Former Blizzard Leaders Start Magic Soup Games Studio

[Relapses]

I don't know what this means.

Sorry, just a bit of tongue-in-cheek banter. You said that single player games can't be toxic but TLoU2's playerbase -- a single player game -- is one of the most notoriously toxic things on the internet.

[Jester Joe]

Is there not room for niche, target, or artisanal games? Is the end goal of all studios to appeal to as many people as possible? Is constant growth the only noble goal of game development? Should Elden Ring add an easy mode to appeal to more gamers?

The frame of that "limiting their appeal" is incorrect I think. Some companies may choose not to expand their appeal in an effort not to alienate their current userbase. For example, the discussion on the previous page. If an all female company would benefit from a male coworker in order to bring in new ideas. That would be a yes, UNLESS the aim of the developers was to appeal strictly to the female audience, in which case the male developer may actually detract from the appeal of the game towards the target audience.

It's weird to use Elden Ring as an example, because the whole "IT'S HARD TO CATER TO THE HARDCORE" is an internet only belief.

The actual creator wants it to be a challenge that's fun to approach, and yes that played into designing the game but they don't design it to cater to a hardcore crowd.

https://mp1st.com/news/elden-ring-ea...ed-by-miyazaki


Which is exactly what I said.

[NineSpine]

Did I say anything about history? No.

You're engineer friend? Either is degreed in engineering, or has experience in the field. That makes your friend more qualified then these professional victims.

History is a humanities field, no different from Women's Studies. They are the same department. In fact, when I was hiring people, most candidates were in the ballpark of humanities, sociology, and other related fields. These were six figure starting salary jobs right out of college, and some of those people I hired are now making buckets of money working at NGOs.

The amount of damage that has been done to people who were told to go get "profitable" degrees in fields they weren't interested in and weren't good at is immeasurable. I've know so many absolutely miserable engineers who hate their jobs. I went and worked in tech for awhile just for a change of pace and it was a miserable experience.

The happiest people I know got degrees in something they were interested in and knew how to leverage for jobs. Everyone miserable I know was bullied into getting a "profitable" degree in something they didn't give a fuck about. The way my friend with the AA Studies degree ended up in engineering is because she is an excellent communicator, an insanely rare treat for engineers. Those are skills she picked up because of the type of degree she got. She started in non-technical roles and eventually through product management ended up in hands on engineering, where she spends most of her time communicating, not coding, because that's what advanced engineers do with their time.

[mbit2]

If a single person in a group can solo carry for content designed with group coordination, then the difficulty won't be enough to keep the content relevant.

You can already solo carry keys up to +10-12's. Hell, as a BDK, you could go so far as +15's.

Content people don't have to progress through has naturally lower shelf life.

M+ is special since you go up every time it turns too easy to get better loot. Consider however fixed content with no higher mode or you simply need to grind a certain level for some item to progress. In that case it doesn't matter if its on clear status or not. You could also combo it with personal loot where things like "dont stant in fire" affects your personal loot drop rate. Everyone finishes but you still get rewarded for playing well.

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Is there not room for niche, target, or artisanal games?

There was actually a crafting/gathering focused mmo set in egypt about building civilization up. It's really old by now, no clue how it did.

[Al Gorefiend]

Sorry, just a bit of tongue-in-cheek banter. You said that single player games can't be toxic but TLoU2's playerbase -- a single player game -- is one of the most notoriously toxic things on the internet.

Oh dang, that's wild.

All the non-toxic single player game communities I know of are creativity focused games like simulators and city management games which I play a ton of.

[Foulfrost]

DF is a barren expansion like Shadowlands, with even less world quest totals ( since Legion, unique world quests went down with BFA, even less in Sl, and now far less with DF), no new systems-- talents are basically 95% rehashed Legion/BFA/SL system perks.

It managed to make professions far worse, an alchemist now has less access to produce than it did back then, and the mats sell for more than the flasks. Good thing you now have to grind the capacity to make both flasks and pots of optimal quality.

Embellishments and recrafting make SL legendary costs pale in comparison.

They rebranded reputations, still same old shit.

Dragonriding is the only truly new feature. They managed to make raids and dungeons even less rewarding to the average person than they were before. Good luck collecting raidfinder transmog now with removal of personal loot.

M+ is receiving useless ground mounts in KSM that can't even fly, while raids and PVP receive dragon customizations.

