I just saw this link being passed around by Game Politics. It’s simple, short and really gets the point across:
it looks like Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has taken the boycott a step further. According to the Angry Bear blog, Wardell has announced on his Facebook page that he is now boycotting UPS because they pulled their ads from Fox. He said Stardock does "a non-trivial amount of shipping with UPS" and if they did not change their position, he was taking Stardock’s business to FedEx.
The point? Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock, makers of great games like Galactic Civ, publisher of Demigod, and developer of upcoming Elemental is now supporting a seriously insane man.
The main point? I’m no longer advocating nor supporting anything Stardock is involved with. Sadly enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m for each to their own, but when you take it from your opinion to your company line, that changes things. For instance, I have a mechanic who I’ve been with for years now. One of the most honest, good mechanics I’ve ever met (Trust me, it’s hard to find a good mechanic) who also is a serious republican and a huge supporter of McCain. But at no point did he make me start supporting his views, donating to his charities, or stop using companies because they didn’t agree with his views.
If you can’t get have separation between your radically awful ideas and your company, then I can no longer support you or your activities. Maybe every company should be polliticially driven and advocate for their guys and their ideas…but until recently, Stardock wasn’t, even though Brad Wardell was.
That has changed and so has my opinion of the company. So, with that, I won’t be buying any more Stardock games. Plain and simple.
What Would Matt Do: I’ll stop anticipating Elemental and stop caring what else Stardock does. A very sad day in gaming.
How deplorable…
Stardock greases the wheels of the war against the war against spam, and that’s hunky dory for you all these years. Your bestest buds?
Now the CEO puts on his facebook page a statement that is supported of permitting (even insane) people to speak their minds about their fears without being reprimanded, and since that’s in opposition to your political position you’re done with them?
You have no moral compass.
I don’t even know what it means for someone to “greases the wheels of the war against the war against spam”. Sounds like it was some good fighting though…did anyone use ninjai (that’s the little known plural for ninja)?
Glenn Beck can say what he wants. I don’t have to pretend to like it. I don’t have to pretend to like companies that support him either. Pretty straight foward really.
Matt, this had nothing to do with Glenn Beck. I have never watched his show.
But if I can choose between two shipping companies I’m going to pick the one that doesn’t overtly play politics with their ad dollars (they were boycotting the entire network of Fox News, not just a particular show which they’ve since recanted).
And while Facebook is certainly not “private” it is also not quite the same as making a press release or even a blog.
Brad,
You know I’ve been a big supporter of Stardock, and The Gamer Bill of Rights, and your games. So you know I’m not just trying to take you task here…
But you’ve made your hypocritical point very clear.
1) It’s not all right for UPS to pull all of their ads in response to their shareholders complaints (the best part is that their shareholders obviously got them to say it was all a misunderstanding and they will be advertising on Fox again) about Glenn Beck.
2) It IS all right for your company to do the same thing to UPS though.
Great, whatever crazy logic works for you.
It doesn’t work for me to support Fox, indirectly or directly. Sorry. I’ve known about your (what I’d call) outlandish viewpoints for a long time. No biggie. But when you company starts making similar decisions, you lose me as a customer.
Go back and read that thread on QT3, especially Ryan Michael’s follow up post (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?p=1907451#post1907451) in the last few pages. You’re being hypocritical and you’re being dismissive like it’s not a big deal. It was obviously a big enough deal for your company to change shipping companies…
By that logic, you’re a hypocrite as well then.
If you don’t see the difference between someone using their ad dollars as a political weapon versus someone objecting to someone using ad dollars as a political weapon then there’s not much to discuss.
We’re all hypocrites (might want to look up what that word means) here, man.
The difference in this case is that your company is doing the exact same thing to UPS that you didn’t like UPS doing to Fox.
All I’m doing is choosing, with open eyes and sound mind, not to support your company’s decision.
If YOU can’t see a difference in that, well, you’re right, there’s not much more discuss.
Then don’t complain about me being a hypocrite.
I chose, with open eyes and sound mind, not to support UPS’s decision.
And in my case, it required no sacrifice. I wasn’t “giving up” anything. I just picked shipper A instead of shipper B. I wouldn’t have been willing to switch if cost more or required some sacrifice because while I cared, I didn’t “care” care.
You, by your own admission, admit to giving up something you were very interested in order to do to me what I was doing to UPS.
There’s nothing wrong with being a political zealot I guess as long as you realize that’s what you are.
But the title of your post is misleading and dishonest. I’m not supporting Glenn Beck. Heck, you’d think you’d put your ire towards people who actually advertise on Fox first.
I’ve also chosen not to buy games from companies who I learned used their ad dollars to secure positive reviews for their games. But luckily, there was no Facebook back then or else I’d likely have been in even bigger trouble.
This is a LOT of work for a man “who doesn’t care” if I buy his games or not.
I’m very happy that you, and YOUR COMPANY, have decided to go into this decision to support Fox and Glenn Beck (by proxy at the very least…though I admit, I’m still pretty unsure of your reasoning in general).
I have made my decision to not support your company for that. If you can’t see the logic in that, I can’t help you. Call me zealot (a funny one coming from you), a hypocrite, or whatever else you like, but it doesn’t change that your company has made decisions that I won’t abide by.
Plain and simple.
Well I am taking the time because I respected your opinion.
Plus, it is hard for me to fathom making sacrifices on product purchases because of incidental political beliefs of the company or its CEO.
I might choose paper or plastic based on which one I think is better for the environment but I wouldn’t forgo going to see a movie I want to watch because the leading actor in it is a liberal.
But to each their own. Good luck.
This isn’t about political beliefs. We aren’t discussing the right or the left. Fox News doesn’t equate to any of those. Fox News and Glenn Beck are liars. Do a couple of quick searches on the internet if you don’t believe me. They constantly lie about all kinds of things… It’s what they and Rupert Murdoch think is best, not the truth.
So we’re clear, I’ll say it again, this isn’t about left or right. It isn’t about political views. It’s about actively supporting an entire news network which thinks it’s fine to lie to the American public because they know what’s best for us.
When companies I respect stand up for that, I lose my respect for them. Freedom of speech is great, but we both know this isn’t about that at all.
This is me exercising my rights as a consumer not to support companies that have questionable practices. Just like Stardock.