My sympathies to those affected by the layoffs. I hope you find positions elsewhere as quickly and painlessly as possible.
I must admit to being slightly confused on the press-release spin though. How can you 'put greater focus on' and 'optimize the refocus' when its your only gig.
I can't see this as just possibly trimming the surplus after GR development because the loss of your senior animation lead doesn't make sense.
Quite frankly I'm suspicious of NCwest re: possible targets / interference and/or timescale demands for the product. Its that kinda thing that pushes otherwise enthusiastic and capable staff to breaking point.
Anyway, thankyou for all your hard work. Good luck Chris and the rest of the recently liberated. Heres hoping opportunties arise for you all asap.
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When the various community reps pursued other opportunities, there were announcements because legally they were considered public personas given that they interacted with the community as part of their job description. Those are the absolute only people who have left the company who have had any sort of announcement as to their departure. There may or may not have been others who have left in the intervening time that we didn't know about because, honestly, its none of our business. We wouldn't have known about this if there hadn't been a leak about it because, again its none of our business and contrary to privacy law for any company to actually speak about it in anything but the vaguest and broadest terms.|
Originally Posted by CaptainAmazing
So as this is turning into nothing but pot shots *ducks*
I do have a minor question or two. Haven't we had parties and heart felt good byes to lighthouse and others? What was different in this case I wonder? Instead of "we'll mss you!" we got this stone faced "I don't know who you're talking about, -_-" Wing Commander-like response (and we all know how well it turned out  ) isn't that a bit odd?On a side note if charles had discovered the cure for cancer wouldnt the previous employer want to highlight that during thief employment such an earth shattering discovery was made? HOW could that be bad press? @_@ Regards, -C.A. |
BAB's interactions with the community were never a part of his job description and he ceased all communications months ago. Therefore he couldn't be considered a public figure in the company and therefore the company and BAB would be constrained in what they could say due to both company policy and privacy law.
When Jack left, he never actually left the company he was simply moved to a different game, when Positron shifted over to a new focus, he was also still a part of the company. That's why announcements could be made for either of those. When Lighthouse, Cuppa, Ex Libris, and Nivene all left, they were public figures due to their community involvement inherent in their job descriptions. And even there there was little more than, "This person no longer works here but we hope for the best for them" which is a pretty standard message for departing spokespeople. But even then they're not required to be given a send off, especially if the employee requests that there isn't one, for example that other mod we had, I don't remember the name but I remember that it started with a K...There wasn't an announcement for him, he was simply gone with no comment. Again there are good privacy reasons that this would be the case and it is None Of Our Business.
These privacy laws exist for a very good reason. Given the example of charles making the cure for cancer, It may not be proven or rigourously tested yet to ensure that its safe, may it be ready for the market any time soon, one of the key ingredients may be baby seals, or Charles may hold the intellectual rights to the cure and the company is contractually obligated to not say anything about it.
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Originally Posted by Knightfox
Yet another example of this company hiding from controversy. The attitude that is building over there is causing me a great deal concern. I'm already disgusted that we seem to have to pay for costume pieces from here on, and the stone wall is getting old quick.
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You do realize that if you were let go from your job, your company wouldn't be able to publically discuss it, either... right?
You could tell everybody in the world that you were layed off if you wanted to, but it's extremely immoral for a company to do the same in regards to their recent ex-employees.
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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oh ....I'd never seen that one.|
Originally Posted by Muon_Neutrino
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Wow.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
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Heck, we can't discuss it privately, when somebody leaves, without putting our jobs at risk.|
Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
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You do realize that if you were let go from your job, your company wouldn't be able to publically discuss it, either... right? |
The companies have to protect themselves.
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You are good at graphics cards. Stick to that
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Originally Posted by je_saist
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You can say what you will about policies. But Ocho and the gang are just following the rules so that a flame war doesnt start. Ocho is awesome in my opinion.
I miss Babs.
I've missed him for months though.
I guess I'll go on missing him.
(I miss Koschej, too.)
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There are no problems being wrong. I should know, I'm an expert at it. |
Originally Posted by Acemace
Stop it, you're killin me. Oh man, it does not pay to be wrong on these boards.
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What is a problem is saying you are always right, know everything about the game, and failing to acknowledge you could possibly be wrong in the face of heavy evidence to the contrary.
So let's remember the good work that BAB and others have done to make this such a great game - and maybe one day we'll get the answer to the burning question: "Why did everyone call him BaB instead of BAB?"
Thelonious Monk
I know I'm late to the party and all,
best wishes to BABs, he'll be missed.
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Meh, I always called him BABs. *shrug*
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Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
and maybe one day we'll get the answer to the burning question: "Why did everyone call him BaB instead of BAB?"
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Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
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Originally Posted by Scarlet Shocker
and maybe one day we'll get the answer to the burning question: "Why did everyone call him BaB instead of BAB?"
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Originally Posted by Goliath Bird Eater
Meh, I always called him BABs. *shrug*
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I always called him BAB too - adding the "s" just seemed weird
@Golden Girl
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I guess, I have to retire my tank "Back Alley Broiler"..the chicken tank
Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
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Originally Posted by hedgehog_NA
I guess, I have to retire my tank "Back Alley Broiler"..the chicken tank
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Brawler was a great animator, and it becomes painfully obvious how good when you look at animations in some competing cames, including some that haven't even been released yet. And before he cut off correspondence in the forums, he was one of the more friendly and informative devs in the game, and it was greatly appreciated, at least by me. I obviously don't know the specifics of what happened, but it's this games loss without a doubt. I would love to know what happened exactly, so I know who to shoot hate at... lol.
