nidalad Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 (edited) After doing some research and reading I really feel like we should be easier on the developers and focus more on criticizing EA's management and senior management. Do some research of your own and you'll probably be sympathetic towards most of the developers. EA treats their employees horribly and everyone knows **** trickles down from the top. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9051#.UPDKSGfEo4s http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18621#.UPDKPmfEo4s http://kotaku.com/5946457/read-eas-aggressive-warning-letter-to-a-former-employee Edited January 12, 2013 by nidalad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darka Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Its one in the same,Regardless of who did what, there are errors.Both have been bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bahdasz Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I'll reserve my sympathy for someone that deserves it, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicalPremise Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 After doing some research and reading I really feel like we should be easier on the developers and focus more on criticizing EA's management and senior management. Do some research of your own and you'll probably be sympathetic towards most of the developers. EA treats their employees horribly and everyone knows **** trickles down from the top. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9051#.UPDKSGfEo4s http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18621#.UPDKPmfEo4s http://kotaku.com/5946457/read-eas-aggressive-warning-letter-to-a-former-employee Two problems with that approach. The first problem is that EA is a business entity and , like most business entities, tends to be hardnosed in it's approach to employees who don't perform up to spec. The Kotaku link is about some clueless moron who left and , despite his NDA and Non-Compete, attempted to poach away EA employees. That's not mistreatment. My company wouldn't have bothered with the letter but simply dropped about 50 lawyers on the dude and sued him out of existence. A lot of what EA_Spouse wrote about was back in 2004, and even by her own admission things have changed and moved on since then, but what struck me about it then was that, wow, these people were some whiny guys. There were times working for the railroad I and my teams had to do 90 hour work weeks. They were brutal and the company did not give us a comforting back rub or pat on the head, and if we didn't hit the goals there would be someone fired. That's because sometimes crunch mode is simply required. It sucks, yeah, but there it is. Given the competitive nature of the gaming industry and the time restraints put on games by seasonal events and other releases, anyone going into the games industry by now should know it's not all laid back. My other, bigger issue with "holding EA responsible" is that I do hold them responsible, but I also hold Bioware responsible. At some point, you have to be able to make a stand for what your product is supposed to stand for, and if your superiors encourage you to compromise, walk away. I am not merely running my mouth, I've had to do this on two jobs, once where we were going to roll out a product that was substandard and once where we were actively putting out something that didn't fulfill customer expectations. I stood up to senior management and when told to put up or shut up, I found other work. It wasn't easy or happy and I probably walked away from a bigger pile of money ... but at the end of the day when I ran into my former clients, I could look them in the face. Bioware used to be a studio that put out top quality games. There are hints in DA2, ME3, and SWTOR that they were rushed, that features were not given enough time to mature or be finished, that short-sighed planning derailed elegant storylines or awesome features. Sometimes you have to cut, sometimes things have to be sidelined. But when the resulting product causes as much aggravation as their recent games have, someone at Bioware needs to take a stand. It's clear the Doctors would not, as they gracefully made stage left, and it's clear the current senior developers at BW have no intent of doing so as well. So while certainly EA comes in for a lot of shellacking, at the end of the day I expect BW to stand up better. Perhaps that is exactly why so many have left, and to anyone formerly of BW who left because you wouldn't compromise your vision -- thank you, and you have my appreciation and respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ansalem Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 no sympathy here...too many problems with this game that still arent fixed. And they are tight lipped about everything. Compare it to another game, Star Citizen, that is in alpha testing. Its a kickstarter game with limited resources and staff yet they give an extraordinary amount of information to their followers. They not only give a weekly update but this entire week they gave an update every single day. And I'm not talking small updates I'm talking interviews with the creator, live feeds with Q and A on wingman's hangar, and information about smuggling, ship alterations interior, ship skins, etc. They are also very frank and will answer any question in their live feed...and I mean any question. Star Citizen treats its followers like they are the publisher or a major investor...meanwhile bioware has subs, f2p, preferred players spending money in the cartel market and still cant give straight answers or any detailed information...bioware deserves absolutely zero sympathy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ignicity Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I used to play on the Oceanic servers until they became a barren wasteland, tumble-weeds included. Still have 4 50's over there wasting away. No sympathy from me either. **** 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinawyn Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Having worked for EA in the past I dont have anything nice to say. Games were constantly going out the door with problems. When they called me asking me to work for them again on a 3rd or 4th contract I just told them no. Contracts with staff were ended early so they didnt have to pay the pay increase, then they would re hire them again on the lower pay. I have no respect for the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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