Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out • Hacker News Board

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#91

Post by yeukhon » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:31 PM UTC

ronaldx wrote: post #63

United857 wrote: post #57

Another plausible reason that I've not seen reported is that if he was indeed pulling in $50k/day, that makes you a target in Vietnam (average monthly salary $185). In that part of the world, being rich without having the right connections/protection can be very, very dangerous.

Do you have a source for this? I've only heard this said on HN and I doubt that it is significantly dangerous to be rich.

It's hard to get any source that would satisfy your question.

Let me put it this way. You are poor. Your family is poor. Everyone around you is poor. When you are financially in trouble, you ask someone to lend you money. In Asian culture, you don't start asking bank for money. You ask your friends, relatives and neighbors for help.

Now you are famous. Making $50,000 a day. Everyone is going to come after you and ask for help. You don't want to because who wants to be debt collector? But you have to because they are your relatives, friends and neighbors. You are in a dilemma and you don't know what to do about it.

Also, regardless of where you live, when you are rich you and your family becomes kidnappers' target. In countries like Vietnam making $50,000 a day makes you a millionaire to the people who are just making a few dollars a day...

He was happy with the initial revenue but he then realize his publicity would have cost him relationship with other people and that's what money can't undo for him. He just can't.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#92

Post by ecdavis » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:32 PM UTC

hnriot wrote: post #60

bsenftner wrote: post #25

As a long term developer of entertainment software, I totally agree with his point of view about the impact one's software has upon the lives of the user. The general acceptance goes that the crazies and depressed will be triggered by something and its not your fault if something provocative you worked on triggers an incident. That's what the group think tells us, but in ones personal reality it's not that easy to sh…

I totally disagree with his point of view. He could simply sell the game to an established company that is already set up to handle the responsibilities that come with running a business. Throwing away $50k/day is just a stupid thing to do.

Maybe for some. He probably has enough in the bank to live comfortably in Vietnam for the rest of his life, though.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#93

Post by _alastair » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:36 PM UTC

applecore wrote: post #44

Unfortunately, by removing Flappy Bird from the App Store, he opened the door for shitty clones to reach the top of the charts. This arguably made the lives of users worse. He also passed up the opportunity to make millions of more dollars in merchandising.

At least it's given the world a new alternative to 'a to-do list' in demonstrating new technologies/languages/etc. There are ones for various different gaming frameworks:

https://github.com/uralozden/flappy-bird

https://github.com/ellisonleao/clumsy-bird

The ZX-81: http://bobs-stuff.co.uk/quack.html

and so on. To my shame, I made a version that you play by flapping your arms:

http://experimenting.alastair.is/flappyarms

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#94

Post by obstacle1 » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:39 PM UTC

dasil003 wrote: post #62

hnriot wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally disagree with his point of view. He could simply sell the game to an established company that is already set up to handle the responsibilities that come with running a business. Throwing away $50k/day is just a stupid thing to do.

So what if it's stupid? We know how much damage greed does to the world. The world would be a better place if more people stood up for principles over money.

The problem there is that there's no universal set of principles that are right or good.

For example "don't leave money on the table" or "make as much money as possible" could easily be a principle someone adopts. In such a case, she would be standing up for her principles by maximizing her acquisition of money at the expense of other things.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#95

Post by dottrap » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:40 PM UTC

pfisch wrote: post #9

I heard it was just a reskin of a premade game he got off an asset store. Is that not the case? This article made it sound like it was an original idea, but I thought it was just that one button to go up, no button to go down flash game. Is that not what it is?

No. Here's a video that gives a lot of video game historical context. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-W5CWj7Ic

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#96

Post by smtddr » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:41 PM UTC

hnriot wrote: post #60

bsenftner wrote: post #25

As a long term developer of entertainment software, I totally agree with his point of view about the impact one's software has upon the lives of the user. The general acceptance goes that the crazies and depressed will be triggered by something and its not your fault if something provocative you worked on triggers an incident. That's what the group think tells us, but in ones personal reality it's not that easy to sh…

I totally disagree with his point of view. He could simply sell the game to an established company that is already set up to handle the responsibilities that come with running a business. Throwing away $50k/day is just a stupid thing to do.

