Sonya Sanya Weathers posted her own recollection over on Eating Bees just a few moments ago.
Quote:
Anyway. My contribution to this stroll down memory lane: Like everyone else, I?d been working solidly for six months without coming up for air on my own tasks, so I absolutely did not know any of the stuff that Firor talked about in terms of numbers and load expectations. I also did not know anything about business projections or prior MMO sales performance. All I knew was what the beta testers were saying and how many people on the big news sites were excited about the game. So I figured we?d hit 100K customers easy, right out of the gate, even though that was by no means a guarantee for AAA MMOs in 2001. I also assumed that everyone shared my confidence.
When we actually hit that number, I was too green, too inexperienced, and too ignorant to realize what we?d achieved. For me it was just? yeah? So? When?s the first patch? I walked in on one celebration (involving shots of either scotch or whiskey in dixie cups, I don?t remember because I?m basically a slushie drinker) and just stared at everyone, like, ?sure, I?ll have a shot, but why are you all so happy? And what about this quest problem??
I think it was Mark Jacobs at the celebration lunch a few days later who asked me why I wasn?t bouncing off the walls, and I said something like, ?Of course we?re a hit. It?s been obvious all along.? He just stared at me, speechless, for the first and last time in his life.
Anyway. My contribution to this stroll down memory lane: Like everyone else, I?d been working solidly for six months without coming up for air on my own tasks, so I absolutely did not know any of the stuff that Firor talked about in terms of numbers and load expectations. I also did not know anything about business projections or prior MMO sales performance. All I knew was what the beta testers were saying and how many people on the big news sites were excited about the game. So I figured we?d hit 100K customers easy, right out of the gate, even though that was by no means a guarantee for AAA MMOs in 2001. I also assumed that everyone shared my confidence.
When we actually hit that number, I was too green, too inexperienced, and too ignorant to realize what we?d achieved. For me it was just? yeah? So? When?s the first patch? I walked in on one celebration (involving shots of either scotch or whiskey in dixie cups, I don?t remember because I?m basically a slushie drinker) and just stared at everyone, like, ?sure, I?ll have a shot, but why are you all so happy? And what about this quest problem??
I think it was Mark Jacobs at the celebration lunch a few days later who asked me why I wasn?t bouncing off the walls, and I said something like, ?Of course we?re a hit. It?s been obvious all along.? He just stared at me, speechless, for the first and last time in his life.
Head on over to Sanya's page to read her full post. Thanks Sanya!
Posted from Camelot Vault
