* \\\"Doctor\\\" Derek Smart, the author of \\\'\\\'Battlecrusier 3000AD\\\'\\\'. For those unfamiliar with the saga, \\\'\\\'BC3K\\\'\\\' was released in 1996 after roughly ten years of development by Take Two Interactive, who basically wanted to get the thing out the door. Despite the [[DevelopmentHell long development time]], the game was released with horrible graphics, insane interface (\\\"ALT-SHIFT-S\\\" was the command to fire the guns [[OrSoIHeard according to the PC Gamer U.S. review]]), and was so buggy that it was an [[ObviousBeta obvious alpha]] build. Many people on the (then popular) {{Usenet}} gaming forums were understandably furious about the state of the game they just bought. Mr. Smart responded by going on Usenet and firing off vicious ad-hominem attacks on said angry gamers, adding fuel to the biggest flame war in the history of the internet. Ever. Really.
** The \\\"doctor\\\" shot is due to an incident during the flame war where it was slowly revealed that Smart did not have a Ph.D. from a major university as he once claimed around the time \\\'\\\'BC3K\\\'\\\' was released, but that it was in fact probably from a diploma mill (though he still touted it against the people who were flaming him).
* In the independent gaming scene, there is a individual by the name of Matthew Dickie or \\\"[=MDickie=]\\\" who produces games on his own which depending on your taste are either all right, SoBadItsGood, or SoBadItsHorrible. Yet, in his commentary he states he is \\\"A great artist painting the Chapel\\\" and says that he is obviously the \\\"best\\\" independent artist ever. Despite a few self-deprecating remarks, he sets himself up as the greatest despite being a moderately good bedroom programmer.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRf800DiOrc This video]] from a LetsPlay of his game \\\'\\\'The You Testament\\\'\\\', which contains a dramatic reading of two of his journal entries, should give you a good idea on how smug the guy is. (Also, all real game designers should be able to go to China and beat the locals at Mahjong, just like he did.)
*** [[http://v2.lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Prophet/ [=SAer=] Daeren\\\'s]] final thoughts after finishing his LP of \\\'\\\'The Making of a Prophet\\\'\\\' (a mod of \\\'\\\'The You Testament\\\'\\\' (he didn\\\'t even bother removing the crosses in the game)) are also worth a listen. (They also bring up the book Dickie has written about atheism.)
** As for being a good programmer, some members of SomethingAwful discovered during the same LP that, in order to make the game close, he programmed it so that the game would \\\'\\\'get stuck in a loop, constantly calling itself until it eventually crashed\\\'\\\'. Some people complained that it would cause their (high end) machines to slow to a crawl for about 5 minutes after closing it. Also, every possible model that can be placed on a character is loaded onto the [=NPCs=] when a map is opened instead of being loaded when they are needed.
*** That\\\'s just the beginning of it. You should see [=ChipCheezum\\\'s=] [[LetsPlay Let\\\'s Play]] (the one mentioned above) of it. [[http://chipandironicus.com/video/other/testament/testament.html It\\\'s hilarious.]] One of the worst glitches involves their one-foot-tall character being [[UnwinnableByMistake unable to climb out of a small pool]] because he\\\'s not big enough to go up the very small stairs, even with the already near-useless jump. Because of this, [[WallBanger they either had to start the game over or give up altogether.]] His effort is honorable, but he \\\'\\\'really\\\'\\\' needs to work on his programming skill before he can even begin to call himself a \\\"great artist.\\\"
*** In addition, all those other sub-par-looking games he brags about implementing the technology of after you get a GameOver in \\\'\\\'The You Testament\\\'\\\' really don\\\'t help when it comes to making this guy look egotistical.
*** And despite going on and on about how he wears his unfortunate last name as a \\\"battle scar\\\" that makes him memorable, he recently legally changed his name.
* In the \\\'\\\'{{Doom}}\\\'\\\' community, one is George Fiffy, a.k.a. King [=REoL=]. His abrasive behavior and [[TedBaxter delusions of grandeur]] have gotten him banned not only from the leading \\\'\\\'Doom\\\'\\\' community sites but also from... just about every website on the Internet he\\\'s been to, most notably SomethingAwful. His levels are generally considered not very good. He once had a rant-filled homepage on which, among other things, he infamously claimed to be \\\"the {{Metallica}} of \\\'\\\'Doom\\\'\\\'\\\".