Truthbomb. Dragonflight is as bad as Shadowlands. The only differences are that it has less chores - and people rejoice over this because it means they play less - and the story isn't *as* bad. It got a lot of good reviews on launch because people assumed it would be the renaissance of WoW. But after playing it for 3 months, I saw that isn't true. At all. It's another fluke and in 3-5 months, the "Did Dragonflight fail?" videos will begin.

[Ragedaug]

2023 and people still think a diversity hire isn't a hire of someone both competent and capable.

2023 and people are trying trying to convince other folks that "diversity hire" isn't about the two words used to make the phrase "diversity hire". If diversity hires were about finding competent and capable people, you wouldn't have to focus on diversity. You could just say, "find the most competent and capable people who have the best chance to make this company successful". It puzzles me why folks want employers to focus on the color of your skin, your genetalia, or what gender you identify with...and then hire you based on that criteria.

[Relapses]

2023 and people are trying trying to convince other folks that "diversity hire" isn't about the two words used to make the phrase "diversity hire". If diversity hires were about finding competent and capable people, you wouldn't have to focus on diversity. You could just say, "find the most competent and capable people who have the best chance to make this company successful". It puzzles me why folks want employers to focus on the color of your skin, your genetalia, or what gender you identify with...and then hire you based on that criteria.

You're putting the cart before the horse here, friendo. Employers aren't focusing on diversity first. They're simply understanding that a diverse workplace is better for everybody in the long run. If the best candidates are still all straight white males then the workplace will reflect that. The only change the concept of DE&I has for most employers is how they look for employees not how they hire them.

[Ragedaug]

The happiest people I know got degrees in something they were interested in and knew how to leverage for jobs. Everyone miserable I know was bullied into getting a "profitable" degree in something they didn't give a fuck about. The way my friend with the AA Studies degree ended up in engineering is because she is an excellent communicator, an insanely rare treat for engineers. Those are skills she picked up because of the type of degree she got. She started in non-technical roles and eventually through product management ended up in hands on engineering, where she spends most of her time communicating, not coding, because that's what advanced engineers do with their time.

That's not the complaint though. Everyone here thinks everyone else here should find a job that makes them happy. You think that, I think that. We all think that.

The rub is when someone gets a degree that makes them happy but doesn't give them skills that provide a service anyone wants to pay for, and then they can't find a job that pays them dirt. Then they complain that the world owes them free money. That's when folks say, "if you want to make a lot of money, you need to get good at something someone is willing to pay you to do".

Every engineer is super excited about very smart folks who major in humanities and finds a way to make a good living from that, because it means one less engineer to compete why. Why would you think I would want you to become an engineer? I want you to be happy NineSpine.

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You're putting the cart before the horse here, friendo. Employers aren't focusing on diversity first. They're simply understanding that a diverse workplace is better for everybody in the long run. If the best candidates are still all straight white males then the workplace will reflect that. The only change the concept of DE&I has for most employers is how they look for employees not how they hire them.

That's being disingenuous and completely disregarding the purpose of the D (in DE&I). ...also known as "gaslighting". "Diversity doesn't mean diversity, why would you ever think that??"

[Relapses]

That's being disingenuous and completely disregarding the purpose of the D (in DE&I).

The D in DE&I isn't enforced (and neither is the E or the I). It's a concept that encourages a wider range of hiring practices but (intentionally) stops short of enforcing it. A properly applied DE&I philosophy isn't going to pass up a qualified applicant because they aren't marginalized nor is it going to encourage an employer to hire somebody because they are marginalized.

edit: to address your accusation of gaslighting:

It's because you seem to misunderstand the purpose of DE&I.

[Linkedblade]

You're putting the cart before the horse here, friendo. Employers aren't focusing on diversity first. They're simply understanding that a diverse workplace is better for everybody in the long run. If the best candidates are still all straight white males then the workplace will reflect that. The only change the concept of DE&I has for most employers is how they look for employees not how they hire them.

So do you agree that creating a de&i department is redundant to human resources?

You can't discriminate on people due to race, religion, sex, gender, disability, etc thanks to the civil rights act of 1964 and the EEOC created from it. And most employers will work with people that need assistance to complete their job. HR also deals with harassment and workplace relations. So either it's redundant or renaming hr. If your focus is overhead on employees that don't exist yet, you're wasting money on frivolous workers.

Like I said the intent seems to be those things for the game content and players. Which in a fantasy world i don't understand what that even means. No matter how you create characters or the world, some people will relate, some won't.

[Relapses]

So do you agree that creating a de&i department is redundant to human resources?

