Did Gamers forget there is a pandemic going on?

[Daymanmb]

Patience is not a virtue of the millennials and Generations Ys/Zs.

Generation Y are millenials.

[PACOX]

For all the crybabies there's plenty of people who are mature and understand why the events are virtual. Some even prefer it. For the majority of people who are home viewers anyway, it doesn't matter. Some writers might be happy to avoid 'convention flu' because events were already breeding grounds for bugs.


Of course people miss the festivities if you are someone who regularly attends conversations, vendors are missing out, but from a pure numbers perspective its the same for most people.


How much you want to bet a lot of people people on soapboxes are tied to the third party journalism or in-house marketing whose only job is to mostly tour public events? I feel sympathy for those people, though.

[Zephire]

Could someone explain to me why I should be mad with Blizzcon? Because it didn't happen physicaly?

Or what this thread is about, I feel a bit out of the loop.

[Wuusah]

Could someone explain to me why I should be mad with Blizzcon? Because it didn't happen physicaly?

Or what this thread is about, I feel a bit out of the loop.

I guess because pretty much all of it was leaked beforehand, people spoiled it for themselves and are now disappointed that Blizzard didn’t announce half a dozen games on top of what they announced

[Zephire]

The Blizzcon had pretty much no information and it seems like the development is lagging behind extremely.

Which would be obviously absolutely acceptable if they just said "uh guys we aren't really able to work very effectively during these times, sorry about that and here's a discount for longterm subscriptions to make up for it".

Instead they make a huuuuugee show about nothing where you have developers who are apparently so bored by the announcement they are just making that after the trailer ends, the dev has to say "wooooow now that was innnteeennseeee" in the most unempathetic voice ever.

Don't get me wrong, I don't feel entitled to anything, times are as they are and this is just a f***g game. I do feel absolutely entitled to laugh about the bullshit and cringefest this Blizzcon has been, though. No self-reflection from Bllizz whatsoever.

Ah, right. First time doing BlizzCon online though, isn't it? Bound to be some hick ups and things that doesn't work. I've never watched BlizzCon. Checking wowhead and mmo-champion gives me the information I need so didn't realize. Felt like we got as much information as we usually do. Thanks for clarifying.

[AkundaMrdal]

You forgot to account for time saved on the commute and that it's possible to download large files overnight. Considering that large files are rarely sent between workers in IT - that's a non-issue.

Also, the time wasted while socializing at work - is now not wasted.

If anything the efficiency must at least stay the same - but fact is - it's even better.

The devs are just using this lockdemic as an excuse for inevitable delays because they suck at management

You are not taking into account, that people at home procrastinate more. From checking social media, watching movies on second monitor to playing games. We have people in our guild, who play wow on home office.

[Easo]

What is this 100GB things you keep referencing?

Individual game files the devs work on are actually pretty small. Art is just some images, coding is just some text files, 3d models are just software files. All of that should easily be doable at home with little to no setup.

He means 100 GBit network, which is highly unlikely for their office, their core servers maybe. 10 GBit LAN in the office? A different topic, probably yes on Dev machines. However, home internet with even 1 GBit is a pipe dream in most of USA, the network infrastructure in some places is just simply bad.

Art assets can be very "heavy", though, you will be in quite some pain sending those over 100 MBit, for example.

[Nyel]

Yes, all the time, then someone remindes me of the super deadly virus like this thread

Super deadly, yes! 0.1-0.01% mortality rate deadly! Super!

Reality and facts aside, by now every company that's working in the digital business (e.g. game developers) should have already adjusted to the situation. If Indie companies can develop well-received games during a pandemic, for sure companies like Blizzard should be able to do so and not rely on flimsy excuses.

[Wuusah]

The Blizzcon had pretty much no information and it seems like the development is lagging behind extremely.

Which would be obviously absolutely acceptable if they just said "uh guys we aren't really able to work very effectively during these times, sorry about that and here's a discount for longterm subscriptions to make up for it".

