
When you play a bad video game, interact with a poorly made tech product, or tune into a lackluster movie you don't think that much about it.
In fact, that says it all: you quickly move on and never return.
Rarely do we think about the intense amount of work that went into creating that piece of utter mediocrity.
There were several people employed for months, and they put hours into the end product. Massive investments were negotiated and made. Huge arguments took place. A whole office existed, composed of complex hierarchies and lines of communication.
And yet, the thing came out terrible. So we didn't give it a second thought.
But recently someone on the internet stopped to wonder what all that work looks like. Redditor DongLaiCha asked:
"People who have worked on infamously bad products/games/apps/films, did you know it was bad when it was being made? Did the company? What happened?"
Plenty of people shared their experiences helping to develop video games. The organizational culture and funding circumstances were almost always a mess, and the primary root of the problem.
Dingus at the Helm
"We knew in an early meeting about the video game that it was going to be bad because he screamed at us rather than answer a basic question. Months later the guy released a version to the public when it was hastily put together. We were shocked that he would have ever even considered this ready."
"A review ripped it apart so badly that it went viral. We were sure the guy would strongly reconsider blowing his fortune on making a niche game that he was failing so badly at already."
"He responded by putting in charge several people who where completely ill equipped to manage a game into leadership roles and have them micromanage every step. This revolving door of managers got more out of step, and cruel as time went on. This went on for 3 years with investors pulling out, layoffs, and bailouts."
"I was laid off 2 months ago. Since then they have contacted me to get me to give up my software license info that I paid thousands for while working for them. They are being sued and because they came to me aggressively, it gave me a lot of warm feelings to find out how bad off they are. There is just a skeleton crew left and none of them know if it will every get finished."
Bizarre Alien Behaviors
"I worked on Aliens : Colonial Marines as a tester. It was great, so much fun playing the Aliens in multiplayer, revisiting the really great looking sets/ levels and enjoying the story, with the understanding that it was all a work in progress."
"One day all of the Aliens started freezing. Then big bits of the levels would disappear."
"Some amazing bugs would start popping up (respawning without a head after getting decapitated by the Aliens). And the cutscenes seemingly never got rendered out properly."
"I have no idea what went wrong but my name is in the credits forever!"
-- lasarus29
Digitized Face Destruction
"My teacher worked on at least one Saw video game. He hated the entire thing and his bosses were very nitpicky about everything. He kinda just accepted the pay and moved on to better things."
"Besides teaching, he now works for a company making VR training simulations for pilots, so he gets to study and create all kinds of planes and machinery."
"We're graduating soon and several people want to buy him a replica of the saw face trap, which is one of the things he created for the game as a goodbye/thank you gift."
-- Arcinbiblo12
Kinda Like That Final Season
"You may remember over a year ago seeing advertisements for "Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming: the officially licensed browser game!"...yeah I worked on that, and it was clear it would be terrible (entertaining overview of the game here: https://youtu.be/m08Z-oDdvlY)"
"Basically, the state of the game when it released and the state of the game a year before release were the same. Somehow, nobody did their jobs, and yet everyone was doing absurd amounts of crunch and overtime."
"There were really obvious things that I would point out and say 'this is a problem we need to fix now, or it will become worse later,' and other people would think I was being picky. Then, sure enough, it would cause a huge problem a couple months later and someone would have to spend several days fixing it."
"That's also separate from the design of the game itself, which I and a few coworkers just watched become worse and worse. There were so many things that we looked at and thought 'that's temporary, right? We're gonna iterate on that feature and improve it, right?' (They weren't temporary, and we didn't iterate or improve on then)."
-- jmarchuk
Others worked on movies that turned out dreadful. It takes a whole lot of people to make a movie, and usually all of them are very aware of how that thing is going to turn out.
Punch In, Punch Out
"I worked on a couple really awful big budget films. Everyone knew they were sh** as we were making them."
"We all were being paid very well. So we didn't really worry about how awful the films were."
Crazy Historical Events That Sound Fake But Are 100% True | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Logistical Nightmare
"I worked on a movie with a really bad script. The company already got the funding and had to make the film and the producers, director and various writers tried for a year constantly rewriting and changing the script to try and make it work, but it didn't."
