[MUD-Dev] Crunch time

[Paul Schwanz]

Hartsman, Scott wrote:

> Give me a staff of "8 to 5" developers in the online games
> industry, and I'll give you a game that, if it ever launches,
> responds entirely too slowly to meet the needs of its community
> and misses untold opportunities for what could be (and often is)
> title-making inspiration.

> Further, whatever successes that it *is* able to eke out will most
> assuredly be on the backs of those who didn't particularly care
> what the clock was reading.

Baloney!  Sorry, but this assumes that 8-5 developers cannot be
dedicated and passionate about what they are doing, and that just
doesn't wash.  Sure, you can find 8-5 developers who are not
passionate and not productive, but I disagree with the underlying
assumption here that all 8-5 developers must have this sort of
attitude.  To me, an 8-5 developer can be someone who is very
passionate about both games *and* about his or her family and
understands that quantity time with families is important to
relational success.

I'll be so bold as to go even further and state that good work comes
from healthy people and healthy people understand that life is about
relationships.  People who do not draw boundaries in their lives and
who do not protect some sort of quantity time in which to build
healthy relationships will eventually find themselves feeling
disillusioned and empty, despite accomplishments in other areas.

> I crunched today.  I chose to crunch today, as did well over a
> dozen of my coworkers.

And how did your wife and kids feel about that?

> Or maybe it was all a pointless exercise; a result of "bad
> planning," when we "should have been home with our families."
> Maybe those extra hours of fixing, tuning, maintaining, and
> listening to the players' feedback one-on-one was a bad idea.
> Maybe we're just fooling ourselves for the free dinners.  Maybe
> we're the punchline of a bad joke.

Or maybe it will all result in a decent game, but a failed marriage
and bitter children.  In the end, it is a matter of priorities.
Personally, I'd want people working on my projects who are
passionate about their families first and games second.  Although
not all 8-5 developers are 8-5 for these reasons, *some are.* And I
believe these developers defy efforts to push them into nice little
cubby holes where they are labelled unproductive, not passionate, or
doomed to fail in creating great games or any other endeavor.

--Phin
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev