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> She's complaining about the flat structure because she cannot cocere coders to get interested and join her project. Maybe that's because they're all chasing t

by srdev 13y ago

> She's complaining about the flat structure because she cannot cocere coders to get interested and join her project. Maybe that's because they're all chasing the big bucks and prestige or maybe it's because they're paranoid, but maybe it's just because she's not a gamer, working on an unproven prototype that doesn't seem to have any gameplay, in a gaming company filled with people who care about actual games. She relates stories about how employees would come by to play with the prototypes, so there appeared to be some interest from a gaming perspective. She elaborates that there are disincentives to work on risky or less-visible projects because of the way that the bonuses work. Assuming what she says is accurate, that sounds like a legitimate problem. > Of course it couldn't be that she actually doesn't get valve and doesn't fit in, the problem NEEDS to be with the organisation, not the person who admitted to constantly complaining they couldn't hire someone cheap to do their grunt work. The problem was specifically that they found machinists who were qualified and willing, but were rejected at the eleventh hour for not being a culture fit. That is a problem. I know the conventional wisdom around here is that office culture is king, but there should be some amount of flexibility in order to staff necessary positions.

ownagefool 13y ago
>She relates stories about how employees would come by to play with the prototypes, so there appeared to be some interest from a gaming perspective. She elaborates that there are disincentives to work on risky or less-visible projects because of the way that the bonuses work. Assuming what she says is accurate, that sounds like a legitimate problem. She may well have a point, but that doesn't change the fact that she herself admitted her prototype was way to cumbersome to clamour interest and she hoped that newer, smaller versions would help this. It also doesn't change the gameplay sounded like an AR version of D&D, which makes it sound like a bunch of geeks playing with toy swords dressed in cloaks. Fun for some, but not exactly a direct parallel to PC gaming. >The problem was specifically that they found machinists who were qualified and willing, but were rejected at the eleventh hour for not being a culture fit. That is a problem. I know the conventional wisdom around here is that office culture is king, but there should be some amount of flexibility in order to staff necessary positions. Watching the video, it sounded a lot more like it was Engineers being rejected at the 11th hour while machinists were never on the agenda.
- talmand 13y ago
  I see this as two different complaints. I would agree that her project didn't sound too interesting but that doesn't necessarily discredit the complaints not directly relating to her project. Well, the fact her project didn't have big bonuses associated to it is indeed a formula for creating a problem since that's a financial incentive to not get involved. And it is rather difficult to make hardware if you don't hire people that make hardware.
  - ownagefool 13y ago
    I dunno how big the bonuses are, but I honestly hope that people joining valve aren't doing it for the money. Sure extra money is always good, but I imagine you try to join valve for the love. Still, I'm going to conceed the point. However, cheeky counter. Valve spends over 5 years making sequels to half life. They're not a quick company and yet they fired her because she was abrasive after only one year of employment while workong on an R&D project. In other words, she comes across as extremely impatient. End of the day though, she can prove everyone wrong by her project going huge after the kickstarter. However, if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't be bitterly dissing my ex-employer, I'd be estatic that they'd handed me what I thought was a gold mine. :p
    - talmand 13y ago
      I would imagine no one outside of Valve knows for sure but I've seen it mentioned in several places, including in one of her interviews, that the bonuses can be quite substantial. Personally, I see the length of time that Valve takes to make their games as a sign of problems. If she were fired for being impatient enough to actually wanting to do something NOW, then that further proves the point in my mind. I would hope that wasn't the issue because it seems silly to fire someone over the fact that they like to produce things in a timely manner. But, I suppose it's possible because it more or less fits the story we're hearing from her. I'm also guessing the reason some of their games take so long is because they have serious watershed moments where everybody wants a say in the game so they can get in on the bonuses. I don't see her as being bitter towards Valve, but towards the small group within Valve that she feels is behind her and her team being fired. Which is totally understandable. From what I read, granted her words, I'm assuming that Gabe handed over the project to her because she got a raw deal.

by srdev 13y ago

ownagefool 13y ago

>She relates stories about how employees would come by to play with the prototypes, so there appeared to be some interest from a gaming perspective. She elaborates that there are disincentives to work on risky or less-visible projects because of the way that the bonuses work. Assuming what she says is accurate, that sounds like a legitimate problem. She may well have a point, but that doesn't change the fact that she herself admitted her prototype was way to cumbersome to clamour interest and she hoped that newer, smaller versions would help this. It also doesn't change the gameplay sounded like an AR version of D&D, which makes it sound like a bunch of geeks playing with toy swords dressed in cloaks. Fun for some, but not exactly a direct parallel to PC gaming. >The problem was specifically that they found machinists who were qualified and willing, but were rejected at the eleventh hour for not being a culture fit. That is a problem. I know the conventional wisdom around here is that office culture is king, but there should be some amount of flexibility in order to staff necessary positions. Watching the video, it sounded a lot more like it was Engineers being rejected at the 11th hour while machinists were never on the agenda.

talmand 13y ago
I see this as two different complaints. I would agree that her project didn't sound too interesting but that doesn't necessarily discredit the complaints not directly relating to her project. Well, the fact her project didn't have big bonuses associated to it is indeed a formula for creating a problem since that's a financial incentive to not get involved. And it is rather difficult to make hardware if you don't hire people that make hardware.
- ownagefool 13y ago
  I dunno how big the bonuses are, but I honestly hope that people joining valve aren't doing it for the money. Sure extra money is always good, but I imagine you try to join valve for the love. Still, I'm going to conceed the point. However, cheeky counter. Valve spends over 5 years making sequels to half life. They're not a quick company and yet they fired her because she was abrasive after only one year of employment while workong on an R&D project. In other words, she comes across as extremely impatient. End of the day though, she can prove everyone wrong by her project going huge after the kickstarter. However, if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't be bitterly dissing my ex-employer, I'd be estatic that they'd handed me what I thought was a gold mine. :p
  - talmand 13y ago
    I would imagine no one outside of Valve knows for sure but I've seen it mentioned in several places, including in one of her interviews, that the bonuses can be quite substantial. Personally, I see the length of time that Valve takes to make their games as a sign of problems. If she were fired for being impatient enough to actually wanting to do something NOW, then that further proves the point in my mind. I would hope that wasn't the issue because it seems silly to fire someone over the fact that they like to produce things in a timely manner. But, I suppose it's possible because it more or less fits the story we're hearing from her. I'm also guessing the reason some of their games take so long is because they have serious watershed moments where everybody wants a say in the game so they can get in on the bonuses. I don't see her as being bitter towards Valve, but towards the small group within Valve that she feels is behind her and her team being fired. Which is totally understandable. From what I read, granted her words, I'm assuming that Gabe handed over the project to her because she got a raw deal.