An Important NDA Announcement
August 19th, 2008
As you may have seen from pretty much everywhere on the Interwebs, the Warhammer Online beta NDA has been lifted. Now that it has, I am finally authorized to announce, per express permission of Mark “Here To Fix Yer Gubbins” Jacobs:
I am not in the Warhammer Online beta.
Thank you for waiting until today for me to be able to announce this! In other vaguely Warhammer-related news, Shacknews reveals that only people who were NOT burned as heretics will have their names inscribed in the Book of Woe.
While it sucks not to be recognized for your work, the only credits that really matters are the ones you build with your coworkers, and the one you put on your resume.
This is a really small industry, and it’s a bit surprising to me that they’re burning so many bridges so publicly. Sure, many of those people may have been ‘heretics’ and not someone they want to rehire, but some of them probably left for perfectly normal reasons (family, better offer, whatnot). What are the chances those people are going to come back in the future?
Not to mention what potential hires think reading about this.
In some parts of the gaming industry, I’m given to understand published credits/being credited for shipping a game to completion ARE actually a big deal. In MMOs not so much because MMO teams tend to be fluid, and live team/expansion teams often aren’t credited in the boxed product.
Honestly, I always assumed this was the norm. I really wish I could remember the last title this came up with (watch it have been EA), but I distinctly recall a similar blog or forum post with the same premise 3 or more years ago. Was everyone involved given credit on the DAoC box? I’m not trying to play a game of semantics, please presume I have some sense if you answer as I am not trying to bait you… I understand some who were not there very long may not have made it heh.
You are thinking of this:
http://brokentoys.org/2007/06/25/bring-back-jolly-pirate-nicknames-biyotch/
The DAoC credits look fairly generous -
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/dark-age-of-camelot/credits
While the team had very little turnover, I do believe Missy Castro left early in development.
And Greg Mayer left 16 months before launch? If he is who I think he is.
If crediting is so important to developers, negotiate it into your employment contract.
It still seems a bit petty not to credit all people who contributed.
Actually the Warhammer Online NDA allowed you to say that A) there was a beta, and B) you were in it. So I think you would have been allowed to say that you are NOT in it even before the NDA dropped.
“Turlow Says:
August 19, 2008 at 10:40 pm
If crediting is so important to developers, negotiate it into your employment contract.”
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHAHAHA
(gasp)
WOOHAHAHAHAOAHAHAOAAHAAHAOOAHAAAH
(gasp)
HOHOHOHEHEHEHEOEOEOOAAAAHHHHH
“You are thinking of this:
http://brokentoys.org/2007/06/25/bring-back-jolly-pirate-nicknames-biyotch/”
Quite possibly. I’m old enough to understand I can’t trust my memory any more he. That said, the linked article IMHO is a worse, and much more obvious, shot at ex-developers. It’s one thing to not place someone in the credits in the first place, it’s another to remove them after they have already had their names on the box. The former could be argued to be a poor decision, but the latter really can’t be described as anything other than petty.
That’s pretty freakin’ petty on the credits. GG Mark. They could have easily listed everyone who’s ever worked on it. Hell, put ‘em in a “special thanks” section if you don’t want to confuse current and past employees.
Okay, exactly what do you mean when you say you are not listed in the DAoC credits anymore? Because if you’re telling me that ex-employees have no credits in the anniversary/precious metal editions labelled Dark Age of Camelot and including the original, I am going to take Drastic Action.
Bad enough that I was promised tags in those credits I didn’t receive. But that’s bygones, I didn’t make a fuss at the time and I won’t now. But if revisionist history includes flushing my contribution down the memory hole, I am going to get ugly.
Hey, hey, defcon 5 Mr. Rickey. Pretty sure we’re still both listed in both of those. Just (if I understand correctly) not the live version on the patcher no one reads. The current hoofrah is over the Warhammer credits, which neither of us worked on. CALM THYSELF.
I fought to get someone in the credits in our game. I think not doing so lacks class.
(I didn’t win that fight, unfortunately.)
I’m one of those idiots that waits through the credits of video games. And I am very happy for that fact as I was rewarded for it greatly when finishing CoD4.
On the topic of the WAR beta, lemme just say that Sept. 18th is gonna have a bit of an undercooked taste for early players. I’d wait a few months before trying it.
On the topic of removing names of people who contributed to the game from the credits, bad form Mythic.
It’s one thing to not be credited when a prospective employer calls the company to verify what’s on your resume, it’s quite another to have your name on the credits in the actual game.
The first situation can be resolved in a court of law, the second situation simply requires hubris.
In other words, get over it.
Er, I forgot a pivotal “not” in my previous comment. It should be “…to NOT have your name on the credits in the actual game.”