"It just wasn't a good concept, had to many single-use characters, jumped around between too many locations to quickly... it was the kind of script that you just throw in the fire and forget about."
"But they ended up making it and it didn't turn out good. Technically it is well made but narratively it is a mess and hard to follow."
"All the crew knew we were working on a turkey, but hey... it's a paying job."
Soothsayer-Super Sayan
"I worked on Dragonball:Evolution and I knew it was an impossibly unwatchable turd before any of you even knew there was a trailer."
-- Kooriki
Beef Up That Tomatometer
"I was in a real, real bad horror film. I knew it was bad while we were making it, but hoped it would be edited to at least be palatable. It wasn't."
"It tanked, and the creator paid people to leave good reviews, as well as leaving as many good reviews as he could himself. It was a train wreck."
-- plaidtaco
15 Minutes of *Hulu* Fame
"I worked on terrible indie film, and yes, when I read the script I knew it was going to be terrible. The people making it had no idea. I tried to convince them to let me doctor it, but they refused. It was briefly on Hulu and then gone forever."
-- pbntm2
Ray Was Right
"I've directed voices for cartoons for over twenty years. I've worked on projects I thought were crappy that turned out to be big hits, and projects I thought were brilliant that got zero traction. The key is wrapping your ego in the creative process, not the end product."
"As Ray Charles said, 'Ain't no sonofabi*** nowhere knows what's gonna hit.' "
And some shared experiences working to create tech products, be they software or hardware. With so many heads in the room, that can be like herding cats.
Nosedive
"My mother helped build Window's Vista and she actually finds it extremely funny. They had such high hopes and really thought it was revolutionary, only to watch it burn almost immediately."
-- sorrygirl818
A Cocky Start
"My brother in law worked at Microsoft when they released the Windows phone. Apparently management marched through the building with an IPhone in a small casket while announcing the new phones release date."
"While he liked the phone well enough, he was pretty sure that this moment was destined for ridicule."
Dial It Back, Jeff
"Not my story, but I had a manager who worked on the Fire Phone. Remember the Fire Phone? It was amazon's disastrous foray into the cellphone. Huge rollout. Terrible reviews. Cost about as much as the iPhone but with none of the social or aesthetic credibility."
"Anyway, the way my manager told the story was like this: Originally, the fire phone was supposed to be the anti-iPhone. Super stripped down functionality, basic hardware, easy interface, and very low price point. That was an area in the cell market where they thought they could really dominate."
"Well, when the phone design was in prototyping mode (like halfway through the project or whatever) ol' Uncle Jeff starts coming and sitting in on meetings. And he starts asking questions… Why can't the phone have a better camera? Why can't it have more storage? Why can't it have a better screen?
"On and on and on… and no one wants to say no to him. So they keep 'improving' the phone. The rest is history."
"And by history I mean a huge disaster."
Soothsayer
"My dad works at Kodak... Not the camera side but the printing and graphics side.. I remember him saying for years they are going to go bankrupt because they didn't want to get into the digital camera side because film is more profitable.they were wrong"
That's Not a Product. That's 120 Products.
"They had 12o or so customers and they "customized" it for them. This meant that there were 120 (or so) different versions of the same product. Everytime a new feature was added it had to be added to ALL of them. Then they'd phone up and want a change... NIGHTMARE!"
-- bobo76565657
Perhaps next time you quickly delete an app or flick off a movie you'll imagine all the bizarre stories that must have gone on as it was being created.
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Everyone has their travel bucket list.
The list of places they absolutely must visit before they die.
There are those, however, who also have a rather different list of destinations.
The places that have no intention to visit.
Be it for safety concerns, language barriers, or simply that there's nothing at these places that calls to them, there are places some wouldn’t dream of spending the time and money to visit.
Redditor TrooperJohn was curious to hear which places were at the very bottom of the list of travel destinations for his fellow Redditors, leading them to ask:
"What is a popular tourist destination you have no interest in visiting?"
Oasis in the desert? No thank you.
"Dubai."
"Why and whats special about it?"
