Tag: Greed Monger

Crowdfunding Update: Greed Monger Delivering Refunds To Backers


Greed Monger is a bit of a touchy subject here at MMO Fallout, considering it’s one of the few games that we outright refused to publicize should it ever reappear on Kickstarter, but we have some positive news on the game and its creator Jason Appleton. While Appleton may not have had much success creating video games, as evidenced by the crowdfunding and subsequent fall of Greed Monger, the man does appear to have more of a conscious than your average failed Kickstarter project and a willingness to right past wrongs.

That, and an impressive portfolio of cryptocurrency, because Appleton has taken a step extraordinary for Kickstarter creators and has begun extending refunds out of pocket. Backers have received updates over the past week or so letting them know that they can submit refund requests that will be processed through Paypal (or Bitcoin if that’s your preference). The refunds have started flowing, with Appleton noting that he is limited to $2,000 per day via Paypal restrictions on transfers.

Thank you guys for being patient. Its not easy coming up with 6 figures to repay donations to a passion project. But we are going to get there.

Backers interested in receiving refunds should check out the link below. Appleton took the time to post on Massively’s coverage that this controversy had been weighing on his mind for years and that in retrospect he understands the skepticism of the original campaign.

“As for the Refunds, yes, this has been a plague on my mind for many years and finally being in a position to make it all right has been a huge load off. I truly believed this project could be done. I thought everyone telling me I was crazy for even thinking it to be possible just jealous for having gotten funding from KS. Knowing what I know now, I realize why I was branded as a scammer from before the KS even ended. If I saw me today, trying to Kickstart a similar project , knowing what I know now, I’d think it was a bullshit cash grab too. I was just very ignorant and too trusting.”

(Source: Kickstarter)

Greed Monger Officially Dead…Again


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Greed Monger has once again been cancelled, leaving everyone who pledged the over ninety grand out of luck, again. The MMO was Kickstarted to the tune of ninety grand, only to face development issues and eventual cancellation under Jason Appleton and Electric Crow Games. Appleton handed over the title to ex-employee Jason Proctor who has, in turn, announced that the game has been cancelled.

After careful consideration giving GM’s track record and the number of people we still have in the community we have decided it’s best to put Greed Monger to rest for good. There is no way that Greed Monger could support it’s self with as small of a user base as we would have.

We’ll have to see if this is the last time that Greed Monger is momentarily resuscitated. For now, it appears that the game is back where it was always headed, the defunct category.

(Source: Greed Monger)

[Column] As Far As Greedmonger Goes, No.


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Greed Monger is back! Yes, that Greed Monger. The one that was funded on a dream and a promise, by developers that had neither the funding nor experience in order to create said vision, only to crash and go under to the tune of $100 million in backer funds. The one by Jason Appleton who threatened to sue MMORPG.com because people were saying mean things on the forum back in 2013. As far as MMO Fallout plays into this, I mostly refused to cover the game as a general rule once a developer starts throwing legal threats around.

So now the game is back up and running by James Proctor, and our official stance on it is: No. If Greed Monger runs another crowd funding campaign, we will not cover it. If anything, as I have said before, the previous incarnation of Greed Monger is likely to pop up again in our coverage should another crowdfunding campaign appear. If they post dev blogs to promise new features, we will not cover that either.

This isn’t an ultimatum. If the game can prove itself to be a real, functioning product, we may resume coverage. Yes, I realize that MMO Fallout isn’t a big website and isn’t as much of a move and shaker as the big websites are. I’m not writing this as a threat, but to be forward and honest with our readers.

Greed Monger Cancelled, Taking $90 Grand In Pledges With It


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Greed Monger the game is officially dead, taking with it the over $90 thousand in funding with it. In an announcement posted on the game’s official board, James Proctor revealed that a necessary investor had bailed out on the project, leaving his company without the funds to continue development. The good news is that assets and pledges are being saved, should Proctor ever fulfill his campaign to create an MMO.

ALL of GM’s Custom Assets will be saved until the time comes that we have the funds to make things right with you guys. When the time comes that we are ready to attempt another MMO ALL KickStarter backers will be notified of our plans before the general public and ALL Land pledges, Crafting Station Purchases, ect. WILL be honored.

The last we heard from the crowd funded MMO, Electric Crow Games suffered a falling out among its staff, beginning with revelations that CEO Jason Appleton had using the threat of legal action to keep Proctor on board. Appleton later announced his own departure, and that development of Greed Monger would be handed over to Proctor and his team. Not even two months later and Proctor is already throwing in the towel.

Greed Monger has been rife with controversy since its Kickstarter easily hit and tripled its target goal. Should Appleton or Proctor return to Kickstarter to fund a future project, Greed Monger will no doubt be a relevant issue.

(Source: Greed Monger)

Jason Appleton Departs Greed Monger, Signs Over Game


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Electric Crow Games founder Jason Appleton has announced that he is departing development of MMO Greed Monger and signing the game over to James Proctor. In a message to Kickstarter backers, Appleton applauded Proctor’s work effort while blaming his own pride for the controversy surrounding the game and its team.

