Former Valve dev rants on working at Valve

[Yummychickenblue]

Still beats working at EA or Ubisoft.

Quality of Product =/= Quality of Workplace.

[deathjester]

Yeah this guy has had some interesting reads.

 

http://richg42.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-truth-on-opengl-driver-quality.html

 

^ Basically why Steam OS is dead in the water until the new low level OpenGL is out. Vendor A = Nvidia. B=AMD. C=Intel. 

 

A are jerks. B doesn't want to support the old OpenGL, because it is biased towards A. C could care less. Until we get this? Steam OS might as well not exist.

 

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/187796-opengl-4-5-released-next-gen-opengl-unveiled-cross-platform-mantle-killer-dx12-competitor

http://techreport.com/news/26922/amd-hopes-to-put-a-little-mantle-in-opengl-next

[Nowak]

Exactly. I hate Steam, it never works, and now its just a front for unfinished terrible games (Project Nimbus is cool though).people are all "hurdur so many broken games, Valve will never do"

Last time Valve released was 4 years ago, which was CS:GO that (apparently) should have been a update.

People have always judged EA and others for micro transactions, Valve being the worst offender by far imo.

Dota 2 doesn't exist, then?

 

I'm a Valve fan, I'll admit it, but I don't believe they should be immune to criticism. No company should be. Their customer support is terrible and needs a massive overhaul, as an example. If what this guy is saying is true, too, their workspaces need an overhaul too.

[JAKEBAB]

Oh what a god damn surprise the LTT sheep are here to defend valve no matter what! lmao oh this is just pathetic! 

 

This guy has every right to complain look at some of the other major game publishers offices they are nothing like this.

[Misanthrope]

What a fucking cry baby: He needs to shut the fuck up and go work on a call center: Everything he said about the office applies except you make minimum wage and you get to be yelled at for 8 hours per day by racist fucking hillbillies, instead of working for Valve.

[Scionyde]

I thought part of the whole Valve office gimmick was that your desk has wheels and you're encouraged to go move it wherever you wanted? 

 

Exactly. I hate Steam, it never works, and now its just a front for unfinished terrible games (Project Nimbus is cool though).people are all "hurdur so many broken games, Valve will never do"

 

Steam never works? I guess you and I have been using drastically different services, then. 

[Humbug]

That was fun to read. Glad he got out. Seems like the type who needs his own space.

 

LOL- Nvidia

Guest developers causing trouble:Hyper-competitive graphics card vendors would watch the activity on our huge monitors and get pissed off when we emailed or chatted, even about inane crap, with other vendors.

 

[Malandrix]

It's an office, like any other office.

 

People seem to think that all the big "tech" companies have HQs with unicorns and icecream machines flying everywhere.

[Yoinkerman]

It's an office, like any other office.

 

People seem to think that all the big "tech" companies have HQs with unicorns and icecream machines flying everywhere.

 

Exactly.  How else are people going to be able to collaborate and have 3+ monitors on every desk?

[Scionyde]

*snip*

 

I'll agree with you about the DRM double-standard, and I'm not familiar with this pony controversy. 

 

But for the other three points:

-CS:GO is a $15 game that gets free updates on a relatively frequent basis. Call of Duty gets maligned because it's a $60 game on an annual release schedule with multiplayer content hidden behind overpriced DLC.

-Which AAA-developer has been getting flak for releasing casual games? Recently, Blizzard has done tremendously well with Hearthstone, Ubisoft received praise for Valiant Hearts(and Child of Light to a lesser extent), and nobody seems to be raising a stink over EA's PvZ: Garden Warfare. 

-Are you honestly comparing a lack of cubicle walls to unsafe mining conditions? Seriously?

[NAP51DMustang]

Maybe ubisoft, but EA (well EA Vancouver atleast) sure would beat what was just described.

http://www.ea.com/locations/vancouver

Yeah I would love to work for any EA studio. People really don't understand what a good work place environment will actually do for your quality of life long term.

[Kingofpants]

Still beats working at EA or Ubisoft.

Or Linus Media Group....

#shotsfired

[Malandrix]

Or Linus Media Group....

#shotsfired

Yeah, people seem to say that these places are bad but to be honest Linus Media Group's workspace doesn't seem the most enjoyable. Small, messy, fragile.