"Its a modern city in a desert."- Maximum_Calendar_791.
"Dubai."
"A fake city with fake people, no human rights, where the world's tallest buildings hide corruption and slavery in their shadows."
"It's like someone decided to take every problem of mankind and concentrate it in one spot."- PayNoNoticeOfMe.
"Dubai one i think it is ugly two I would die in two minutes of me being there I can't stand anything above 40 c°."- BookWormPerson.
One of the seven wonders is one too many for me.
"The pyramids. "
"Too many horror stories of Egypt."- Aemiom.
Landlocked.
"Not really a destination, but taking a cruise."- Shortbus_Playboy.
Mountains aren't really my thing.
"Everest."
"Just why."
"You use a bunch of money to get in there them come down."
"And trash your whole way there. It's literally a corner in the Earth insufferable for humans and we still made a way to go there to trash it."- ACLullaby.
It's in my own backyard... but still not interested.
"I have lived about 15km away from the Burj Khalifa ever since it was made."
"I could not care any less besides the occasional pointing out the 'shiny tall building' to my nieces.- legolosss.
The pictures are enough for me.
"Mount Rushmore."
"Friends who've made the journey to Mount Rushmore mostly say it was no big deal and not worth the effort or expense to travel there."- Back2Bach.
Hustle and Bustle? No thanks.
"Anything busy.'
"Whether it's cities, structures, I don't care."
"I'd rather go to a boring empty quiet place than a place full of people."- TheSmeep.
They're watching us.
"That creepy a** place in Japan with all the realistic dolls."
"No thank you."
Some dream of paying a visit to these places.
Others hope they never have to set foot there, and will choose to leave it to the other millions of tourists.
To each, their own.
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When it comes to electing a leader, the choice is an easy one if a potential candidate shares the same values as yours.
And while a candidate is fit to lead remains to be seen, we rely on our instinct to choose someone with whom we can relate.
But sometimes, our options are limited and we inevitably go with someone who is the lesser of two evils.
Curious to hear from strangers online about a hypothetical, Redditor Cashmeresquid2309 asked:
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for an openly Atheist presidential candidate? Why or why not?"

Redditors were quick to point out the answer was a no-brainer.
We Already Know The Answer
"Asking Reddit if they'd vote for an atheist..."
"I feel like the answer would be obvious."
– sarahmagoo
Sci-Fi Analogy
"Americans of Reddit, would you vote for a Star Wars fan who heckin loves doggos?"
– WitnessChemical
For The Atheists In The Crowd
"Atheists of atheistville, would you vote for an open atheist?"
– nixcamic
Others weighed in with a range of opinions.
About 45
"What's funny is how many of them would probably say no, even though they voted for Trump and would do so again. Say whatever else you want about him, but I seriously can't understand how anyone could genuinely believe Trump is a Christian. He's so obviously faking it and is undoubtedly the most atheistic president we've ever had or are likely to have for a long time."
"This is a guy who's never even so much as read the Bible or attended church, who told a conservative radio host his favorite Bible verse was 'an eye for an eye', who told evangelical interviewers that he's never asked God for forgiveness because he's never done anything wrong, and who routinely commits all 7 deadly sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth) without remorse."
– empfindsamkeit
From A Different Perspective
"Not an american but interestingly according to this survey on 1006 people from 2007, being atheist was the worst thing you could be as a candidate (of the things asked) with only 45 % of people saying they'd vote for one."
– ilovecatfish
An atheist candidate isn't necessarily a big strike.
Double Negative
"I wouldn’t not vote for someone just because they were atheist."
– HabitualEnthusiast
Credibility First
"This is it. If they’re running on platforms I support with a history to back up those campaign promises, I don’t care if they belong to the church of the flying spaghetti monster. They could literally be a member of the satanic temple and I, an actual practicing Christian, would give less shi*s than a constipated sloth."
"Edit: yes, I realize the Satanic Temple does not actually worship satan. I used it for that purpose. The Church of Satan has some…problematic views and I probably would not vote for someone who literally holds a platform of eugenics."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
Some view the role of religion in politics as important.
