

The Valve Way: Gabe Newell And Erik Johnson Speak - pushingbits
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6471/the_valve_way_gabe_newell_and_.php

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pushingbits
This has already been submitted as a one-page some time ago, but it didn't end
up getting much love.

I rather enjoyed it, so I figured I'd give it another stab.

One-page is here:
[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6471/the_valve_way_gab...](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6471/the_valve_way_gabe_newell_and_.php?print=1)

Favorite part: "Premature monetization is the root of all evil."

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dvdhsu
Back in 2003, the source code for Half Life 2 was leaked by somebody in
Germany.

The hacker eventually contacted Valve himself, and expressed interest in
working for the company. Valve then staged a fake job interview, and tried to
trick him in to coming to Seattle. There, they waited with FBI agents, and
prepared to arrest him.

Fortunately, he was detained in Germany.

That story, combined with this story, raises my eyebrows, especially because
Valve is trying to show off "The Valve Way".

<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/>

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DannoHung
I'm not grasping your point.

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sliverstorm
He's one of the guys who thinks Valve should have given the German guy a job,
and is still upset at Valve over it.

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ugh
I think he is a lot more upset that Valve tried to lure him to the US where he
would have faced drastic punishment. Getting caught in Germany (where the
punishment he received didn’t destroy his life) was the best thing that could
happen to him but Valve didn’t make that happen.

That’s the truly disgusting part. Valve wanted to destroy his life.

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sliverstorm
Valve wanted to punish him for crimes he commited. HL2 was a _big deal_.

As for the magnitude of what Valve was seeking? Among other things, they were
probably scared; not every hacker is a friendly, innocent curious kid working
alone. They should have taken his word for it? Hah, since when is it a good
idea to trust criminals?

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ugh
They could have cooperated with the police in Germany.

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mrschwabe
Powerful insight from Gabe applicable to startups:

"No -- we don't recruit for games. We recruit people..."

Replace 'games' with 'products'.

