Devs Why so Lazy?

Gameplay Chat (PC/Mobile)
22

Asking them to work 7 days/week is bullshit. Even if they got a 3-day weekend, so what?

I think the quality of the software shows they’re overworked. You don’t fix that by making devs spend more time at work. You fix that by carefully measuring how much work they can do in a time period, being careful to never ask for more than that, and fostering an environment where if your team communicates they’ve hit unforeseen obstacles you back off even more. That means your software can be late. It also tends to mean your devs are happier and write better code. They have time to do the extra checks to make sure things are right.

I feel like the game took a big dive around the time we got all the new modes. This nearly quadrupled the amount of content per month the team has to make on top of working on new features on top of bug fixes. They were already swamped before. It’s getting worse. There’s also the problem of technical debt as the game gets older: any old thing left unpolished gets that much harder to polish as time goes on.

I haven’t worked on an F2P game with live releases like this. But I’ve been on a fair share of software projects. I know what an overworked team looks like. You can only solve the problem by alleviating the pressure. That can take the form of smaller commitments, or longer deadlines with faster feedback cycles, or even hiring new people to increase workload. (Hiring’s slow, though. It takes months for a new dev to yield results.)

I have my fair share of things I will complain about but I will not ask the devs to work overtime for a dang video game. I’ve pushed for some things in the past I felt like the community could pick up like better moderation in global. I don’t like when a Friday release goes sour, but I think the solution to that is “no Friday releases”. I will not stand for someone saying the devs need to work more hours. Personally I believe the game would be better if they felt the freedom to work fewer hours. They could take a vacation, too, that sure helps.

I was fairly grouchy at Salty’s reply this morning and I thought about the thread all day, but now I’m more grouchy about the conversation that went on after. I know the devs are competent and I know they can put out higher quality. But not if they’re being asked to deliver a baby in 7 months. That’s in the Twelve Networking Truths, codified in the RFCs next to the protocols that drive the internet.

Again: my problem is not “Sirrian didn’t fix the Delve that weekend”. My problem is “the Delve released in a broken state” and that issues like this are frequent. If the devs don’t have the time to do content releases, the patch should be on the back burner and the pipeline should slow down. One of these days Salty, I hope you get to tell the project manager responsible exactly how you feel. I hope there are hand gestures and visual aids to disambiguate the whats and hows of where objects should be inserted. You probably have some choice words for me, too, and I’ve earned them. But damn. I can’t even make the points I want to make now that this is on the table.

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23

That may be a bit naive point of view.

The game is made not for the entertainment, but for the monetary service alone. Always!
Publisher never cares about the entertainment, nor the people. It only cares about the money.

If they tell you otherwise, they are dishonest and hypocritical liars.
That’s the sad truth of the game industry, what it has become.

Potential customers are just portrayed as a resource or cattle that needs to be exploited whenever possible in a carefully disguised means, preying on psychological compulsive urges, pretty much like an addict who needs to get his shot or a dose of something to get fixed.

I am talking in general here, not only about Gems of War.

Still, despite having to agree with some of the Saltypatra’s feedback, there are still valid concerns.

She’s not wrong on many points, but there are still a lot of good posts that are explained and commented back at her, and they are sincere and honest opinions.

I still know that the result could have been a lot better than it is with this game, but that’s a point of view.

It could have been a lot worse than it is, that’s true as well, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re currently headed there. Even if I want to believe otherwise, I think that this game came to a point where there’s enough money flowing, enough monetary gain, to not be concerned or attentive enough of the game real problems like they used to be in the past.

I know that everyone makes mistakes, but the problem is that those mistakes happen too often, even with the Beta-Testers. Delves and the monterary loses that we had because of it is just the most recent example.

24

We do not exist in a vacuum, and have deadlines to meet. We have a set schedule and 99% of the time must release content according to that schedule.

If we released less content, we wouldn’t meet our goals and milestones, and would see a drop in revenue. To stay afloat, and please both ourselves and our publisher, we have to keep releasing frequent content and updates. This is the reality of game dev, and I hope this explanation has shed some light on this process.

We are looking into and discussing what can be done about our Friday content releases. When we have more answers and solutions, I will let you know what we are planning to do moving forward to alleviate many of these problems. We won’t be able to always do things perfectly, but we can see room for improvement and are committed to doing better.

I have answered as much as I can on this thread. Please treat each other kindly.

8 Likes
25

For starters this is a game. So we had a problem with a faction on a weekend and it upset a few people. The game is still here and you can still play the faction. Not the end of the world. As far as working 40-80 hours a week well that’s your fault. If I have a mental heath issue (I won’t) I have Dr Phill on speed dial. Long story.

26

I do want to briefly touch on the issue of working weeks and working hours.

To be clear, we work on salaries. Our staff are not paid by the hour. If we work over our contracted hours, we do not receive extra pay. We often do, but it is at our discretion.