Id rather see the backers get their due and the game launch than me be able to say “I told you I could do it!”. This is beyond pride at this point. Its not about making money. It’s about the game.  I’m not selling Greed Monger to them. I’m giving it to them to finish.

All things Greed Monger will now be handled by MMO Interactive with Joel Hager taking over PR. In a post on the game’s Facebook page, Proctor thanked the community for their support and patience.

The support that the GM community and KS backers have shown thus far is such a blessing. We are more committed than ever to deliver a top-notch product. Some more exciting news to come… Stay tuned.

Greed Monger’s drama began just before the weekend when lead dev James Proctor publicly announced his departure from Electric Crow Games. In his announcement, Proctor revealed that while he intended to resign from his position as early as two years ago, that Appleton had threatened legal action against him should he leave. Appleton responded with his own allegations towards Proctor.

Developer Interdiction Studios was in initial talks to take over Greed Monger, but decided not to go forward.

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(Source: Kickstarter)

Greed Monger Fallout: Jason Appleton Responds


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Yesterday we reported that Greed Monger, the sandbox MMO funded via Kickstarter, had lost its lead developer James Proctor. Proctor, in his departure notice, revealed that he had attempted to leave the studio two years prior, but was stopped due to legal threats by Electric Crow Games founder Jason Appleton.

Appleton has posted a response on the Greed Monger forums in which he claims to be the victim, alleging that Proctor was “impossible to work with,” fired employees and wasted money on experiments, and “never made a single deadline.” Both sides are in the process of threatening to post, or have posted, chat transcripts detailing their rocky relationship.

Jason Appleton’s complete response is below.

(Source: Greed Monger)

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Ex-Greed Monger Developer Reveals Lawsuit Threats


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Greed Monger dev James Proctor has announced via Facebook and the official forums that he is no longer employed at the indie dev.

Effective today I am ending ALL association with Greed Monger, ElectricCrow Games, and Jason Appleton… I want to say thank you to all of the supporters and community. You guys have been great! You will not be forgotten and I promise you I personally will see to it that I make things right with you guys! I will have more details on the usual channels as things proceed.

According to Proctor, Jason Appleton threatened to sue him when he attempted to leave the development team two years ago for “personal reasons.” While all we have is Proctor’s word for the moment, the allegation would line up with Appleton’s history of legal threats against MMORPG.com, specific users, and Wurm Online, over negative discussion about Greed Monger and Appleton himself.

(Source: Greed Monger)

Lessons From 2013 #4: Threats From Devs


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Despite some of the criticisms I make here at MMO Fallout, I have a decent relationship with most developers that I talk about. I don’t water down my editorials and for the most part they are fully aware that anything negative is said with the best of intentions. That out of the way, MMO Fallout has received several threats of defamation and slander lawsuits, all of which disappeared when pressed to explain precisely what was said that was false or published with the intention of damaging said company/individual. Over at MMORPG.com, however, 2013 saw the delisting of two games due to the actions of their developers. Back in March, WWII Online was removed completely after Cornered Rat Software threatened to sue over comments made by users in the forums. Just a month later, Jason Appleton threatened the website over comments made about Greed Monger, resulting in the game also being removed.

Forums for MMORPG.com and big video games are often toxic pools of hatred, but a place where someone is allowed to vent their frustration, even if it is poorly worded, incorrect, or agenda-driven, is always preferable to one where the developer has a strangle hold and silences any criticism. The unfortunate side of the MMO genre is that as the market continues to push itself far past the saturation point, with games shutting down left and right, the very developers who can’t afford to push their customers away are doing just so, and they are the same people who will be sitting alone, wondering where everyone has gone and why no one returns their calls anymore.

This lesson of 2013 is that websites are not responsible for the statements that their forum users make, although if you want to shoot your potential for publicity in the head, you should target the largest MMO websites first to convince everyone else to stop covering your game.

MMOrning Shots: Greed Monger Tri


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Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Greed Monger, showing off some of the game’s beautiful looking scenery. Yes, the photo is cropped to remove the relatively ugly looking player models, but what do you expect? This is pre-alpha.

Greed Monger Is Back On UNITY


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Greed Monger is the upcoming sandbox MMO being created by Electric Crow Games and the subject of a very successful Kickstarter project just a few months ago. Originally set on the UNITY engine, at some point the folks at Electric Crow Games decided to switch over to the HERO engine, which many of you will recognize as the same engine used in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Well that didn’t last long, as the Easter announcement confirms that Greed Monger has indeed changed back to UNITY.

We had some issues that caused us to step away from Unity and head into the world of the Hero Engine. It was a major decision considering all that we had done already and without being 100% certain how much of our already existing assets could be migrated into Hero. Well, the truth is, we switched back to Unity not long after we switched to Hero. Aside from the issues of the revenue model, no cross-platform support and other things the player base has been expecting, the engine just wasn’t a fit for us.

You can follow the link below to see the full explanation as to why Greed Monger was moved to HERO and subsequently moved back.

(Source: Greed Monger)