You can't discriminate on people due to race, religion, sex, gender, disability, etc thanks to the civil rights act of 1964 and the EEOC created from it. And most employers will work with people that need assistance to complete their job. HR also deals with harassment and workplace relations. So either it's redundant or renaming hr. If your focus is overhead on employees that don't exist yet, you're wasting money on frivolous workers.

Like I said the intent seems to be those things for the game content and players. Which in a fantasy world i don't understand what that even means. No matter how you create characters or the world, some people will relate, some won't.

I would say it's supplemental instead of redundant. Information is not harmful and having more of it to contextualize hiring choices is a good thing, not a bad thing.

[Caerrona]

Wow this company already looks like dogshit.

All the other "we used to work at blizzard" I atleast gave some very minor chance at making a game but holy hell this place is gonna burn to the ground faster then the lefties change their pronouns to force themselves to be offended at... anything and everything.

[BigToast]

Wow this company already looks like dogshit.

All the other "we used to work at blizzard" I atleast gave some very minor chance at making a game but holy hell this place is gonna burn to the ground faster then the lefties change their pronouns to force themselves to be offended at... anything and everything.

Projection.

[Jester Joe]

Truthbomb. Dragonflight is as bad as Shadowlands. The only differences are that it has less chores - and people rejoice over this because it means they play less - and the story isn't *as* bad. It got a lot of good reviews on launch because people assumed it would be the renaissance of WoW. But after playing it for 3 months, I saw that isn't true. At all. It's another fluke and in 3-5 months, the "Did Dragonflight fail?" videos will begin.

I dunno how you'd agree with the most misleading/nitpicking post and call it a "truthbomb" besides having extreme bias.

By this point in SL, we had no new content, meanwhile DF is about to push out a second content drop, with the first major patch on the pipeline.

DF also has the most variation in different world quests, with things like dragon racing, rock climbing, the photography courses, etc. Quality over quantity when a vast majority of previous world quests were "kill these mobs" outside of the Kirin Tor ones in legion.

You don't have to grind anything for professions to be good at one thing at least. In leveling alchemy I had more than enough points to basically fill out the potion crafting tree, which alchemy has already had specialisation in the past.

Also I dunno what world you're living in where gear crafting costs more than legendaries, the most I've paid so far was 10k, which is a drop in the bucket compared to how much legendaries cost until Blizzard finally added catch up crafting mechanics which didn't happen until nearing the end of SL.

[chiddie]

Sorry, just a bit of tongue-in-cheek banter. You said that single player games can't be toxic but TLoU2's playerbase -- a single player game -- is one of the most notoriously toxic things on the internet.

I think he was referring to toxicity in game.

Honestly from my pov forum toxicity is totally irrelevant.

Point is that you can’t be toxic in a single player game but against yourself. You may reverse your anger on forums but it’s not directly affecting other players while they are playing.

[Loveliest]

Dead on arrival.

Imagine being this proud being against equality. Bet you would have been proud in the day to be against those who wanted to abolish slavery and those who wanted women to vote. You just don't realize how ridiculous you sound because things haven't changed yet.

[EpicusMaximus]

Well aren't you an edgy one.
Carefull or the eeeeeevviiiil ShadowCouncil of Transgender Nazis is coming to get ya!

They try. But they are the ones tempting fate by crying about having to come to the office. Lol.

Imagine being this proud being against equality. Bet you would have been proud in the day to be against those who wanted to abolish slavery and those who wanted women to vote. You just don't realize how ridiculous you sound because things haven't changed yet.

Any time someone in the office says "Equality" or "Inclusion" or "Equity" what they really mean is "Inequality", "Exclusion" and "Prejudice".
I mean.. Madeline Roux's statements on Twitter proved that before that chicken s--- bint deleted most of her stuff out of fear.

[Qnubi]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

Some reading, won't engage further if you can't actually refute why being tolerant to intolerance is necessary, plus it's only tangentially related to the topic and will segue unnecessarily past this point.

Don't worry, I am with you although I am more liberal with my views and I do not enforce any views of myself on others, including intolerance/tolerance paradox.

[Kralljin]

Bet you would have been proud in the day to be against those who wanted to abolish slavery and those who wanted women to vote. You just don't realize how ridiculous you sound because things haven't changed yet.

Comparing a lack of representation of minority groups within gaming companies to the legal practice of slavery and women being legally seen as inferior to men is insulting to the people that were subject to these crimes.