Breakfast Topic: The secret lives of Blizzard employees
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 16th 2008 at 8:00AM
Tom "Kalgan" Chilton, in his interview we posted yesterday, said that one of Blizzard's class designers was the guild leader of one of the world's best known PvP guilds, but he wants to keep him anonymous. Wait, what?Chilton meant that Blizzard has solid ties into the community, but should it worry us at all that those ties might be a little too close-knit? We already know that Jeff "Tigole" Kaplan has major ties to a guild in the game (he was actually hired by Blizzard from his Everquest raiding guild), and quest designer Alex "Furor" Afrasiabi also comes from a guild that is still active in World of Warcraft. In fact, we've already seen Blizzard get in trouble by their own admission for treating the devs' guilds differently -- is it right for them to keep their guild associations anonymous?
On the one hand, obviously it's much easier to keep the developers' ingame identities anonymous, otherwise they wouldn't be able to play the game at all without getting approached with questions and complaints every time they log on. But on the other hand, not only is there the potential for favoritism in terms of game design, but what if the PvP guild mentioned in the article was one that won an eSports or the Arena realm tournament? Is it right for Blizzard's developers to keep their guild associations anonymous?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Guilds, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics, Rumors
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Boom Apr 16th 2008 8:07AM
Blizz wouldn't be stupid enough to give a dev an unfair advantage in a community contest. You're being paranoid.
I'm thrilled to know the devs are THAT deeply embedded in the player community, and at such "serious gaming" levels. It will do nothing but help educate the devs on our issues and desires.
Not sure why we're talking about this today. Slow news day?
Boom
Aldrel Apr 16th 2008 8:22AM
This is the same group of people who thought 2.2 would fix AFKs in AV. Never underestimate their stupidity.
Angus Apr 16th 2008 9:53AM
"Blizz wouldn't be stupid enough to give a dev an unfair advantage in a community contest."
Really? So it also wouldn't have a Warlock complaining about other classes being able to trounce them help the direction of nerfs? Nor would it let those Warlocks have info that isn't even in the PTR, would it? Nor would it delete those posts after people pointed out that someone's guild mate being bad was causing major nerfs to other classes, right?
This company made a mistake hiring someone that had openly declared that hybrids were horrible and didn't deserve to be able to do more than one thing and putting him in charge of a game where 1/3rd the classes were "hybrids". They then gave all the cool tricks the Paladin had to the warrior, gave the warrior a role besides tanking (thus making it a hybrid) and made it more powerful than it had any right to be.
PVP nerfs coming into PVE have horribly hurt this game. Some classes get PVP nerfs that don't even make sense.
I think the easiest way to fix this game is fire him, get someone who plays one of the harder classes to be in charge and put 2 people below them to make sure the Devs classes aren't able to dominate.
Would Blizz let a developer win the Tourney? Nope. Probably against the standard rules. Would one of their guildmates win? Most likely. They have info no one else has about how those classes work and "class balance tweaks" might happen.
Balino Apr 16th 2008 8:16AM
I am 100% sure Blizzard employees are not eligible to join the Esport tournaments.
Aracross Apr 16th 2008 8:18AM
Nor their families.
Percinho Apr 16th 2008 8:19AM
I'd be amazed if Blizzard employees and their relations are not banned from entering the contest. That's how things tend to work over here in the uk at least. This makes it a level playing field for my money as having a class designer in your guild would not give you any advantage in the arena tournament.
As you've said, if their identities were made public then they'd not be able to play the game properly, so which is the worst scenario: The possibility of a little in-game perk for a designer, or having core designers/developers who don't actually play the game?
For me it's the latter. I want the people to know what they're talking about, and that means them playing anonymously.
con-man Apr 16th 2008 8:26AM
Yeah I'm a huge fan of WoWinsider but I can't say I appreciate this article. I'm glad to know the ppl responisble for the content are actually that deeply involved in the game. Gives me a little more faith in the process of the changes that usually come with patches.
Xecnamalain Apr 16th 2008 8:45AM
I think Bliz is a company of pros and profesionals. I have faith they will not use thier power for in game gain. Thier knowledge maybe, but not power.
Tirion Apr 16th 2008 8:53AM
What is the alternative? Having the Devs not play their own game? (I think that would explain a lot of other MMOs now that I think of it though). Having Blizzard out among the community, playing the game and interacting with players outside their own echo chamber is the best way to to keep development priorities in sync with what's really happening on the servers.
