the same ones that you think should be helped?

I mean let's just think about it here. Is Flappy Bird really ruining people's lives? Flappy Bird? Really?

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#172

Post by pstack »

qrybam wrote: post #17

I feel for the guy. He made something a while ago, put on the market without much fanfare and then out of the blue his game suddenly shot to the top and raked in 50 million downloads. If you're not expecting it and you don't have the right people around you, all this publicity (a lot of which is quite negative, despite the game's popularity) can be pretty hard to take for some people. Remember Susan Boyle's breakdown…

I have toiled for projects for many years which raked in far less than that annually.

I have seen people toil for many years for absolutely no return.

In both instances, subjected to "the internet is mean" behavior.

I will trade you making very little or making nothing and getting the worst of the internet in exchange for getting $50k/day for it, until the ride ends. In fact, for $50k/day, you can have my direct phone number. In fact, you can come to my house and piss on my carpet and blow smoke in my face all day long, for as long as the $50k keeps coming in.

Unless there is some sort of mental instability involved, I can not understand any developer - no matter how random or unexpected - saying "oh, the internet is so mean, I'm taking my stuff down and you can keep your $2,200/hr".

Also, can we dispense with qualifying everything with "the internet is mean"? this has been the case for decades. We don't need to preface every comment with it and qualify everything we ever say with a comment about how the internet is going to be mean to you for what you're going to say. We all know the internet. We've been here with it for a very long time. It is getting almost as obnoxious as when people begin every sentence with "to be honest", only it makes people come across even more insecure.

(I know this was a bit of a rant, but I've been realizing in recent months that a whole percentage of every podcast or article or show I ever watch that has anything to do with the internet can be attributed to the people on it whining about the mean internet or prepending forthcoming statements with how the internet is going to be mean to them for saying something.

Are we still going to be doing this in another twenty years or are we going to be over it?

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#173

Post by pstack »

freyrs3 wrote: post #54
qrybam wrote: post #17

I feel for the guy. He made something a while ago, put on the market without much fanfare and then out of the blue his game suddenly shot to the top and raked in 50 million downloads. If you're not expecting it and you don't have the right people around you, all this publicity (a lot of which is quite negative, despite the game's popularity) can be pretty hard to take for some people. Remember Susan Boyle's breakdown…

This is actually quite common behavior. You see this a lot in any sort of craft where you get sudden and unexpected success, they end up resenting their creation or feel some disconnect between the effort they put in and the result.

Sorry, but $50k/day compensates completely for any potential resentment. Especially coming from the real world, where stalkers and people showing up at your door and getting hold of your phone number because of a service or product you provided that drew a few nutjobs rarely comes with any compensation.

He should make all the money he can, laugh off the haters (whatever haters there are - I have only heard people talking either about how much they like the game, how frustrating the game is, or how nuts it is that it is making so much money for what it is). He could ride it out for a few weeks (or months, if he's lucky) and retire. Especially in his part of the world.

This artsy-fartsy turtle-head-back-in-shell thing is pretty crazy.

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#174

Post by pstack »

derefr wrote: post #159
joshvm wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a Polygon article on HN recently about how the audience has no idea what it wants. It used Flappy Bird as the example, mentioning how it was an overnight success, but repeatedly slammed it: "Not only is the visual language of Flappy Bird almost entirely re-appropriated from early NES games, but it seems to be engineered and designed by someone still learning how to create games. There are frequent slowdowns…

That's bad journalism, of course. If people are buying something in droves, and classical analysis suggests that that should be impossible, then there's something wrong with the analysis. A proper article would start with what we know -- "people love this game" -- and then try to figure out why. You see the same backwards approach to journalism everywhere there's a scale in how much work things take to produce. Criti…

That isn't how Polygon works. They and their writers absolutely despise their readers and gamers, in general.

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#175

Post by pikachu_is_cool »

catshirt wrote: post #126
Dylan16807 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you literally don't want the money, give it to charity. Problem solved, get back to your passion.

give it to charity, use it to sustain more development on your games, use it to build a company that can just focus on making your games, use it to fund or invest or donate to other gaming projects... etc.

It's not the money. That doesn't matter. It's that people find out about the money. Once people know you are capable of making the money, they will never stop stalking you, following you, pretending to be your friend, etc. No amount of charity donation, hell, even burning all of your money won't fix it.