Instead they make a huuuuugee show about nothing where you have developers who are apparently so bored by the announcement they are just making that after the trailer ends, the dev has to say "wooooow now that was innnteeennseeee" in the most unempathetic voice ever.

Don't get me wrong, I don't feel entitled to anything, times are as they are and this is just a f***g game. I do feel absolutely entitled to laugh about the bullshit and cringefest this Blizzcon has been, though. No self-reflection from Bllizz whatsoever.

Have you watched late night shows without an audience and how cringe they are because the host has to suddenly work without the cheering energy of the audience? It's a completely different atmosphere without thousands of people. And those people aren't some experienced hosts for shows. They are not trained for public speaking. That's not their job. I find it kinda stupid to criticize the awkwardness of devs who go on stage. With an audience it's endearing. Without the audience it feels a bit cringe but so are late night shows without an audience. They made the best out of a shitty situation.

And I disagree that they didn't have much information. They had
WoW patch 9.1
TBC Classic
D4 new class
Diablo Immortal
D2:R
Hearthstone expansion
Overwatch 2 infos

Again, it might not have felt like much because half of it was leaked beforehand. If you read spoilers then the actual show isn't as interesting anymore.

[Lochton]

Serious question, Did Gamers (not all just the loud minority) forget there is a pandemic going on?

All I have been seeing lately is people mad about the Nintendo Direct, Blizzcon ect.... Did gamers (to be clear not all) realize that the pandemic really fucked things up and delayed a lot of stuff. Yes lots was able to start working at home but that in itself still makes developing content take much longer.

I honestly expected releases to be much lighter than it already is, so I'm impressed we are getting the games we are getting.

Maybe those people should sit back and clear some of their backlog or find something else to play for a bit.

Or maybe some just don't want to think about the crap going on outside. Alas, due to this pandemic, more are suffering psychological harm and just wishes to close their mind to something they believe they have in control.

[Wuusah]

For the first part, I absolutely disagree. They absolutely knew what the situation is like so they should have chosen people with better suiting personalities to do the presentation, or hire professionals. Especially since the whole thing was pre-recorded so they could easily take a look at it and tell how terrible it is and redo it. They didn't make the best out the situation at all.

As for the second part - honestly I only care about the WoW part. If you feel like the rest was interesting enough, I trust you on that since I can't tell. But the WoW part was incredibly boring and empty - not even a screenshot of the new zone.

I want to see and hear from the developers, not some hired head who knows how to hold a presentation. This is a Blizzcon after all. It's about devs interacting with the community. And they made the best out of it in a bad situation. Blizzcon is not some Nintendo Direct, where they just announce new games, end the show and that's it.

[Kolvarg]

If anything the efficiency must at least stay the same - but fact is - it's even better.

Well, the thing is forcefully working from home during the pandemic is an entirely different thing than doing it by choice or option. For instance, I don't know if it's the case for California, but in my country schools and daycares are closed down. So people are working from home while also having to watch their kids, or with their kids having online school nearby.

Even if Blizzard is able to provide the employees with the appropriate equipment (such as allowing them to take their work computer/desk/chair home - which I would imagine by itself is a logistical and bureaucracy nightmare in a company the size of Blizzard) - not every employee might have a room in their home where they can set up a proper home office where they can work in peace.

There's also the simple fact that it's not true that everyone works better from home - for many it simply doesn't work very well. It takes some getting used to, and while at work you get other distractions and wasted time on commute, at home there's a much higher responsibility to focus and to avoid procrastination.

I think also it's quite naive, at best, to assume that even most devs are introverts nowadays. Even if that's true about IT jobs in general, let's not forget we're also talking about designers and artists. Simply being stuck at home is going to take a toll on the psychological health and affect the productivity of many - even some introverts.


