I had a few when I posted that one LOL

 

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While I don't know how much of the blog is true, it really has an air of truth to it. That of course could just be clever trolling, but a lot of this dirty laundry seems to be somewhat based on facts that I never had read about before. When ex employees take the time to reply but don't flat out refute many of the claims, you have to think there is some authenticity.

Not only does it give potential validation to a lot of pissed off customers, but it also is something that anyone who has worked in a corporation of more than 100 or so people can really identify with.

I was an engineer for the last couple years, and I experienced the exact same kind of incompetency and disregard for employees by middle-management that just eats away at your soul that this EA employee tells. When you have upper middle-management who has the only voice to the people that make the important decisions (project direction, raises, bonuses, layoffs, resource allocation, etc.) and they operate with a atmosphere of intimidation, egos, arrogance, and secrecy, you really start to feel like a victim when you put your career, skills/education, and hard work in these managers' hands. When I quit, I gave my exit interview with a lot of bitterness like this EA employee feels, but I think he gave out way too much detail and he listed names which makes it personal and he will probably regret later on for burning so many bridges.

If EA Louse actually worked at Mythic their evaluation of things does not really match up with what was seen to happen. Others that posted on EA Louse’s blog seem to have more insight into a dysfunctional corporate structure than Louse does and Louse was supposedly on the inside taking notes.


Also, Louse seems to think that MJ was wronged. Louse talks about, “I bet Rob is enjoying that sweet new Maserati he bought after leaving the knife in his partner (MJ) of 15 years.” and Louse continues later with, “Rob was responsible for the entire project, then blamed Mark when things went wrong.”


Louse may have been watching what was happening, but I think they were in their own fog. MJ was in charge, or was supposed to be. MJ was supposed to be directing things. Louse may be correct that Rob did some things that shouldn’t have been done and Rob may be responsible for implementing changes for WarHammer that did harm to WarHammer but Rob was not in charge. MJ was in charge. If the ship did not have anyone at the helm, it is not the cook’s fault; it is the fault of the person in charge.


Back when EA purchased Mythic I questioned EAs sanity and intelligence for even keeping MJ on. It did not take a rocket scientist to predict MJ being fired over the stupidity that was/is called WarHammer. For the Louse to suggest that some at Mythic needed to even slightly conspire to have MJ’s incompetent, egotistical, myopic, optical-rectalitus rear-end thrown out the door . . .is comical. That EA did not get rid of him sooner is what boggled me.


MJ’s dysfunction infected the entire company long before EA purchased Mythic. Sanya gave us some insight when she once posted, in response/defense because many players were angry at how long the TL report responses were taking to come out from Mythic, Sanya posted that the reason the TL report responses were taking so long to finish, is that she (Sanya) had to go around to each department and read the reports out loud to each of the departments because otherwise the TL reports did not get read or responded to. Seriously?


Not only does Sanya's comment scream of a dysfunctional system, her comment should dispel any who want to blame Mythic’s problems on the customers. Mythic didn’t listen to the customers; they played lip service to the thought of possibly listening. If those in Mythic were even slightly concerned with what the customer wanted, once a TL report was out it should have been the first thing read by everyone at Mythic. Not implemented, just read with concern. Instead those at Mythic avoided the TL reports.


Remember, the TL report was not written by a bunch of wackos. The TLs were coconscious players that conversed with developers and tested many facets of the game. The TLs also listened to players, weeded out wacko ideas and consolidated the best suggestions for a TL report.


If Mythic really was concerned with what players needed, even if they could not implement most of the TL suggestions, the TL report should have been important and not used as toilet paper.


Louse generates some interesting discussions but I am not sure Louse was working at Mythic and if they were working at Mythic, they obviously did not take off their rose colored glasses.

 

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yes they are human

 

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who cares? It hurts mythic and it's comedy gold.

Lol, wow..

Your whole anti rant post is constructed around one simple notion that people that have decision power in large companys have higher moral standards then the pettiest of criminals locked up in sing song.

You see where you went wrong here?

A scrupleless theif is a scrupleless theif even in a 2000 dollar suit.

If your industry rewards powertripped career monsters with a "CEO" education ( note not talent or passion ) then you end up with moneygrabbers, that see market and demand in pure nummbers quality, passion, originality cannot be measured in graphs or market analytical profit tables.

