Post by Zeli on Oct 14, 2010 7:12:37 GMT -5
I did not get half way through those comments. I had my fill of dirty laundry at that point, I guess.
but theres more : ordohereticus.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/anonymous/
another blog from Jeff Preston from Art & Design at Mythic
someone needs to get their house in order... this reminds me of those postings you see when a major guild implodes.
but theres more : ordohereticus.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/anonymous/
another blog from Jeff Preston from Art & Design at Mythic
someone needs to get their house in order... this reminds me of those postings you see when a major guild implodes.
Anonymity is for cowards.
Posted on October 13, 2010 by ordohereticus
Short of being shot at, poisoned, stabbed or otherwise given a bad case of death, hiding behind a facade of internet anonymity is for cowards. Could you lose your job? Probably. So get another one. I can guarantee that some place will hire you simply for being forthright, honest and not a pussy when it comes to doing the right thing.
Recently there was a post by an obviously disgruntled employee with an axe to grind. They posted a scathing letter detailing the failure of Warhammer Online and the senior leadership at EA Mythic, specifically Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and to a lesser degree through scathing commentary Kate Flack as well. It also went on to say how The Old Republic will suck and how it’s all because of the link between Mythic and Bioware.
The letter was nothing more than a biased rant from someone about to get laid off in November (with a nice severance package I might add). It must be nice to know in advance when you’ll be laid off so you have a chance to start looking for continued work.
For the record I’d like to comment on the characters of Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and Kate Flack in rebuttal to this libelous piece of garbage.
1. Kate Flack. She’s not “Paul’s Girlfriend”. That’s not her job title. She may have that as a perk, but she was brought over from Games Workshop and is one of the most brilliant game designers I know (and I know a LOT of them due to working in this industry). She’s not some popsie who slid in to a sweet job, she’s fucking brilliant. She has a firm grasp on what it takes to work on a licensed product and keep licensing managers from pulling the aforesaid license. I’m offended at the insinuations regarding her because she’s actually really cool. EA Mythic is lucky to have her.
2. Paul Barnett. The crazy british guy. Yeah, everyone knows him. His tyrannical display over Warhammer being WAR, Grim and Dark is precisely what Warhammer online is SUPPOSED TO BE. Anyone who says otherwise is a fucking retard who knows fuck all about the IP. Ugly characters? The Empire is full of ugly people with warts, gouged eyes, sliced tongues. It’s an ugly place. Orks and Goblins, plates tacked to their skull. If you weren’t aware of this, how on earth did you ever work on this product? Ok, High Elves are pretty, and Dark Elves are pretty sinister in a sick, morbid twisted way. Everything else should be gnarly. What does Games Workshop want? A WARHAMMER game. They don’t want WOW. Mess with the IP and they’ll pull that license. There is no better loud, crazy, obnoxious front-man to push a product, especially Warhammer than Paul Barnett. That guy inspires people to get hot for a product! Paul is also smart when it comes to dealing with Licensing managers like Paul Lyons whose job is to protect the GW IP from production studios losing vision and muddying the water with crap content that isn’t Warhammer.
3. Jeff Hickman, the bullseye of ire from this putrid rant is made out to be incompetent. Number one, unless you’ve worked on licensed products, you have no idea how hard it is to keep the IP owner happy. Add to this the EA ownership. now you have two masters, both pulling in opposite directions: Warhammer to keep it Warhammer-y, and EA wanting to MAKE MONEY. Is that unreasonable? EA is a publisher. They are there to fund projects that make money and can projects that don’t. Period. In the middle of this shit-storm is Mythic. In order to make Warhammer Age of Reckoning in the first place compromises must be made. The tabletop game doesn’t easily slide in to MMO territory. Classes are made, some adjustments are made to make it be somewhat balanced…and you have (loosely) an MMO.
Here’s the rub.
Warhammer is not for everyone. not everyone will get it. If you aren’t familiar with warhammer, and what it’s about, it looks like a dark, dirty fantasy setting. It is way WAY more than that, and people trying it out from WOW-land will not get it. Folks who pick up WAR on a whim…won’t get it. There is a very hard-core base of Warhammer fans who understand the IP and they won’t be happy with the compromises made to make this playable as an MMO, but given time, most will understand and get on board.
