Cheyenne Mountain Death Watch

[Venkman]

Nobody is more important in a company than anyone else. Leaders get the money and set the overall visions. Managers manage up to the leaders and down to the workers. Workers actually do the work assigned or envisioned, but they get the resources as parsed by the managers who got the resources themselves from the leaders.

ANY of these not being done right screws everyone. Workers not getting paid is just one problem. They're not getting paid not because they did bad work. They're not getting paid because the managers aren't getting the resources to do so.

And I'm being purposely generic here because in no way is SGW nor Cheyenne unique in this regard. Every company can go through this. Many companies have in the past skipped payment cycles. Many companies force unpaid vacation time. They all end up closing or otherwise being split.

As it pertains specifically to SGW though, I'm almost positive the current state has less to do with game/developer quality and far more to do with them biting off more than they rightfully should. That is not an important IP. It should not command a $40mil development budget. And both an overhyped IP and over budgeted title set expectations this team seems incapable of delivering against.

So it's not about who's right, wrong, good or bad. It's about having set the wrong expectation and then suffering the reality of it. THAT at least has specific blame that can be applied. And that blame goes to the leadership.

[SnakeCharmer]

But doing your job and doing it right should be a given.  You (speaking generally, not you in particular) shouldn't have to be told to 'not do shit work'.

How about management's responsibility to actually pay people for the work they do?

In other words, don't be a douche about people being given a hand when their employer is shitting all over them.

/clap
/applause

That's all they deserve.

My giveashit meter is barely being nudged on this.

[HaemishM]

I sincerely hope you never have to feel what it's like to be stuck in a job where your paycheck bounces on a regular basis because your boss is shitty with money. (And a criminal/incompetent, but that's another story). Your milk of human kindness is full of pus.

[schild]

Small update: Things are grim.

[kildorn]

Have they taken to eating other staffers to survive?

[Draegan]

How long can you survive by chewing on your mousepad?

[Matt]

I can only guess that you're a lower level worker bee that wants to blame everyone else for your failures.  So to that I say again:  Do your job.  Do it right.  Things generally have a way of working out themselves.

I can only guess that you're living in some sort of dreamworld where the "worker bees" decide on the strategy for the company.

I've been a CEO of small companies for 12 years. I can tell you right now that things do not "generally have a way of working themselves out" unless you count epic failure as things being "worked out." Of course, in that case you may as well just say, "Things happen" which, while true, is also so devoid of content as to be meaningless. When the airplanes crashed into the WTC, things "worked themselves out" but that's really not any comfort at all to the 3000 people who died as the towers fell down.

When things really go wrong, there's one place to point a finger at if you're obsessed with the blame game: Management. It's our job to ensure the project gets done and the buck stops here. If the worker bee isn't doing his job, guess whose fault that is? Management's. Must have mishired. Must have failed to lead the employee and motivate him properly. Sure, if a worker bee is just sitting around all day looking at porn that's his fault, but as far as the company is concerned it is management's fault for allowing that to happen. With decent project management and time tracking, an employee doing nothing for even a single day shows up like a red flag. It's then management's fault for not doing something about it.

The games industry, once you sign on with a company, and get involved with the development is a 3 to 5 year meal ticket for anyone hired on to that project. If you truly do fuck up enough to be fired, they're (the company, management, whatever) get backed into the corner because they'll have to go through the interview process and then train the person up to their tools (especially if it's custom in house created tools).  So, people know this.  They undoubtedly take advantage of it because they KNOW if they get fired, it's going to cause a delay to the whole project.  Management knows this.  It's a cyclical fucked up situation that serves no one and wastes millions of dollars.

You're kidding, right? I run small companies (Sparkplay is currently only 22 people, for instance). I've fired three people in the last 6-9 months. One of them "fucked up." The other two (one of whom was one of my best friends) were mishires (meaning the employee's skillset wasn't as good a fit for the position as it could have been), which is management's fault (in fact, my fault in both of those cases). And again, good project planning takes into account the fact that people will leave, need to be fired/replaced, etc.

I want to emphasize a point again: It is management's responsibility to bring the right assets to the table in order to complete the project and to manage those assets (human and otherwise) in such a way as to reduce risk and maximize the chances of success. When a project fails, it is entirely fair to point the finger at management since in 99% of cases it is management's fault. I can't think of a single project I've ever heard of where a "worker bee" caused the project to fail in any meaningful way.

--matt

[Joe]

Words

You're an asshole.

[Soln]

CME does look a little mgmt top heavy. Sign of VC-blight?

