Activision CEO wants to take all the fun out of making games

[Slowtrain]

I remember reading somewhere that it takes on average three years to make back the costs associated with hiring and training a new employee. So a rapid employee turnover for a company means they are simply shoveling money out the door.

[entrerix]

having constant pressure on your employees is usually a bad idea.

 

however, there needs to be sufficient protocol's in place to ensure productivity. because an employee that's left completely to their own devices will usually devise nothing.

 

thats why im posting on this board... i have a project to work on, it's hard, i don't have clear instructions, and id rather chat with people online than figure it out. and im a highly trained and skilled attorney. imagine what joe the janitor does in his closet when he's got no oversight.

 

besides I already got 5 hours of billable today, which more than justifies my salary... (see what i did there)

[Malcador]

You're right. Although even that has its limits, if you keep firing and replacing people for technical work you're shooting yourself in the foot.

 

that assumes that you would have to "keep firing" people... which is unlikely. fire a couple malcontents and the rest get the message: nobody is irreplaceable.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

You'd be surprised, not a general case, but sometimes the firing's backfire and you create more malcontents. It happened in my last job, company got mismanaged to death, team kept losing developers due to the manager's wannabe hardass-ness. Was funny to see them go from happy to describing to me how they'd cut the manager's throat, though, hehe (frankly a poisoned Jos Loius was the best option).

[Slowtrain]

having constant pressure on your employees is usually a bad idea.

 

however, there needs to be sufficient protocol's in place to ensure productivity. because an employee that's left completely to their own devices will usually devise nothing.

 

thats why im posting on this board... i have a project to work on, it's hard, i don't have clear instructions, and id rather chat with people online than figure it out. and im a highly trained and skilled attorney. imagine what joe the janitor does in his closet when he's got no oversight.

 

besides I already got 5 hours of billable today, which more than justifies my salary... (see what i did there)

 

 

 

All human beings employed at companies waste some time. No one is 100% productive.

 

 

And that most definitely includes management and all the people in charge. I've seen more wasted time in plush offices than by people pusing the brooms around in the hallwaays.

[Gromnir]

You're right. Although even that has its limits, if you keep firing and replacing people for technical work you're shooting yourself in the foot.

 

that assumes that you would have to "keep firing" people... which is unlikely. fire a couple malcontents and the rest get the message: nobody is irreplaceable.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

You'd be surprised, not a general case, but sometimes the firing's backfire and you create more malcontents. It happened in my last job, company got mismanaged to death, team kept losing developers due to the manager's wannabe hardass-ness. Was funny to see them go from happy to describing to me how they'd cut the manager's throat, though, hehe (frankly a poisoned Jos Loius was the best option).

 

this is a different economy. is not like it were even a year ago. unless you is in a highly specialized industry, the boss can be a complete harda$$ and many/most employees will willingly take because they is happy to have a job... and if they ain't happy to eat crap and grin, you can very easy find somebody who will.

 

*shrug*

 

the harda$$ model works well in this kinda economy, particularly if you does the good cop & bad cop routine. usually is mid-level manager or supervisor who gets the bad cop role, but Gromnir thinks the method works best when immediate supervisor gets to be the good guy... "Yeah, the boss is an 4-hole, but if we don't finish up this project on schedule, both you and I may be looking for work. Look, I know that you need a couple of days off next month, and I will make sure that you get them if you complete your work by Friday. We're all in this together, right?" only real drawback is that the employees feels more loyalty to their immediate supervisors and managers as 'posed to the Evil Boss/Company. have to fire or transfer the manager and you can be faced with problems.

 

in any event. Gromnir ain't feeling bad that some exec wants to treat game development like a business rather than a kindergarten class. sure, is tough to squeeze art out o' a bunch o' scared sheep, but this industry produces damned little art anyway. when you got duty to stockholders, you better be darn sure you is producing a product that will makes return on investment... leave the amusing art pretensions to the indies. Gromnir may prefer games made by those indie ne're do wells, but Gromnir is a purchaser rather than an investor.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Niten_Ryu]

nobody is irreplaceable.

 

I'd argue that very few actually are irreplaceable. There's only few key people who keep companies like Blizzard and Valve at the top. Lose 'em, for wharever reason (retirement, accident, death ect ect) and company might go down the tubes. They are the people who can tell if something don't work or is financially too risky. Jr designer might see the same issues but don't have any power to correct the situation if people at the top are clueless. Ability to learn from past mistakes and keep up with the times is very important. Most in this board dislike what Ken Levine and his crew did for Bioshock but it was very calculated piece of work. From the early design to final product. What worked in System Shock 2 and what didn't. They chose all the right answers and Bioshock was commercial success. Blizzard does that all the time with all their games, even years after they are released. Back when I was still playing and raiding in WoW, they always managed to suprise me how they chose the correct path, no matter how much the vocal minority disagreed (or in some case, agreed) with 'em. Now only if Timmy Cain and co would have managed to do the same

[Pidesco]

And then there's this style of doing business.

 

 

 

By the way, why isn't there a big RPG company actively working the niche RPG market like Paradox does for strategy?

[Calax]

And then there's this style of doing business.

 

 

 

By the way, why isn't there a big RPG company actively working the niche RPG market like Paradox does for strategy?

Depends on what you mean by Niche. I mean most RPG series have a very hard set of rules that all of them follow (within the series, like Final Fantasy having certain summons, Suikoden having a few strategy elements... that sort of thing).

[Kjarista]

Well, Kotick is a turbo-capitalist in it's purest form.

 

He only cares about making profit, not about the actual quality of the product. It must suck to work under his wings.

 

The richer you get, the more you're focusing on making money only. I just don't get it. I'd rather invest it in new innovative projects, tech etc.

