Happy building Jay
by Dan MacDonald · 08/07/2006 (8:53 pm) · 4 comments
It was as much a surprise to me as anyone that Jay announced he would be leaving GarageGames for new endeavours. Jay has been in many ways the voice of GarageGames to the indie community. Having known Jay for some time now I can truly say that his presence will be missed. Jay always had a huge impact on IGC and I can remember going over plans and strategies to make it bigger and better "next year" for hours on end.
I really hope that IGC will live on in Jay's absence and that others will take up the torch and keep IGC happening. Whenever you put yourself in a public position you open yourself up to a lot of criticism. GG as a whole is no stranger to criticism and I always thought that Jay did a really good job of handling it. You can't please all the people all the time and some people are always going to complain. Even in that kind of environment Jay aways found a way to get excited about "the little guy" that indie developer working out of his bedroom. For a sales guy Jay genuinely cared about developers which was a little strange for me at first, it's odd seeing anyone but a developer care about other developers.
I know a lot of different independent developers here and there and almost all of them where a little unsure of what Jay's motives where at first (c'mon he's got that salesguy thing working against him :) ) but in the end almost all of them came back telling me stories of how He really wasn't that bad and how he had helped them in one way or another, often sharing contacts from his rather substantial Rolodex of industry connections.
I know Jay's favorite thing to do is to build something from nothing, perhaps that's why he empathizes with indie developers so much. So to whatever you go build next Jay I hope you'll throw just as much energy and drive into building it as you did with GarageGames and have a great time doing it. Best of luck to your future endeavors and from all of us who you've help out, got excited with, shared stories with, slipped contacts to, and generally been an all round great guy to hang out with, Thank you!
I really hope that IGC will live on in Jay's absence and that others will take up the torch and keep IGC happening. Whenever you put yourself in a public position you open yourself up to a lot of criticism. GG as a whole is no stranger to criticism and I always thought that Jay did a really good job of handling it. You can't please all the people all the time and some people are always going to complain. Even in that kind of environment Jay aways found a way to get excited about "the little guy" that indie developer working out of his bedroom. For a sales guy Jay genuinely cared about developers which was a little strange for me at first, it's odd seeing anyone but a developer care about other developers.
I know a lot of different independent developers here and there and almost all of them where a little unsure of what Jay's motives where at first (c'mon he's got that salesguy thing working against him :) ) but in the end almost all of them came back telling me stories of how He really wasn't that bad and how he had helped them in one way or another, often sharing contacts from his rather substantial Rolodex of industry connections.
I know Jay's favorite thing to do is to build something from nothing, perhaps that's why he empathizes with indie developers so much. So to whatever you go build next Jay I hope you'll throw just as much energy and drive into building it as you did with GarageGames and have a great time doing it. Best of luck to your future endeavors and from all of us who you've help out, got excited with, shared stories with, slipped contacts to, and generally been an all round great guy to hang out with, Thank you!
About the author
#2
08/08/2006 (1:42 am)
Well said Dan.
#3
08/08/2006 (7:54 am)
Very well said, spot on!
#4
Thank you for your very kind words. I do attempt to have a high level of integrity and authenticity at least for a 'marketing guy'.
I believe the foundation layed for IGC of having an event that actually has a soul and really attempts to be a framework for community to 'happen' realtime shifts the burden of quality of the event to the participants. I think the move toward more interaction and discussion groups (backing up delivery of information on the wiki) should continue to make the conference strong and about connecting with independents.
I did my best to be a connector and value creator in the independent game space. I've offered to LinkIn with all the Associates and if there are others in the community who would like to stay connected feel free to send me an invitation to my gmail address jdmoore.
Now I know I owe you an endorsement on LinkedIn.
Thanks again... I'll try to keep everyone updated on my new venture(s)... right now I'm working from the family sail boat in the San Juan's (Washington)
08/09/2006 (12:03 pm)
Dan,Thank you for your very kind words. I do attempt to have a high level of integrity and authenticity at least for a 'marketing guy'.
I believe the foundation layed for IGC of having an event that actually has a soul and really attempts to be a framework for community to 'happen' realtime shifts the burden of quality of the event to the participants. I think the move toward more interaction and discussion groups (backing up delivery of information on the wiki) should continue to make the conference strong and about connecting with independents.
I did my best to be a connector and value creator in the independent game space. I've offered to LinkIn with all the Associates and if there are others in the community who would like to stay connected feel free to send me an invitation to my gmail address jdmoore.
Now I know I owe you an endorsement on LinkedIn.
Thanks again... I'll try to keep everyone updated on my new venture(s)... right now I'm working from the family sail boat in the San Juan's (Washington)
Torque Owner Justin Kovac