* [[BenCroshaw Ben \\\'Yahtzee\\\' Croshaw]] reached this point early in his Adventure Game Studio career. After releasing \\\'\\\'Rob Blanc\\\'\\\', people praised him, and his ego grew. He continued making games, people kept praising them, and he became a grade A ranking douche. He eventually [[http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/archive/Oct7-11.htm explained]] himself with a FreudianExcuse and put a self-imposed \\\"exile\\\" on the community (which he breaks by posting under different names, by his own admission). Some argue [[ZeroPunctuation his latest project]] is making history repeat himself--to which he responded \\\"I\\\'m not a jerk, people are just creepy\\\". [[LoonyFan Some people say he has a point]]. [[BlameGame Others say he\\\'s just shifting blame]]. Recently he\\\'s been trying to mend fences with others however.
** Ironically, once he got a \\\'\\\'second\\\'\\\' weekly feature in The Escapist (which would ordinary have ballooned anyone\\\'s ego even further), a column called \\\"Extra Punctuation,\\\" he seems to be growing quite a bit more civil.
** Fans who only know him from his ZeroPunctuation reviews would probably see any inflated ego he shows as just joking around because of [[CausticCritic the kind of character he portrays]] (for the sake of comedy) when doing his reviews.
* [[http://tigsource.com/articles/2009/05/29/tim-langdell-the-edge-of-insanity Tim]] [[http://tigsource.com/articles/2009/06/09/tim-langdell-and-edge-part-two Langdell]]. The man [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope seriously believes he owns the trademark over the word \\\"Edge\\\"]], having taken legal action against the developer of an [=iPhone=] game simply called \\\'\\\'Edge\\\'\\\' and a studio who were making \\\'\\\'Edge Of Twilight\\\'\\\'. It helps that he hasn\\\'t actually produced a single game for over 20 years.
** Has he gone after WWE wrestler Adam \\\"Edge\\\" Copeland yet?
*** He might have gone after THQ for the \\\'\\\'[=SmackDown!=] vs. Raw\\\'\\\' series having Edge in them. His trademark on the word \\\"edge\\\" apparently only applies to the videogame industry...and even that\\\'s in jeopardy, as Electronic Arts ([[EvenEvilHasStandards of all companies]]) [[http://kotaku.com/5370359/electronic-arts-sues-to-cancel-langdells-trademarks is trying to nullify the trademarks.]]
** The behaviour of [[http://www.tigsource.com/pages/edge-games/ Langdell]] may be closer to a fraudster willing to exploit other people if he believes that he can get away with it. He doesn\\\'t necessarily believe his own rhetoric. At least he doesn\\\'t believe in the sanctity of intellectual property when it comes to the work of other people:
*** The infamous \\\"\\\'\\\'\\\'MIRRORS\\\'\\\'\\\' A new game from \\\'\\\'\\\'EDGE\\\'\\\'\\\'\\\" [[http://chaosedge.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/mirrors-a-new-game-from-edge/ advert]].
*** Several instances of [[http://chaosedge.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/the-crying-developer/ using stolen art without permission or compensations to original authors]].
*** Attempts to [[http://chaosedge.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/mock-ups-and-cock-ups/ rip off other people (with varying success) while taking advantage of their creative work]].
*** While not related to the above cases, Langdell also managed to [[http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=6456.msg240845#msg240845 get a restraining order against himself after stalking a certain actress]].
** Several indie game developers protested his egotism by changing the names of their games to include EDGE in them. AndTheFandomRejoiced.
* Another on the indie gaming scene, [[http://www.fighunter.com PseudoLoneWolf]]. Wonderfully talented game designer, but...just read some of his rants and you\\\'ll see what we mean. For all the good he is at coding, he plays the \\\"snobby elitist ethnocentric Brit\\\" stereotype almost painfully straight.
** He used to write thought-provoking journals on his [[DeviantArt dA]] account (allegedly to start discussion), mostly about religion. He once asked the question, \\\"Do you believe in any kind of god?\\\" Turns out, whenever a person said yes, he would immediately shut them down, telling them why they were wrong and how \\\"misguided\\\" and \\\"naive\\\" they were and why atheism is Just Better. He later admitted that he did it purely to [[{{Troll}} troll and patronize anyone who disagreed with him]].