The other half of this equation is to pull in non-warhammer people. To do this, even more compromise was called for. EA wants to make money and Jeff, Paul and Eugene’s boss wanted to shift the game more towards WOW to make it more hip, catchy, mainstream to make it sell better. This just alienates the core of warhammer fans as the game shifts off-center away from the IP.
Jeff Hickman was at the heart of this trying to keep the flavor of Warhammer, and most importantly save jobs. If you don’t know Mr. Hickman, then you don’t know what he puts in to this job. He sacrifices more time, personal fundage, his health all to keep this boat afloat. He’s had to see family members cut from QA in order to save jobs for others. He’s gone to bat for his team more times than can be counted, and every single layoff costs him a piece of his soul. I *KNOW* this man. I know he has done everything in his power, and then some to keep EA Mythic alive, even when people above him didn’t care, or literally were sinking the boat.
Jeff Hickman has been one of my dearest friends since about 1990. I’ve worked for him. He’s one of the best leaders a guy could have. I know for certain that he will fight for his team. He was best man at my wedding.
Some dictates from on high cannot be defeated. Anyone in management knows that it is a tug of war between upper management/ corporate and the people working for you. As a manager you are the voice of the people. Jeff knows this. Issues have been brought up from the development floor to the top. In the end, Jeff is an employee too. Same with Paul. Same with Kate. Same as everyone else. It’s just that more lies on their shoulders and they get to work even longer hours.
I understand the position of EA and corporate decisions to make money. That’s the purpose of being in business in the first place. I do wish things balanced out better, that corporate entities had a softer touch and let the development studios have more control. It’s not that way. nobody can change that. If we don’t like the company we work for, we change companies. Period.
It kills me to see white-collar crybabies bitching about layoffs when people who work far harder, without donut days and comfy chairs get cut every day with no warning and no severance.
Bottom line is that working for Activision, Electronic Arts or any other big company is like eating a giant shit sandwich at times. It sucks. We eat it or we walk.
The passive-aggressive sniping from a wall of anonymity is for pussies. Bitches who have this sense of entitlement. The world owes them! Writing posts like that just stirs up a shitstorm and enrages the mob. The Mob who really knows fuck all about it means to work in a studio like this and what goes in to game development, especially on a licensed product.
Paul’s pet project for UO? Sorry cocksuckers don’t realize Mythic needs every single angle at retaining jobs right now. Little gigs like this are saving jobs. Mythic needs to prove itself again, keep content flowing on several channels else everyone is out of a job. EA will simply close up shop.
This whole tirade by EA Louse has me in stitches at the short-sightedness of it. people have no idea what the current management at EA Mythic has done since launch so safeguard people’s jobs. Just no fucking idea. Instead there is just an anonymous letter to stir up a lunch mob of people who know nothing about what’s going on. The truth…it doesn’t matter. “If it bleeds it leads” right? If you get enough buzz, and cry loud enough, people will believe you. People will believe what they want to believe.
In summary, in counter to the woefully biased, slanted and in some cases inaccurate rants of EA Louse I offer a counter from the other side. Admittedly biased as these three people, Jeff, Paul and Kate are my friends. From THIS side of the wall of anonymity I KNOW how hard they work at keeping EA Mythic alive and breathing, to keep seats filled.
Does that make me a corporate shill? I work in this industry. I understand the purpose of a business is to make money. I understand compromise. I understand that sometimes there is too much oversight, sometimes too little. People make fucked up decisions, and their vision doesn’t jive with others. Doesn’t make it ok, but it happens. Fix it and move on. Do the best you can and making the whole thing work for as many as possible. I can speak with absolute certainty that Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and Kate Flack have been and still are top shelf when it comes to putting together a quality product and keeping everyone employed, and that is the best anyone can hope for as an employee.
In the end, corporate management is akin to politics, congress, the senate. You cannot win every battle. All you can hope for is someone to do their very best for you. I know the sacrifices these folks have made and I know how hard they have fought for everyone.
