Star Trek Online: Here We Go Again!

[Threash]

Given the stresses of his job, I can see it as legit.

When I was on AC2 deathmarch, my wife would frequently call me in tears at midnight, asking if i was going to come home that night. One of the writers on Mass had a child he only saw as he was leaving for work for months at a stretch. The kid was just learning to talk, and he came to think that "daddy" meant "goodbye."

That's incredibly depressing, no offense but you guys make videogames you are not curing cancer.

[LK]

That's a whole can of worms slowly being opened right there. I can hear the sound of ripping metal and the dark voices seeping out from within.

[Shatter]

TO spend that much time and effort and still make your game shit, gg.  Seriously though, you cant tell me that somehow, some way that the fact the game isnt doing well doenst have any impact on his leaving in some way.

[Count Nerfedalot]

I read it as burnt out.

He made his deliverables (primary one being ship by arbitrary set date), got his bonus, and all that's left to look forward to is dealing with the mess of spaghetti code, short term solutions, half-assed implementations, non-existent or inaccurate documentation, missing error-handling, inadequate support tools, and an ever-increasing bug list in a live production environment with many (presumably) thousands of users who will be affected and likely outraged by every little change not to mention the nerdrage which occurs during every scheduled downtime even if by some miracle they manage to avoid missing something and having the entire house of cards collapse around them.  Why the HELL would anyone with a choice and a clue stay for that???

There are only three likely reasons he might have stayed as long after release as he did.  

oops. not sure what key I hit that caused it to submit, but oh well:

   1) contractual obligation
   2) some hope of being able to go back and correct bad choices forced on him prior to release, said hope now being plainly in vain
   3) a desire to leave on his own terms and during a quiet time with no particular crisis or outrage that might be associated with his departure.  ie he want's to work in the industry again at some point in the future.

[Ratman_tf]

Given the stresses of his job, I can see it as legit.

When I was on AC2 deathmarch, my wife would frequently call me in tears at midnight, asking if i was going to come home that night. One of the writers on Mass had a child he only saw as he was leaving for work for months at a stretch. The kid was just learning to talk, and he came to think that "daddy" meant "goodbye."

That's incredibly depressing, no offense but you guys make videogames you are not curing cancer.

The industry has a fucked up mentality regarding overtime. Once you start doing it on one project, it becomes easier to swallow on the next one. Often you get a martyr mentality where people swap misery stories like they were badges of honor.

[UnSub]

Given the stresses of his job, I can see it as legit.

When I was on AC2 deathmarch, my wife would frequently call me in tears at midnight, asking if i was going to come home that night. One of the writers on Mass had a child he only saw as he was leaving for work for months at a stretch. The kid was just learning to talk, and he came to think that "daddy" meant "goodbye."

That's incredibly depressing, no offense but you guys make videogames you are not curing cancer.

You work the hours that suit the culture of the job. I don't cure cancer but the job requires I work as many hours as required to get things done (which isn't ideal, but you know, pay cheque and a mortgage).

I did read it as burnt out - a MMO in two years and Cryptic appears to crunch time pretty much their entire development cycle - but there are alternative ideas:

1) This is the first indication of Cryptic's financial and / or management ituation. Found out the other day that the original head of Cryptic has been gone for a while (Michael Lewis) and ex-SOE John Needham is in charge. Atari was expecting Cryptic to pump out MMOs at a rate of knots, but this hasn't turned into a financial success (although Cryptic has helped return Atari to the level of almost being profitable - in about 9 months since ChampO launched, they made about $13m in online subs and revenues iirc and however much in box sales). This may not be helping the stress levels inside of Cryptic.

2) Zinc prefers the pre-launch team to being in the live team, as some developers do. That he's leaving Cryptic entirely may mean they don't have a place for him elsewhere or he actually wants a break that he can't have if he remains employed there.

3) As indicated by others, he's been pushed. However, Cryptic historically has let those who were pushed to just disappear - they don't get to say good bye (for instance, Zeb Cook was gone from CoV for several weeks before the player base were informed).

All speculation, of course.

[Margalis]

Often you get a martyr mentality where people swap misery stories like they were badges of honor.

This exactly.

[apocrypha]

People working in the games industry clearly need to start getting organised and forming a union.

It's an extreme version of what happens in any industry which people mostly go into out of sheer passion for their job. Saying "you're not curing cancer" is actually a very interesting comparison because scientists often face the same pressures (although to a lesser degree from what I hear of the games industry). Because most scientists are highly motivated by love for their field there is often high pressure to work long hours, shitty SHITTY career development for many and very poor union organisation.

People who love their jobs are much easier to exploit than those that hate them.

[Shatter]

Automotive engineering is the same.  You get these ahole losers that work 10 hours a day for 8 hours pay and that starts to become standard.  Personally I couldnt give a shit and Ive had it out with my boss over hours.  In a nutshell Ill work OT for free when the need arrises but Im not doing it daily for shits and giggles or because boss-cock-sucking-Bob does.  Funny part is that I do a lot more work in the 8 hours I do work compared to these 10 hour guys who spend half their day net surfing anf shooting the shit with everyone in the department.

[Tannhauser]

This.  Automotive sucks, glad I got out.

