Risk of Rain 2 is a game about navigation.
A medium time ago I was a platform quality assurance engineer at a video game company called Trion. My job was to ensure all software products Trion made were able to be discovered, purchased, downloaded, launched, and played by the end user.
My previous job was a platform quality assurance engineer at a video game company called Sony Online Entertainment, site of the infamous hack that compromised 24.7 million gamer accounts. Happened on my watch. So it goes.
I left SOE and wandered around taking sellsword gigs for a time, felt some type of way about the industry, lost my faith. I got the Trion job through the grace of my second family network of video game industry gypsies, tramps, and thieves who simply forbade me the luxury of giving up on myself.
I walked into Trion on full tryhard mode. I documented, escalated, and evangelized every issue my team found. Reason being that back at SOE I blamed myself for what happened, we found the vulnerabilities that could lead to what happened, we warned the chain of command that it could happen, but in the video game world, QA is suggestions from teenagers who don't understand how the world works.
I blamed myself for not finding a way to help them understand. Convinced myself I wasn't "Alpha" enough, professional enough, strong enough, brave enough, or persistent enough, and millions of people paid the price. I wasn't gonna let that happen again, so I got in faces, I pushed my agenda, I yelled, and stomped, and carried on. I preferred to be fired than feel as helpless as my last relationship made me feel.
Didn't work, all of my energy didn't equal action. The powers that be rushed the product, going as far as to just skip QA oversite and push stuff forward. Bugs that would not allow the game to download were responded to with NAB (Not a bug) written in bold block red. QA was taken off of the meeting list, they would fill us in as needed. I found myself in that same emotional prison, not for lack of trying. Such is life.
When Trion announced the game was launching its marquee title Defiance, in a state that every department except marketing agreed to be "fuckin' trash," We all knew what was coming next, we had seen this video review.
And then the review showed up. Joe spends a hefty amount of time demolishing the shitty online service of the game, also known as my job. I felt attacked, like Paul Revere riding through town yelling the British are coming only to have the governor respond, "Nigga chill, it's not that serious." Then opening a history book to read all about Paul Revere, the lazy traitor that half-assed his job and got everyone drinking tea and eating crumpets like 21 Savage.
We documented his complaints and forwarded the bug reports and emails we recorded months ago to the powers that be. Their response, "Now that we understand the gravity of the issues, we will prioritize fixes as we continue along our long term roadmap."
The entire San Diego campus shut down shortly after that video. Hundreds of layoffs, myself included. I decided to quit the gaming industry in that parking lot holding my box of chibi's, hori stick and commemorative Defiance launch team bronze sand bug, or whatever it was called.
My only wish was that one day someone would vindicate the lowly ones like myself who only wanted to make great products but were voiceless by NDA, trapped between inept leadership, selfish journalism, and a hostile fanbase.
Cecillia and Jason, thanks. Keep it up.
Shouts to info, yes all those I.P. Regions I keep popping up at are not bounces. On the road again, see you when I see you. Get out there and do great things, we believe in you, also rip TB rip TC rip Tall - T. Love is a thing you do, hate is a thing you argue. Also Jerbz.
The Protoculture Mixtape : Issue : Ell
