This is the final article for BlizzCon 2014. By the time this is published it will have been a full week (and a day) after BlizzCon. Whatever hype for the games will have petered out, Warlords of Draenor will likely have become stable, and most of us will have moved one to bigger and more pressing issues. Before we finally put BlizzCon to rest for the year there are eight things I’d like to share: the core values of Blizzard. There will be plenty of buzzwords and a fair amount of “corporate speak” but there are also some important stories that need to be told.
#1 Gameplay First
Everything we do at Blizzard Entertainment is based on the success of the gaming experiences we provide our players. The goal of each discipline within the company — be it art, programming or customer support — is to make our games as fun as possible for as many people as we can reach.
Your mileage may vary, but I have never picked up a Blizzard game I didn’t enjoy. Blizzard makes good games. Think of every Blizzard game you’ve ever played. Now what complaints did you have about the game? Was it a legitimate gameplay problem (AH ruining loot feedback loop?) or was it the community of players forming a lynch mob (Most days on the WoW forums)? Was there every an item from the first category that didn’t get fixed?
Blizzard makes good games, because they play games. They know what’s out there, they haven’t invented any genres, but they do innovate in them. They take decent games and make them better.
#2 Commit To Quality
“Blizzard polish” doesn’t just refer to our gameplay experiences, but to every aspect of our jobs. We approach each task carefully and seriously. We seek honest feedback and use it to improve the quality of our work. At the end of the day, most players won’t remember whether the game was late — only whether it was great.
You could rightly point out that this virtue is perhaps not their strongest during launch events. Diablo errors, WoW expansion blues, the opening of An’Qiraj… Blizzard time is a real thing, because quality does matter. It is the reason why there is a queue of three thousand people on my medium population role play server just to log into Warlords right now. In one month, no one will even remember the agony of the launch queue. Just like with Pandaria, all that will be remembered is our commonly shared experiences trying to click on a telescope or carrying a barrel of explosives to make a phallic shape on the ground.
#3 Play Nice; Play Fair
In our business first impressions are important — but lasting impressions are everything. We strive to maintain a high level of respect and integrity in all interactions with our players, colleagues, and business partners. The conduct of each Blizzard Entertainment employee, whether online or offline, can reflect on the entire company.
You may recall BlizzCon 2011. It was the year they had George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher from Cannibal Corpse. It was also the year that Mike Morhaime had to issue an apology to both the Alliance and the gay community for the things said in a recorded video. You may also recall Dustin Bowder issuing an apology after Nathan Grayson interviewed him. I don’t want to focus on the content of those events, because they’re now quite in the past. An apology from most celebrities, especially video game celebrities, doesn’t mean much and most of the time I don’t believe them when issued, but when Mike Morhaime issues a statement I always pay attention.
Morhaime is a stellar guy, he really is. The few “interactions” I’ve had with him have always been him rushing off to an event, but always stopping for a breath just to let me get out a hello. When he takes the time to address something, it’s important. This year during his opening statements he condemned the ongoing harassment in the online world. To be clear, he did not mention Gamergate. It is my honest opinion that Morhaime was being honest in his statement, he’s the type of guy who would condemn harassment from any sector, even in house. He has been open about wanting everyone to be able to play and enjoy their games and that’s why so many of these values included that type of verbiage.
#4 Embrace Your Inner Geek
Everyone here is a geek at heart. Cutting-edge technology, comic books, science fiction, top-end video cards, action figures with the kung-fu grip…. Whatever it is they’re passionate about, it matters that each employee embraces it! Their unique enthusiasm helps to shape the fun, creative culture that is Blizzard Entertainment.
We are Geek. If you’ve been reading the disclaimer on the articles I’ve posted so far you know that I have friends at Blizzard. They are all huge, massive geeks in their own unique ways. Some play table top, program their own micro-controllers, geek out over the bible, one guy just paints miniatures… doesn’t play, just paints. The one thing I’ve found though is that they all geek out over the game they’re assigned to. They love their stuff, they love everyone elses stuff, and they want their stuff to be better than everyone elses.
#5 Every Voice Matters
Great ideas can come from anywhere. Blizzard Entertainment is what it is today because of the voices of our players and of each member of the company. Every employee is encouraged to speak up, listen, be respectful of other opinions, and embrace criticism as just another avenue for great ideas.