* Adam Coate. Another of the indie game community, has already spawned a [[MemeticMutation meme]] in the form of a [[http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/12/the_miyamoto_never_had_to_work.php t-shirt stating \\\"Miyamoto never had to work for press like this\\\"]], with an epic confrontation in a [[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4213/pondering_indie_spirit_derek_yu_.php comment thread,]] in which he makes claims of his game being the best ever - and then he pulls it after only 4 days on Xbox Live.
* David Cage, the maker of \\\'\\\'OmikronTheNomadSoul\\\'\\\', \\\'\\\'{{Fahrenheit}}\\\'\\\' and \\\'\\\'{{Heavy Rain}}\\\'\\\'; an unusual example as he is always polite and pleasant, which made his big ego far less abrasive. His games fall heavily under [[YourMileageMayVary Niche]] category, refreshing to some but far from flawless. Yet somehow he seems to really believe that he is the sole saviour of video game industry by his revolutionary idea of giving a game a plot - far less baffling if it weren\\\'t for the fact that he made those claims in the year 2005 when \\\'\\\'Fahrenheit\\\'\\\' was released, and then again in 2010 with \\\'\\\'HeavyRain\\\'\\\', perhaps forgetting his previous revolutionary idea. He tried to be the first person to make video games art, by trying to make interactive movie gaming mechanics that could have looked good on paper. He tried to be the first person to make video games that are mature by forcing in \\\"[[CoitusEnsues Pokey Time]]\\\" for the sake of claiming maturity. Oh, he also partitioned out a huge part of his game into making self insertions. No, not even a slightly subtle MarySue, but really himself.
** When asked in an interview once if he had learned anything from the fact that \\\'\\\'Fahrenheit\\\'\\\'/\\\'\\\'Indigo Prophecy\\\'\\\' had sold above expectations, he responded thusly: \\\"I learned that people are smart.\\\"
* \\\'\\\'TheSims\\\'\\\' mod and fansite More Awesome Than You is, unsurprisingly, rife with this. Having a problem installing one of the [[{{Understatement}} moderately-complex-to-install-and-run]] {{GameMod}}s? You\\\'re an idiot who can\\\'t be helped because only idiots have problems installing it. Mention you\\\'re using game mods from one of the \\\'\\\'many\\\'\\\' other Sim mods? Everyone\\\'ll turn into [[GreenLantern Red Lanterns of Rage]] because you\\\'re an idiot for using anything other than their [[YourMileageMayVary infinitely better mods]].
* Dennis Dyack has become something of a punchline among gamers as a representation of pretentious, egotistical game designers. While he did have a hand in some pretty decent games in the past, like the \\\'\\\'LegacyOfKain\\\'\\\' series (though, he was only involved in the original \\\'\\\'Blood Omen\\\'\\\') and horror classic \\\'\\\'EternalDarkness\\\'\\\', his studio\\\'s most recent game, \\\'\\\'TooHuman\\\'\\\', is notorious both for being ridiculously hyped and boasted about by Dyack himself, and for comparatively being a massive critical and commercial flop, thus cementing him in this trope.
**It doesn\\\'t help matters that Google\\\'s description of Silicon Knights\\\' website claims that they\\\'re the \\\"Developers of MetalGearSolid series\\\", even though they\\\'re only involvement in the franchise was \\\'\\\'The Twin Snakes\\\'\\\', which is often looked down as a mediocre remake of the [=PS1=] original.
* Tomonobu Itagaki has also long been a joke among gamers for his cartoonishly over-the-top ego. He has played a significant role in a number of legitimately top-notch games - namely the \\\'\\\'DeadOrAlive\\\'\\\' and 3D \\\'\\\'NinjaGaiden\\\'\\\' series - but he has also become a laughingstock for creating \\\'\\\'DeadOrAliveXtremeBeachVolleyball\\\'\\\', boasting about the \\\'\\\'emotional depth\\\'\\\' of his games (games in which the stories are universally agreed to be the weakest aspect by far), and ultimately being such a dick as to get fired from Tecmo.
* Jim Sterling, an editor on Destructoid, is increasingly becoming one of these. Well, either that or a simple [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Troll Troll]]. Probably a combination of the two. If you can stomach it, simply read the comments sections underneath just about any given article written by him for clear examples of this. Even the actual articles themselves often display his characteristic thin-skinned aversion to criticism and increasingly pretentious, pompous nature. There are many [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Lickspittle lickspittles]] on the site that support him, as well.
