My Job Is Scaring You

Tag: World of Warcraft

  • A Month Back in Azeroth

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    “So, what if something major changed?” My friend asked me this about going back to WoW. “Sure,” I said. “If something major changed, I’d be willing to give it another shot.” Then Microsoft did a thing and I am back in Azeroth playing Classic and Classic TBC. Many of the old problems are still there,…

  • A Decision…

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    After yesterday’s post, I decided to try some other multiplayer games to see how I would feel about returning to WoW. A few rounds of Among Us reminded me that people can brigade, can have private chat channels for spreading information (false, true, and otherwise), and that other people don’t care if they grief you.…

  • An Unusual Conundrum…

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in ,

    A friend of mine from my World of Warcraft days sent me an email. He’s playing WoW’s “Season of Mastery” and wants me to play with him. I know what he wants—and he wasn’t shy about telling me—he wants me to be a healbot for his raids. But that’s fine: I’m a phenomenal healer. The…

  • The “World of Warcraft Community Council” Won’t Work. There’s a Better Way to Gather Useful Customer Feedback.

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in , ,

    Recently, the developers of World of Warcraft announced the creation of a “Community Council”–a means of gathering feedback from players and allowing select players to interact with the development team. This is a bad move on Blizzard’s part and I should know; I have first-hand experience being on a community council for a large, rabid,…

  • Victory? Not Quite…

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    A year ago, I left World of Warcraft citing two reasons: The continued presence of Gorge the Corpsegrinder based on the homophobe George Fischer from Cannibal Corpse and, The presence of in-game cultural artifacts given to the Horde that the Alliance do not have (to-wit, two rock bands). The first point has been remedied. The…

  • WoW’s Toxic Community: I Blame the Forums

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    Instead of blaming Asmongold for WoW’s toxic community, the Blizzard developers would do well to look at how they manage their forums. Anyone who complains about the game and how developers treat classes and factions is immediately ostracized, harassed, or even given a ban or warning without much of an appeal allowed. As long as…

  • Fire Samwise Didier Now

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    Activision-Blizzard owes Alliance players and gay players a sincere apology for Didier’s continued homophobia and lop-sided hate of the Alliance. They can manifest this by firing Samwise Didier.

  • A Message for Blizzard Developers

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    You were homophobic. You were sexist. You treated half of your players–the Alliance–like dirt. You mocked players who raised concerns about these things. You treated us like shit. But now? Now you act surprised? “You cannot play God then wash your hands at the thing you’ve created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you…

  • Suppose I Told You…

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in

    Suppose I told you (with you being a game developer or a major label video game publisher) that I could measure player enjoyment. Now, suppose I told you that not only could I measure player enjoyment, I could identify the hidden dimensions of player enjoyment so that you didn’t wreck a title with a crummy…

  • The Calculus of a Game’s Decline

    —

    by

    Victor Cypert
    in ,

    The relationship between the toxic work environment at Blizzard and the game’s steady decline since the end of Wrath of the Lich King are very possibly linked. Consider that a toxic workplace scares away employees. The best employees have the best skills and therefore the best job prospects. They will leave first. The people left…