Diablo 3 director apologizes for Facebook remark

Diablo 3 director Jay Wilson has issued a public apology for his remark about former Blizzard member Dave Brevik, after Brevik's comments about the game led to some team members insulting him.

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Some members of the Diablo 3 team recently had a Facebook tussle with ex-Blizzard member Dave Brevik, who had made critical remarks about the game. Game director Jay Wilson joined in with a particularly scathing remark, but has now issued a public apology to both Brevik and the community.

"As many of you probably know, I recently made a comment on Facebook about Dave Brevik," Wilson says in a post on the Diablo forums. "I want to make it clear that I am very sorry for what I said. I have higher expectations for myself than to express my feelings in such a rash way and disrespect a fellow developer like Dave, someone who deserves to be treated with greater respect."

He went on to say his comment was due to feeling angry and defensive of his team and the game. "People can say what they want about me, but I don't take lightly when they disparage the commitment and passion of the Diablo III team," he said. "It was hard for me to see their contributions be diminished by someone they worked alongside, and even harder for me not to try to jump to their defense. I only wish I'd done so in a more professional manner."

Finally, Wilson closed with an apology to the players in the community as well. "You deserve better than my reaction to Dave's comments. You deserve more honest communication about the game and what we're doing to make it a more awesome experience for us all. We care about Diablo very much, and appreciate your passion for it. Without you, we wouldn't be able to do this, and for that I can't thank you enough."

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 23, 2012 8:20 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Diablo 3 director apologizes for Facebook remark.

    Diablo 3 director Jay Wilson has issued a public apology for his remark about former Blizzard member Dave Brevik, after Brevik's comments about the game led to some team members insulting him.

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      August 23, 2012 8:45 AM

      What is funny though that in the middle of the letter, he managed to turn the usual apology letter into a sales pitch as to why people should come back and play the game because of all the awesome feature it will have in the next patch, then back to apology at the end...

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      August 23, 2012 8:48 AM

      Why report on this at all if you're going to dance around what he said?

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        August 23, 2012 9:14 AM

        [deleted]

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        August 23, 2012 9:22 AM

        He probably assumes that users reading the article can do simple computer tasks, such as clicking a link.

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          August 23, 2012 9:22 AM

          Fuck that loser.

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          August 23, 2012 3:41 PM

          There isn't a link to the comment in the article. Most news articles do provide background on the subject they are written on. There was someone else recently that made a statement that got reported on heavily in the mainstream news and pretty much every single one of those articles quoted what the guy said.

          It is not all about doing "simple computer tasks". If at some point in the future someone refers back to this article then it is worthless because the context is lost. At some point in the future it is highly likely that just typing in "Jay Wilson" in google will not have the first hit be a news story that does in fact have the quote that this whole article was written about in it.

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            August 24, 2012 7:16 AM

            There is. It's the "Diablo forums" link in the part that says "a post on the diablo forums".

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      August 23, 2012 8:54 AM

      Hehe... some one got in trouble with management :) I'm enjoying D3 but the content is really short and gets old fast. However, with the 1.1 PVP patch -- I think it will be fun.

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      August 23, 2012 9:08 AM

      Cool story bro. You're just apologizing cuz you got caught.

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      August 23, 2012 9:11 AM

      damage control, wall street style. we royally fucked up so hopefully you aren't mad. moving on, check out our products and future growth.........................

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        August 23, 2012 9:22 AM

        [deleted]

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          August 23, 2012 9:43 AM

          Because he wants to keep his job. Not sure if you could get fired over some thing like that at Blizzard (every company is different).

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          August 23, 2012 9:48 AM

          Bad form, hubris, etc etc, yes, but it can also become a handy excuse for people to wedge it into their already existing complaints and general disappointment of the game.

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          August 23, 2012 10:06 AM

          you know full well that if you, or any of us did something like this. we'd get fired for it.

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            August 23, 2012 10:09 AM

            that's certainly nothing new. Powerful people are immune to lots of things (much worse), and our resentment of it builds every time we see it happen, and we feel better in our outrage, but nothing changes.

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              August 23, 2012 10:50 AM

              I like to feel better

            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              August 23, 2012 10:52 AM

              Especially not war.
              War never changes.

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              August 23, 2012 12:53 PM

              they arent always immune. but apparently this guy is. i dont see him as powerful. he made a sub-par game. and he really isnt anyone special to me. so i dont know why hes worth saving.

              • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                August 23, 2012 12:57 PM

                Sucking Metzen's dick? As blind as they're being about the balance issues and as horrible as the storytelling was, I'm not sure why either of them still exist in their roles.

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                  August 23, 2012 1:53 PM

                  How about because the game sold well and got good reviews. That's generally how designers/producers are rated...
                  Or should they be rated by how much people on internet forums complain?

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                August 23, 2012 1:27 PM

                You wouldn't get fired for posting "Fuck X" on facebook unless you went out of your way to make yourself sound like a company representative.

