ninjadan

I have zero sympathy for Brandon McDouche and his team of Nazgul Douche Riders (who will, no doubt, get paid plenty for this fiasco). I do, however, have enormous sympathy for all those who sacrificed to make a great product and got nothing but burned out.

Best of luck to you who worked hard.

What made it boring? Can you be more specific?

Was there not enough to do?

Having worked with ex-Blizzard folk, I can say this: Roper was a marketing guy at Blizzard. He did a lot of nothing and gets credited for a lot more than that.

Random.org better not let me down! I wants me some swags!

@Aerothorn A really good resource is the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council's annual ranking of each state's small business "friendliness". They take in to account all the various tax requirements, tax breaks, employee requirements and many other data points. Their 2009 report can be found here: http://www.sbecouncil.org/uploads/SBSI2009.pdf

Suffice to say, the past several years, MA has been ranked in the top 5 worse states for small businesses. And while RI has been ranked right down there with MA (a mind-boggling thing, indeed), the combination of the loans and the tax incentives RI has put on the table, provide a significantly increased chance for survival in a hostile economy, while still allowing everyone to be relatively close to home (i.e. not move too far out of the area).

The other thing I wanted to point out that was missed earlier is that these are guaranteed loans, meaning two things:

1. 38 is not obligated to use all the money, or even take all the money--they're just guarantees that if 38 needs to acquire more money, they have a credit line up to $75 million

2. IF 38 takes a loan, ALL of their assets and IP are instantly up at collateral. Which means if they default, the state of RI owns 38 in its entirety (at least that's how I understand it, it might be a small ownership if less is borrowed. Can someone clarify further?)

Anyway, again, there are a lot of things in play here, and I respect the fact that Mr. Schilling is running a business here and is making the moves to ensure the best chances for success are available to them.

@Aerothorn Oy, not that I want to turn this in to a political thing, but my understanding is that he and his ilk are of the mindset that FEDERAL government should be small and that it's up to the states to make those decisions (i.e. tax burdens, state entitlements, etc.) based on how the people vote. This was the original intention of the framers of the constitution as well.

The idea that states can extend tax benefits, loans, et al. to a business, while not originally envisioned by the founding fathers, is still something that falls to the people of the state to allow or disallow. Mr. Schilling is doing the best thing he can for his business, he is leaving a state with an enormous tax burden, an imploding entitlement system and a hostile business environment for a state who is offering business-friendly incentives in order to survive.

I completely disagree with the "taking a handout"--it's a state-funded loan. Something that is SUPPOSED to be paid back. It's not a "rescue a failing company" bailout. It's an incentive to bring business to RI and that does not go against the idea of "small government".

@Aerothorn Yes, because running a business like a charity is what everyone should do. God forbid he do something in the interest of his employees and the business itself.

Yeah, what an asshole.

JPgqGywP4o1N

FYI: Bethesda is denying this, outright:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/22/report-bethesda-nukes-lawsuit-against-interplay-over-fallout-mm/

Hey, I'd love to have a beta key, please! :)