Yea Cyber_naut.
I miss BaB, it was good being able to talk directly to a lot of Devs.
I'll remember him for being one of the Devs that spoke most to the playerbase and I can sort of imagine him sitting near his pc, his whip in his cubicle, animating on his spare time (During an issue where he had little to do)... "Walk"
Bye bye BaB, it is Paragons loss. I hope you get an even better job where you can grow even more in your skills. I hope the others that lost their jobs will find equal or even better jobs.
And I do agree it do begins to be more corporate talk here...
Has the Black Pebble joined forces with the the Dark Lawyer? What troubles lies in the horizon for the Players in Paragon City? ... Is that the Red Tape in looming in the shadows?
...
We shall see.
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Mmm... So confused|
Originally Posted by theOcho
The PR statement from the article is correct.
In an effort to put a greater focus on the City of Heroes franchise, Paragon Studios is shifting resources within the studio. In order to optimize the refocus, there has been a reduction in force that has impacted a small amount of people. Paragon Studios is an integral part of the NCsoft West family and will continue to prosper, delivering the worlds most popular superpowered hero MMO game, City of Heroes, to fans around the world. |
Normally when I think of focus, I think an dincrease of activity in certain area, which normally results with more labor; or folks are moved from one area deemed not as critical to another more critical area. But how can we have "more" focus with "less" people?
I can't understand, how can this be possible? I must be miss-understanding something...
Hugs
Stormy
Ps: My husband says, the statement made by Ocho could be actually true, when one considers the reality of diminishing returns. For instance, if you have to make 100 sandwhiches, and have one person, it will take say 1000 minutes at 10 min a sandwhich to prepare, If you have 2, then it drops to 500 minutes, if you increase the staff to say 4 it will drop to 250 minutes. Then you think, lets hire 100 folks to make a sandwhich each, thus in 10 min we would have all 100 sandwhiches, right? Wrong! One must consider we have so many knives, so many jars of condiments, so much work space, so in reality all the cooks gets on each other's way, and we could very well take all 1000 minutes again to make the 100 sandwhiches. There is a point, where support resources can not provide for more workers. It is possible that CoH development had reached a diminished return situation and by letting a few employees go the actual efficinecy may have been greatly improved with a net positive effect.
I laughed at my husband, and said, I doubt that would be the case at CoH :<)
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I once hired 9 women to make me a baby in a month.|
Originally Posted by Stormfront_NA
Mmm... So confused
Normally when I think of focus, I think an dincrease of activity in certain area, which normally results with more labor; or folks are moved from one area deemed not as critical to another more critical area. But how can we have "more" focus with "less" people? I can't understand, how can this be possible? I must be miss-understanding something... Hugs Stormy Ps: My husband says, the statement made by Ocho could be actually true, when one considers the reality of diminishing returns. For instance, if you have to make 100 sandwhiches, and have one person, it will take say 1000 minutes at 10 min a sandwhich to prepare, If you have 2, then it drops to 500 minutes, if you increase the staff to say 4 it will drop to 250 minutes. Then you think, lets hire 100 folks to make a sandwhich each, thus in 10 min we would have all 100 sandwhiches, right? Wrong! One must consider we have so many knives, so many jars of condiments, so much work space, so in reality all the cooks gets on each other's way, and we could very well take all 1000 minutes again to make the 100 sandwhiches. There is a point, where support resources can not provide for more workers. It is possible that CoH development had reached a diminished return situation and by letting a few employees go the actual efficinecy may have been greatly improved with a net positive effect. I laughed at my husband, and said, I doubt that would be the case at CoH :<) |
Anyone want 8 extra babies?
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And I bet none of them came in on time and under budget, did they? |
Originally Posted by PumBumbler
I once hired 9 women to make me a baby in a month.
Anyone want 8 extra babies? |
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If the admittedly odd wording of the announcement is right, then one possible explanation is that they had early stage development going on for a second title. That got the axe, and they adjusted headcount accordingly. That would account for both an increase in focus and reducing headcount.
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Originally Posted by Stormfront_NA
Normally when I think of focus, I think an dincrease of activity in certain area, which normally results with more labor; or folks are moved from one area deemed not as critical to another more critical area. But how can we have "more" focus with "less" people?
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Freedom: Blazing Larb, Fiery Fulcrum, Sardan Reborn, Arctic-Frenzy, Wasabi Sam, Mr Smashtastic.
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Lulz.
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Originally Posted by PumBumbler
I once hired 9 women to make me a baby in a month.
Anyone want 8 extra babies? |
So...what is the skinny?
Did BABs indeed get let go?
Has he emerged anywhere else yet?
Anybody else that we may know from the forums, ie Red Name?
For those who have fought for it
Life
Has a meaning the protected will never know.
BAB was one of the ones who left - there won't be anymore details from red names.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
I do have a minor question or two.
Haven't we had parties and heart felt good byes to lighthouse and others? What was different in this case I wonder?
Regards,
-C.A.
Yeah, I think it's because OCR directly relates to the forum users and that's why we get told about Lighthouse, Exlibris, Cuppa and the rest.
But not for Manticore, BaB's, Recluse etc.
I could be wrong, this is what I'm going with though.
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