>>Throwing away $50k/day is just a stupid thing to do.

I would have done the same thing if I was in his shoes; just get out of the spotlight with whatever money I already made(and still making from previous-installs). Getting paid 50k, even just once, for a mobile game I wrote over a weekend is more than enough. I wouldn't care how many millions I left at the table by dropping it and running away.

I'd just upload it to github, throw on WTFPL[1], and run away never to be seen again.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTFPL

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#97

Post by rhizome » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:41 PM UTC

billmalarky wrote: post #66

herbig wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turning it off has probably done more to earn him money than keeping it on. It also ends with him saying it's possibly he'd put the game back up. It's possible this is instead just a brilliant marketing ploy.

If it is a marketing ploy, it is far from brilliant. Brilliant would have been taking it down for a day then putting it back up. Not keeping it down for weeks while the excitement around the game fades.

Brilliant would have been taking it down for a day then putting it back up. Not keeping it down for weeks while the excitement around the game fades.

Based on what, exactly? This sounds like conjecture.

UPDATE: Fine. Taking it down for one day can result in the audience feeling jerked around, him being perceived as unreliable, and any number of other negative connotations. There are also myriad instances of successful relaunches after extended absences, even to the degree that minor appearance tweaks justify a sequel or version bump. Simply put, there are just as many reasons why it wouldn't matter if he waited, if not more, than those supporting it to be "brilliant" for him to only wait a day and disastrous if he didn't.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#98

Post by stevenwei » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:46 PM UTC

pgrote wrote: post #83

stevejohnson wrote: post #74

Does anyone have the source for the Romero quote on the third page? John Romero, co-creator of the game Doom, says Flappy Bird is "a reaction against prevailing design the way grunge was a reaction to metal."

Odd. I cannot find a source for it on Google, twitter, his personal site or facebook.

Perhaps the source is the article itself (i.e. he was contacted by the author)?

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#99

Post by robflynn » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:55 PM UTC

conesus wrote: post #27

bsenftner wrote: post #25

As a long term developer of entertainment software, I totally agree with his point of view about the impact one's software has upon the lives of the user. The general acceptance goes that the crazies and depressed will be triggered by something and its not your fault if something provocative you worked on triggers an incident. That's what the group think tells us, but in ones personal reality it's not that easy to sh…

To be fair, I run a news reader and you wouldn't believe some of the hate mail I receive. I just assumed he received much more of it and not enough of the positive mail. Also, when you're at the business end of a press blitz, you get overwhelmed and can make irrational decisions that you might come to regret.

It was the same for me when I was project lead for Gaim/Pidgin. I was lead for something like 6 years and I eventually got tired of the hate.

Sure, there was plenty of praise, too. But the harassment eventually became annoying. It hit it's breaking point when someone folks managed to figure out my cell phone number and would call me at all sorts of hours (3am once!) to "tell me about their ideas."

I changed my cell number but it eventually happened again.

Most of my interactions with users were positive, though. But, the various legal issues, hateful folks, and my day job suddenly taking more time I decided to give it up and pass it on to someone else. I had already become mostly observational/maintenance on the project in my last year there anyways.

Slight digressions aside, I was fairly young when I got with the project and it was surprisingly to me how angry some people could be for no reason at all.

Re: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out

#100

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 11, 2014, 9:55 PM UTC

dasil003 wrote: post #62

hnriot wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally disagree with his point of view. He could simply sell the game to an established company that is already set up to handle the responsibilities that come with running a business. Throwing away $50k/day is just a stupid thing to do.

So what if it's stupid? We know how much damage greed does to the world. The world would be a better place if more people stood up for principles over money.

[deleted]