If you accept that, then anonymity for the devs is necessary. There's no way a Blizzard employee - from Tom Chilton on down to the guy who stocks the snack machine - would ever be able to play if people knew the who they were in game. I mean, c'mon, would you be able to play with the cesspool of the general forums constantly being /whispered directly you?
Angus Apr 16th 2008 9:58AM
Except this isn't really happening that well.
When they are more concerned with PVP than with what the game is actually about, it ruins things.
Daily quests are a way to not be involved in much lore, not have to work very hard, but be able to afford to buy those gems and enchants you need for PVP and Raiding. I don't think it is helping raiders as much as PVPers because raiders have a lot higher requirements for time, usually. 10 matches is pretty little time and the vindicator's stuff is pretty quick to get if you know what you are doing.
We need Devs being in raiding guilds, casual guilds, and PVP guilds. We need the ones in the first two to point out that there are 9 classes and we should stop hurting 2 or 3 for the 4 or 5 that are really potent in PVP.
con-man Apr 16th 2008 10:44AM
"When they are more concerned with PVP than with what the game is actually about, it ruins things."
lolwut? who are you to decide that the game is really meant to be about PVE. PVP is a valid and HUGE part of the game. And just because this article doesnt mention any blizz employees taking part in Raiding guilds doesnt mean there arent any. lrn2read. kthxbye
idiot Apr 16th 2008 11:07AM
con-man, please go back to the wow general forums. Your type isn't liked around here.
con-man Apr 16th 2008 2:04PM
Just because you dont like what I have to say doesnt mean Im a troll. I made a valid point that was longer than 3 words. Go find someone else to troll with.
John Apr 16th 2008 8:58AM
If I was a dev, working day in and day out on the game, I wouldnt want to play on the live servers, I'd stick to the dev servers with my overwhelming GM powers. Heck, if WoW was my job, I think I'd play something else entirely like GTA in my off time. I just think it would be incredibly boring to play the game if I had to develop for it (unless I got to play in "Godmode"). Sorta like how you never see McDonalds employees eating McDonalds food.
pudds Apr 16th 2008 9:09AM
From the WoW tournament TOS:
BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC. ("SPONSOR") IS THE SPONSOR OF THIS TOURNAMENT. [section removed]
"Directors, officers and employees of Sponsor, its parent, and any of their respective affiliate companies, subsidiaries, agents, professional advisors, advertising and promotional agencies, and immediate family and household members of each are not eligible to win any prizes."
Jeez, come on man. Despite the forum trolls' insistence that they're biased/retarded/sabotaging their own game, Blizzard is a large, professional company, concerned above all with making a profit. They're not stupid.
Lizardking63 Apr 16th 2008 9:43AM
They are definitely Horde. Of course, so is most of Wowinsider, so I'm surprised you all don't know each other.
Ahoni Apr 16th 2008 10:37AM
Do you imagine they would actually be allowed to play in peace if people know who they are? From people bugging them about bugs, random drop fairness, PvP balance issues and the general "internet f-wad theory" types just making their lives miserable, it would not be possible for them to play.
They should be allowed to be anonymous in game.
Badger Apr 16th 2008 10:42AM
There is no harm in developers getting to play their own game. Furthermore, there is no harm in maintaining their anonymity, for the very same reasons others have posted above: If the whole dang community found out, they'd be flamed non-stop.
Blizzard is definitely not stupid. They're professionals and they know how to avoid this sort of bias.
With that said ... I just hope that none of the so-called 'class designers' are using their influence to make their own classes more powerful. I doubt that would happen without extensive discussion among the other members of the design teams, but it could happen.
con-man Apr 16th 2008 10:44AM
"When they are more concerned with PVP than with what the game is actually about, it ruins things."
lolwut? who are you to decide that the game is really meant to be about PVE. PVP is a valid and HUGE part of the game. And just because this article doesnt mention any blizz employees taking part in Raiding guilds doesnt mean there arent any. lrn2read. kthxbye
Daimon Apr 16th 2008 2:34PM
If you think that WOW is a pvp game then go back to CS or any other FPS; the game started as a pve game in despite if you played an PVP server or not, the "degrading" of the PVE was done to keep happy those PVP whores that can only work well in 5v5 team, you put them in a 40/25man raid and they dont know what to do;
Yes Angus is right by saying this game is leaning more into the pvp player; making nerfs to pve if they have too. And the notorious "horde preference" is not a myth either; They "fixed" a whole 40man pvp BG to make them happy...
I dont think blizzard will take advantage of their company power to make his employees win pvp contests however.
This is a game of Lore; in despite what the AB,WSG and AV farmer would cry about it. PVP is/should be the extra spice, not even peer with the PVE at all.