This kind of backstabbery is abhorrent.
I am sorry EA Louse is losing their job. I’ve been laid off several times before. It’s never fun, but it is a part of the life in corporate America we chose.
Sincerely,
Jeff Preston
Art and Design
Posted on October 13, 2010 by ordohereticus
Short of being shot at, poisoned, stabbed or otherwise given a bad case of death, hiding behind a facade of internet anonymity is for cowards. Could you lose your job? Probably. So get another one. I can guarantee that some place will hire you simply for being forthright, honest and not a pussy when it comes to doing the right thing.
Recently there was a post by an obviously disgruntled employee with an axe to grind. They posted a scathing letter detailing the failure of Warhammer Online and the senior leadership at EA Mythic, specifically Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and to a lesser degree through scathing commentary Kate Flack as well. It also went on to say how The Old Republic will suck and how it’s all because of the link between Mythic and Bioware.
The letter was nothing more than a biased rant from someone about to get laid off in November (with a nice severance package I might add). It must be nice to know in advance when you’ll be laid off so you have a chance to start looking for continued work.
For the record I’d like to comment on the characters of Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and Kate Flack in rebuttal to this libelous piece of garbage.
1. Kate Flack. She’s not “Paul’s Girlfriend”. That’s not her job title. She may have that as a perk, but she was brought over from Games Workshop and is one of the most brilliant game designers I know (and I know a LOT of them due to working in this industry). She’s not some popsie who slid in to a sweet job, she’s fucking brilliant. She has a firm grasp on what it takes to work on a licensed product and keep licensing managers from pulling the aforesaid license. I’m offended at the insinuations regarding her because she’s actually really cool. EA Mythic is lucky to have her.
2. Paul Barnett. The crazy british guy. Yeah, everyone knows him. His tyrannical display over Warhammer being WAR, Grim and Dark is precisely what Warhammer online is SUPPOSED TO BE. Anyone who says otherwise is a fucking retard who knows fuck all about the IP. Ugly characters? The Empire is full of ugly people with warts, gouged eyes, sliced tongues. It’s an ugly place. Orks and Goblins, plates tacked to their skull. If you weren’t aware of this, how on earth did you ever work on this product? Ok, High Elves are pretty, and Dark Elves are pretty sinister in a sick, morbid twisted way. Everything else should be gnarly. What does Games Workshop want? A WARHAMMER game. They don’t want WOW. Mess with the IP and they’ll pull that license. There is no better loud, crazy, obnoxious front-man to push a product, especially Warhammer than Paul Barnett. That guy inspires people to get hot for a product! Paul is also smart when it comes to dealing with Licensing managers like Paul Lyons whose job is to protect the GW IP from production studios losing vision and muddying the water with crap content that isn’t Warhammer.
3. Jeff Hickman, the bullseye of ire from this putrid rant is made out to be incompetent. Number one, unless you’ve worked on licensed products, you have no idea how hard it is to keep the IP owner happy. Add to this the EA ownership. now you have two masters, both pulling in opposite directions: Warhammer to keep it Warhammer-y, and EA wanting to MAKE MONEY. Is that unreasonable? EA is a publisher. They are there to fund projects that make money and can projects that don’t. Period. In the middle of this shit-storm is Mythic. In order to make Warhammer Age of Reckoning in the first place compromises must be made. The tabletop game doesn’t easily slide in to MMO territory. Classes are made, some adjustments are made to make it be somewhat balanced…and you have (loosely) an MMO.
Here’s the rub.
Warhammer is not for everyone. not everyone will get it. If you aren’t familiar with warhammer, and what it’s about, it looks like a dark, dirty fantasy setting. It is way WAY more than that, and people trying it out from WOW-land will not get it. Folks who pick up WAR on a whim…won’t get it. There is a very hard-core base of Warhammer fans who understand the IP and they won’t be happy with the compromises made to make this playable as an MMO, but given time, most will understand and get on board.
