Connor Sheri Shaw

Hopefully the final Dan update: he got bullied so hard by Starbreeze staff that he's not doing operation escape van anymore. Perhaps I had a bit of a hand in this too, who can say? Either way: the Tour de France has been called off.

The company will still need to get the equipment returned of course, as Sony and Microsoft would very much like their development kits back so they can send new ones. Maybe try opening a dialogue with the people you'd excluded from the June 5th Beach Party, instead of showing up to their home addresses?

Makes you wonder who's in charge of HR at Starbreeze!

God willing, I'm done posting about this for a while.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 48

Connor Sheri Shaw

Fredrik Malmqvist, a man whose contributions to PAYDAY 3 can be summed up as 'would rather be working at KRAFTON', has been fired from Starbreeze after personally handling the illegitimate firings of French employees.

Update on Dan: Starbreeze staff keep bullying him about his stupid Tour de France plan so he's trying to get a subordinate to do it for him instead.

What does any of this mean? I'm afraid you're gonna have to read for a little while if you want to know more, but my article from May lays the groundwork for this entire stupid situation: sherishaw.net/blog/starbreeze-executives-french-ex…

P.S: "Weavehunters" is Project Backshots

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 51

Connor Sheri Shaw

Starbreeze is gonna send a dude named Dan to the home addresses of former French remote employees (the ones Mats Juhl illegally terminated a few months ago).

He's gonna ask them to sign a contract and then demand they hand over console development kits which belong to Sony and Microsoft, and Starbreeze was never supposed to place in someone's personal residence in the first place. Dan is gonna be heading off on his Tour de France on July 9th and then leaving in an escape van to go on vacation immediately afterwards so he can't be reached for the consequences.

Starbreeze fucked these French employees over, and is now trying to drag them into further legal headaches by making them sign paperwork and improperly hand over console development kits Starbreeze does not have any claim to. Dan sent mass emails to their personal addresses about it and is gonna be knocking on their doors in a little over a week's time.

Fuck Starbreeze. I'm too exhausted to make this an article before Dan's funny little trip, but jesus fucking christ. (EDIT: Dan's called the plan off after getting made fun of for it too much. Wonder if he'll still go on vacation?)

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 116

Connor Sheri Shaw

RAID's long-awaited update is out, if my video has you interested. New weapon, new gamemode. If you like it, don't forget to leave a review to help the game.

I'm taking some time off editing to relax, deal with IRL stuff, and work on other projects. I'll still be streaming during this time, and obviously the PAYDAY 3 review is still coming out later this year. In the meanwhile, have you read my article about Starbreeze's leadership and accusations of insider trading? sherishaw.net/blog/starbreeze-executives-french-ex…

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 47

Connor Sheri Shaw

Still working on those videos. In the meanwhile, what have Starbreeze Executives been up to? sherishaw.net/blog/starbreeze-executives-french-ex…

3 months ago | [YT] | 40

Connor Sheri Shaw

An Addendum To My Discussion on the PAYDAY 2 ARG:

First of all, to those who say my comparison is overblown or a stretch: while I disagree, I also respect that. And, considering my entire point only stands based on how seriously people take absurdist material, knowing fewer players took PD2's ARG seriously than I feared is encouraging. However, my specific concerns lay less with the comparable details (storming the capital vs storming the capitol), but specifically in "normalizing daily decoding on message boards".

That telling a fanbase of impressionable teenagers to 'not trust anything you read on forums, unless you know how to uncover the truth.' might become a problem when you are later trying to moderate those same forums.

And how could Starbeeze have known that in a couple years, the vague jokes you heard about conspiracy nuts on 4chan would turn into a physical riot? That's why I don't blame them for Jan 6th, that'd be insane.

My point is, in the minds of an impressionable, bored, socially-outcast young adult, the importance of 'the next q drop' and 'the next payday lore drop' were comparable. Just two tabs in a browser, and theory crafting with other people in your bubble about american counter-culture and ancient aliens.

The theming is more incidental. I wish I didn't say "storm the capital" because it's obviously cheapened the point I was making about normalizing disbelief in reasonable facts and authority figures, through the veneer of forum posts which seem 'less serious' until someone in the forum asks you to meet up IRL.

It may not be clear to those outside of The United States, but Qanon did not stay a dumb Internet conspiracy meme. Real humans, in real life, believed that stuff sincerely. Jan 6th was a direct consequence of it. I still see people wearing Q shirts in public, and "WWGOWGA" stickers with razor blades underneath. And these people are victims of a media system used to spread misinformation while masking itself in absurdity.

Annoyingly, the election happened between recording all of that and posting the video. So let me iterate something that'll lose me some lefty cred: I do not think Trump supporters are all fascist, I did political canvassing earlier this year and spoke to quite a few. Most of them are just ordinary people with what I consider unreasonable politics. Many of them also, I've gathered, think Qanon is dumb internet shit and are either embarrassed by its continued relevance in mainstream American politics, or simply pretend that isn't happening.

Being too stupid to take seriously is why you ignore your friend when they start ranting about conspiracy shit, until it's no longer something that can be ignored. Being too stupid to take seriously is why the Proud Boys ask their entrants to list names of breakfast cereals while being punched in the stomach.

My concern is not that the writers or creators of PAYDAY are fascist. My concern is that Starbreeze were not, and *are not*, aware that quite a lot of America is indifferent to fascism. So they need to be considerate to the baggage of any mythos or conspiracy material they're parodying.

And, obviously, I do not blame PAYDAY 2 for Jan 6th. I did say that, out loud, specifically, in the video, but I also did a lot of screaming and ranting so it's fair if it was missed.

All of this really should've been in the video. So, apologies.

9 months ago | [YT] | 172

Connor Sheri Shaw

As Pride month ends, a reminder that The Trevor Project is dangerously mismanaged, and its CEO needs to step down immediately. Read my investigation in three parts starting here: sherishaw.net/blog/inside-the-absurd-mismanagement…

1 year ago | [YT] | 36

Connor Sheri Shaw

This pride month, consider looking into The Trevor Project's union busting, abuse of employees, and hasty adoption of AI before making any donations. My investigation, in three parts, is available to read here. Exclusive interviews!
PART 1: sherishaw.net/blog/inside-the-absurd-mismanagement…
PART 2: sherishaw.net/blog/inside-the-absurd-mismanagement…
PART 3: sherishaw.net/blog/inside-the-absurd-mismanagement…

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 41

Connor Sheri Shaw

New Article: Investors in big tech need a story, and AI is a company's plot device. Ever After Reality: sherishaw.net/blog/ever-after-reality-ai-is-a-plot…

1 year ago | [YT] | 19

Connor Sheri Shaw

if you enjoy my writing at all, i also have a couple articles. one of them is about how Discord is destroying itself with needless feature bloat and the VC tech spiral, and i've got 2 investigating a charity i once supported that turned out to be much, *much* worse than i ever realized. i tried to make them entertaining reads:

Exponential, To A Point: Discord is Collapsing in on Itself - sherishaw.net/blog/exponential-to-a-point

Trevor Project's Dangerous Obsession with Big Tech - sherishaw.net/blog/inside-the-absurd-mismanagement…

Automated Activism, Rainbow Capitalism - sherishaw.net/blog/inside-the-absurd-mismanagement…

1 year ago | [YT] | 36