Remember that thing on planethalflife.com

[Locust]

Anyone remember when the head of planethalflife quit? It was a sad day indeed, but the reason was never clearly given. It occured to me that the reason must be something to do with the lawsuit that is now going down. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[JimmehH]

I thought he said he left because he was tired of all the 'lies' that Valve gave to him. For some reason he thought that because he the head of some vaguely official fan site he was privy to special treatment. Whiny baby.

 

[Locust]

He was a whiny baby indeed. But maybe he had a reason to be. Maybe he realized that vALVE was crazy

 

[Death.Trap]

Er, from that post he made when he left....he was a complete dumbass. Sorry if i've insulted any of his followers, but seriously...moron.

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

Maybe he discovered some big government secret (where valve summons dr.breenz0r, brainwash the world and take over) and was forced to stand down, or maybe (like everyone else says) he was just a big crybaby.. Whine whine whine .. You want cheese with that whine ?

 

[Wiegje]

I think it was good of him to stand up for what he believed in and did the thing he thought was right He stood up against the entire friggin' Half-Life community and Valve basically.

 

[Dalamari]

I think it was good of him to stand up for what he believed in and did the thing he thought was right He stood up against the entire friggin' Half-Life community and Valve basically.

No he didn't, everyone treated him as a site leader, so they sucked his wang as he left and were as nice as they could be, now if you have seen anyone else post about how they were lied to, SLAMMED DOWN, we usually don't ever see them post again.

If he was a normal forum member and made the same post, maybe then I could see him "standing up for what he thought was right"

 

[Wiegje]

No he didn't, everyone treated him as a site leader, so they sucked his wang as he left and were as nice as they could be, now if you have seen anyone else post about how they were lied to, SLAMMED DOWN, we usually don't ever see them post again.

If he was a normal forum member and made the same post, maybe then I could see him "standing up for what he thought was right"

No he really did stood up for what he believed in, I mean look at what he left behind. He wasn't just a regular forum member, that's just it. He left behind leadership of a big website, basically the centre of the online HL Community (face it, PHL is huge). He dropped all that because it was his opinion that he was lied to etc. and he left because of that.

 

[InZaneFlea]

I take it you're talking about Fragmaster? If you actually got to know him before calling him a dumbass, you may actually know that he isn't. Dumbasses.

 

[PvtRyan]

Anyone remember when the head of planethalflife quit? It was a sad day indeed, but the reason was never clearly given. It occured to me that the reason must be something to do with the lawsuit that is now going down. Anyone have any thoughts?

He was a dramaqueen and wanted to go out with a bang with that article of him, and thought anyone would give a rats ass?

 

[AngstyTeen]

Can anyone find his post or something that would be a cool thing to read.

 

[Feath]

Fragmaster's post in full:

The game wasn't released on 30th of September
I was right
Erm, that's it.

 

[Homercidal]

Love the Fragmaster!

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

No he really did stood up for what he believed in, I mean look at what he left behind. He wasn't just a regular forum member, that's just it. He left behind leadership of a big website, basically the centre of the online HL Community (face it, PHL is huge). He dropped all that because it was his opinion that he was lied to etc. and he left because of that.

He left behind annoying little children running around with their heads chopped off because their "leader" isn't there anymore. He lied to his own opinion, uhhhh WHAT?!!? He left because the got owned and owned several times by people, and he couldn't come up with witty responses. See he can defend himself against 12 year olds, but 16+ he couldn't handle them, they were obviously to smart for him. He folded, and I am glad he isn't around anymore, he was a twat, always had been one.

 

[burnzie]

No he really did stood up for what he believed in, I mean look at what he left behind. He wasn't just a regular forum member, that's just it. He left behind leadership of a big website, basically the centre of the online HL Community (face it, PHL is huge). He dropped all that because it was his opinion that he was lied to etc. and he left because of that.

id hardly call it the HL2 center. Yeah it was big but not huge. it was just part of the bigger gamespy community.

 

[chimpmunk]

People didn't like fragmaster because he was always negative about half life 2, yet always right.

But the PHL community sucks, i moved from there to here more than a year ago and i'm glad i dead, their forums are just pure nonesense.

 

[The Monkey]

People didn't like fragmaster because he was always negative about half life 2, yet always right.

But the PHL community sucks, i moved from there to here more than a year ago and i'm glad i dead, their forums are just pure nonesense.

Not to mention the HL2-info page. The haven't updated it since before e3 2004.

 

[Mr. Bildo]

If I recall, he wasn't just a "forum member". He was the person originally under contract to write the behind the scences book. He signed a non-disclosure agreement and it really frustrated him that he had inside information that more or less showed concrete evidence that Valve had no chance of meeting their Sept. deadline last year.

