Pan'Theon: Rise' of th'e Fal'Len - #1 Thread in MMO

Beck_sl said:

I don't think much would change. His absences would at least have a different reason for happening, but his 15 minutes of posting every 12-14 days wouldn't need to change and he could still collect "donations" from his supplicants. No one would even notice he had a 9-5 gig. Status Quo.

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actually thats very true. also one of the things that pissed me off about brad's little novella he posted. the fucking guy is whining about bills and debt behind the misappropriation of 45k out of the project and meanwhile he is tooling around on his motorcycle and worst of all he brags about it by posting pics of himself doing it. thats some heinous shit. he is lucky the people he deals with are soft little nerds. if he pulled that shit at some blue collar job. i can tell you he would be missing that bike and likely some teeth right now.

But that wasn't to be. Rumors and half-truths were spread in a determined fashion. Interviews were done. Reddit discussions were seeded. Bottom-line, a small but determined group put a lot of effort into spreading half-truths about me, the company, and the game. Reputations were and are tarnished. Under no circumstances did this group want Pantheon to go forward. I truly wish that the passion that fueled this effort had instead been good cause to stay on the project, despite being upset with me. Anger and resentment seems to have overpowered the extreme passion and dedication it takes to make an MMO.

He's about as delusional as his fans. He truly believes in this 'us against the world' mentality, like this is all some big plan to torpedo Pantheon and that he and his minions are sticking in it to the end against the forces of evil. Brad, here's a newsflash. Your project (I refuse to call it a game) died because your kickstarter effort was garbage. Your original developer team left because you were paying yourself for basically being 'a leader' when every single one of them said there was nothing that you were doing that was indicative of 'leadership'. Nobody here (or anywhere else) was on any sort of crusade to sink your project, you did it all on your own by mismanagement and lack of knowledge about what it takes to get a project like this off the ground. Once your original dev team saw this, like any sane human being who has a family to support and bills to pay, ran for the hills. You thought you could pull another Star Citizen and say your name three times and people would trip over themselves running to the bank to give you money. When the truth of the matter is you're just not that big of a deal as you think you are. Actions speak louder than words and this project was big on talk and empty on results.

Well, at least 45k for 8 months work is a far more reasonable figure. I'd even call that pretty low.

He does have a point when he talks about compensation. Yes, he was a shareholder in VRI, as were the other people in his employ (4-10% each according to him). They were tasked with projects and paid by completion. They still collected this compensation despite having ownership stake in the company, and he did the same.

I'm still of the opinion that certain members of his dev team are pretty scummy. The NDA breaks support that fact. I'm not willing to give them a free pass until I see actual proof that they weren't paid for services rendered.

Quaid_sl said:

Well, at least 45k for 8 months work is a far more reasonable figure. I'd even call that pretty low.

He does have a point when he talks about compensation. Yes, he was a shareholder in VRI, as were the other people in his employ (4-10% each according to him). They were tasked with projects and paid by completion. They still collected this compensation despite having ownership stake in the company, and he did the same.

I'm still of the opinion that certain members of his dev team are pretty scummy. The NDA breaks support that fact. I'm not willing to give them a free pass until I see actual proof that they weren't paid for services rendered.

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before it was a 3 month advance.. now it's back pay for 8 months. His story is changing again. He forgot to mention that SoE gave him a severance pay for at least 2 months, probably more... He hasn't mentioned that one. . The NDA breaks didn't start until Brad started lying about what happen. Of course if people feel wronged, something is going to get out. The actual dollar amount never came out until I think Brad said it himself.

Convo_sl said:

before it was a 3 month advance.. now it's back pay for 8 months. His story is changing again. He forgot to mention that SoE gave him a severance pay for at least 2 months, probably more... He hasn't mentioned that one. . The NDA breaks didn't start until Brad started lying about what happen. Of course if people feel wronged, something is going to get out. The actual dollar amount never came out until I think Brad said it himself.

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How is his severance pay at all relevant to the situation with VRI? So because Salim and the boys had 'hurt feels' it's okay to break NDA? We are a bunch of internet dudes at rerolled and even we have the decency to not break NDAs we have signed.

If there is any evidence of the dev team not getting paid what was agreed upon (for work that was actually completed) I'd love to see it. Until we do, this is all hearsay and horseshit.

Quaid_sl said:

How is his severance pay at all relevant to the situation with VRI? So because Salim and the boys had 'hurt feels' it's okay to break NDA? We are a bunch of internet dudes at rerolled and even we have the decency to not break NDAs we have signed.

If there is any evidence of the dev team not getting paid what was agreed upon (for work that was actually completed) I'd love to see it. Until we do, this is all hearsay and horseshit.

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Serverance pay is relevant bc he saying he had no income for the 8 months on the project. Which isn't true. He was being paid by SoE for being let go.

Really you'd just be taking Brad's word over theirs. A few of the devs stated they were owed money after the hammer dropped. One an entire pay check: I believe Brad admitted he owned them? Frenzic would probably remember.

The biggest lie is calling what they did for the kickstarter work. 3 months for that?

Lasch_sl said:

The biggest lie is calling what they did for the kickstarter work. 3 months for that?

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And I think that's were the devs deserve blame. They knew Brad was lying about the progress they were making and let it happen. The line was distorted from the beginning and they never recovered from it. Brad very much wanted it to sound like a bunch of dedicated devs working for free on a project they were passionate about. That wasn't the case and they wanted to be paid before real work started.

Convo_sl said:

Serverance pay is relevant bc he saying he had no income for the 8 months on the project. Which isn't true. He was being paid by SoE for being let go.

Really you'd just be taking Brad's word over theirs. A few of the devs stated they were owed money after the hammer dropped. One an entire pay check: I believe Brad admitted he owned them? Frenzic would probably remember.

