Stolen Pixels #178: After Curfew, Episode 7

[Shamus Young]

Stolen Pixels #178: After Curfew, Episode 7

Dr. Breen takes the hot coals to gamers' least favorite CEO in the business.

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[Onyx Oblivion]

Shamus, I think you misunderstand. No one wants a sterile, boring workplace, as that's really bad for employee morale. He just wants them to take it seriously. Game development has this pre-conceived notion that "It's not a real job.", and I believe he just wants to change that. He wants them to buckle down, focus on making the game, and fuck around on their breaks, like many other professions. He's not trying to create a grim, desolate workplace. He just wants them to be serious and dedicated. He wants game development to be taken seriously as a business. You see these developer diaries, and everyone is having a good time, and an outsider to the industry thinks "That looks like an easy job."

[sub]Did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.[/sub]

 

[Taawus]

Fair enough. Have them shot.

 

[addeB]

Lol, I liked the homo joke

 

[Kollega]

God, did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.

Look! It's a traitor to the cause - deserters and turncoats will not be tolerated! Bring in the drunk angry Lombax!

***

Now with that out of the way, the comic is hilarious. As always.

 

[illiterate]

Shamus, I think you misunderstand. No one wants a sterile, boring workplace, as that's really bad for employee morale. He just wants them to take it seriously. Game development has this pre-conceived notion that "It's not a real job.", and I believe he just wants to change that. He wants them to buckle down, focus on making the game, and fuck around on their breaks, like many other professions. He's not trying to create a grim, desolate workplace. He just wants them to be serious and dedicated. He wants game development to be taken seriously as a business. You see these developer diaries, and everyone is having a good time, and an outsider to the industry thinks "That looks like an easy job."

[sub]Did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.[/sub]

Doesn't stop this from being a perforated shoe move.

People who work in game dev make less money, and work more hours than they might elsewhere. They put up with unending crunch time because they love working on games.

 

[ramox]

Shamus, I think you misunderstand. No one wants a sterile, boring workplace, as that's really bad for employee morale. He just wants them to take it seriously. Game development has this pre-conceived notion that "It's not a real job.", and I believe he just wants to change that. He wants them to buckle down, focus on making the game, and fuck around on their breaks, like many other professions. He's not trying to create a grim, desolate workplace. He just wants them to be serious and dedicated. He wants game development to be taken seriously as a business. You see these developer diaries, and everyone is having a good time, and an outsider to the industry thinks "That looks like an easy job."

[sub]Did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.[/sub]

That's actually a fair point...if it is indeed what he intends.
I'm just not really convinced that it is.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Shamus, I think you misunderstand. No one wants a sterile, boring workplace, as that's really bad for employee morale. He just wants them to take it seriously. Game development has this pre-conceived notion that "It's not a real job.", and I believe he just wants to change that. He wants them to buckle down, focus on making the game, and fuck around on their breaks, like many other professions. He's not trying to create a grim, desolate workplace. He just wants them to be serious and dedicated. He wants game development to be taken seriously as a business. You see these developer diaries, and everyone is having a good time, and an outsider to the industry thinks "That looks like an easy job."

[sub]Did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.[/sub]

That doesn't really make him less of an idiot though. I mean, he did say that he would take the fun out of making games. if he indeed meant it the way you describe it, then that's the dumbest way possible to put it. If he had put it "We will let the public know that Gaming development is serious business" or something similar, it wouldn't have been as flamed as it was. But he said "We will take the fun out of making games", and that was incredibly stupid of him.

To quote private Baldrick: "Stupidy stupidy stupidy!"

 

[Soulgaunt]

Haha, these comics are always around for a good laugh.

 

[Starke]

Shamus, I think you misunderstand. No one wants a sterile, boring workplace, as that's really bad for employee morale. He just wants them to take it seriously. Game development has this pre-conceived notion that "It's not a real job.", and I believe he just wants to change that. He wants them to buckle down, focus on making the game, and fuck around on their breaks, like many other professions. He's not trying to create a grim, desolate workplace. He just wants them to be serious and dedicated. He wants game development to be taken seriously as a business. You see these developer diaries, and everyone is having a good time, and an outsider to the industry thinks "That looks like an easy job."

[sub]Did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.[/sub]

That doesn't really make him less of an idiot though. I mean, he did say that he would take the fun out of making games. if he indeed meant it the way you describe it, then that's the dumbest way possible to put it. If he had put it "We will let the public know that Gaming development is serious business" or something similar, it wouldn't have been as flamed as it was. But he said "We will take the fun out of making games", and that was incredibly stupid of him.

To quote private Baldrick: "Stupidy stupidy stupidy!"

To be fair, being incredibly stupid may be his specialty. Onyx may be onto something here with what Kotick meant, and Kotick may have even said as much himself in a clarifying interview, but he still has a way with words that has to be seen to be believed. That is, pissing off more people per word than anyone I'm aware of.

 

[Sjakie]

hehe, stolen pixels never disappoints my cynical nature

 

[The Great JT]

BREEN IS GOD!!

(Please tell the metrocop to not shoot me.)

 

[Tiamat666]

Wow, I can't believe he said that. "Taking the fun out of game development" is like Microsoft saying "We're taking the paychecks out of software development".
Most game developers are not in it for the money. They tolerate the (relatively) bad pay and family crushing schedules and work hours because they are truly passionate about what they do. Without the fun and thrill of working on games, game development sucks monkeyballs.

So if he truly intends to -somehow- take the fun out of game development, he better have the cash and other incentives to keep the developers motivated.

That's really some nerve. I'm sure he knows full well that there are a few very talented people working at game companies, tolerating bad hours and bad pay, sacrificing family time for their dream jobs. Game companies know this and take advantage of this fact ALOT. And now this idiot claims to take the fun out of game development. Good luck with that.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Did I just try to defend Bobby Kotick? HOLY SHIT.

TRAITAH! BURN HIM!!

All kidding aside, you make a fair point however most people do their best work when they actually enjoy what they're doing and don't actually see it as "work". If you take that away, you're invariably not going to get the same results out of your employees.

So I'm just going to conclude that Kotick is a collosal moron with little to no concept of the reality of those under him. You know just like most managers & bureaucrats.

 

[Jared]

lmao! Homo! Hilarious.

Loved the knocked ay Bobby too...How topical XD

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

I love After Curfew.

Not much else to say, unfortunately. Just... do more After Curfew. Please.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Loving the comics Shamus.



Kotick is like Lex Luthor and the Activision is like Kryptonite, with the consumers being Super Man.

Take it for what you will.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

...Wait, he said that recently? I'm pretty sure the Escapist originally reported him saying that months and months ago, and the quote just came back up for some reason recently. Made me think for a second that I somehow got linked to a really old Stolen Pixels until the Ubisoft joke showed up.

Kotick's "taking the fun out of making games" comment is definitely not a new development - it's practically the original reason everyone started viewing him as the devil incarnate.

 

[Souplex]

Enough with this after curfew nonsense, your other stuff is insightful and entertaining. This is not.

 

[Shamus Young]

Enough with this after curfew nonsense, your other stuff is insightful and entertaining. This is not.

Okay, I'll ignore the previous 17 people who said they enjoyed the comic and make every strip just to please you. Because you're such a nice person and your feedback is so constructive. The next comic will definitely NOT be After Curfew.

Thanks for being a fan!