The other half of this equation is to pull in non-warhammer people. To do this, even more compromise was called for. EA wants to make money and Jeff, Paul and Eugene’s boss wanted to shift the game more towards WOW to make it more hip, catchy, mainstream to make it sell better. This just alienates the core of warhammer fans as the game shifts off-center away from the IP.
Jeff Hickman was at the heart of this trying to keep the flavor of Warhammer, and most importantly save jobs. If you don’t know Mr. Hickman, then you don’t know what he puts in to this job. He sacrifices more time, personal fundage, his health all to keep this boat afloat. He’s had to see family members cut from QA in order to save jobs for others. He’s gone to bat for his team more times than can be counted, and every single layoff costs him a piece of his soul. I *KNOW* this man. I know he has done everything in his power, and then some to keep EA Mythic alive, even when people above him didn’t care, or literally were sinking the boat.
Jeff Hickman has been one of my dearest friends since about 1990. I’ve worked for him. He’s one of the best leaders a guy could have. I know for certain that he will fight for his team. He was best man at my wedding.
Some dictates from on high cannot be defeated. Anyone in management knows that it is a tug of war between upper management/ corporate and the people working for you. As a manager you are the voice of the people. Jeff knows this. Issues have been brought up from the development floor to the top. In the end, Jeff is an employee too. Same with Paul. Same with Kate. Same as everyone else. It’s just that more lies on their shoulders and they get to work even longer hours.
I understand the position of EA and corporate decisions to make money. That’s the purpose of being in business in the first place. I do wish things balanced out better, that corporate entities had a softer touch and let the development studios have more control. It’s not that way. nobody can change that. If we don’t like the company we work for, we change companies. Period.
It kills me to see white-collar crybabies bitching about layoffs when people who work far harder, without donut days and comfy chairs get cut every day with no warning and no severance.
Bottom line is that working for Activision, Electronic Arts or any other big company is like eating a giant shit sandwich at times. It sucks. We eat it or we walk.
The passive-aggressive sniping from a wall of anonymity is for pussies. Bitches who have this sense of entitlement. The world owes them! Writing posts like that just stirs up a shitstorm and enrages the mob. The Mob who really knows fuck all about it means to work in a studio like this and what goes in to game development, especially on a licensed product.
Paul’s pet project for UO? Sorry cocksuckers don’t realize Mythic needs every single angle at retaining jobs right now. Little gigs like this are saving jobs. Mythic needs to prove itself again, keep content flowing on several channels else everyone is out of a job. EA will simply close up shop.
This whole tirade by EA Louse has me in stitches at the short-sightedness of it. people have no idea what the current management at EA Mythic has done since launch so safeguard people’s jobs. Just no fucking idea. Instead there is just an anonymous letter to stir up a lunch mob of people who know nothing about what’s going on. The truth…it doesn’t matter. “If it bleeds it leads” right? If you get enough buzz, and cry loud enough, people will believe you. People will believe what they want to believe.
In summary, in counter to the woefully biased, slanted and in some cases inaccurate rants of EA Louse I offer a counter from the other side. Admittedly biased as these three people, Jeff, Paul and Kate are my friends. From THIS side of the wall of anonymity I KNOW how hard they work at keeping EA Mythic alive and breathing, to keep seats filled.
Does that make me a corporate shill? I work in this industry. I understand the purpose of a business is to make money. I understand compromise. I understand that sometimes there is too much oversight, sometimes too little. People make fucked up decisions, and their vision doesn’t jive with others. Doesn’t make it ok, but it happens. Fix it and move on. Do the best you can and making the whole thing work for as many as possible. I can speak with absolute certainty that Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and Kate Flack have been and still are top shelf when it comes to putting together a quality product and keeping everyone employed, and that is the best anyone can hope for as an employee.
In the end, corporate management is akin to politics, congress, the senate. You cannot win every battle. All you can hope for is someone to do their very best for you. I know the sacrifices these folks have made and I know how hard they have fought for everyone.
This kind of backstabbery is abhorrent.
I am sorry EA Louse is losing their job. I’ve been laid off several times before. It’s never fun, but it is a part of the life in corporate America we chose.
Sincerely,
Jeff Preston
Art and Design