Everyone, including myself, railled on him endlessly about how he knew nothing and had no proof. I, along with a lot of other people were proven wrong and he was proven right. Was he a drama queen? Probably a little, but I'm sure it was frustrating to be in the position he was in.

And if anyone doubts his place in the HL community, you only need to look at how much PHL has sucked since he left.

--Mr. Bildo

 

[Gunner]

And if anyone doubts his place in the HL community, you only need to look at how much PHL has sucked since he left.

--Mr. Bildo

PHL has always sucked

 

[Biozeminade]

Just remember he made those flash movies. The Gordon interview and the delay videos

 

[Mr. Bildo]

PHL has always sucked

Yeah, I guess I should have clarified that a bit.

It sucks MORE now...

--Mr. Bildo

 

[navyseal2004]

Their "forum" doesn't even deserve to be called a forum...

 

[Absinthe]

Fragmaster was right.

I and many others were wrong.

I can accept that.

But he was a drama queen, and he horribly abused the news system just to vent out his own opinionated editorials and mock anybody who actually thought the game was coming out on the 30/09/03 date. Don't get me wrong, I liked the guy. He was funny as Hell and his work on Something Awful is nothing to sneeze at. But he did act like a jerk, especially near the end. And in the moments leading up to his departure, he had turned PHL into his own personal tool for ragging on Valve and dragging out his stupid "I know something, but I can't say what it is" dilemma. Well, if that's the case, Frag, then why bring it up in the first place if you're just going to piss off the community?

Oh, now I remember. You like the attention.

 

[killahsin-[CE]]

I'm sorry but the 'planet' sites fortress and half life cried a bit to much about not getting their special inside treatment a long long long long long time ago. Waaay before frag quit, in fact it was about the time that valve said there would be a media blackout on tf2.

If I recall, he wasn't just a "forum member". He was the person originally under contract to write the behind the scences book. He signed a non-disclosure agreement and it really frustrated him that he had inside information that more or less showed concrete evidence that Valve had no chance of meeting their Sept. deadline last year.

--Mr. Bildo

Actually he was contracted after that post. Thats when he learned he was right. He just couldn't post it before than.

 

[Mr. Bildo]

I'm sorry but the 'planet' sites fortress and half life cried a bit to much about not getting their special inside treatment a long long long long long time ago. Waaay before frag quit, in fact it was about the time that valve said there would be a media blackout on tf2.


Actually he was contracted after that post. Thats when he learned he was right. He just couldn't post it before than.

Anyone have his "farwell" post?

I have no idea how I ended up defending fragmaster.. I was his worst critic. :rolling:

What ever happened to him anyway?

--Mr. Bildo

 

[FISKER_Q]

I take it you're talking about Fragmaster? If you actually got to know him before calling him a dumbass, you may actually know that he isn't. Dumbasses.

There's a whole article pretty much saying otherwise on PHL.

He might not be or want to be a dumbass, but he should've thinked about that before he acted like one.

 

[Someone]

There's a whole article pretty much saying otherwise on PHL.

He might not be or want to be a dumbass, but he should've thinked about that before he acted like one.

I think that's the only thing I had against the guy.

If he had info, that's fine, if he has any opinion (good OR bad), that's fine too...but it was the way he presented it which made him come off very poorly.

 

[Gunner]

Here you go, it's a long read so smoke 'em if you got 'em

"Fragmaster says goodbye to Planet Half-Life

Now that I'm leaving PlanetHalfLife and resigning as Site Director, I'd like to be a drama queen, burn a bridge or two, and possibly maybe explain a few things. I apologize in advance the incoherence of this babbling, but it's not like you're being forced to read this crap.

I started PHL in 1998, just after Half-Life hit store shelves. Half-Life: Day One absolutely blew me away. It was incredible. The full game was even better. I loved everything about Half-Life and I threw myself into the community. I made maps, I wrote horrible fan fiction (Walter's World), I spent hours playing HLDM (mostly on Gasworks). Half-Life is easily one of the best games of all-time (well, IMHO, at least) and nothing will ever change that.

I reluctantly left PHL in 1999 due to my increasing workload. During my first stint at PHL, I was mildly irked by things like the TFC delay, PowerPlay, and the confusion over TF2 (it's an expansion pack! Oh wait, it's not!), but these were just minor inconveniences and as whole I liked the way Valve did business. Their support of the mod community in those early days is the reason why Half-Life is still so popular today.

