Langdell Resigns From IGDA Board

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: August 31st, 2009

The man himself. A quick news bite for anyone following the Tim Langdell controversy: Dr. Langdell has stepped down from the IGDA Board of Directors, effective immediately.

For more information on Tim Langdell / Edge Games, visit our Edge Games Info Page. There’s also a long-running thread on the conflict with Mobigame in the forums.

I cannot say what this means for the future of Edge.

Posted in Business, Community, Developers | Tags: Edge, EdgeGames, TimLangdell

http://www.glaielgames.com Glaiel Gamer

I don’t think it’s over yet with mobigame, I just think that now Tim Langdell has no motivation to continue posting online.
http://clintmakesagame.wordpress.com TheCube

Frankly, I didn’t see that coming. I knew that the IGDA was considering kicking him out, but I figured his ego would get in the way of him resigning.

Obviously I was wrong, and it’s good to see that maybe he does have some sense after all. Hopefully, he retreats out of the spotlight for a bit, so he can maybe not leave JUST the legacy of being kind of crazy, or something.
O_o

SO is he actually a PHD Dr. or did they just make that up to make him “look good”?
http://www.glaielgames.com Glaiel Gamer

I guess this means this is the last of tim’s oh so entertaining writing

http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?s=7ac1fd972a08fa16fa277f4c6ef0005c&threadid=36867
ARelativelyHotGirl

I think he’s a doctor in the same way as Doctor Doom.
speedofthepuma

He’s a Dr. as in Dr Evil. It’s honourary,
http://StudioEres.com Paul Eres

@TheCube

“I am very aware of the damage that is being caused to the IGDA, not by me but by all of you who are insistant that I or my company have done something wrong when so far you have failed to come up with even one example of our doing something that is not within the reasonable bounds of how a game company is run. Nothing I have done, or that Edge has done, is in any way contrary to the IGDA, what it stands for, or the interests of its membership, but you keep hammering away day after day presenting false evidence and defaming me to make me look bad, so as in turn to make the IGDA look bad, and then turn round and say I am causing the IGDA to look bad.

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves for the damage you have done thus far to the IGDA. But I cant stand by and watch you cause this damage to the association any longer.”
Cliftor

Putting it on us. Classy.

Unfortunately I’m not quite satisfied. It doesn’t feel as good when they’re not penitent, and then there’s the sobering knowledge that this will not stop his trademark trolling.

What a scumbag.
Mooseral

Yeah, although stepping down could be considered the “honorable” thing to do, he sort of cocked it up when he started sniping at people.

It could just as easily be an attempt on his part to maintain his ego; he has yet to show any real humility.
wearycoder

The case against Mobigame still stands and Langdell still has his precious trademark. I’m unsure if this actually solves anything other than allowing the IGDA to try and recover from some of the mud-slinging that has occurred.

Really this whole issue involves many broader issues including the ability to trademark simple English words. For instance, I saw at a popular electronics store a vacuum cleaner that said something along the lines of “Revolutionary Ball(TM) Steering” or maybe not quite that, but it looked very much like the word “Ball” had been trademarked. I think really the USPTO ought to be a target for this internet-hate-machine.
Ajay

About time they take action on Bonafide Dousche Bags like “Dr” Tim Langdell. Its funny that he is just one person and I’m sure there are big companies out there that do these kinda things to kill cottage industries like us indie game developers.
JP

Juicy link to his resignation “speech” from the TIGforums:

http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?s=7ac1fd972a08fa16fa277f4c6ef0005c&threadid=36867

What a clownhat!
nik

its double …
I instantly feel the internet-mob wants to see blood, or atleast a pole.
at the same time this is the only way for IGDA to keep up their professionalism, or regain it.

But the whole EDGE thing doesn’t change by this.
Curious whats next.
hurkhurk

If anything this Langdell thing has shown us how the IGDA operates (or fails to). If they were smart they’d just re-organize the whole thing with a different board and revamp it. Their conservatism just makes them seem like a shitty political organization with enough tentacles out there to make it seem useful.

Maybe they should switch to a free-to-play model? ;)
Smithy

Neat.
Heat will die down. Beyond this there’s not much igda member voices can do, energy is lower. Shit will continue, but is good to see his strange, noneffective and nonfunctioning nonposition for the nonorganization IGDA has been stripped.

Time to retreat to his nonbusiness Edge.
Luc Bernard

does this mean he’s going to commit suicide next?
Michael Rose

Wow. Just… wow.
Gutter

As someone who doesn’t care what the IGDA does, and who learned about Langdell only recently, I would like to know how the IGDA will be hurt by the community, when it’s pretty obvious for the mainstream that he was the problem.

That guy is a wanker, and he seem to want to be one until the end.
Congratulations

A winner is you.
sqrrl

yay!
AClarkFS

After reading each & every article regarding this person as it came out on this site, I must say well done on exposing such bad behavior and the effect it had on other people.
Synnah

Hmm, it doesn’t like this really solves anything; all it does is take the IGDA out of the equation, and I don’t think that really made much of a difference anyway. It’s not like they do anything. Going by the quotes Paul posted in #6, he’s still determined to be totally a dick about the whole thing. We should be ashamed of ourselves? Whatever.