 

Most of us here know how NOT fun it is to be unemployed. Making profit makes jobs. Every company needs to make profit, and every public company, or private company with investors, are obligated to make as much profit as possible. In a situation where a great deal of money is invested up front, with no ROI until the product is shipped, things have to be kept lean and focused. That's the reality of the situation.

 

We've laid of about 35% of our employees this year. Those of us remaining are picking up the responsibilities of those who left. I haven't had a day off this month. Nothing at work is fun right now, and I have to account for every dollar that is spent in my department. I have people I've never heard of before calling me every day asking if I can cut yet another 5% of my costs. I look at my people and wonder how I'm going to be able to meet my commitments if I have to let another one go.

 

Money is everything...profit is everything. Without either, there is no product. The idea is to make the best product possible within the budget. When times are good, sometimes the budget can be expanded a bit. When times are bad. you have to justify every expense, and yes, the end result may be adversely affected.

 

It's business, not art class. The people who put up money expect maximum return. Those investors interested in art and innovation, at the expense of return, are few and far between.

[Mamoulian War]

Well, Kotick is a turbo-capitalist in it's purest form.

 

He only cares about making profit, not about the actual quality of the product. It must suck to work under his wings.

 

The richer you get, the more you're focusing on making money only. I just don't get it. I'd rather invest it in new innovative projects, tech etc.

 

Most of us here know how NOT fun it is to be unemployed. Making profit makes jobs. Every company needs to make profit, and every public company, or private company with investors, are obligated to make as much profit as possible. In a situation where a great deal of money is invested up front, with no ROI until the product is shipped, things have to be kept lean and focused. That's the reality of the situation.

 

We've laid of about 35% of our employees this year. Those of us remaining are picking up the responsibilities of those who left. I haven't had a day off this month. Nothing at work is fun right now, and I have to account for every dollar that is spent in my department. I have people I've never heard of before calling me every day asking if I can cut yet another 5% of my costs. I look at my people and wonder how I'm going to be able to meet my commitments if I have to let another one go.

 

Money is everything...profit is everything. Without either, there is no product. The idea is to make the best product possible within the budget. When times are good, sometimes the budget can be expanded a bit. When times are bad. you have to justify every expense, and yes, the end result may be adversely affected.

 

It's business, not art class. The people who put up money expect maximum return. Those investors interested in art and innovation, at the expense of return, are few and far between.

 

I do not know how in the US, but in EU (to be more particular central europe) is IT the only industry where you have no problem to get employed even now (especialy the jobs where you can offer your IP - programmers, graphics, web-designers)... i got few friends who got sacked, and they found new job in IT within a week, max month... few of them with even better pay, and now they are happy that they got kicked out of the last job...

Edited September 18, 2009 by Mamoulian War

[Walsingham]

There is a big problem with the attitude expressed. The higher management swan in, pick something up, or point at something and ask "what does this do, and how does it make money?" receiving no answer immediately, they bin it or sell it off. After a while things go mysteriously suboptimal or catastrophically explode.

 

This is for three main reasons:

 

1. Sometimes multiple distinct small items combine to deliver a cumulative effect which is necessary.

 

For example, you require your employees to be motivated. Fact. How you do it is of course up to you, but it has to happen. If you can achieve it by a combination of salary, free crisps, backrubs and so on then fine. But if you pick away at that, then for ****'s sake be certain you can replace the source. Also, be alert to how economical some sources are. An ounce of kindness can be worth a pound of gold, and a lot cheaper. As can an ounce of pure fear.

 

2. Sometimes the effect produced by a process or object is second or third order.

 

For example, why give employee's time off work to go to the gym if they work in an office? Surely time at work is vital? In fact their fitness levels impacts overall health, overall health impacts sick days, sick days hit their time at work in a more significant way.

 

3. Sometimes you can be miserable for its own sake.

 

All businesses have a culture. If you intend to sacrifice fun for costs it becomes very easy for simpletons to conflate the former with the latter. A culture of penitent self-sacrifice emerges where even obviously useful things are cut to demonstrate loyalty to the new order.

 

 

~~~

 

I'm basing this on my observatins running a business, and been trained up in various ways to study psychology and management. I'm confident in my observations, but curious to see what everyone else thinks.

[alanschu]

And then there's this style of doing business.

 

 

 

By the way, why isn't there a big RPG company actively working the niche RPG market like Paradox does for strategy?

 

 

At the same time, Paradox suffers from the QA issues of smaller developers. Hearts of Iron III is the latest in their series of games where release is marred by bugs and performance issues.

[Malcador]

I do not know how in the US, but in EU (to be more particular central europe) is IT the only industry where you have no problem to get employed even now (especialy the jobs where you can offer your IP - programmers, graphics, web-designers)... i got few friends who got sacked, and they found new job in IT within a week, max month... few of them with even better pay, and now they are happy that they got kicked out of the last job...

 

Hm..time to emigrate. Odd how binary some see this situation.

[alanschu]

Software development positions are rare unless you have a lot of experience in my neck of the woods.

[Slowtrain]

Management and stretgeic planning is generally far more incompetent than the day to day hands on employee.

 

 

When a business fails or experiences problems its not because of the guy sweeping the bathroom floor. It's because somebody in a big office did something stupid. Probably many stupid things.

 

Invariably though, the axes always fall on the wrong necks.

[entrerix]

thats usually what happens when the person in the big office swinging the axe is prone to making mistakes

 

Edited September 18, 2009 by entrerix

[Slowtrain]

thats usually what happens when the person in the big office swinging the axe is prone to making mistakes

 

 

 

 

lol.

 

Either that. Or more often, they made the mistakes which resulted in the need to swing the axe at somebody. Which is always the best position for the one that made the mistakes to be in.

 

Mistake maker and axe swinger. Rarely does the axe one swings land on one's own neck. Even if it should.