There is literally nothing coming back from it other than waiting for the hype to die out. And that's what Nguyen is trying to do. Trust me, I'm talking from experience here.

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#176

Post by pikachu_is_cool »

unethical_ban wrote: post #89
forgottenpass wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing more to life than profit. Except maybe regretting your priorities on your deathbed, but whatevs, you won't be worried about it for long.

You and pikachu_is_cool are boggling my mind right now. The guy is having a moderately high amount of money coming in for him now, based on something he did out of passion. There is nothing wrong with money for stability. If you don't like it, give it to charity... or save for health issues, because we all now realize just how pricey a scrape can be in America.

It's not the money itself. It's what comes with the money. Once people know you are capable of making the money, they will never stop stalking you, following you, pretending to be your friend, fervently hating you (this happens SO OFTEN), stalking you, harassing you, etc. No amount of charity donation, hell, even burning all of your money won't fix it.

There is literally nothing coming back from it other than waiting for the hype to die out. And that's what Nguyen is trying to do. Trust me, I'm talking from experience here.

I guess I might be in the minority here, since most people on HN are trying to become the next Mark Zuckerberg with their startups. Maybe they like that kind of attention. However, I, Dong Nguyen, and many people like us do not like that kind of attention. You don't know who your real friends are, and as he put it, it "interrupts my quiet life".

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#177

Post by contingencies »

mahyarm wrote: post #57
contingencies wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incidentally, Hanoi is a really nice town, and unlike most neighbouring jurisdictions Vietnam doesn't tax imported food and wine products to oblivion. Internet there's a lot better than in neighbouring China or Laos, and they don't have a Cambodia/Sweden style history of randomly exfiltrating hackers without due legal process.

Has any politically contentious hackers decided to live there who were not Vietnamese?

Not sure, but at least one very large scale, convicted drug smuggler from the glory days of California does, and they seem to leave him alone.

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#178

Post by throwaway092834 »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #152
throwaway092834 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say yes, I would have no problem with being known for inventing a toilet brush, or flappy bird. I'd be proud, even. I know that people can have strangely fragile egos but the idea of being upset for being known for something, no matter how benign, is completely foreign to me.

? Then why is your account username "throwaway092834".

Because I have found the internet in general to be at times crude, ignorant and destructive. I don't want to concern myself with considering self-censorship to ensure self-preservation. Instead I chose to contribute anonymously so that I may challenge the status quo or speak truth to power without personal concern.

I assure you it has nothing to do with embarrassment. It's unfortunate, but speech often has very serious consequences.

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#179

Post by Morphling »

uptown wrote: post #167
Jhsto wrote: post #55

As a side note, Dong has doubled his Twitter followers in one hour from 7000 to what now is nearly 16000. Whatever was his real intentions, he is receiving media attention which will most likely last even after he pulls out the game. You could speculate that he is trying to make a name for himself, so that the upcoming games would make him a stable income. As an indie developer he should know the fact that Flappy Bir…

"You could speculate that he is trying to make a name for himself, so that the upcoming games would make him a stable income." $50k a day ... even if it only runs a couple weeks ... is beyond "stable" for Vietnam. As a reference-point, the average monthly income in that country is under $200.

If you think about it in that context i.e. "everyone around me is making $200/mo and they live reasonably well, I've now made 250 times that in day, which is average income for next 20 years, for X days, I can now retire and maybe let the heat die down a little"

Re: Flappy Bird creator, Dong Nguyen, taking down game; "I can't take this anymore"

#180

Post by ChrisNorstrom »

throwaway092834 wrote: post #178
ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? Then why is your account username "throwaway092834".

Because I have found the internet in general to be at times crude, ignorant and destructive. I don't want to concern myself with considering self-censorship to ensure self-preservation. Instead I chose to contribute anonymously so that I may challenge the status quo or speak truth to power without personal concern. I assure you it has nothing to do with embarrassment. It's unfortunate, but speech often has very serio…

I'm sure our friend the flappy bird developer feels the same way. With insults thrown his way constantly over the game and a massive popularity he wasn't ready for, I'm sure he wishes he was anonymous as well.
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