More catching up, slowly
So. Steve (the greenbottle fly, if you remember him) continues to persist. I think he's even gotten most of the coffee off of his body.
Brief update, mostly for a couple of links. WoW friends will appreciate this, courtesy wired_blogs: "From MMO to CEO", a rather belated article covering the transfer of leadership skills learned in online game guilds to the workplace. When I presented "Warrior Queens of the Cyberworld" at Immersive Worlds last year, one of the questions from the audience had to do with precisely this -- whether workplaces are beginning to recognize the immense leadership skills necessary in managing massive online guilds. It looks like they are. Future resumes will list typing WPM, educational training -- and how many wipes it took your team to take down Onyxia.
My last contribution to Inside Job at the Escapist went in last night. I think it's a good one. It's been a very interesting ride. Perhaps more thoughts on this on Friday, if I'm not dead (I think I may be picking up jsridler's cold).
Between Settlers, other writing commitments, work, and visa-related real life garbage, I managed to get into a serious crunch for about the past month, a side effect of which was aggravating the mild RSI in my left neck/shoulder. Saw a massage therapist for it on Tuesday, and am in for apparently multiple more such sessions, but after a couple of days of soreness I'm finally feeling a bit looser. I hadn't even realized how much mobility I'd lost in my neck. The therapist asked if I had trouble driving, with turning my head, and I said no, I didn't think so -- but my neck now turns significantly easier and farther than it did on Tuesday. Yikes. I think I am too young for this shit still.
cristalia has posted eloquently on writing business and why stories like Michael Cisco's should be shared. Obviously, I tend to agree. This was actually the main reason I came over here to post in a timely manner, in case I'm reaching anyone who hasn't already read Cisco's account with Prime Books. I, too, have heard a similar experience with some of the folk there, and have been trepidatious as a result.
It's a complex thing. There is so much fear, in writing and in the games industry, of taking action that may threaten one's career. The thing is, and this applies equally to both, when you really get down to it, there are enough GOOD people working in both businesses that it is never worthwhile to hide or sabotage yourself in order to avoid offending a lousy employer. It is the Sanders thing in a new iteration, though certainly less clear cut. But the principle remains the same. Anyone telling you to shut up just for the sake of shutting up probably has a less-than-noble motive for doing so. Keeping lousy treatment (or, in yhlee's case, truly egregious coffin-nailing wackjobbery) silent because speaking up Just Isn't Done is a great way to perpetuate said lousy treatment. Kudos to Cisco for taking the uncomfortable step and sharing his experience, here's hoping that the full truth comes out. And for those who truly wonder whether speaking up can jeopardize a career, I can tell you that all it does is cut you off from people you really shouldn't be working for in the first place. I actually find it a rather excellent sorting mechanism.
We are all worth more than this.
Brief update, mostly for a couple of links. WoW friends will appreciate this, courtesy wired_blogs: "From MMO to CEO", a rather belated article covering the transfer of leadership skills learned in online game guilds to the workplace. When I presented "Warrior Queens of the Cyberworld" at Immersive Worlds last year, one of the questions from the audience had to do with precisely this -- whether workplaces are beginning to recognize the immense leadership skills necessary in managing massive online guilds. It looks like they are. Future resumes will list typing WPM, educational training -- and how many wipes it took your team to take down Onyxia.
My last contribution to Inside Job at the Escapist went in last night. I think it's a good one. It's been a very interesting ride. Perhaps more thoughts on this on Friday, if I'm not dead (I think I may be picking up jsridler's cold).
Between Settlers, other writing commitments, work, and visa-related real life garbage, I managed to get into a serious crunch for about the past month, a side effect of which was aggravating the mild RSI in my left neck/shoulder. Saw a massage therapist for it on Tuesday, and am in for apparently multiple more such sessions, but after a couple of days of soreness I'm finally feeling a bit looser. I hadn't even realized how much mobility I'd lost in my neck. The therapist asked if I had trouble driving, with turning my head, and I said no, I didn't think so -- but my neck now turns significantly easier and farther than it did on Tuesday. Yikes. I think I am too young for this shit still.
cristalia has posted eloquently on writing business and why stories like Michael Cisco's should be shared. Obviously, I tend to agree. This was actually the main reason I came over here to post in a timely manner, in case I'm reaching anyone who hasn't already read Cisco's account with Prime Books. I, too, have heard a similar experience with some of the folk there, and have been trepidatious as a result.
It's a complex thing. There is so much fear, in writing and in the games industry, of taking action that may threaten one's career. The thing is, and this applies equally to both, when you really get down to it, there are enough GOOD people working in both businesses that it is never worthwhile to hide or sabotage yourself in order to avoid offending a lousy employer. It is the Sanders thing in a new iteration, though certainly less clear cut. But the principle remains the same. Anyone telling you to shut up just for the sake of shutting up probably has a less-than-noble motive for doing so. Keeping lousy treatment (or, in yhlee's case, truly egregious coffin-nailing wackjobbery) silent because speaking up Just Isn't Done is a great way to perpetuate said lousy treatment. Kudos to Cisco for taking the uncomfortable step and sharing his experience, here's hoping that the full truth comes out. And for those who truly wonder whether speaking up can jeopardize a career, I can tell you that all it does is cut you off from people you really shouldn't be working for in the first place. I actually find it a rather excellent sorting mechanism.
We are all worth more than this.