GameMakersToolkit
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A quick note on TT Games
🕑 Added 2022-01-20 20:28:16 +0000 UTCHey everyone. A couple quick things.
First - I joined Nebula! Thanks for your feedback and thoughts in the previous post.
Based on your feedback, I'm going to keep it subtle - so don't expect any "join Curiosity Steam / Nebula!" ad reads in the usual videos! But I will be talking to them about sponsoring the GMTK Game Jam.
If we can do it in a cool, lightweight way, I'll do it. But otherwise, I'll just skip it and look elsewhere / not get a sponsor.
More importantly, though, this story came out at Polygon today. It's about crunch at LEGO games maker TT Games. But it goes beyond that and talks about a pretty grim, toxic work environment. For example:
"Other sources say that the two TT studios were also a hostile environment for women to work at, with female staff being subjected to bullying, comments about their appearance, and withheld promotions and contracts."
Now, I can't remember if I mentioned this on the Patreon, but I recently did a paid talk for TT Games back in December. Patrons can access the talk here. And, in light of this news, I don't really feel... super comfortable with that.
I can't go back in time and un-do the talk, but what I can do is donate the full fee to Women in Games which is a charity that seeks to end gender discrimination in the industry. So that's what I've done!
As I get asked to do more and more cool stuff in the industry, there's unfortunately going to be issues with conflict of interest, and awkward situations like this. Ultimately I'm just gonna have to do my best, disclose everything that I'm allowed to, and fix issues when they come up.
Cheers
Mark
Comments
Laércio Lima Pilla
You did what you could with the knowledge that you had at the time. Thanks for the information and for trying to make it right.
David
Hey Mark, you are one of the most open-hearted and earnest YouTubers I follow. There is no reason to feel uncomfortable with your past. Look at it without fear or disgust and know that you did your best with what you were and knew at the time. Openly talking about it like in this post and drawing your conclusions and consequences like donating the earnings of that action are a testament of your credibility and integrity.
Kat (Pixel a Day)
You're an extremely decent guy Mark.
Dan Root
What a bloody decent chap you are.
Dylan Northrup
I love the transparency and very much appreciate it. Also want to say that there's nothing you can do about finding out someone you interacted with did problematic things you were unaware of *he says while looking at the DVD shelf with Firefly, Buffy, and Angel box sets sitting on it*. Best you can do is adjust your behavior based on new information and try to do as well as you can moving forward.
Game Maker's Toolkit
Hey - not sure right now. It will stay a YouTube embed for the time being, but I'll see what the deal is with Nebula and see if there's anything smart I can do there. Patrons who don't join Nebula will never miss out.
Benoit Desnoyers
Thanks Mark for the transparency. I wish other video and video game makers would be as upfront and transparent as you. As both a Patron and a Nebula subscriber, is there a way to access your videos early on Nebula? Or is it going to stay a Youtube embed?
Game Maker's Toolkit
Will do - we're still setting things up (and I need to upload 150 old videos!) so it might take some time
Mark, there's no reason to feel bad about speaking there. It is great to tell everyone that you don't approve, now that the information has come out. But when you decided to participate with them, you did so with the best information you had available at the time.
Andy Hunter
I always appreciate your transparency. Thanks for being so honest and forthright about the TT situation. As for Nebula, I happen to already be a member, so when you're all set up there, are you considering dropping a link to your Nebula page in your Patreon feed? I couldn't find you just now when I searched both under Mark Brown and various iterations of GMTK. Thanks! --Andy
Wander
I'll second what Dan Fego said. Donating the money was a good move. Makes me even more proud to support your work. :)
As always you're a beacon of integrity. Donating your money back feels like above and beyond what I'd expect in this situation, so I hope you feel an abundance of support from your community about this!
