Brad Wardell: Great boss or greatest?

[Guan_Yu]

I posted this topic in General Gaming earlier, but this forum is much more suitable for discussing news stories so the other one can be closed.

Anyway, this is a pretty big story, so there are a lot of words here. I tried to make it as easy to skim as possible, and there is a condensed summary of everything at the end.

http://kotaku.com/5940401/pc-gaming...after-she-sued-the-boss-for-sexual-harassment

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell sued former marketing manager Alexandra Miseta last month on the claim that shortly before leaving the company, she stole or destroyed several marketing resources for the game Elemental: War of Magic, causing the rest of the team to dedicate weeks towards salvaging their marketing campaign and ultimately contributing greatly to the game's failure.

[The] suit seeks in excess of $1 million in damages from Miseta, claiming that just before quitting, Miseta "deleted, destroyed, and/or stole" the Elemental marketing materials, analytics, and trade show information. Without that information, the complaint argues, Stardock had to spend "vital time" leading up to Elemental's release "attempting to re-create" the marketing materials, "rather than programming, debugging, and otherwise readying Elemental for release."

Pretty shitty of her, right? Well, not really. There is zero conclusive evidence suggesting that marketing resources were destroyed in the last few weeks of the game's development. On top of that, several claims from current employees say that they didn't hear a peep about missing resources, let alone spend "vital time attempting to re-create" what Miseta allegedly destroyed. Finally, one particular employee testified that on top of giving a full week's notice in regards to her departure, Miseta also personally gave her team access to all of the files she had been working on with her time at Stardock.

So what's the issue? Time will only tell for sure, but the timing of Wardell's lawsuit against Miseta seems suspicious. This is because in 2010, Miseta filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Wardell .

Court records from the lawsuit show several troubling messages from Wardell to Miseta, as well as allegations of problematic in-person behavior. E-mail messages included in the records go back as far as March, 2008, and include a link to a sexually explicit YouTube video, a comment that Miseta was chosen to go to a conference "not just because you're 'hot'," and a 100-question "purity test" that he asked her to take and then send him her score from. The purity test includes questions like, "Have you engaged in group sex?," "Have you engaged in intercourse with an unconscious person, while conscious?," and, "Have you had anal intercourse?"

Witness depositions included in the case documents refer to multiple comments from Wardell to female employees about their breast and bra sizes, and one incident where he asked Miseta to attend a media tour because "[her] nipples look better on TV." They also describe a time on a media tour when Wardell's visit to the hotel room Miseta and another female colleague were sharing made Miseta feel uncomfortable.

Holy shit what a creepy little man. Understandably, Miseta sent an email outlining how she wishes to be treated like a professional.

Please never touch my hair or any of my body parts; not even jokingly.
Please do not talk about my private life or about my boyfriend/future husband in any terms especially negative terms.
Please be careful with your "jokes" which are at many times inappropriate, sexist, vulgar and very embarrassing not only to me, but everyone present.
Please keep your negative personal opinions of others (including family members and/or coworkers) not present at the time of your comments, to yourself. I feel, at times, it puts me in a very uncomfortable position.

With the above few behavioral changes, I'm hoping our previously friendly and professional relationship can be reestablished.

Wardell handles things as only a champion among men knows how:

[Wardell's reply began cordially, "Thank you for bringing these up to me as I certainly do not want you to feel uncomfortable at work." He promised to be more careful in the future regarding items one and two, but then continued:]

#3, however is not acceptable to me. I am an inappropriate, sexist, vulgar and embarrassing person and I'm not inclined to change my behavior. If this is a problem, you need to find another job.

#4, Again, I am not willing to adapt my behavior to suit others. If you find my behavior problematic, I recommend finding another job.

I'm not some manager or coworker of yours. I own the company. It, and your job there, exist to suit my purposes, not vice versa. The company is not an end unto itself, it is a means to an end which is to further the objectives of its shareholders (in this case, me) .

I guess he's a gigantic asshole, too.

Since the issue has been blowing up, Wardell started backpedaling on Quarter to Three.

She later emailed me telling me she was mad about the incident - to which I apologized for hurting her feeligs but also insisted that I watch what jokes I tell around the office. (To understand the context, we're a relaxed software company, lots of Family guy jokes, Simpsons references, Robot Chicken references, etc.). To which I responded, admittedly, very very harshly to.

"'Holy crap, Lois, this is just like that one time I smelled your hair! Hehehehe.' See it's just like Peter Griffin. Seriously though can I smell it."

The only thing that has recently changed is that our case against her got moved to federal court and that we have continued our position of not settling her frivolous case.