[Stormwaltz]

They posted the first screenshot of a customizable Ready Room. It's the one in the upper left corner (I don't think I can direct-link) dated July 2.

http://startrekonline.com/gallery?op0=&filter0=1

[Malakili]

They posted the first screenshot of a customizable Ready Room. It's the one in the upper left corner (I don't think I can direct-link) dated July 2.

http://startrekonline.com/gallery?op0=&filter0=1

Thats the kind of feature that would have piqued my interest if it were there at release, but this ship has sailed from my point of view.

[LK]

Star Trek Seasons.

Really.

[Mrbloodworth]

They posted the first screenshot of a customizable Ready Room. It's the one in the upper left corner (I don't think I can direct-link) dated July 2.

http://startrekonline.com/gallery?op0=&filter0=1

The bridges and rooms are huge!

[Count Nerfedalot]

People who love their jobs are much easier to exploit than those that hate them.

NASA is another fine example, at least it was last century.  Pay was way low for the skills required, since, you know, you were working on ROCKETS in SPACE!  Nowadays I think a combination of an entrenched bureaucracy and the fact that everyone there has been there for 20-40 years has probably combined to make most people there overpaid.

[Ashamanchill]

Is there a thread somewhere where all the developers tell their horror stories. I would love to take a gander at it. I love 'behind the curtain' things.

[UnsGub]

People working in the games industry clearly need to start getting organised and forming a union.

I left after seven years to 40 hours a week, 4 weeks of vacation, and double the pay.

The unexpected result in this environment gets twice as much done then anything thing I experienced in the game industry.

[UnSub]

Is there a thread somewhere where all the developers tell their horror stories. I would love to take a gander at it. I love 'behind the curtain' things.

I think the EASpouse event from a few years ago would be a place to start.

I also remember the story of the Blizzard programmer who was busy coding Starcraft in the maternity hospital after his child was just born.

[Brolan]

People working in the games industry clearly need to start getting organised and forming a union.

I left after seven years to 40 hours a week, 4 weeks of vacation, and double the pay.

The unexpected result in this environment gets twice as much done then anything thing I experienced in the game industry.

I've worked in the IT industry over 25 years; in my experience the shops that require constant overtime are those with poor or nonexistent project management skills.  It's best to bail out of these shops ASAP.  They rarely ever turn around.

[Modern Angel]

Except when those shops are the entire industry and there's a generation of Hollywood waiter analogs waiting to work 80 hour weeks because video games. It's never, ever going to change.

[raydeen]

Is there a thread somewhere where all the developers tell their horror stories. I would love to take a gander at it. I love 'behind the curtain' things.

We could have a podcast. F13: Behind the Pixels.

[Minvaren]

STO price cut permanently to $19.99 to celebrate the "Season Two" update.

Higher level cap, more items, more Klingon stuff...  And bargain bin status all in one.

[Malakili]

STO price cut permanently to $19.99 to celebrate the "Season Two" update.

Higher level cap, more items, more Klingon stuff...  And bargain bin status all in one.

I honestly feel bad for the trekkies that were waiting their whole life for this game.

[Tannhauser]

Hmm looks like they are putting in the Klingon PVE episodes.  Might have to re-sub for that.

[Shatter]

Hmm looks like they are putting in the Klingon PVE episodes.  Might have to re-sub for that.

No...no you dont

[Rishathra]

They only added a few episodes.  It's not like they are even remotely on par with Fed episodes.  Now they have almost no content, as opposed to no content.

[ghost]

I honestly feel bad for the trekkies.

This is probably the more appropriate way of putting it.

[Sir T]

I honestly feel bad for the trekkies that were waiting their whole life for this game.

I'm confused. How can someone with no life have a whole life?

[ghost]

No life + homemade Star Trek Uniform = débutante.

[NiX]

Hmm looks like they are putting in the Klingon PVE episodes.  Might have to re-sub for that.

You know those situations where someone provokes an animal and then they regret it when it attacks?

This is like one of those situations.

[Stormwaltz]

WISE FWOM YOUR GWAVE.

The player-generated content tools are now in beta.

FAQ: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=185711

Content Approval Process: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=185900

Interestingly, though what the players make will not be considered canon, they’re still expected to behave as if it were. Emphases mine:

FLAGGING PLAYER MADE CONTENT

There will be a Foundry Terms of Use Doc that outlines rules that must be adhered to when making content. This will include CBS guidelines for what can and can't be used, as well as specific things that are deemed not-allowable and cause for Flagging.

While playing a Foundry made mission a player feels that the mission has violated the specific rules laid out, they can Flag the content. They will be asked to select the specific violation they are reporting and we will log their account info along with their complaint.

We will take flagging content very seriously as reporting missions in this manner can lead to a mission being pulled from the game until the author addresses the complaint.

This Flagging will not be used for things such as "I didn't like this mission" or "This sucks" or "This doesn't feel Star Trek to me"... but instead for things that violate IP license rules (example: using a character or likeness that is on the not allowed list), violating standard terms of service rules (example: advertising other products or services in your mission text), or attempting to circumvent foul language filters.

[01101010]

Not sure why, but I honestly forgot this game existed even though I played the beta.

[UnSub]

I suspect CBS was very definite on what would and wouldn't be allowed in player generated content. Despite the popularity of missions where Wesley Crusher was murdered over and over and over again.

[Ashamanchill]

Lol.

[Sir T]

I suspect CBS was very definite on what would and wouldn't be allowed in player generated content. Despite the popularity of missions where Wesley Crusher was murdered over and over and over again.

I'd sub for that!