It Depends
"Religion can be relevant: I would have strong reservations about voting for a Scientologist, even if I agreed with the policies they proposed. I would have strong reservations voting for a member of an apocalyptic cult or, possibly worse, a follower of the (highly heretical) 'prosperity gospel,' which unfortunately includes more and more so-called 'evangelicals' — I didn't vote for George W. Bush, but it's not because he was an evangelical."
"It depends on the role: I'd probably be more flexible with a legislator than an executive (mayor, governor, president), as their character is IMO more important than for a legislator and their policy stances somewhat less important relative to a legislator."
"Satanic temple — well, that's just an organized group of atheists and humanists with an intentionally inflammatory choice of name. They're generally fine people."
– alyssasaccount
A Bad Rap
"The Satanic Temple is an excellent organization that every decent person should be able to respect. A Church of Satan member, not so much."
"There's a huge difference between them!"
– StarsEatArtBooks
And Redditor boganvegan said it best.
"Better an open atheist than a fake Christian."
It all boils down to trustworthiness. Without full transparency, how could anyone put their faith in a candidate who spews nothing but lies?
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Being home alone isn't always the most tranquil thing.
No one is there to help or protect you.
And things that go "bump" in the night... sometimes they do more than bump.
Redditor ag9910 wanted to hear about the times home felt like an unsafe place to be. They asked:
"What is the scariest, strangest, most unexplainable thing that has happened to you while home alone?"
I'm always freaked out when I'm home alone. Lights on. Yeah, my electric bill is high.
Dorothy?
"I dreamed the front door blew open at the exact time the house alarm went off... I hopped up and sure enough, the front door was open. No intruder."
fatowl
I See You
"Not home alone but only one in right side of the house. Went to my mom's bathroom to wash my hands and saw a pair of feet behind the half open door. Laughed and said 'very funny Ma, I see you.' then finished up and left. Bumped into my mother in the kitchen unpacking, nobody else was in the house. I'm glad whatever was behind the door didn't peek out."
SatanWithFur
“It’s Doug!”
"One night I had forgotten to lock my apartment door and woke up in the middle of the night. My bedroom door was about 2 feet from my front door, as you walked into the apartment. First a big dog ran by, then a person. Holy crap I was so scared and I screeched 'Who is it?!?!!'"
"A man said 'It’s Doug!' As I was thinking to myself, who the f**k is Doug, he said 'oh, crap.' He turned around to go back out the front door saying 'Sorry.' I asked 'Didn’t you have a dog with you?' He said 'Oh, yeah. Hey, c’mon!.' He left, his dog ran out after him and I locked my front door."
"Edit: glad you all thought this was funny, because I did too, once my heart quit trying to beat right out of my chest! The next day the girls at work thought I was crazy for not being upset, but eh, done is done. Peace!"
scarletohairy
Confused...
"My sister and I were home alone and we heard someone big running up the stairs. The stairs make lots of noise with slight pressure so when there’s someone big on them you can tell. I went out of my room to check but saw no one anywhere and my sister also came out of her room and she asked if that was me I said no and we both looked around to see if there was anyone but found no one in the whole house. We were confused and called our parents and just waited until they got back and that was that."
JtSudbury04
I See You
"I very clearly saw a guy walk into my room. But when I went after him there was nobody there. I checked in the closet, under my bed, everywhere one could hide in my room."
HighlyOffensive10
This is why home video surveillance is key.
"NO"
"My parents were on a road trip, just left, and I sat down at my desk. I thought 'Weekend alone by myself' and a voice yelled into my right ear 'NO' so loud it hurt."
Th4ab
Wild
"I managed to lock myself out of my house on my birthday during a tornado while trying to bring my cats to the basement for safety. I later found out that the tornado was approximately a couple miles or less from me at that exact time. The sky was green and it got weirdly calm and then I could hear what sounded like a train coming before I found an unlocked window to climb through. Wild times."
SilverGnarwhal
Saturday morning in the 80s...
"I wasn't home alone but I was awake by myself one Saturday morning in the 80s when I was around 7 or so. I believe my mom was the only one home because my dad went to the lake to go fishing that weekend, and I'm not sure where my older brothers were, maybe they went with him, idk."
