The GameFan history thread

[mollipen]

2. Not as fun as the time one of the art directors fought with Cockburn and slammed him up against the wall. Here's some stories I remember (sorry if they're repeated). Shidoshi, let me know if you would like to know more:

Damn man, nice to see you show up. You're one of the ones I haven't heard anything from for a long time, so it's great to see you again. If you know where to find him, get Bryn in here.

First of all, even though you might not have seen it yet, sorry for flaking on your name earlier in this thread. *heh*

Anyhow, I'd love to hear any of the stories you're willing to tell. You saw parts of GameFan that I never saw, because of our different positions, so I'm sure you've got some interesting stories. Especially any of the MegaFan / GF Books stuff.

[Wolfie]

Ok, I was just reminded of a story...

So yeah, we'd go weeks at a time without getting paid as you all know by now. So we would all get called into the conference room for our monthly pep talk and morale boost. So Dave Bergstien is yappin' about how he knows its tough and we'll all pull thru, yadda yadda, but there's been some theft around the office and that has to stop... He lists off a few items and then says "...and a fax machine thats worth about $1200." So I instantly perk up "$1200 hmmmm?" Well ya see, its the fax machine I still use to this day. Awww...

[bahn]

Is this Dango-Head? Greg?

Chances are if Anthony drops on here to chat it up...he'll do so under his old nickname. Actually, I thought he did have an account here (or at least he used to before the forum software got switched over to vB).

[Fe 26]

a fax worth 1200? wtf, when was this? 1979?

[Glass Joe]

Ok, I was just reminded of a story...

So yeah, we'd go weeks at a time without getting paid as you all know by now. So we would all get called into the conference room for our monthly pep talk and morale boost. So Dave Bergstien is yappin' about how he knows its tough and we'll all pull thru, yadda yadda, but there's been some theft around the office and that has to stop... He lists off a few items and then says "...and a fax machine thats worth about $1200." So I instantly perk up "$1200 hmmmm?" Well ya see, its the fax machine I still use to this day. Awww...

Now that's what I'm talking about. Good stuff.

[djpubba]

I've been teetering on whether I should post this because I don't remember some of the details clearly. Plus it just makes my stomach turn to think of how Greg must have felt.

Early in the life of the magazine, Dave invited a guy to come work on the staff who had been working at Prima writing strategy guides. He did the official guide for Sonic 2. His name was Tom Stratton. Tom lived in the San Francisco area, so he needed a place to stay to come work at GameFan. Greg Off offered to let him crash at his place until he could find his own place. At the time, Greg was working at GameClub taking and shipping orders, while writing for the magazine. There was always a little bit of a power struggle going on with Greg versus Andrew, Kei and Mas. Apparently, after a couple of weeks at the magazine, Tom decided to take sides and he went with the majority and turned on Greg. Tom went to Dave and told him that Greg had been stealing from GameClub and had amassed a collection of loot in his apartment that belonged to GameClub. Dave freaked out and told Tom to give him Greg's apartment key, which he gave to his girlfriend Julie and told her to take *I forget who she took with her* to go get the stuff from Greg's place. So the pair went to Greg's apartment and emptied it. They came back to GameClub later with two big boxes filled with every one of Greg's earthly possessions. Then Dave and *like, two or three other people, I forget who*, proceeded to pick through all his stuff and take whatever they wanted for themselves. When Greg came back and saw what was going on, he was, of course, floored. Most of the stuff was rightfully his possessions and included some things he valued very much.

He admitted that he sometimes took games home but he felt that this was something that was understood as a perk of the job and that the vast majority of the stuff they had taken from his house was rightfully his. He felt that he was part of the "family" and since he routinely worked more hours than he got paid for, put his heart into the business, was treated like Dave's best friend and saw Dave do this himself, it was understood to be okay. It was like two friends sharing a pack of cigarettes (or a prostitute in Las Vegas).

When the dust cleared and everyone had their words, since, like everyone else there, Greg really wanted to be a part of the magazine he took it in stride and went on working there, still putting his best effort into making the magazine succeed.

