Oh Sweet Baby Billy

What is it about Twitter that seems to get people into so much trouble? Is it because there is a limited number of characters so people can’t express themselves properly? Or is it simply that some people like making other’s angry in a public forum for no other purpose than self-satisfaction? It never fails to amaze me, people especially in the Tech or gaming industry will manage to put their foot in their own mouth so deftly that the PR division of these companies collectively facepalm so hard there is an audible and synchronized slapping sound resonating from an entire wing of an office building.

Well this month, just like every month since Twitter’s creation certainly hasn’t failed to disappoint us. The topic has swung back in the direction of DRM; specifically rumors surrounding the “Always-On” Digital Rights Management system for the next Xbox from Microsoft that is rumored to be included. These entertaining statements that come in the form of a communicative train wreck are courtesy of Microsoft's Creative Director Adam Orth, or “Orthy” as his Twitter handle would have him called. Who is now claiming that they were a “joke,” yet was responding rather rudely to people who did not understand it was joke, nor took it that way. Not that they can be blamed, since the corresponding conversations did not seem like a joke.
Now, lets just accept the fact the people are going to have different opinions than others. That’s just the pitfalls of free will, you’re going to disagree with people from time to time. 

There are a few special cases though where someone’s opinion is just plain wrong. To give you an example or two, the people who believe we’ve never landed on the moon; these people are idiots, or people that believe Autism is caused by vaccinations, also a special kind of stupid that can only exist when you willfully ignore the facts. Orthy’s comments about DRM and how he doesn’t see the problem with the “Always-On” Console DRM are certainly special. Keep in mind that this is after the debacle that EA is still recovering from after the Simcity 5 release. Not only is the man’s opinion one of those rare pieces of perfectly wrong and ignorant gold for the internet masses to rage at, it couldn’t possibly have worse timing! Once that acronym is brought up, every gamer shivers by pure reflex now and with good reason.

If there is one thing I’ve learned after spending years of my life on the internet, it’s that it probably is not a good idea to post a wildly unpopular opinion, or statement on a social networking site for the world to see without context. You’re totally free to, but you’re also free to drop a hammer on your toe, it just not highly recommended. There is no other way to get gamers and technophiles worked up faster than having a mind numbingly stupid statement about the future of someone’s favorite hobby. Well, Adam you’ve certainly succeeded at garnering attention. I, like millions of other people didn’t know or care who you were until yesterday. Now Microsoft’s PR team is going to have to do damage control over what is now being shrugged off as a “personal” joke, between two friends who just happened to let millions of people watch... See? Not a very good idea. We all know what a new and strange place the internet is compared to other forms of communication and entertainment but at this point we’ve become so connected that things said in cyberspace can easily affect the real-world, as has been demonstrated time and time again.

It’s alright that our poorly informed and opinionated Creative Director of Xbox has a different point-of-view than the rest of us folks living in the real world. What isn’t alright is the way he went about explaining himself. This man, is currently talking about a product for a company that he works for and it’s generating a negative response. So to him, obviously the logical next step was to continue to say arrogant shit for the world to see. If you’re lucky to have been promoted up to a directing position for a multi-billion dollar, world-wide company you must realize that you’re a representative of that company and some tact may be in order. Or, I guess maybe you don’t because you’ve lost some humility while rising in the ranks. Even if common sense no longer happened to be a strong point of yours shouldn’t you have the grace and wisdom to maybe shut your mouth when things start to snowball? As a creative director the guy wasn’t hired to be a mouthpiece or face of the product. That’s what Marketing and PR is for, and the job Orthy certainly wasn’t hired to do.

It should go without saying that the always on DRM system is a poor idea at best with most of the developed world’s current network infrastructure. At worst it’s a comet-sized shit-missile that can single-handedly stop a company from moving thousands of units and lower it’s stock value for a month or two. If there is one thing that gets your boss to take notice it is when you start fucking with their profit. In a real horror scenario it can send a company into a nose dive. While this isn’t going to happen to Microsoft, it still doesn’t make them look good. The simple reality is that not everyone has a stable or high-speed internet connection. Everyone should at least have access to it in the United States at this point, but that’s another topic altogether. By having an always on DRM with a console you’ve effectively cut off the subset of people who like to play video games but also happen to have a shit internet connection, like anyone living in the country or college students who are stuck in dorms sharing internet with 600 other students. Hell, even the person whose internet connection went down unexpectedly can’t even play a single-player game while they wait for the connection to come back. Suddenly, you’ve got an expensive and flashy paperweight that could do something; you know, if it weren’t for a poor idea that made it too far. 

When it comes right down to it, people don’t give a company hundreds of their hard-earned dollars to be told when or how they can use a product they’ve paid for. It’s bad enough Microsoft is legitimately considering something like this for their next console, but to have your Creative Director start running his mouth over twitter telling people to “Deal with it!” just adds insult to injury. Whether it's a joke or not, he is a representative of Microsoft and people don't take these things lightly. We’ve seen people lose their jobs for less over similar issues, while I don't think he should be fired, he definitely needs to think about what he posts before putting it online. Orthy should probably quit while he’s ahead and just let the Microsoft’s PR team clean up his mess, unless they don’t care, which they may not. All this may just be one big misunderstanding, but it’s something that was avoidable, there are ways to send inside jokes back and forth to one another over the net and it’s called private messaging. Unfortunately for Adam, even if this is a misunderstanding caused by little to no context the damage has already been done.