"Anyways, my mom's sleeping in, and I'm in the living room by myself, watching Saturday morning cartoons and making a fort out of sheets and cushions. Something made me turn around and I saw my dad in his pajamas standing in the hallway entrance with his hands on his hips, looking the mess I was making and shaking his head."
"He then turned around and walked into my room, which was just off the hallway entrance. Dude. I didn't even look, I just booked it to my parents room and woke my mom up. I don't remember what happened after that, this was around 35 years ago. And yes, my dad was fine, nothing had happened to him."
smriversong
Get the Bat...
"I was at home by myself on a call with some friends when all of a sudden my dog begins to bark like crazy, which was odd since it was the middle of the night and he's usually sleep. I go downstairs to check on him and find him barking at our hall closet, terrified I grabbed my bat that I keep in my room just in case and open the door. There was nothing out of usual at first at then I look down and notice a familiar looking object at the bottom of the closet."
"It was my mom's necklace she had lost when I was 9, (i'm 15 now just to put in perspective how long it's been). I showed it to my mom at breakfast and she was just as shocked as I was. I still have no clue how it got there or how my dog knew it was in there, definitely one of the oddest occurrences of my life."
SomeRandomIdiot14
Meow
"Many years ago, I was 14 or so, my first night alone in the house when my parents were out. Lying on the living room floor reading, my cat sleeping next to me."
"Suddenly, cat wakes up, stares intently into the dark corner of the room behind me, hair on end, growls and then bolts out of the room and upstairs. I look behind me and see nothing, but follow cat upstairs and hide under the covers. Freaked me out."
LairdofWingHaven
Thank God for alarms. I hate being home alone.
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The human body is still such a mystery.
How much do we really know?
Not a lot apparently. We're learning more all the time.
And most of it is gross.
Redditor BathNo7713 wanted to discuss the ick factor of anatomy. So they asked:
"What is the most disturbing fact about the human body?"
The body freaks me out. But it's all I've got. So teach me some things.
Minutes...
"The fastest killing virus takes around 4 days to kill you. That would be Ebola. Your immune system can kill you in 15 minutes."
will477
'locked-in'
"If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get 'locked-in' syndrome. That means you're fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids."
"You're essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage."
4oodler
Explosions
"Some people suffer from Exploding Head Syndrome, which causes them to hear a loud bang when they wake up."
ToraMix19
"When I was younger I believe I experienced this a few times. Sounds I heard were: about a million people talking and laughing all at once, a train that irl would've been about a foot away from me based on the volume of the sound, and a door slamming loudly."
aliaisacreature
Pain
"Not sure if this is by design, but I totaled my car once, almost completely uninjured somehow. Then I looked down to my right hand which I remember jabbing into my dashboard at 55mph. Luckily (unluckily?) only my pinky took the blow. But instead of a floppy-udder full of bone-sand, my pinky was 0.5 inches long."
"Broke no bones, but instead perfectly stacked my phalanges, or finger bones, INTO my hand. This is fixed by a muscular Russian murse grabbing your pinky with both hands and pulling very hard. God I wish they gave me more lidocaine."
TelevisionOlympics
Functions
"If you have a surgery where they need to move your organs around they might not function for a day as the body assumes that they are dead."
tonythebutcher13
Move things around? You mean that's not fake when it happens on "Grey's Anatomy?"
"The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it. If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body."
Black_Handkerchief
The Mouth
"Idk about the most disturbing but how bad human teeth are. We’d think it’s our sugary and processed diets these days that cause it, but even Otzi the iceman discovered in Italy was found to have terrible teeth, mouth diseases and cavities. It’s odd that even with the most basic of diets our teeth are so bad."
Dorianisconfused
In the bowels...
"I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves."
squatter_
"Apparently the doctor just throws your intestines back in there higgeldy-piggeldy because there isn't a correct way to pack them neatly."
LostDesigner9
A Quick Burst
"There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die. You literally just never know if your body will just... die."
Unsolicited_Spiders
The body is such a conundrum. Sexy and gross all at once.
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