I have a cool story for you. If you caught the WoW Q&A panel this year you will recall the boy in the orc face paint asking a spoilerific question. I ran into his dad on Reddit talking about his how happy he was with the way everyone had treated his son at the event. He’s a single dad and doesn’t have much time to play hardcore like he used to, but his son really enjoys playing video games. At the convention his son got to play Overwatch and the Blizzard staff gathered around him to ask him how he was enjoying it and to give him tips. Now the dad was just happy that they were giving him that attention and making him feel welcome and important… but I can tell you many of us older kids got very similar attention. Every one of our voices matters to the development team because they want to make a game we want to play for a very long time.
#6 Think Globally
Everywhere on the planet there are people who play Blizzard Entertainment games. While respecting the cultural diversity that makes people unique, we strive to grow and support our global gaming community. We also seek the most passionate, talented people in the world to enrich our company and help us forge the future vision of Blizzard Entertainment.
This is a larger value than it might appear at first. When World of Warcraft first launched in China there were several cultural issues that plagued it. The censor board in China is very particular in its rules pertaining to what is allowed to be show when it comes to dead bodies, there are certain traditions when it comes to displaying bone for example. The entire undead race was deemed inappropriate and all of the dead player skeletons had to be removed. There are plenty of ego driven companies out there that would have scoffed at the idea of modifying large parts of the game in order to cater to local traditions, not to mention the rules and laws on the books in some asian countries that limit the amount of game time an individual is allowed. The history of Blizzard in China is a roller coaster, but Blizzard perseveres (you might too for that amount of money!).
#7 Lead Responsibly
Our products and practices can affect not only our employees and players — but the industry at large. As one of the world’s leading game companies, we’re committed to making ethical decisions, always keeping our players in mind, and setting a strong example of professionalism and excellence at all times.
At BlizzCon’s Overwatch panel the question about similarities between it and TF2 came up. Jeff Kaplan responded: “If anyone wants to compare this to TF2, I would take that as the world’s greatest compliment.” In his full answer there was a lack of ego, and I recommend you watch it. He gave respect to other companies, acknowledged their achievements, and then went on to talk about how Overwatch will be different. That humility is something I see in abundance at Blizzard.
#8 Learn & Grow
The games industry is ever-changing. Technology improves, techniques change, and design philosophies become outdated. Since the founding of Blizzard Entertainment, we’ve worked to improve through experience, teaching one another and cultivating the desire to be the best at what we do. We see this as an individual responsibility as well as a company one. Employees can count on their peers, managers, and the company itself to be supportive and help them gain the knowledge and training they need.
You can’t always focus on the good things. You can’t always put on blinders and march forward in a straight line. Sometimes you have to admit that the auction house was a bad idea or that the warrior changes were a tad too drastic this time around. Sometimes you have to swallow blood and take the criticism that’s leveled directly at you. This was a particular strong point of Greg Street before he moved to Riot.
I want to finish up the story of “spoilerkidsdad” because it was so compelling to me. I had asked him if he had ever heard about these core values before. He responded, “I haven’t, but I looked them up and from what I saw at the convention they fully hold to them.” I am very biased, but I have to agree. Looking into the companies’ history you can see them exercise these values whenever they can. It’s all the more important because spoilerkidsdad said something very important that everyone should hear:
As a parent I always second guessed letting my son get into gaming. I’ve tried to get him into every sport and he keeps coming back to these games (blizzard games). Having this experience at Blizzcon put those concerns to rest for me.
That’s pretty heavy. That’s the moment you look at your kids and realize they’ll be okay. That is my take away from all of this week, those were the words I hoped to hear when I asked him about his experience. We’re alright, we can put our concerns to rest, there is still good in this world and we don’t have to keep feeding negative emotions into this hype machine. We can recognize that there is a person on the other end of the computer screen playing and a team of designers who have given up a significant amount of mental and physical health to make all of these games. We need that positivity back, we should still get companies to “Learn & Grow”, but the negativity and cynicism that has infested in us is making us bad, not correcting them. Trust the companies you can trust and flee any companies who abuse you as a gamer.
Spoilerkid has a favorite warlord by the way, it wasn’t Ogrim Doomhammer, but Durotan. His explanation is fantastic: “cause he’s on our side!” If the relationship between spoilderkid and Blizzard says anything about the future of our favorite industry, I think they’re going to be just fine.