I quit GameSpy in 2000 and came back in mid-2002. When I took over PHL again, things had changed. Half-Life was clearly past its prime. Valve clearly wasn't the same company it once was.

In early April 2003, Half-Life 2 rumors started to leak out. Print magazines were given the exclusive on all Half-Life 2 information and online sites weren't allowed to post screenshots or previews until 5/8/03. I felt this was a pretty stupid thing to do -- forcing people to jump through hoops and hunt down low-quality, blurry magazine scans to get a glimpse of the sequel they've been waiting five years for -- but hey, that's just my opinion and I'm obviously biased about the viability of the print medium. Valve's doing essentially the same thing again this year; print mags saw HL2 awhile back and that information will start trickling out shortly.

I sat in on the first demonstration of HL2 at E3 2003 and was pretty damn impressed. When Gabe said that the game was coming out 9/30/03, I totally believed it. My interest in Half-Life had begun to wane, but that demo rekindled my interest in PHL in a huge way.

Two months later, things started to get complicated. In mid-July I heard from multiple reliable sources that Half-Life 2 wasn't going to make 9/30/03. Then I got hold of pretty conclusive evidence that Valve's Doug Lombardi had flat out told print magazines (off the record, of course) to plan on pushing their reviews of Half-Life 2 back to the Holiday issues. Then in late July, Vivendi announced that Half-Life 2 would be delayed to the holidays. Since I knew the delay was coming, I jumped right on this and confidently reported it as fact.

Unfortunately Valve -- for whatever reason -- refused to own up to the fact that Half-Life 2 was going to be delayed. Gabe made that ridiculous "First time I've heard about this" response, and other sites overreacted and assumed that this meant that Vivendi's announcement was a mistake. This situation was further complicated by Vivendi's backtracking: after Valve essentially refused to confirm the delay news, Vivendi was forced to (kind of) retract their original delay announcement. So tons of people incorrectly assumed this meant HL2 was still coming out on time.

At this point, I was stuck: I knew Half-Life 2 was going to be delayed, and instead of backing down and keeping my mouth shut, I kept (loudly) proclaiming that HL2 was going to miss 9/30 while other sites kept reporting the exact opposite, This was very frustrating, and if you were around during this period of time, you'll recall that I was acting like a real jerk. And to be fair to these other sites, they were being fed rather misleading information.

Most of the above stuff I already talked about in this editorial from September, but there's one key piece of information I left out: In August, I made a mistake. I was recruited to work on Prima's Half-Life 2 Behind the Scenes book and signed an NDA. Now I was privy to all sorts of Half-Life 2 information and quickly became 100% sure the game was going to slip, but thanks to the NDA, I couldn't say a damn thing about any of it. This was INCREDIBLY frustrating. I haven't even mentioned I was (emphasis on was) working on the book until now, and even then I only mention it because word leaked out on some other forums recently and there's no point in denying it.

In late August at ECTS, Valve's Doug Lombardi and Greg Coomer were both quoted as saying that the 9/30 release date was still happening. Lombardi told a co-worker of mine, to his face, that the game was still coming out September 30th worldwide. Some would call this marketing, but I'd call it lying.

I visited Valve in early September to conduct interviews for the Behind the Scenes book. It was quite a bit of fun, but I was a little disturbed by a few things. I won't get into the specifics, but information wasn't matching up. Things said during the E3 demo turned out to be either misleading or untrue, for example. I don't want to say exactly what kind of state the game was in when I was there, but you'll recall that when other fan sites visited Valve later that month (BEFORE the source code leak, even), they were unable to see the game. Now, if the game was in a playable state and supposedly ready to go gold within a couple of days, don't you think they would have shown it off?

Then the source code leak happened. I feel sorry for Valve that this happened because there's a possibility this could have a slightly negative on HL2 once it's finally released, but they really should have taken more precautions in the network security department. At first, Valve claimed that only 1/3rd of the source code was stolen, but once people compiled working versions of the game, well...

The Anonymous Leaker, despite being an asshole such as myself, was basically correct. HL2 wasn't nearly as far along as Valve was hinting at, and a lot of the things Valve showed in the E3 demo were misrepresented. Did he really release all the work Valve had done on HL2? To be honest, I don't know for sure. It's a possibility. Valve certainly made little effort to dispute his claims.

Valve didn't announce that Half-Life 2 would be delayed until 9/23. This, to me, was inexcusable. It takes ten minutes to send out an email.

OK, now you may be saying, "so what, why are you still crying about things that happened last year?" I think it's important to reiterate this story because it shows what kind of company Valve is. I don't feel they respect the community. If they did, they would have just confirmed Vivendi's delay announcement in July instead of stringing people along.

