I don't normally believe in karma, but......
....I got a piece of news within the last 48 hours that literally made me howl with joy. I took some time to let the initial excitement subside.
I'm a former member of the much-envied-but-often-misunderstood video game making industry. I say "often-misunderstood" because it's not all fun and games. There are many many politics to endure, and it gets bad enough dealing wtih suits without having to deal with colleagues that are suposed to be allies for all intents and purposes. If your team doesn't have a singular vision, your project will fail.
On one of my final projects, I felt that there was far too much tension between me - the 8-year veteran - and the young 20's spitfire that had more smarts than common sense. He was no dummy, but he didn't know every damn thing. He was just one reason why I decided it was time to go. I felt the project was heading straight into a brick wall, and I wasn't going to be there when the hammer fell down.
So, as time passes and the project is released long after I have moved on, I'm at a Ballbus...er - Blockbuster Video and take a peek inside the game manual to see my name in the credits. Nope. There was only the name of this kid whom built half the game while I built the other. Nice.....reeeeal nice. I rented the game to see if any of what I did remained and saw that much to my surprise my stuff was intact while stuff I remember the kid working on was missing....yet he got full credit for the work.
That was almost two years ago. Then, this tuesday night, a former co-worker at the same company sends me a link to a news story that was posted by several sources. Turns out this smart-guy thought he'd become some sort of Robin Hood and crack a bunch of copy protections on an untold number of games to make them available to anyone with a mouse.
The Justice Department busted him, and he apparently will be formally sentenced in July.
Let this be a lesson: Don't mess with Ortizmo. It's just bad karma, ya know? :D