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Meh, I've been in management for quite a while, and I've seen numerous employees become disgruntled for one reason or another. The most common situation is when they think they deserve pay they didn't receive, but didn't actually complete a task or did it poorly.

There are many mis-truths in Brad's book. Vu was never paid for the assets he purchased, Salim was not paid for an entire contract. This is why people got pissed and started talking to the fans. Brad paid out 75k in contracts, the rest of the 142k was MIA. He admitted to taking 45k of the remaining money as an advance, but there is a claim that 20k went to Chris. Keep in mind that this was a startup and they came to kickstarter with absolutely nothing to show. The only assets were bought by VU and art done long before the project. If you agree that his stolen 45k should cover 8 months, you're a fucking moron. He took the money and called it an advance, which should tell you that it was not backpay, but payment for the next 3-5 months (whichever Brad decides to use today). Add to all of this the complete lack of effort and work done by Brad throughout this entire shitshow. I was there for months and watched every day as he did nothing. His whole work load was finding suckers to work for free, showing up once every 2 weeks to make a post and talking in teamspeak a few times a week. Sure the original devs put out some shit work, but at least they showed something tangible. Brad just sits back and collects checks and people keep feeding him more.

Quaid_sl said:

Meh, I've been in management for quite a while, and I've seen numerous employees become disgruntled for one reason or another. The most common situation is when they think they deserve pay they didn't receive, but didn't actually complete a task or did it poorly.

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not for nothing, but do you really think Brad was on top of the situation that much that he could make that kind of informed decision?

Quaid_sl said:

How is his severance pay at all relevant to the situation with VRI? So because Salim and the boys had 'hurt feels' it's okay to break NDA? We are a bunch of internet dudes at rerolled and even we have the decency to not break NDAs we have signed.

If there is any evidence of the dev team not getting paid what was agreed upon (for work that was actually completed) I'd love to see it. Until we do, this is all hearsay and horseshit.

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Right.... sure..... *eyeroll* because the guy who sunk the project by taking so much money from it(as he's admitted) and then changes twice the story the justifications for it(advance pay then saying back pay) is of course so unswervingly trustable in what he says...

Ceder_sl said:

Right.... sure..... *eyeroll* because the guy who sunk the project by taking so much money from it(as he's admitted) and then changes twice the story the justifications for it(advance pay then saying back pay) is of course so unswervingly trustable in what he says...

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Ceder... The project was fucking over. The funding failed. Paying out 45k to developers who were under performing was not going to change anything.

Pay my family's bills or be 'the good guy'? Easy decision for me.

Quaid_sl said:

Ceder... The project was fucking over. The funding failed. Paying out 45k to developers who were under performing was not going to change anything.

Pay my family's bills or be 'the good guy'? Easy decision for me.

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hmm? I never saw it like that. The money could have bought them another month of time to finish the prototype. You're not as willing to believe guys like Vu tho. He said it needed another month at least. Again, we were lead to believe they were working on the project longer than they really were. That's where the blame comes in for the dev team. Brad felt his name netted him 45k. He all but said it but he also crippled any legitimate chance this project had from the very beginning by trying to lie his way to money.

I read most of that long winded post and too see how Brad has changed his story about the money he took from calling it an "advance" to now chaulking it up to being "backpay." I guess in his twisted head, it looks and sounds better to say "I worked and went with out any pay for 8 months and my bills were piling up so I back paid my self," than it does to say "My bills were piling up so I decided to give myself a pay advance for X months."

It's easier to justify taking money when you make it sound like you were trying to work pro bono and then because of financial reasons, back pay yourself. Regardless though, he siphoned money from a start up which was a crippling blow to the whole project and the way he went about it behind the other dev's backs is why they left. Ceythos said himself that he didn't leave BECAUSE the money dried up, but because of that manner in which it dried up. If Brad had been honest with his dev team from the start about this whole advace/backpay crap, than a few of them might still be on the team.

Quaid_sl said:

Ceder... The project was fucking over. The funding failed. Paying out 45k to developers who were under performing was not going to change anything.

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Project =/= Kickstarter as you seem to be thinking. Im sure bradley would love to have some one erroneously defend him in that regard though.

Kickstarter finished/failed, yes; but Brad stated after the KS that they were continuing on and he sets up a system on their website for donations and tally. They raised 145k(give or take... and we know who enjoyed the taking to be sure...) post KS.

Brad took his big sum around this time, and declared the project "on hold" because no more money and in maintenance mode for the website only for cash there after.

Pretty convenient when you think about it to declare such while you raid the cookie jar...

A few weeks pass and he then comes back to say they're "moving forward" and with a volunteer team.

So at no point has he declared the project over or failed. We may certainly know it to be the case but he and his cultists sure keep tapping their tambourines for the project.

Quaid_sl said:

Pay my family's bills or be 'the good guy'? Easy decision for me.

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Yes, riding around on his motorcycle snapping pictures and bragging about it during this fallout showed poor poor Brad was just suffering so much.

So really its not a "pay the bills or be the good guy" either. Reasons are irrelevant when misappropriating funds. The circumstances do not mitigate the action. Brad's stupidity now for having given multiple different (and contradictory) claims for the reasons only serve to highlight even more the misappropriation.

I'd just like to say- Funds up 2k in three weeks.

Frenzic_sl said:

I'd just like to say- Funds up 2k in three weeks.

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Yeah, it's something like $5,700ish since May 5 when i start watching it.

Frenzic_sl said:

I'd just like to say- Funds up 2k in three weeks.

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Few things one can think regarding that.

Given Brad's lies to this point, it isnt a stretch to imagine the numbers could be false. Also he may be adding the monthly subscription folks each month for that.

But all in all its a laughable. Both for the small amount that it is and sadly that nutters are still giving.