How to look like a douchebag 101

Back in April 2010 I was looking for someone to join up on the Will Pwn 4 Food team as a Game Dev, I posted the job around on the Internet and I got back this curious email:

Subject: Your "3D Game Dev" Job
Content:

Who are you and do you have funding?

=========================
Douchebag, CEO
company/email/phone/site

Back then I just couldn't believe the audacity of someone to send such a jackhole email like that and to even expect a response, like seriously, even if I had money, which I didn't at the time, why would I hire someone who air quotes my job title, introduces nothing and comes up all like "who the hell are you? nobody? do you have money, maybe then you can talk to me while being nobody".

Of course, I didn't bother responding, but it was one of those emails that makes you think wow, some people! It also helped that his site didn't make any sense, or fit in with the industry at all.

Flash forward a few months and I go to this Digital Media event in Mississauga. I run into some shifty looking fellow there while networking and he introduces himself and gives me his card, which I recognized the logo on as the douchebag who was so rude on email. The first thing he says to me after I say my name is: That's the worst possible name ever for a business, it's so stupid, you aren't going to be successful with that. What a horrible name. I try to brush him off, and he goes into a jaunt about his revolutionary concept of taking some process from the film industry and trying to make it work in the video game industry. Then he starts drilling me for how much money I have and how stupid he thinks my idea is and how I should hire his outsourcing team, then when I say no, he abruptly turns and leaves.

So flash forward again to the present, over a year later, and I post on the IGDA Toronto site looking for some leads on talent, and poof, out of nowhere, the first comment is:

"That is a horrid name for a company. "

Which was erased a few minutes later and replaced with:

"Will pwn for food? Doesn't exactly project an aura of success. "

I click on the name, well what do you know, the same guy as written about above! (what a surprise!).

I'm not sure if this is how this guy likes to get business or if he just likes to mentally whack off on his own opinions, but I won't delete his post as it'll allow others to make their own judgements about a person who comments on a friendly "looking for help post" with a proverbial "ur name is shitty yo", although I'm sure this is one of those guys that everyone already knows to look out for.

So far the only negative reaction I've really gotten out of the name (apart from above) is that it might turn off people who don't get it, which is one of the reasons I like the name, because in every other interaction with people they either say I don't get it, and then they don't end up understanding hardly anything about gaming or they say "Dude, I love your name!", in which case I know it's really worth while to dig into the details with them.

Anyway, I think 3 separate encounters with the same dickmunch warrants a blog post.

Another Twitter Shirt Meme Attempt...More Lessons Learned!

Wow, totally lamesauce! There's always competition on the Internet, even when it's localized and real-time!

Shortly after the quake I tweeted about how it was my first earthquake and got this reply about how I can say I survived the Quake, I rushed as fast as I could (using a slow work comp with an overworked lagging firefox) to make a shirt on CafePress for the lulz. It's been about 2 hours and I'm up to 498 clicks! Tons of retweets and hashtag comments. It's always fun to see how fast it spreads as I've done this once before here. I looked at a number of the retweeters and could tell a bunch were clearly connected to my network, and a few various others that seemed random. It would be cool to see some sort of weblike visualization and I'm sure there is a twitter app for that, but I'm just too lazy to sift through hundreds to find it.

I was about to comment on how it's interesting to see someone I follow retweet me through someone else who isn't following me, so I went to follow the trail and found it went dead 2 people in. I was like hunh? Wait, that's not even my link! Some other dude also made a shirt, but at another site (and with much better skill). Argh, he's a TO guy so he had a huge TO network retweeting it like mad and mucho facebook sharing (which I didn't want to bother spamming). I wonder if he had the same idea, or saw mine and rushed to copy it to compete/look original? Also saw a few replies with others who made shirts. I guess it's a popular meme! The difference in the slogans being that he called it the Toronto Quake, which just goes so well with this tweet:

Toronto's ego is having a hard time letting go of the fact that it wasn't the epicentre of the earthquake.

I guess I'll have to be even more original next time! I should have quickly registered the domain and made a music video instead >:( Goddamn work interfering with my spontaneous plans for 5 minutes of twitter fame!