Where is Half-Life 2 now? Beats me. I haven't kept up with the past 5-6 months of development and E3 is coming up anyway, so you'll see for yourself. I do know that content has been cut from the game in an attempt to get it to ship sooner. Will it ship this year? I guess there's a 50/50 chance, but keep in mind that this is the same company that took three years to add bots to a mod they didn't even make and slap it in a box.

Now, I could go on and on, talking about Steam, all the screw-ups with Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (I mean, JESUS, how do you declare a game GOLD, say it's FINISHED, and then not ship it until NEARLY SIX MONTHS LATER?), how Valve has messed up their relationships with Ritual, Gearbox, Vivendi (do you think Vivendi is a big fan of Steam?), and ATI... I could point out all the things Valve said they'd do but didn't, like releasing the HL2 benchmark or the SDK. I could whine on and on about how maddening it is to get flooded by mails from people complaining about how people can't play Half-Life anymore thanks to Steam or how Valve's customer support is non-existent. But the bottom line is this: I am not a fan of Valve anymore. I don't believe a damn thing they say and I'm sick of their bullshit.

Valve needs to learn how to properly communicate with their online fan base and treat their fans with respect. That means not telling your fans 7 days before the ship date that HL2 is delayed. That means not giving out vague "oh HL2 will be released this summer and by the way we didn't say summer of what year and it's always summer somewhere in the world so who knows LOL we'll see!" answers to direct questions. That means not streaming a couple hundred megs of cache files to Steam user's hard drives without their permission or knowledge.

I feel most of the problems at Valve are due to the ineptitude of one individual in particular. I'm not going to name names, but you can probably guess who I'm talking about. This person is easily the worst person I've ever met during my time within the "video game industry," and that's saying a lot, considering that this business is filled with superstar jerkwads like... well... me. I don't feel that he does his job properly, and he isn't what I'd consider to be a decent, trustworthy, or moral human being.

Plus, Valve has gone over my head a couple of times and interfered (or attempted to interfere) with the content of this site, which I think is pretty sad. Forum posts of mine have been deleted on their orders and I've been forced to edit news posts because Valve didn't care for the information or opinions I was sharing. I'm sure they'll complain about this post and attempt to get it yanked, but I don't care.

Don't get me wrong, Valve has some of the most talented developers in the industry. Some really great people who I respect immensely work there. It's a shame that most of these guys have been working hard for years on projects that have yet to see the light of day. There are just a few bad apples spoiling the soup. Or something.

Oh man, this is possibly the most scary, convoluted thing I've ever written. ANYWAYS, it's obvious that I have no business running a site like PlanetHalfLife when it's obvious this crap has made me CRAZY INSANE, so it's time to give up my silly little crusade of constantly telling people that they're wrong and turn the site over to more professional management with a better attitude and perspective than myself. Jabberwocky will be taking over PHL and I'm sure you'll see plenty of other new faces on the site as well.

A few more things: First, I'd like to publicly apologize to Pratt for a comment I made in the forums which seemed to imply that he wasn't reporting news properly. I was wrong, and he has the right idea. Secondly, I'd like to thank the HL2.net forums for their... enthusiasm... and some of the most hilarious things I've ever read. I'll never forget that thread where somebody compared me to Hitler for saying that Half-Life 2 would be delayed last year. Lastly, I'd like to thank all the PHL readers who have put up with the peculiar brand of garbage I've been dishing out the past couple years and for suffering through those "funny" flash movies of mine.

Half-Life 2 will almost certainly be a great game once it's released and I can't wait to play it. Be patient, don't believe everything you read, think for yourself, and remember that history has a habit of repeating itself. Repeating itself. Repeating itself. THE END."

 

[razorblade kiss]

He left behind annoying little children running around with their heads chopped off because their "leader" isn't there anymore. He lied to his own opinion, uhhhh WHAT?!!? He left because the got owned and owned several times by people, and he couldn't come up with witty responses. See he can defend himself against 12 year olds, but 16+ he couldn't handle them, they were obviously to smart for him. He folded, and I am glad he isn't around anymore, he was a twat, always had been one.

Agreed. He was the kind of ****, that if he was losing an argument he would start making smart ass remarks instead of backing up his story, just to make people laugh at you. Cuz every body kissed his ass. NO actually they liked the dingle balls out of his ass hairs. He was a cock and I hated him.

 

[The Mullinator]

I was wrong about the September 30th release date however Fragmaster really did act like a total jerk.

He came out and told everyone that Valve couldn't make the date and that was final, he gave no backup for his opinion aside from secret behind the scenes info that he couldn't tell anyone. Oh ya thats very professional, then he insulted and flamed people who disagreed with him. I mean come on, he should have just kept his big mouth shut.

