THE BORE
General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Howard Alan Treesong on August 01, 2008, 07:23:32 PM
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http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19660
Choice quotes:
"I hire less talented believers over talented heretics every time. Three-star ability with five-star drive is how you want it. The other way around leads you to hell."
"Session coders and artists can be put around that core team," he said, "but protect the band, because they are the ones who will make that game."
"When making games, they cost billions, take years, and use hundreds of people," Barnett observed. "[We] haven’t got time for people who have no morale or don’t think we’re going to succeed, and mess around in palace intrigue. Heretics must be burned publicly. It doesn’t matter how talented they are. If they’re a heretic, they go, because cancer spreads."
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is there no one left in the games industry who realizes when to keep their mouth shut
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i like his repeated usage of the word heretic
put down the monster manual, gandalf
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Are you fucking kidding me? A good friend of mine works there. :'(
Sounds like he could use a better job - send him my card
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This guy sounds like a dick. Luckily his game will suck.
One of his favorite stupid analogies is to say that WoW is the Beatles, while Warhammer is Led Zeppelin.
I hate Led Zeppelin!
He's also the guy who said that WoW was McDonalds while Warhammer was a fine steak dinner. ::)
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What game cost anywhere near $1 billion? Even Shenmue wasn't that high.
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There's a reason why talented folk and old Dark Age of Camelot people have been leaving the company the last few years. I suppose this is why, putting up with a cock like that as the head of your creative team would be insanity-inducing. I wonder if the mean time from hire to depart for their content creation team is like under a year at this point.
It's sort of a shame that Jacobs had such a hard-on for his ROMAN EMPIRE IN SPPAAACCEEE game. They spent years on and then had to shitbin, sell the company to EA, and then they turn around and make Dark Age of Warcraft (which looks great, but hey it's going to have issues too).
Though to be fair, I'd hire a three-star talent with five-star work ethic too, especially if they had the chops to get better. The other stuff, yeah, someone in HR at EA or Mythic should go beat the everliving shit out of him for saying that.
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What game cost anywhere near $1 billion? Even Shenmue wasn't that high.
Home
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What game cost anywhere near $1 billion? Even Shenmue wasn't that high.
Home
No, he asked what game
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Somehow I think most businesses operate on these principles. Though he hates The Beatles which isn't a bad thing.
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What game cost anywhere near $1 billion? Even Shenmue wasn't that high.
Home
No, he asked what game
too easy
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Are you fucking kidding me? A good friend of mine works there. :'(
Guess your friend sucks, 3-star talent at best.
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Sounds like an American company.
'Don't hire one of the commoners to manage the commoners. They will be compassionate.'
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what is wrong with this
i agree. i will take a moderately smart person with drive and initiative over a genius with neither every single frickin' time. i want results, not fancy. hell, in my line of work, smarties are a dime-a-dozen, but finding a solid performer with real initiative is fuckin' rare.
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His language is colorful, but I also see nothing wrong with those select quotes.
Er, as long as the public burning is not literal.
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his "build your band" part in particular is really off. Yeah, there is always going to be a core group of people who organically come together in a team environment to form a nucleus for the project and the development will revolve somewhat around them. However, that core group isn't necessarily going to consist of the people your project absolutely needs to have in order to succeed-most likely, it's just a set of people who are (MAYBE) somewhat talented and (always) somewhat opinionated.
There in lies the problem with that band mentality-to carry the metaphor, it may very well be the guys in the studio that make the album so great, not the band themselves.
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Paul Barnett (born January 15, 1970) is an English game designer most often associated with Games Workshop's Warhammer universe. He is currently the Creative Director for EA Mythic, overseeing the design of the MMORPG Warhammer Online. As lead designer, he has given interviews at events such as E3 and to the gaming industry press such as Gamespy [1].
Previously, Barnett worked on several pioneering European MUDs including Legends of Terris and its successor Legends of Cosrin before creating the fantasy realm of the Kingdom of Heroes.
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what is wrong with this
i agree. i will take a moderately smart person with drive and initiative over a genius with neither every single frickin' time. i want results, not fancy. hell, in my line of work, smarties are a dime-a-dozen, but finding a solid performer with real initiative is fuckin' rare.
WHOOO I HAVE A CHANCE
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Too bad they're not looking for a moderately smart person with no initiative and drive, or I'd send in my resume.
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i have no problem with the three star thing, he's correct in that
it's the "palace intrigue" and "heretics must be burned publicly" that makes him look like a giant infected dickhole
i mean, come the fuck on, dude, save the robinhoodspeak for the ren faire (you'll note that i used the "e" for extra classy)
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i have no problem with the three star thing, he's correct in that
even though he's correct, he could have phrased it a hell of a lot better. like, uh, by not ascribing star ratings to his employees.
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well, yeah, he's obviously lacking tact and couth
perhaps he has the asperger's
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His points seem OK, but I notice he doesn't mention anything along the lines of "don't work with someone who is a total ass".
Which doesn't surprise me because he sounds like a total ass.