In honor of Mr. Hughley, this will be the first entry of a little feature I’ll call “We have got to do better, people!”.

Working in video games, it’s often entertaining to see people dress up like video game characters.  Well, not often actually. 

But, sometimes the universe lines up just right and it works out.

Most times, however… it doesn't.  If you can’t be a good example, I guess you just have to settle for being a terrible warning to others.

You’re doing it wrong.  Ultra. 

Enjoy today’s feature: Cosplay Train Wrecks. 

Please people, we have GOT to do better!

So, I was just over at Rubnefield's blog reading a post he made, among other things, about working as a developer on SWG (as both he and I did at some point).  I found the post wildly entertaining, for reasons mostly unimportant now.  What's probably more interesting, however, are the comments left by former/current SWG players that were [still] full of hatred and disdain.  Not that I don't understand them to some degree, but it's been... years.  I've actually had people issue death threats over what happened during the NGE.

Which, by the way, if you ever find yourself seriously considering harming another life form over something like a game, please seek professional help.  Mmmkay?

If you follow MMO history at all, you're probably at least remotely aware of SWG's "NGE" or "New Game Experience", also known as the flush that was heard around the world.  It's interesting to see people still get highly emotional over it.  People always ask "why", or "who was to blame", or some other such question.  Probably in an attempt to "make sense of it all".  I've seen entire collections of essays filled with conjecture and elaborate theories of evil plots and mastermind geniuses written on the subject.

In reality, however, It's much simpler.

Game development corporations are often times huge machines.  Yes, some cogs are noisier than others, but by and large it's just people doing their jobs.  Surprise!  Working in the games industry is in many ways like...working for most other businesses.  You have long term goals (to make truck loads of cash), short term goals (figure out how to get truck loads of cash) and - most relevantly (is that a word?) to this post- you have bosses.  And they hunger for TPS reports. 

Okay, I made that last part up.  But still... even though you get to wear jeans and T-shirts to work, at the end of the day it's still ultimately a business. 

I can summarize the whole thing with a quote: When working with a group of people, or for a group of people (as opposed to working for yourself)...

"Some of the time you do what you want.  The rest of the time you do what you're told".