[Iniquity]

Snake, do yourself a really, really big favor.  You don't have to actually *tell* me you did it... you can just do it, not say anything, and it'll be our little secret.

Re-read your post.  Then re-read Matt's reply.  Then read your post again, for a third time.  Then read Matt's reply, for a third time.

Repeat this process until you've internalized the stark difference between actually knowing something, and talking out of your ass and poorly attempting to mask it with internet bravado.

[SnakeCharmer]

lots of words, admissal of failures as a manager and CEO)
--matt

So.  Who's the dumbass that keeps/kept you in a job?  Or funded?

Words

You're an asshole.

Weak.  See Haem for better material.

And tell me something I don't know.

stuff

Hi, this is the internet.  Have we met?  We're all experts out here on the web!

[Iniquity]

...Or you could do that.

[sidereal]

admissal

awesome

[Matt]

So.  Who's the dumbass that keeps/kept you in a job?  Or funded?

At Iron Realms, our own success kept me in a job and kept us funded. 10 consecutive years of double-digit growth tends to work out pretty well. Iron Realms then funded Sparkplay Media until we had a good enough prototype to go out and get significant external investment. It remains to be seen whether Sparkplay will be successful. I certainly believe it will be, but the proof is in the pudding and we haven't released anything yet.

I'd love to find out more about how you've handled personnel management issues and financial forecasting at your games company. I'm sure I can learn a lot from you.

--matt

[JWIV]

...Or you could do that.

Uhrrr.  What the fuck?

[IainC]

...Or you could do that.

Uhrrr.  What the fuck?

Snakecharmer is a cock, gets called on it and then claims victory for reasons only he can understand.

Iniquity turns out to be an alt account of someone who was previously banned.

[JWIV]

...Or you could do that.

Uhrrr.  What the fuck?

Snakecharmer is a cock, gets called on it and then claims victory for reasons only he can understand.

Iniquity turns out to be an alt account of someone who was previously banned.

Ah, okay.   NOTHING TO SEE HERE THEN. 

[schild]

Bump.

[LC]

Did something new happen? I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for them to die. Then I can go on vent and rub it in the face of a Stargate fanboy I know from England.

[schild]

You're a 10 year old. And your friend has bad taste.

[schild]

Cheyenne Mountain lives to fight another day!

[Venkman]

Details or you're just postcount++ ing   

[schild]

I don't do "details."

[sidereal]

[schild]

Hah. Touche.

[UnSub]

If the website is correct (and it is on the internet, SO MUST BE TRUE!) it's been over a month since people have been paid at CME. Death must be incoming soon.

[Mrbloodworth]

Problem solved!

Check out Stargate World's new on-line clothing and accessory store!
We have opened up the official Stargate Worlds store! In the store, you will find everything from clothing and sweatshirts to hats and stickers. The products contain both the Stargate World's official logo, as well as new custom designs made by us for you!

Each design profiles a character or alliance groups - pick which one best suites you! Be warned, we think the SGW developers have taken all the Asgard shirts.

The SGW site is located here and will be updated as needed. We here at Stargate Worlds are doing our best to provide you all cool accessories in time for the holiday seasons. Check out the site and let us know your feedback, as well as any design or item requests!

[Yoru]

I suppose that's a step up from golf clubs.

[Triforcer]

I suppose that's a step up from golf clubs.

I wonder how many people here will even come close to getting that.  Nicely done 

[Bokonon]

I suppose that's a step up from golf clubs.

I wonder how many people here will even come close to getting that.  Nicely done 

Oh, cmon. Who here wouldn't get that? :)

EDIT: But yes, it was nicely done.

[Triforcer]

I suppose that's a step up from golf clubs.

I wonder how many people here will even come close to getting that.  Nicely done 

Oh, cmon. Who here wouldn't get that? :)

EDIT: But yes, it was nicely done.

Its been quite awhile, and the original story never got the traction the Dawn fiasco did.  Still, this reminded me to read that article again- still good for a lol. 

[Venkman]

Nope, don't get it and couldn't find it. Article link Tri?

[LC]

Nope, don't get it and couldn't find it. Article link Tri?

http://gbob.onlinegamers.org/dragon.html

[UnSub]

Semi-necro: CME getting sued for not paying bills.

[Falwell]

Semi-necro: CME getting sued for not paying bills.

FOOL! They have MUCH better things to spend their money on rather than paying employees and debts...



Because as we all know, decorated vehicles are a tried and true road to success..