And Gigantic Asshole Status = Confirmed. Someone doesn't know that the first rule of lawsuits is to shut your fucking mouth to the public and let your lawyers handle it. I'm betting his legal team wishes they could put a muzzle on him until the case is over.

tl;dr: In short, Brad Wardell had been sexually harassing Alexandra Miseta since 2008. Miseta told Wardell to cease his behavior. Wardell spit in her face and told her she should find another job if she can't handle it. Miseta sued Wardell for sexual harassment and the lawsuit is still underway. She then called Wardell's bluff and quit the company in July 2012, weeks before a major game's release (which she was the marketing manager for). A butthurt Wardell then filed a totally non-retaliatory lawsuit against Miseta for allegedly destroying or stealing marketing resources for the game, except he has no evidence supporting his claim and his own employees are testifying in Miseta's defense.

This is completely disgusting to me and lawsuits aside, Wardell has been handling things like a complete dipshit. I can't wait to see how this pans out, hopefully a certain power-tripping nerd will get a reality check. This whole story sickens me and this type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable in a professional environment. Ugh.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Rakon]

I think my reaction to this will be the same as everybody else's: Wadell is a prick, and all the power to Miseta. It's unfortunate how this kind of treatment towards women is still going on in the workplace, but it is at least a positive that she's doing something about it. I hope she makes a killing off this guy.

 

[danielrbischoff]

The reality is that this guy is a douche and he put out a mediocre product. In order to save face he tries to put it all off on this woman who's only crime was doing her job in a hostile work environment. I won't be buying any Stardock games anytime soon, but it's not as if I was in the first place.

Shit sucks.

 

[C_nate]

I'm not surprised. Professional Environment is something that isn't always easy to find.

I remember working at one small privately owned company that treated regular workers like shit and there wasn't really anything you could do about it other than quit which isn't much of an option when you need to pay the bills.

There was the one employee who came in when he wanted and would use company materials on company time to use for personal stuff that he would use to make extra cash on the side. He would also fuck up jobs something terrible and never gotten written up either. He also got larger raises than the average peon. How did he accomplish all this? Easy, he sold weed to the higher ups. Their main supplier as it were.

There was the one time we were slammed at work and management and sales holed up in the meeting room with a couple of cases of beer and cigars and cigs while they held their fantasy football draft. During regular hours while they were on the clock (well, salary but still on the job)

I could go on and on but you get the point.

You know what would've happened had I been a whistle blower? They would have gotten a scolding (maybe) and I would have gotten fired. (for certain)

So while it sucks what she had to go through I'm sure the suit against her will get dismissed and she will get a nice settlement from her suit against them.

All I got was laid off a couple of years later anyway, but the difference between fired and laid off is 12 months of unemployment checks so there was something at least.

Moral of the story: If it isn't a fortune 500 company you are working for, you are probably going to have to put up and deal with some bullshit and you won't be able to do anything about it. Have fun!

 

[danielrbischoff]

http://www.gamerevolution.com/manifesto ... boss-14953

 

[Longo_2_guns]

While we're on the subject of news you may have missed, there's the whole EA killing singleplayer in all future games thing.

 

[Green_Lantern]

While we're on the subject of news you may have missed, there's the whole EA killing singleplayer in all future games thing.

Yeah I saw that the other day....Fucking EA....

 

[danielrbischoff]

While we're on the subject of news you may have missed, there's the whole EA killing singleplayer in all future games thing.

That's news to you? Everyone took it out of context. EA has been very clear about some form of online component to their games for quite some time now. Even Mirror's Edge had online leaderboards and replays and such and that was way back in 2008. I don't think GR needs to hop on the reactionary band wagon every time a company people generally hate on says something that can be used to paint a target on their back.

This story, on the other hand, is very clear cut, well sourced, and documented. Gibeau immediately took back what he said and having seen Dead Space 3 and the way co-op is implemented and how single-player is still it's own game, I can say with confidence that the quote you're talking about is not being read in the correct way.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

To be fair, in this case I just grabbed the first link I could find. I figure since this story has been everywhere, I would just need a simple one to show my claim.

But regardless, this isn't just them going "Yeah, we like online stuff." This is a complete and proud admitting from the president of one of the three largest publishers that nothing they will publish or develop from now on will be singleplayer only. And considering they own the licensing to everything Bioware, Maxis, and about 20 other now defunct developers (as well as every new IP they create), that's a pretty big deal.

Really, while this whole Stardock thing is a sort of big deal in some ways, in a lot of other ways it's not. I mean, yeah, it's terrible the way the employee was treated and the way he's acting. But it's a company that has released only a small amount of actually good games. It sucks, but like C_nate said, it's the kind of stuff that happens all the time in just about every business.

 

[LinksOcarina]

While we're on the subject of news you may have missed, there's the whole EA killing singleplayer in all future games thing.

Yeah I saw that the other day....Fucking EA....

