Simbuilder Accused of Fasly Adding a Person as an Employee in their credit report despite not having worked for his studio in 3 years; what does this mean for developers on the platform?
On April 12th, 2023 developer ScriptOn accused Vehicle Simulator creator Simbuilder of falsely reporting that he was an employee for the SUMMIT STUDIOS GAMES LLC corporation on their credit report despite not having worked for the studio in three years. They additionally claim that the creator attempted to blackmail them after over-reporting their income to the IRS by $109,000 in 2020. In an attached image, we can see an interaction between ScriptOn and Simbuilder in which he states this;
“That’s the credit company determining your place of work due to the sociopolitical reasons with the Russian turmoil.
You can choose to be an independent studio ran by yourself a second gen Russian American or you can get behind me and increase your chances of success by sucking up some AI work every now and then.
Your choice.”
Firstly, what Simbuilder did could potentially be illegal. But additionally, it’s manipulation on the part of Simbuilder, with him using the Russo-Ukrainian conflict to threaten ScriptOn that the only way he’ll be successful is by getting behind him and basically sucking up to him. Once the story of the “credit company” doing it didn’t work, he continued the manipulation by mentioning that ScriptOn had “Vehicle Sim” in his bio. In reality, the reason it’s in his bio is to allow people to know of his past work, with him including other experiences (Roverse, Grand Mall of Robloxia, Kinetic Code, Prison Royale, and others.) along with having been a Roblox Intern in his bio as well.
Though the way Simbuilder is dealing with this situation is very regular for him. I’ve been having an ever-increasing interest in Simbuilder throughout the past few months periodically checking his account for what drama he’s managed to get himself into. He likes talking in a physiological-wanna-be style that at times makes it difficult to understand what he’s trying to discuss. It appears he continuously like’s to talk about people who have wronged him, particularly Gamefam. For example here is a tweet from the Vehicle Simulator brand account;
This additionally isn’t the first time Simbuilder has received negative attention due to his treatment of employees. Back in December 2022, after Simbuilder (once again) talked about Gamefam apparently “screwing” him over by “taking” the CTO “for their own” and then threatening to file a lawsuit against the company (which he never followed through with from what I can tell.) Trustmeimrussian stated;
“It wasn’t because you were emotionally abusive to your staff?”
“Totally not like all the staff left due to internal issues with the ‘CEO’ or anything like that…”
Of course Simbuilder and his infinite wisdom and being the “Philosopher” he self-proclaims to be, decided to insult both him along with the two other staff publically stating;
“You haphazzardly slashed two maps together and called it done.
Trustmeimrussian’s response to this comment was;
“”WHY DID MY CTO LEAVE! WHY DID ALL MY STAFF LEAVE!!! THEY WHERE STOLEN!”
But if you thought it couldn’t get worse, it does. Because also during the same time he made ableist remarks towards another developer (which is also within that statement posted just above) that worked for him stating;
“So if a normal person works to aid a special condition then it’s somehow bad?
and;
These are completely terrible, inexcusable and unacceptable statements by him. To act like you “coached”, or “helped” someone with bipolar disorder, ADHD or on the Autism Spectrum is tone-deaf at best. Bipolar is a mental disorder “characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks.” ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder “characterized by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inappropriate.” Finally, the autism spectrum “identifies a loosely defined cluster of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by challenges in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and often repetitive behaviours and restricted interests.”
Yes, I know I have committed the sin of using Wikipedia as the source for these definitions, but it’s clear that either Simbuilder was unwilling to do the minimal and basic research to understand and actually be there for someone facing a unique situation and troubles or he’s trying to use them as means of attacking the person (he also mentioned that they were a “furry” which doesn’t really seem it had to be mentioned so personally I believe its slightly the latter.) If you truly “cared” for the person you wouldn’t go behind their back stating you were “helping them” and then start insulting them like an over-enthusiastic patriotic American when it’s the 4th of July.
But ultimately, what does this mean for developers? Firstly, is that you should never work for these types of people, and if you are, you should look into choosing a job with people who will care about who you truly are, not just mention it when insulting you after you decide to leave. Additionally, it shows the importance of protecting your rights not only as an employee of these studios but also as an individual. They matter regardless of who you work for or who you are and if we stand by individuals dealing in these situations, we can show these people that the community (both the developer community and the Roblox community as a whole) will not stand behind or for such actions and behaviours.