And finally, there's scale - a huge company like Blizzard is bound to have a lot of bureaucracy and very set-in-stone processes to do everything. These were all set in place for in-office work, and they don't necessarily translate very efficiently to having the entire company work from home. I would think it understandable that reviewing and adapting all of this is not something that can be easily done, and is an entire process you can't just do in a month or two, especially while trying to do your normal development at the same time.

[infinitemeridian]

I love all the people who think working from home should make them MORE effective. The fact of the matter is that working from home in a pandemic is slowing productivity. It's not as simple as you would think. Especially in a collaborative / creative space like game development, having in-person interactions goes a long way.

Plus, you have to deal with kids, significant others, etc.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Its kinda clear the speed they work with is not the same and you know what thats fine given the circumstances of a GOD DAMN PANDEMIC(that now has done 500k dead). I can handle a bit lack of information(Or even if the videos made for Blizzcon was a year out of date as someone speculated) compared to...well the other obvious HUMAN situations then WoW.

Even as I say this, this won't convince anyone to calm down, they are set in their ways despite that part of this was leaked out and I'm sure the people that worked on all this new stuff are upset at the spoilers. There's plenty of things to be outraged at in this world, Blizzcononline is pretty low on the totem pole. @_@

[RobertoCarlos]

It's also the best time to be selling video games as people are trapped inside

[The Butt Witch]

I hate to paraphrase Dr. Disrespect but... Where are the games? Where are the new BRs? Where is the next big thing?

[RobertoCarlos]

I hate to paraphrase Dr. Disrespect but... Where are the games? Where are the new BRs? Where is the next big thing?

Streamers bored of among us and hades so need a new fad to play 24/7 and burn out on in a week or two.

Good to know.

[Loveliest]

Gamers? Pandemic or not, we don't suffer much from not going out. We're not part of the ones who think they are going to die if they don't go on vacation and would risk their life for it. We're probably the ones who have the easiest time respecting social distancing.
While it's absolutely terrible in itself for a lot of ppl, the whole situation made things better for me. My commute was 1.5hrs and how i work from home, having now time to take care of myself. Lost weight, finished reading a whole bunch of books, kept better contact with my sister.

[unbound]

Serious question, Did Gamers (not all just the loud minority) forget there is a pandemic going on?

All I have been seeing lately is people mad about the Nintendo Direct, Blizzcon ect.... Did gamers (to be clear not all) realize that the pandemic really fucked things up and delayed a lot of stuff. Yes lots was able to start working at home but that in itself still makes developing content take much longer.

I honestly expected releases to be much lighter than it already is, so I'm impressed we are getting the games we are getting.

Maybe those people should sit back and clear some of their backlog or find something else to play for a bit.

Sorry, but you are showing your ignorance here about how things work.

Was there a month or so delay that can be accounted for because of the pandemic? Absolutely.

Was there a year-long delay because of the pandemic? lolololol Absolutely not.

In the tech world, little work is done onsite anymore. In the cases where certain powerful desktops were needed, they moved them into people's homes or rented out more space so people could work further apart. That's the one month of delay or so. And working from home with the various collaboration tools available is hardly a major issue anymore.

Is there more impact possible to the small developers? Probably. But the big players have the money and resources to address the issues pretty quickly.

Stop excusing large corporations from their BS. They could have, and likely did, address the pandemic issue with only a few weeks delays. Anything beyond that is corporate PR trying to leverage the pandemic as an excuse. Stop taking corporate PR at face value.

[bloodykiller86]

Serious question, Did Gamers (not all just the loud minority) forget there is a pandemic going on?

All I have been seeing lately is people mad about the Nintendo Direct, Blizzcon ect.... Did gamers (to be clear not all) realize that the pandemic really fucked things up and delayed a lot of stuff. Yes lots was able to start working at home but that in itself still makes developing content take much longer.

I honestly expected releases to be much lighter than it already is, so I'm impressed we are getting the games we are getting.

Maybe those people should sit back and clear some of their backlog or find something else to play for a bit.

people are dumb and expect everything now...what else is new