And you are entitled to your opinion. As I mentioned earlier, we are looking at ways to better our process. However, I believe that employees are entitled to down time and a reprieve from their jobs, regardless of something being released with a bug. I personally am invested in the mental and physical well being of those at our company, and for other workers that encounter similar issues and demands in other industries.

I’m really sorry to hear this. I think this expectation for you to work 40-80 hours a week is unreasonable and cruel. I wish that there was a way for you to have better working conditions, as I believe this is an unfair expectation that will negatively impact employee health and morale.

@DonBoba, if your banks would do that, that’s great. But many bank workers in Australia would not use their weekend time to do so, whether in a physical bank or from home. In emergencies I am sure staff would be found to rectify problems, but there are also a lot more people that works for banks than for one mobile title. There is also a big difference in a live event going out with a bug, and with people being able to withdraw extra money at the expensive of someone else.

@PeperandSalt none of us would “kill each other to get the extra hours.” We choose to work them when necessary, but when on a salary there is no further compensation.

You had me at the start and then you lost me. :frowning:

If you choose to work 40-80 hours a week of your own volition that’s one thing, but if you feel pressured to in order to keep a job that’s another. Also, I believe mental health is important, and should be considered by employees.

1 Like
27

Let me repeat myself
I hope we not causing any offence to anyone by our views and opinions and We are not here trying to DICTATE how you guys operate :v:
We are just a bunch of passionate players who are concerned about how our product is treated and delivered to us :wink:

28

I think you made my point without knowing it. There is no forced work in the USA. Right now we have one of the lowest unemployment rates on record so if you are working for a cruel employer then I would use every free moment to get a different job.As far as physical and mental heath most companies I have worked for have health insurance so there is that. You can even call a 1 800 number 24/7 if you just want to talk to someone. So not here to pile on anyone’s employers without knowing all the facts. I have seen people where I work want more hours one day then be the first one to ask to go home the next.

29

Off topic
an advice to take for 40-80h a week
1: don’t work where are not happy and where there no opportunity to advance.
2: overtime is part of your path for a promotion :wink:

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30

Off topic.

  1. Overtime SHOULDN’T be part of your path to a promotion. That is exploitation.
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31

Part of the problem is your support contracted hours need to be more aligned with the hours of your $$$ paying players. And those hours are not 9-5 Aussie time.
2 am to Noon your local time would work much better.

32

It always bothers me when I have to be the voice of reason on crap threads like this.
But basically it seems the sentiment is… People want the devs to work harder and longer.
Cool.
But for that to happen, less resources will be made free, the game may require a monthly membership fee, and there will be less new content.
Sooooo…be careful what you wish/demand for. :man_shrugging:

1 Like
33

A lot of games don’t have support teams that work on weekends. It is very normal to expect a 24-72 wait on a first reply for a lot of games. Many do answer more quickly, but this is a very common occurrence and policy.

The benefit of having an in-house support team is that they have a better, more immediate handle on issues as they happen, which means an overall faster turn around, more up to date knowledge of in-game issues, and the ability to add player suggestions to our quality of life board for the developers. (Many support teams aren’t given this ability, or the developers aren’t interested in feedback gathered by support.)

We believe that these pros greatly outweigh the cons of operating during the hours we do.

EDIT
It is also worth mentioning that if support teams can often take 24-72 hours to respond, the timezone that they operate within is less important.

34

So they should align with America friendly hours because that’s where most of their profit is?
The devs get to work at 6 pm CST and leave work at 2 am CST. That’s basically when most of America is off work. So actually… They are aligned with their $$$ customers for the most part.

2 Likes
35

They should time stagger shifts, but weekend coverage… that’s when most people play. Saturday and Sunday should be normal work days.

36

You don’t understand anything about how devs work. You can’t stagger shifts on a collaborative development project. Nobody can communicate, nobody knows what anyone else is doing, and you’re lucky if anything gets done right at all.

Seriously it takes a huge sense of entitlement to tell people on the other side of the world they should work a graveyard shift so your video game (one of hundreds you could be playing) runs smoothly.

10 Likes
38

Sorry to say that we disagree to disagree lol
When someone loves his job he becomes passionate and addicted to it and work non stop till it’s perfect. Most successful people overworked them selves to get where they want from Albert Einstein to Bill Gate. Unfortunately some of us are not born in the stars of the privileged And had to build what we have from the start.
It’s not exploitation it’s a competition to who wants it more.
Exploitation is too easy just recruit our relatives :rofl:

1 Like
39

@Salty I agree with everything you said. I’m so grateful for all the hard work you put into the game and your own time playing the game. Keep up the great work all of you Gems of War workers.

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40

Sirrian is grossly underpaid if that makes you feel any better.

43

:rofl::rofl: That Rocket was getting built for long time and was lunched for quite sometimes now in orbit :wink:

45

You missed part 1