Except that Gibeau said something that was reminiscent of what Gabe Newell said in 2010. So yeah...they are not killing anything. As Dan said, it is mostly a knee-jerk reaction and we have schmucks like Jim Sterling run with it as all doom and gloom.

As for Wardell..fuck him. Hope he dies in a fire for that kind of treatment.

 

[Green_Lantern]

Yeah, I guess I can see the point of pointless shitty tacked on coop modes...


I need more Gears of War horde mode in my Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Yeah, I guess I can see the point of pointless shitty tacked on coop modes...

I need more Gears of War horde mode in my Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

As I said, Gabe said the same thing two years ago regarding gaming a service and the importance of a connected experience between games.

This has little to do with horde modes and co-op, and honestly it being pointless depends on the title.

 

[danielrbischoff]

I'm sorry I derailed your topic Guan_Yu. I meant well.

 

[C_nate]

I'm pretty sure the reason they want all games to have an on-line component is so that they can still charge you $10 for an online pass should you decide to buy the game used. If you are like me and don't do a lot of online play (aside from mmos) then it is something you can just ignore completely.

 

[C_nate]

Anyway, back on topic. As I've stated, I've worked for several small business owners over the years and every single one of them had the same attitude of this guy that was summed up in his own e-mail.

I'm not some manager or coworker of yours. I own the company. It, and your job there, exist to suit my purposes, not vice versa. The company is not an end unto itself, it is a means to an end which is to further the objectives of its shareholders (in this case, me) .

 

[MattAY]

Wow that is pretty vile of the guy. Whenever I see men like this I always believe its from the war generation. Over time cases like this will cease because everyone (to an extent) is being brought up with morals, human decency etc in today's world.

Hope he loses, in fact I don't know how he hasn't lost yet. The email saying he is a sexual, vulgar person and the Witnesses to the "jokes" are surely damning evidence.

 

[Guan_Yu]

I'm sorry I derailed your topic Guan_Yu. I meant well.

Dude, you made a daily manifesto out of this, you can do no wrong. I'm just glad that people are talking about it.

Anyway, this type of stuff does happen all the time in the workplace but that doesn't mean that it by any means should. I think that this is definitely a big deal because it's so rare to see a victim of ongoing workplace harassment completely turn the tables on the offender. Granted, Wardell is digging most of his own grave himself, but it's still a very refreshing thing to see.

While Wardell's lawsuit against Miseta is ridiculous (and it is ridiculous), what really bothers me about the story was the blatant sexual harassment followed by intimidation and victim-blaming to get her to shut up. The lawsuit just seals the fact that he is completely and utterly vile to the core, but everyone knows it's doomed from the start. I don't see why anyone who is a victim of that sort of behavior should just sit there and accept it. Miseta did the right thing, and should be set as an example for others. People need to report this type of thing to their HR departments, whether they are experiencing it themselves or seeing it happen to someone else.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

As I said, Gabe said the same thing two years ago regarding gaming a service and the importance of a connected experience between games.

This has little to do with horde modes and co-op, and honestly it being pointless depends on the title.

See, but this is another thing where it's entirely a matter of scale.

Valve is really a small time developer, as they release maybe one or two games a year, if even that. And even then, they haven't released a game without a multiplayer component since 2007, and that's only if you count Portal as a stand alone game. Not counting that, they only have a small amount of games without some multiplayer.

While EA again owns companies like Maxis and Bioware, which make primarily single player experiences. So saying that nothing they do that doesn't have some sort of connectivity will get greenlit is a pretty bold statement.

And again, I think C_nate really shows why this problem exists. There will always be low ranking workers to fill in for you if you quit, so employers think they can treat you in whatever way they want to. It's terrible and it's bullshit, but it's also true. You have to put up with a lot that you shouldn't have to to hold on to your job, and it's rare to actually see an employer get hit in the face for this type of shit.

 

[UghRochester]

Wow that is pretty vile of the guy. Whenever I see men like this I always believe its from the war generation. Over time cases like this will cease because everyone (to an extent) is being brought up with morals, human decency etc in today's world.

Hope he loses, in fact I don't know how he hasn't lost yet. The email saying he is a sexual, vulgar person and the Witnesses to the "jokes" are surely damning evidence.

 

[danielrbischoff]

And again, I think C_nate really shows why this problem exists. There will always be low ranking workers to fill in for you if you quit, so employers think they can treat you in whatever way they want to. It's terrible and it's bullshit, but it's also true. You have to put up with a lot that you shouldn't have to to hold on to your job, and it's rare to actually see an employer get hit in the face for this type of shit.

It can't hurt that she found another job before bringing the suit against this asshole.... and it's true. C_Nate wins it. It's unfortunate but with the job market the way it is, people are bound to feel threatened and unsafe in these situations, thus less action will be taken.