This isn’t over, by a long shot.
Snow

For one all I can say is: ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! ALLE-EH-LU-EE-AAAAAAAAAAH!

Of course, he isn’t completely out of the spotlight. He’ll still be trademark trolling until he hits his grave I’m sure. I do find it funny that he criticizes the IGDA. How can this idiot not wake up and smell the bullshit? He says he’s right. Everyone else says to him that he’s wrong. I think when EVERYONE is telling you that you are an imbecile and should maybe start smartening up – if I were him, I’d be cluing in and say to myself, “hmm, they’re not all stupid and I am not a god”. How high up on the horse can this guy get?
Jumps

He is just one of many of his kind. I think he sincerely believes that he hasn’t done anything wrong. Which is pretty bizarre, really.
Bood_War

Hellz Yes!
http://www.g4g.it Firesword

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MIr-S6mwFk

If he is a Doctor and was in IGDA, probably IGDA is worth zero.. lol
Ski

A man of his age should not have that hair style. Call me shallow, but it makes me hate him even more.
Josh

The future of which Edge? Seems like they are all better off (;
Mooseral

@#10

Indeed, the ability to trademark individual English words does frequently border on the ridiculous… but luckily most companies tend to not do the Langdell thing, and pursue these ridiculous trademarks to the end of the earth for “fun and profit”.

A far scarier prospect, however, is probably the ability to patent gene sequences. I’m fairly certain you can still do it. Which is even more ludicrous. Hopefully nobody really goes into the market of gene-trolling… although I believe it has already happened a few times with the larger companies involved in genetics.

But more on topic, hopefully the Mobigame/Edge thing will get cleared up more quickly now that Langdell has lost some support. Hopefully he will be content to retreat and lick his wounds, although that sounds unlikely.
Xerostomia

The fact he’s resigned from the board means he can say he left on his terms rather than being kicked out. Which of course looks better on your resume.

Unfortunately the bearded troll lord will probably only continue the way he has.
http://www.supertacogames.com Cecil

this guys douchebaggery is unsurpassed.

really? its OUR fault?

his hair really does make you hate him more. fact. so does his face. just seeing a picture of him makes me want to hurt something.
novichock

To paraphrase a Futurama episode:
“I’ve got a doctorate in homeopathy!”
“You’ve got a doctorate in baloney!” *water cannon*
Smithy

Gene trolling is an interesting hijack! One that I full heartedly endorse and support!

Company trademarks a gene sequence in corn, farmers a and c plant it in their fields, farmer b refuses. Farmer b’s plants are pollinated by a and c’s plants, then he is bullied and forced to pay the company for using their genetics, even though he wanted nothing to do with it.

H’yuck h’yuck.

Langdell could learn from that sort of thing and apply it to gaming.
Dinsdale

Whoever wins…
PHeMoX

@Smithy: I believe he is already very much doing just that. In most conflicts having the edge name thing is purely coincidental. Sometimes it’s even downright far fetched and ridiculous to file a claim, but he’s doing it anyways.

“Indeed, the ability to trademark individual English words does frequently border on the ridiculousâ€¦ but luckily most companies tend to not do the Langdell thing, and pursue these ridiculous trademarks to the end of the earth for â€œfun and profitâ€.”

Yeah, copyrighting individual words without a specific context definitely sounds like a stupid thing. I suppose it’s too late now though.
Anon

This sort of thing happens all the time. A person does something that would be very bad for their public image, and the public image of the organizations they belong to, and suddenly they “step down”.

A politician who gets photographed leaving a brothel will resign from his party, a sports player caught injecting heroin will resign from his team, and Tim Langdell has resigned for exactly the same reason – Because all of these people would be publicly fired if they didn’t leave “of their own volition”.

Considering the shitstorm that Langdell’s managed to kick up with his shoddy business practices and heaven-knows what else, it’s easy to conclude that the IGDA board told him directly or indirectly that he would be fired if he did not quit now. It’s just the more dignified way of being kicked out.

Fran Drescher’s character in The Nanny comes to mind, however… “You can’t fire me, I quit!”
Nerd Rage

I’ve got $5 that says he continues to reference his time on the IGDA board in a positive manner (probably positioned in such a way as to make him appear to be a recognized authority within the industry) for years to come, despite the fact that nearly his entire term was subject to outrage from the membership.

He doesn’t have to tell people he only served 6 months of a 4 year term, and if pressed he can accurately say he resigned for “personal reasons” because he was neither forced to resign by the board, nor voted out by the membership next month.

This might look to some like an honorable move, but clearly he’s just looking out for his own interests. Now I can’t honestly blame anyone for doing that, in and of itself, but the way he goes about doing it… This is what we call Lawful Evil.
ozzu

I’m now wondering if it’s a coincidence that Edge’s Racer game (previously known as Voltage) is supposed to be coming out at the same time as Sony’s Motorstorm: Arctic Edge. Wouldn’t have thought twice about something like this before, but now I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

http://www.blogmyway.org/games/story.php?title=motorstorm-arctic-edge-races-to-retail-sept-29-download-oct-1
qnp

Hope the door hits him on the way out and catches his ankle. (You KNOW how bad that hurts)