*Edits: Reflecting on this, I probably shouldn't have said that Andrew and Kei were involved in taking Greg's stuff because my recollection on who was involved isn't that clear and if I'm mistaken and one of them was innocent, that wouldn't be right. I definitely remember Dave and Julie's part in it and that Tom was the one who betrayed Greg. I don't remember if Tom had anything to do with taking Greg's stuff either.

[Fe 26]

Chances are if Anthony drops on here to chat it up...he'll do so under his old nickname. Actually, I thought he did have an account here (or at least he used to before the forum software got switched over to vB).

The bastard has the nick Dangohead. He's been reading the thread, but we can't get him to post.

I'm going to textually kick his ass in if he doesn't eventually.

[AstroBlue]

Gawd

[Fe 26]

I've been teetering on whether I should post this because I don't remember some of the details clearly. Plus it just makes my stomach turn to think of how Greg must have felt.

Early in the life of the magazine, Dave invited a guy to come work on the staff who had been working at Prima writing strategy guides. He did the official guide for Sonic 2. His name was Tom Stratton. Tom live in the San Francisco area, so he needed a place to stay to come work at GameFan. Greg Off offered to let him crash at his place until he could find his own place. At the time, Greg was working at GameClub taking and shipping orders, while writing for the magazine. There was always a little bit of a power struggle going on with Greg versus Andrew, Kei and Mas. Apparently, after a couple of weeks at the magazine, Tom decided to take sides and he went with the majority and turned on Greg. Tom went to Dave and told him that Greg had been stealing from GameClub and had amassed a collection of loot in his apartment that belonged to GameClub. Dave freaked out and told Tom to give him Greg's apartment key, which he gave to his girlfriend Julie and told her to take *I forget who she took with her* to go get the stuff from Greg's place. So the pair went to Greg's apartment and emptied it. They came back to GameClub later with two big boxes filled with every one of Greg's earthly possessions. Then Dave, Andrew, Kei and I forget who else, proceeded to pick through all his stuff and take whatever the wanted for themselves. When Greg came back and saw what was going on, he was, of course, floored. Most of the stuff was rightfully his possessions and included some things he valued very much.

He admitted that he sometimes took games home but he felt that this was something that was understood as a perk of the job and that the vast majority of the stuff they had taken from his house was rightfully his. He felt that he was part of the "family" and since he routinely worked more hours than he got paid for, put his heart into the business, was treated like Dave's best friend and saw Dave do this himself, it was understood to be okay. It was like two friends sharing a pack of cigarettes (or a prostitute in Las Vegas). But, like everyone else there, he really wanted to be a part of the magazine so he took it in stride and went on working there, still putting his best effort into making the magazine succeed.

If that was me, you'd all been dead. There would have been flipped out ninjas on fire action all over the place.

[Jetman]

Ok, I was just reminded of a story...

So yeah, we'd go weeks at a time without getting paid as you all know by now. So we would all get called into the conference room for our monthly pep talk and morale boost. So Dave Bergstien is yappin' about how he knows its tough and we'll all pull thru, yadda yadda, but there's been some theft around the office and that has to stop... He lists off a few items and then says "...and a fax machine thats worth about $1200." So I instantly perk up "$1200 hmmmm?" Well ya see, its the fax machine I still use to this day. Awww...

Heh heh, pretty shady, bro.

Yeah, $1200 seems a bit steep for a fax machine.My guess is Dave probably bought it and padded the price." Uh, Yeah....I got this printer for the office...uh $5000 and yeah this new TV for the lobby $10,000...."

Here's some stories I remember (sorry if they're repeated). Shidoshi, let me know if you would like to know more:

Oh shit!, Welcome Chief . You gotta tell these stories. They sound to good to pass up on from the descriptions alone.

When Greg came back and saw what was going on, he was, of course, floored. Most of the stuff was rightfully his possessions and included some things he valued very much.

My God thats fucked up. I'd flip out and kick some ass if my roommate and "friends/co-workers" did that to me. Hell, I'm surprised he didnt sue or something. Did you guys eventually give him back his stuff or what?