                Also, this happens repeatedly with game developers, and very seldom (can't think of one, tbh) are they fired. Game developers know their community is full of fuckwits who make a big deal out of stupid shit, and they would quickly run out of employees if they fired every person who posted fuck on a messageboard.

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            August 23, 2012 10:28 AM

            Exactly!

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            August 23, 2012 11:38 AM

            You've never posted "fuck <something>" on facebook?

            • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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              August 23, 2012 11:47 AM

              Not on Facebook. I've certainly said it, and posted it here, but Facebook is a different animal.

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                August 23, 2012 11:49 AM

                ... but you believe you would get fired if you posted something like "Fuck Oprah" ?

                • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                  August 23, 2012 12:40 PM

                  What a bizarre example to choose.

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                  August 23, 2012 1:35 PM

                  How about if you had a former employee, and he had someone interview him regarding your company. Then you link to said article and say "fuck that guy" - and not in a way that is just private 'watercooler" style complaints. Your comment goes public and puts you and your company in a bad light.

                  If I publically stated "fuck <former coworker>" my company would most certainly fire me, but mostly for speaking about company matters in public light in an unapproved way.

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                    August 23, 2012 1:51 PM

                    Your comment goes public..

                    That's the key. Your comment only goes public (barring significant effort on your part) when you have a legion of people who want to take you down. Any of us? No one would care. There would be no story. Nothing would happen. You would not get fired for saying "Fuck that guy" publicly on facebook.

                    In politics people resign for this shit because it's expected. In game development? This shit seems to happen all the time, and very seldom (ever?) is someone fired because it's basically expected given the gaming community.

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                August 23, 2012 1:37 PM

                wait, but facebook has privacy controls. shack has none.

                • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                  August 23, 2012 2:08 PM

                  Facebook also has my real name, and "friends of friends"

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              August 23, 2012 12:58 PM

              no. why would i? especially not regarding anything involved with my work. i know how the internets work.

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              August 23, 2012 1:04 PM

              that's what private twitter accounts are for, but apparently people are still new to privacy on fb

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          August 23, 2012 3:53 PM

          I'm going to take a different tact as to why people care. Dave Brevik helped found Blizzard North and was a key member of the team that made Diablo I and II. With out those two games there would not be a Diablo III. At least that is why I care. Don't shit on the guy that helped to make a huge franchise that you are now working on.

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            August 23, 2012 4:35 PM

            Don't think of it that way -- think of it as shitting on the guy who helped found Flagship Studios, made Hellgate London, and just criticized the decisions you made in your game. Fuck that guy.

            Seriously, though, that really is something to keep in mind. While Brevik's interview was largely benign, there was an explicit questioning of the decisions made by the D3 team and statements about how he would have done things differently. Thing is, it's not like Diablo 2 or Lord of Destruction were the last thing he did. Dude had a similar role in Hellgate London. People assume his decisions would have made D3 better because he had a hand in D2, but he also had a hand in HG:L. For all we know, his decisions could have fucked up D3 even more.

            ... and that's not even getting into the public behavior of Flagship Studios just prior to HG:L's release to their closure.

            Brevik was channeling a more laid back version of John Romero in that interview, but I can't see the internets coming to Romero's defense like this.

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              August 23, 2012 4:53 PM

              It is really that Jay Wilson has taken the brunt of the D3 criticism, so it is yet another thing people can easily give him shit for, valid or not. I honestly think gamers (and most people on the internet) don't really know shit about shit and just love a good pile.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      August 23, 2012 1:29 PM

      Really interested to see what they have planned to solve the stated problem of the item hunt getting old and/or there not being enough activities. That's one issue that isn't even remotely new to Diablo 3, and I have no idea how you solve it other than a constant infusion of new content like an MMO. It's Diablo, you kill shit and pick up loot, that's the only activity there is in the game.

      The best thing I can think of would be adding more random PvE content outside the campaign. Like endless dungeons or just fully random zones, which can be set dynamically to any level of difficulty. That would be a much better environment for farming than the campaign, but it still wouldn't change the fundamentals which is what he seems to want.

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        August 23, 2012 2:57 PM

        They could do what many games end up doing: Survival Mode (not just HC but waves of enemies and powerups)

        Or a Boss Rush...

        • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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          August 23, 2012 3:05 PM

          Bosses are boring but I would definitely like to see a Horde mode. Diablo is basically made for it, doesn't even need many fancy features.

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        August 24, 2012 1:53 AM

        Endless random "dungeon" (ideally it would also include outdoor tilesets as well) with higher chances for better loot each floor. The loot bonus starts out high for each level you progress through, and begins to curve off the further you progress. You have to start from floor 1 again if you die. I'd be all over that.

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      August 24, 2012 3:42 AM

      D3 servers are down again this morning, btw.....

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      August 25, 2012 11:06 AM

      Fuck that loser.

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      August 25, 2012 11:10 AM

      online requirement, valor buff, paragon levels, auction house, yes the people involved really do matter

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