He was a huge drama queen that for the most part hated most other HL2 communities, he insulted HL2.net on more than one occasion. One time he had the nerve to insult us by calling us a simple "fan site" even though that was exactly what PlanetHalfLife was.

Good riddence to him.

 

[freeorangeshoes]

One time he had the nerve to insult us by calling us a simple "fan site" even though that was exactly what PlanetHalfLife was.

haha, 'the nerve'. you people are so silly. if this isnt a fan site, what is it? the largest hl2 community aka fansite with a forum?

you guys can say whatever you want, but the reason you dont like him is because he said something negative about your beloved valve. the reason why you hate him is because he was/is right.

 

[jimbones]

I always thought fragmaster was a very funny guy. Those past phl mailbags days were priceless!

If he indeed was the one designated to write the behind the scenes book I imagine it must be frustrating beyong comprehension to not being able to tell people the truth about delays, unrealistic release dates what have you because of a non-disclosure agreement.

I have no mouth and I must scream..

 

[The Mullinator]

haha, 'the nerve'. you people are so silly. if this isnt a fan site, what is it? the largest hl2 community aka fansite with a forum?

you guys can say whatever you want, but the reason you dont like him is because he said something negative about your beloved valve. the reason why you hate him is because he was/is right.

err... You completely misunderstood what I was saying. I meant that he called us a fansite as an insult. We are a fansite, we always have and always will be one. The way he said it meant he was thinking that PlanetHalfLife was somehow more than a fansite, which it isn't.

Also if you read what I said I don't care if he was right, I admit I was wrong. He just acted like a total jackass and thats why alot of people hate him.

 

[The Mullinator]

I always thought fragmaster was a very funny guy. Those past phl mailbags days were priceless!

If he indeed was the one designated to write the behind the scenes book I imagine it must be frustrating beyong comprehension to not being able to tell people the truth about delays, unrealistic release dates what have you because of a non-disclosure agreement.

I have no mouth and I must scream..

I understand that perfectly, just don't insult everyone who disagrees with you and shove it in their faces that you have more information than they do but can't say anything.

EDIT: ahhhh! I forgot to hit the edit button to my post above! :flame:

 

[FISKER_Q]

haha, 'the nerve'. you people are so silly. if this isnt a fan site, what is it? the largest hl2 community aka fansite with a forum?

you guys can say whatever you want, but the reason you dont like him is because he said something negative about your beloved valve. the reason why you hate him is because he was/is right.

Sure it sucked he was right about the date.

But if you read what i wrote i mainly wrote to stop posting all that bullshit in THE NEWS.

If he had commented on his own news saying it, as himself, then i could've cared less.

But seeing "I'm better than you cause i know something you don't, but i won't tell you, i'll just act a real idiot about" in EVERY newspost he made for a while was annoying.

It would be the same if i knew the lottery numbers and then took a couple of them and shoved in your face while you were quietly walking down street.

 

[Bluestrike]

He was mad Valve lied to the entire community with the release date while they knew they were lying.

And Valve lost a lot of credebility to me (extra with the promise of new multiplay for HL2 what now turns out to be a port of CS).

And back in the days, The planetHL and planetfortress sites were probebly the biggest HL sites there were.
(probebly a legacy from Planetquake)

 

[Ownzed]

He was mad Valve lied to the entire community with the release date while they knew they were lying.

And Valve lost a lot of credebility to me (extra with the promise of new multiplay for HL2 what now turns out to be a port of CS).

And back in the days, The planetHL and planetfortress sites were probebly the biggest HL sites there were.
(probebly a legacy from Planetquake)

What he said.

 

[2o3]

Fragmaster did imply that Douglas lobardi was an evil and twisted goblin. So I think the frag had somthing going for him.

 

[~}A{~TF2]

Anyone remember when the head of planethalflife quit? It was a sad day indeed, but the reason was never clearly given. It occured to me that the reason must be something to do with the lawsuit that is now going down. Anyone have any thoughts?

Hey there! To answer your question I read an interview with the person who did the book for PRIMA, the Raising the Bar book, and Fragmaster was the person who was originally doing it, until he started bashing VALVe on Planethalflife.com, so then he was fired from that job (doing the book)... I hope that helps!!!

:thumbs: :cheers:

 

[Absinthe]

Fragmaster did imply that Douglas lobardi was an evil and twisted goblin. So I think the frag had somthing going for him.

I never knew he was referring to with that comment.

Fragmaster scores another point in the "I know something, but I can't tell you" department.