Missed Web

Yes, it is true: I’m a fan of the Editors, but this video I link to above freaks me out, man. But freaky videos are not the point of this blog post. I am here to talk about the past and the future.

Today is my last day at CCP NA (aka CCP Games). As some of you may know, I was informed on October 19 (“Black Wednesday”) that my contract would be ended today. This 60-day notice is required by the WARN Act. I never heard of this law before October, but in short: if a company has 100 or more employees, they are required to give you 60 days notice and full pay and benefits. The reason is to provide the employee with a chance to either get education that will aid them in getting another job, or give you some lead time in finding a new job. If, before the 60 days are up, you do find a new job, you must (ironically) resign from the company, and you lose your pay. The company is not required to give you a severance package.

To the best of my knowledge, most of us did not get a severance, including myself.

Some of my colleagues had to work one or two months during this transition period. Most of us, however, did not. I can’t imagine what it is like having to work only for a transition, but sitting around for two months trying to find a job while not working, yet being paid is pretty emasculating. I had to fight feelings of uselessness while my friends an co-workers had to work doubly hard because the majority of my team was laid off. At the same time, I kind of felt like I was told that there was a cool party, and not only was I not invited, but I was to sit with other losers in front of a giant window watching everyone else have fun. Plus, there’s the guilt knowing that players are paying for me to not work. When I think about that, that kinda pisses me off.

These feelings, of course, are pretty normal when you’re the victim of a mass layoff. Especially when you know that the layoff occurred because of arrogant corporate decisions, despite all sorts of warnings and advice being provided by a number of people and teams, including yourself.

Despite all of this, I truly love CCP, and I am forever grateful that I had an opportunity to work there, and with so many extremely talented, brilliant, amusing, loving friends.

Speaking of friends, there are two who I would like to mention here who were maligned wrongly (I strongly believe) during the riots:

• Kris Touborg is one of the most brilliant designers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He is passionate about his work, his team, and EVE Online. What hurt me, personally, the most, was that I was not in the position to say anything in regards to the Fearless newsletter that was leaked to the players, and what angered me was that those in the position to ignored our recommendations on how to discuss that with players for whatever reason (perhaps they felt that it would blow over???). The powers that be should have immediately come out and said “yes, this was an internal newsletter that was taken out of context.” They should have explained it, and Kris’s role, as well as been specific about what a debate is, and the nature of this particular debate. Player anger was extremely high and this might not have helped, but doing this would have been the right thing to do. Why the powers that be ignored this recommendation, I do not know. But they did, and that resulted in making the situation a lot worse than it could have been.
• Val Massey – disclaimer: Val has been a personal friend of mine for the last ten or so years. I am very loyal to her. But she was wrongly maligned (I believe) during the riots. The person who came up with the above plan, among other things, was Val. She fought strongly for the players and open, transparent information. The team was on standby waiting for the go from the powers that be. We never got it. I don’t know why this happened, as I noted above, but it did. Val, then, had to do something that would provide the players with something, anything. And so she made her infamous post. She deliberately put her self in the line of fire in order to buy some time while the powers that be finally made a decision. Shortly after she posted (and I mean within 10 minutes), her daughter crumpled up in pain. She had to take her to the ER, where she was admitted and had emergency surgery.

I believe that corporate put both Kris and Val in positions they did not deserve to belong in, and while I know this is too little too late, I feel much better getting how I feel about what happened to them off my shoulders. I hope that this may help some of you see them in a slightly different light. If only one person has a changed point-of-view, then I will be happy.

Another thing: there were two people who got banned for making rape jokes on the forums against two CCP staffers. I banned you. Go fuck yourselves. Rape is not a joke. That you can think making such jokes public??? You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Ah, I feel so much better now.

So, what does the future have in store for me? As it turns out: good things. Prior to working for CCP, I worked for Stratics, an MMO gaming network. Both Val and Zymurgist, believe it or not, used to work for me there. Another ex-Stratics person is the CEO of a company. He contacted me two weeks ago and inquired about my work status, and then after talking to me a bit, offered me a job with his company. I will be building the community and social media for a product that has not yet been announced. This is a very exciting and challenging opportunity for me. Building a community from scratch is not as easy as it sounds. You simply just can’t build community features and expect people to come. It’s a bit easier in the gaming community as usually you have a built-in fanbase for a title as soon as your first press release goes out. I’m nervous, excited, and can’t wait to get started.

The company is based in California, so I will be working from home, with the cats, on California time. I used to (mostly) work Iceland time for CCP. My body, for some reason, is fighting me, and doesn’t want to make the adjustment. It woke me up at 3:00 this morning ><

So, the future… it’s looking good