With that said, obviously not everything this "EA louse persona" said can be regarded as truth, there is always 2 sides of a coin. I do believe that this post, together with other incidents like the Spouse and Sanya debacle is a strong indication that things are not running smooth under the EA umbrella.

 

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I wish they would pay more attention to DAoC. I ran around the internet a lot and never found anything that came close.
I doubt EA would ever release a DAoC II cause they are too busy with FPS and sports games to bother.

What that guy complained about with EA does sound similar to complaints my friend made back in 2005 about how things went in his department in EA. Sounded like a soul devouring anti moral vacuum.

Every corporation is filled with dysfunctional management and workers, idiots with egos and morons who couldn't run a hot dog stand, nevermind an international business.


The post, most likely is true, but with their opinion mixed in, along with some exaggeration for good measure.


EA is run by morons though. I don't think you can doubt this. Look at their recent past in the video game realm and see what they put out. They had a cash cow with Madden 19xx-20xx for the past 20 years, along with soccer, golf and other titles that were essentially the same game for 20 years. No innovation whatsoever.


They try to create Warhammer in the mirror image of WoW in order to boost their positive cash flow, which has been hurting or non-existant now for 5 years. The silliest part of this is wouldn't the 10 million or so people who want to play a game like WoW already be playing it? Did they really think they would get another 5-10 million that wanted to play a game like WoW that haven't tried it already, and were they really thinking they would get some of those 10 million WoW users to quit and play a game exactly like WoW? It's a total lack of insight. It's the kind of decision making you would expect from a 5 year old kid.


EA is the destroyer of worlds, literally. They have more experience shutting down games than anyone else in the industry. They have no idea why either, even to this day. They covered their bad decision making in the past by buying out competition, consolidating, and putting out uninspiring games. In this economy, they can't do that. Everyday, Blizzard/Activision is getting stronger, and soon, they will be the new EA and become the destroyer of worlds.


Why? Simple. Corporations want money, not good products. If you have control of a market, just milk it dry. Worry about long term profits later, get your huge bonus this year as CEO instead. "Capitalism" is predictable.

 

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Oh my goodness. I never saw these blogs until now. Wow. I'm speechless. No, I know what to say.

Software Engineering/Game Development isn't supposed to be this way. In college, we're taught that in a perfect bubble of software engineering, that we are to be a team. Bosses are not supposed to be hard on each employee. The employees are supposed to get some say in matters as long as the requirements for the game is completed. If a boss tells a team of programmers to put A into the software, and the whole team calls time out and says that there is something wrong with what you're asking, then the boss isn't supposed to be hard on them and say to just do it. The problem is that is their job. So they DO have to do it. But if what they have to do is a bad idea that is going to fail, then that is what is going to happen and the boss should have listened. Basically, since we don't live in a perfect world , this kind of thing can happen. That is why we're supposed to be taught good software engineering principles in order to prevent this from happening. The work environment is meant to be a good and nurtured environment. Not a place for people to fight one another to rise in power and in position.

I know that if that was happening to me at a company, I would quit and get out of there... I would go and work somewhere that is a happy and peaceful work place. Start my own company if have to. Anywhere but in an environment that doesn't care about me.

Just because in the real world this kind of thing can happen doesn't mean that it's appropriate or that it's okay.

To the people saying they are skeptical of how true the blog is. Of course it's all mostly true. Bosses are hard on their employees all the time. Bosses are also intimidating because of their position. Employees just always keep it to their self and keep working hard in order to keep their jobs and their money. There is still nothing preventing the employee from venting their feelings to their family when they get home. Or anonymously to the internet. The internet is probably not the best way unless the public really needs that information. I must say that I definitely needed to hear it as Mythic had completely confused me. I had no idea what the company was thinking. At least now I know what a couple of Mythic workers were feeling. And I found their feelings to be not unlike my own. I completely relate, as I am a senior in college and have had several software engineering projects on teams and know the stresses that bosses, and even Professors/Teachers, can place on us. Inception, elaboration, etc, all the important software engineering principles (Yes I used etc because it's Christmas Holiday Break and I am doing absolutely nothing until Spring Semester starts) are very important to keeping a happy and nurturing work environment.