Back Alley Brawler gone?

Sorry, my post was mis-worded. I meant to say that the interview was pretty much the nail in the coffin on whether or not BaBs had left Paragon Studios.

Here's what I mean:

I'm still waiting for the next shoe to drop.

On his blog it says that he is unemployed. http://www.blogger.com/profile/00229331102011180567 which is very worrying considering the good work he has done and iirc has a baby to bring up.

His blog hasn't been updated since October. And regardless, if Arcanaville says she has first hand knowledge I think you can take that to the bank and not worry that his baby is going to go hungry.

And there are other places where he's posted that he IS gainfully employed, thankfully.

He wouldn't have left if he didn't have another job lined up anyway.

Since when did he leave voluntarily?

They downsized and he got the axe. He didn't leave on his own.

Never know, I have known people to take voluntary layoff before. If he had a job lined up, and he knew he could save someone else a job, he may have volunteered.

Chances we will never know unless he does an interview (which I doubt), and even then he may be under contract not to discuss it.

Now for my part, I don't think he did leave by choice, but I do think he had a heads up because of how fast he found a job.

I am glad he is employed, I hate that he went to work for them.

Follow Dawn's link. He said he didn't leave voluntarily.

That a known fact? Or just speculation?

Cause I really don't see the logic in that. You don't axe a veteran animation lead when there're plenty of others you can get rid off.

Maybe he took the hit instead of one of his animation team or something. Maybe because he was on the look out for new challenge anyway. I can see that. But amongst the handfull of people that got tossed out they lose the loyal, experienced lead animator? Doesn't make the least bit of sense.

Can we just leave the crazy at home?

http://christopherlbruce.blogspot.com/2010/10/babs.html

/wince

These things happen. They happened before, and they'll happen again. If they don't make sense to you, its best to try to not overthink them.

More Resistance speak!

Slam those corpuskie bangwiches. Babs chomped mighty dazzle stars. His hole in ones were right outta the park- his rainbow skittles were the curly fries of the franchise.

Now the king's catch gets fumbled and the fanorama's in a jibber--- feelin the piston punch to the pantaloons well past the passing. No wonder they wanna stamp some wisdom n punch some flowers. You read my subtitles?

And more:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...9&postcount=19

Here's the thing, though.

Christopher Bruce was one of the most loyal employees to the game. He was an avid player before he worked for NCsoft, and when a job came open, he moved all the way from Oklahoma out to San Francisco to be part of the the City of Heroes team. When times were lean, he was one of only 15 people working on the game. He was the only animator and effects guy. He was extremely innovative when it came to features such as power customization that everyone else had all but given up on, even the players themselves. He attended every in-game dev/rep event that I knew of, he diligently answered innumerable questions on the forums, he gave us unparalleled insight into what was happening with our game, and most of the players truly liked and admired him.

Now normally, when you have someone who has such a rapport with your customers, who has shown such unswerving loyalty to the company and its products (for god's sake, he worked on Auto Assault before City of Heroes!), and has a demonstrated history of churning out amazing work, you don't lay them off. Even when times are tight, you keep them around, because they're the ones you want with you especially when times are tight.

I don't know why the guy was laid off. From what I've read and heard, he doesn't know either. If layoffs had to happen, why lay off the guy described above? None of us may ever know. Maybe he wasn't as productive as he used to be. Maybe one of the new people is a wiz that makes him look old and busted in comparison. Having dealt with corporatie layoffs myself, most likely in my opinion, is that it had nothing to do with his will or ability. Since he had worked for NCsoft for a while, his salary, bonuses, and benefits were very likely higher than many of the other employees', especially the new people's. I could be wrong (such is the nature of speculation), but it just strikes me as a purely short-term financial decision.

But here's what concerns me. It's not that the game is suddenly going to fold. It is that City of Heroes seems to be getting more and more "corporatized." One of the things that sets City of Heroes apart from most MMOs is its community. Unlike most other games I know of, the devs and reps really do feel more like friends than overlords, which is how most other games feel. But if the company starts prioritizing other concerns such as inflating the bottom line over the loyalty, dedication, contribution, and customer relationship in their employees, what does that say about how it regards its customers or how it will treat them down the line?

My concern is that it doesn't take many decisions like this before City of Heroes becomes MMORPG #2183, ho hum, and I sincerely hope that this doesn't become just "one of these things that happens."

That's about what Arcanaville means when warning not to "overthink" it.

EDIT: That wasn't intended to sound as nibby as it comes out, but anytime a game company shows a side that's more "company" and less "game" those fears arise. It's a natural response. As hard as it is to talk about layoffs and the people that are affected, I'm grateful to actually HEAR about this-- not like the near-dissolution of the CoV dev team that happened after that launch but was never really made public.

Budgets are tight, business decisions have to be made. Sometimes situations that we can't be made aware of make results that we find puzzling from the outside. Sometimes really "corporate-looking" companies have really REALLY fun work environments for their employees, and sometimes the most freewheeling "fun-looking" places to work are filled with the most backbiting intrigue imaginable. From our vantage point on the outside, we really can't judge very well, and all the hypothesizing we do won't change that.

I hear you. Unfortunately, this specific subject is not one I'm comfortable speculating upon openly, for what I hope are obvious reasons. Since personnel decisions are something entirely out of our hands, I'm not sure if there's anything to gain by worrying about the logical consequences of those decisions.

All I can say is that regardless of which developers are no longer here, I'll still support the developers that remain. That's all any of us can do. Beyond that, I am aware of the concern(s) you're expressing, and I hope it doesn't come to that. We'll just have to see.

At the risk of saying more than I should, I will say I have no evidence that NCSoft's decisions reflect a lack of support of the product itself. I can honestly say I've heard there are still long term plans for City of Heroes, and I have no idea what those plans are specifically. Take that for whatever its worth.