 

I guess that's what the new office is for.

[Scionyde]

Yeah I would love to work for any EA studio. People really don't understand what a good work place environment will actually do for your quality of life long term.

 

Wow, that does look nice. Still, I think it depends on which EA studio you work for, because they're not afraid to close down places that don't perform. According to Wikipedia, they've closed down seven studios in the last two years.

[zappian]

Lies , all lies.

[Robin88]

Interesting article, but I have to ask, was that photo of the office taken during an average work day or was it taken during crunch time when the deadline is looming and everyone is trying to finish up their work?

Is he saying all these things because they're true, or is he a bitter ex-employee who's simply trying to ruin valves reputation?

I've worked in terrible conditions as a fabricator welder, so I can totally sympathise if those things are true, and if they are true then Valve should be totally ashamed of themselves, and those of you who're blindly defending Valve, you're idiots imo, no workplace is perfect, no matter what a company tells us to the contrary, and I wouldn't be surprised if those things are true at least some of the time when the pressure to get work out on time is piling on.

I seriously doubt though that Valve's offices are like that 100% of the time, but if those things are true, he should have taken his findings to whatever authorities deal with this kind of stuff in the US instead of just shit-posting on the internet. For example, if there's even a hint of a fire-hazard in Valves HQ due to cramped conditions, then HSE or it's US equivalent should have been notified immediately.

And that's why I'm dubious of his claims, because instead of going to the local authorities, he posted his "findings" on a blog post, and that to me stinks of someone who is nothing more than a bitter ex-employee with an axe to grind.

But if his findings are true, then Valve absolutely should be held accountable for it, and while I can't simply walk away from my steam account due simply to the sheer amount of money I've spent there, I'll start buying my games elsewhere if those things are true, as difficult as that would be.

[Derangel]

Wow, that does look nice. Still, I think it depends on which EA studio you work for, because they're not afraid to close down places that don't perform. According to Wikipedia, they've closed down seven studios in the last two years.

 

A lot of developers have had studios or entire companies shut down in the last couple years. The AAA side of the industry is crumbling. AAA games cost so much these days that if they fail it can easily cost a developer their entire company and force major publishers to close down badly performing studios in order to save money.

[cesrai]

What a fucking cry baby: He needs to shut the fuck up and go work on a call center: Everything he said about the office applies except you make minimum wage and you get to be yelled at for 8 hours per day by racist fucking hillbillies, instead of working for Valve.

No he won't shut the fuck up so GTFO.

[ttam]

This guy is basically a contract dev and thrown into a pit with others just like him. That's what happens. The rest of the studio is pretty damn nice. 

 

What a joke.

[Swndlr]

lol even my desk aint that messy

[StingBull]

I know, open office is crap. But I tried LibreOffice and I don't find it any better.

[frostin1990]

I'll agree with you about the DRM double-standard, and I'm not familiar with this pony controversy. 

 

But for the other three points:

-CS:GO is a $15 game that gets free updates on a relatively frequent basis. Call of Duty gets maligned because it's a $60 game on an annual release schedule with multiplayer content hidden behind overpriced DLC.

-Which AAA-developer has been getting flak for releasing casual games? Recently, Blizzard has done tremendously well with Hearthstone, Ubisoft received praise for Valiant Hearts(and Child of Light to a lesser extent), and nobody seems to be raising a stink over EA's PvZ: Garden Warfare. 

-Are you honestly comparing a lack of cubicle walls to unsafe mining conditions? Seriously?

Exactly and microtrans in valve games are skins/cosmetics etc unlike EA,Ubisoft and Crytek where they make you pay for minerals,guns,armour etc in their Pay2win games.Also Valve is a private company.

[NeatSquidYT]

If you don't like your job quit. I've been saying it for years. I don't feel sorry for anyone who hates or rages out at the company they work for and continues to work there.

Yeah, it's like people don't want to give up a large salary to be unemployed.

[NeatSquidYT]

I know, open office is crap. But I tried LibreOffice and I don't find it any better.

Isn't OpenOffice based on Libre?

[StingBull]

Isn't OpenOffice based on Libre?

 

I thought Libre was forked from Open.