by John Hoskin on Aug 07, 2008
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Daily Column
Loading... putting the 'Mo' in MMOG.
First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.
If the Top 10 isn't enough, we also show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)
World of Warcraft - 200 BPM Warhammer Online - 173 BPM Age of Conan - 82 BPM Tabula Rasa - 18 BPM Champions Online - 13 BPM EVE Online - 12 BPM Lord of the Rings Online - 12 BPM EverQuest II - 8 BPM Stargate Worlds - 8 BPM Vanguard - 7 BPMI had been too busy to browse through my daily blog list since coming back from Comic Con. Fortunately, I found a few minutes last night and while reading Scott Jennings' blog I came across this entry. Those of you who read this column regularly know that according to Wikipedia Mr. Jennings is the world's top game developer.
If you haven't clicked on the 'this entry' link yet, it leads to a story about Paul Barnett, the Creative Director for Warhammer Online. Paul was interviewed by Gamasutra recently where he shared his Top 11 Lessons From Warhammer Online. I won't list them all, you can read as well as I can, but I would like to comment on a few of them, especially #11, the one that Scott Jennings has issue with.
Let's start at the bottom with the controversial one, #11 - There Are Believers And There Are Heretics.
""When making games, they cost billions, take years, and use hundreds of people," Barnett observed. "[We] haven’t got time for people who have no morale or don’t think we’re going to succeed, and mess around in palace intrigue. Heretics must be burned publicly. It doesn’t matter how talented they are. If they’re a heretic, they go, because cancer spreads."
On the other hand, concluded Barnett at the end of an entertaining talk, "believers are wonderful people. I hire less talented believers over talented heretics every time. Three-star ability with five-star drive is how you want it. The other way around leads you to hell."" --Paul Barnett
The team at Ten Ton Hammer is probably reading this and asking if Paul said it or if I said it. Inevitably, when we are hiring someone the question of 'team fit' comes up. They can be idiot savants when it comes to building game communities, but if they don't fit with our team, if they aren't ready to work 20 hour days at events, play games that they don't enjoy, act amiably with developers who treat them like the aphid on the mold on the dung at the bottom of the manure pile, and on and on, then they don't fit on our team. Our industry has more prima donnas than Planters has peanuts, most of which have egos the size of the Duke Nukem Forever development timeline. Egos get in the way. Winning teams are made up of stars without egos.
The way that we work, and it appears the way that Mythic works is to look at a potential employee and ask the question, "Where do they fit into our team?" With very few exceptions there aren't any staff at our competitors that we would hire into our team. We've seen them at events. Most wander aimlessly, going through the motions, talking smack about the developers behind their backs as they ride the bus to the free lunch put on by said developer. Most believe that they are experts when in reality they wouldn't make the top 20 positions on our depth chart. Skill is relative. An average person feels skilled when put amongst loafers. The same person feels wholly inadequate when put on a team of hard workers.
In Paul's industry he hires less talented believers (people who fit in with the team) over more talented heretics (those who can't get along with the team philosophy). Scott disagrees, going with talent over "enthusiasm". Truthfully, I don't think he disagrees at all. It was likely Paul's flamboyant choice of words that caused the reaction. If Paul had said that he takes people who have the same design philosophy over those who do not, I imagine Scott would concur.
In our industry, since it is still so new, we can hire the talented believers and leave the rest. Aren't we lucky?
Lesson #3 - Great Games Are 80% What They're Meant To Do
The 80/20 rule. Apply this to just about anything in your life and it will hold true. 80% of the population create 20% of the wealth. 20% of your staff will create 80% of your game or your website. The 80/20 rule and the Divine Proportion (Phi, not to be confused with Pi) are two of the most unknown, yet useful ratios that you will ever use.
Lesson #5 - Use The License
Perhaps better is, 'Be True To Your License'. While chatting with John Layman of Cryptic Studios recently for this interview he mentioned that each license has a core audience and you need to respect them. If you take liberties with a license, violating it's continuity, then you are showing disrespect for the audience. I couldn't agree more.
Having met Paul several times I can attest to the fact that he is a charismatic force. His presence on the Mythic team is without question a integral part of why they are running a close second to World of Warcraft in the Ten Ton Pulse. Paul puts the game out there, in the faces of the public and gives them a reason to be excited about it.
Read the entire interview at Gamasutra and then take a minute and voice your opinion. It's more important than mine, so be heard, or read!
I know you're thinking something. Share! The Loading Forums await you. Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.
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[A big thanks to Phil Comeau for putting together the links and Real World News.]
23 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 56 in August! 1973 in 2008!
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Louisiana principal calls for English-only in commencement speeches [Courtesy of SaintSisterKate]Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com.
- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team