Okay, so this has been brightening up my day today.
A bit of background for those who do not know: In the indie gaming scene, there is a tradition of so-called "game jams", where indie devs come together and knock out a game in a couple of days of caffeine and creativity. It's a pretty social thing, with lots of bonding and networking and stuff, and it's pretty cool.
So, along comes a big youtube video production company, Polaris. They have an idea: Game Jams are fun, and important for the indie scene, and there is a non-zero amount of interest in what's going on behind the scenes of game development, not to mention the personalities in the gaming scene (where the small auteur game maker is a thing). So why not stream such a game jam? Or, even better, make it into a sort of competitive thing presided over by a couple of youtube personalities, like Angry Joe?
Off the production goes. Sponsors are secured, hosts are contracted, contestants ferried in, all that. The show goes on, but soon, the wheels start coming off.
First, the contracts for the contestants were completely bull****, amounting to gag orders and NDAs convering the whole affair, and handing over the specific right of misrepresentation for dramatic purposes to the producers.
To their credit, the devs were far too savvy to fall for this trap, and managed to renegotiate. But that was not the end.
One of the sponsors is Pepsi, and someone took it upon himself to make sure that Pepsi and Mountain Dew product placement is perfectly visible, going so far as to remove ordinary water or coffee from areas where cameras were pointed. Then, during one interview section, that same person goes through the line of teams. The first team is asked "Do you feel that that other team is at a disadvantage because one of them is a woman?". Incredulity. Stunned Silence. Immediate rejection, WTF why are you asking that? To which the only reaction is "We're not getting something usable here", pack up, go to next team, repeat.
And then, after not getting the message that this sort of behaviour
does not fly with this crowd, asking the teams with women in them "Do you feel you have an advantage with a woman on your team?".
And that's where the whole production basically stopped, because the devs closed ranks and basically told the producers that no, that **** ain't gonna fly, **** off. And walked off the set.
Seriously, it's a really cool story, and you can get a much better overview here:
http://indiestatik.com/2014/03/31/most-expensive-game-jam/
