Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

[Junmarko]

I don’t think it’s particularly interesting.

That's his opinion, but did he not notice how players were lauding it in Dragon Age: Origins, or...?

DA:O was basically mimicking the MMO delivery of player pathing: choose back story (racial choice) = small zone unique to player choice, short lived & once it's over 99% of players just end up having the same experience.

When you consider the better alternative, shorter starting locale for everyone (story intro + tutorial) - followed by completely different, branching routes for the player after they get through 15min intro (F:NV) you can't fault his opinion. Always prefered the game to open up as you play it. Different starting locations are when the game is trying to hide linearity, single player RPGs shouldn't need them.

 

[Diggfinger]

Temple of Elemental Evil did this, and the devs have said that in retrospect it was a waste of resources better spent eleswhere.

However, Grimoire ALSO did this and the Neanderthal-Uebermensch-SuperDevelopper said it was implemented/tested in the blink of an eye while filing annual tax reports...who shall we beCleve?

 

[Butter]

Sawyer isn't a programmer. I don't think he knows how much time/effort is involved in implementing anything. He has to go by what his minions tell him, and they're probably all inflating their estimates so that they have time to play Minesweeper.

 

[hivemind]

will u be my bf josh

 

[Orma]

 

[Orma]

 

[Sentinel]

Tumblrina trying to bait him into the tranny question, and he turns it into a union/CDPR social responsibility and company hypocrisy instead, while not really saying much at all.

Masterful.

 

[Nutria]

He managed to not use the phrase "Polish death camps" so I guess by the standards of 2019 that went well.

 

[Bohrain]

Having different starting locations didn't really feel that special in DA:O. What I would like to see more is the AoD different starting paths expanded. Instead of occupying the spot of an NPC for some of the first quests in the game, those persistent roles would matter more in the long run.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

When I wear my Game Workers Unite shirt in former Soviet Bloc countries, I get shit from a few senior game devs (always/only at the upper management level) about it. They are always people who were born prior to the fall of the Soviet Union and have extremely negative views of unions. Younger people (and most of the older people who talked to me) have a more positive view of unions.

"these people who have experience with a subject view it negatively, but good news is that the people who don't view it positively!"

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I am literally shaking right now at the injustice that happens to people who willingly went to work in games industry despite public knowledge that working conditions are from XIX century.

 

[Harthwain]

Pretty sure he was given shit for the shirt purely because it was a reference to "Workers of the world, unite!" slogan, not because of somebody's "views on unions". Some people won't like any references to communism, no matter what, because they were personally and very negatively impacted by it. People who didn't live under communism or weren't treated as badly aren't that bothered by them.

 

[Roguey]

Old Josh:

i'm not anti-union, but the legal powers of unions in the u.s. have been systematically weakened for decades and most major publishers are heavily international now. a lot of publishers already have dev houses making a huge amount of core and supplemental content overseas. i don't think there is any mechanism in place, legal or otherwise, that would prevent publishers and investors from moving more of their development money out of the u.s. as a reaction to devs unionizing.

New Josh: union good, we must union

 

[Nano]

I am literally shaking right now at the injustice that happens to people who willingly went to work in games industry despite public knowledge that working conditions are from XIX century.

What is your intention with this post? Are you saying:

a) that the game industry employees complaining about this should just suck it up and do their work
b) that they should stop working on video games, meaning less video games get made
c) that you just like laughing at people in a bad place
d) both A and C?

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I'm saying the games industry is a mess precisely because people knowingly go to work there even when "Warning: Floor is Lava" is written on the company door. Then they still walk inside and they are surprised CEO is Hitler and the job consists of being fucked in the ass by demons.

I don't mind at all if they unionize, but take some fucking responsibility for your own mistakes already. They only reason they have to talk about unions is because market doesn't have a chance to correct if people willingly ignore all the market warnings.

 

[Harthwain]

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I fully support game developers unionizing. Western developers unionizing is the fastest way to get rid of the cancer in the video game industry.

 

[Atchodas]

"these people who have experience with a subject view it negatively, but good news is that the people who don't view it positively!"

Sawyer is retarded there is nothing else to it

 

[Alex]

I fully support game developers unionizing. Western developers unionizing is the fastest way to get rid of the cancer that is the video game industry.

Fixed for you.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Pretty sure he was given shit for the shirt purely because it was a reference to "Workers of the world, unite!" slogan, not because of somebody's "views on unions". Some people won't like any references to communism, no matter what, because they were personally and very negatively impacted by it. People who didn't live under communism or weren't treated as badly aren't that bothered by them.

That's exactly what I thought. People who had their youth ruined by communism can rightly be allergic to ironic hipster communism.

 

[vonAchdorf]

What is your intention with this post? Are you saying:

a) that the game industry employees complaining about this should just suck it up and do their work
b) that they should stop working on video games, meaning less video games get made
c) that you just like laughing at people in a bad place
d) both A and C?

The question is rather: Can unions (help to) solve the problems prevalent in the games industry and why does the games industry have those problems, while other sectors, which also don't have unions, either don't have those problems or to a much lesser extent.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Pffff. Bernie. Every Cali douche is a Bernie person. Why doesn't he get original and go Tulsi Gabbard

 

[Nano]

I fucking hate Bernie and all other social democrats who try to convince left-wingers that capitalism can be saved. #Revolution2020

 

[Mikeal]