We had a short run of something similar to what you describe with our "A Day in the Life" series, released during Blizzard's 20th anniversary: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/b20/interviews.html (Even our team's own Bashiok is featured!)
There's definitely some value to opening up our doors a bit more, so to speak, and giving the community an opportunity to get to know more of the names and faces within Blizzard, and the work-related responsibilities those people have.
That said, it does take a fair amount of resources from multiple departments to put features like that together. When possible we like to couple them with other announcements or initiatives to provide more background and context for what we're working on.
One thing we do fairly often as well is sit various developers and other Blizzard content creators down with fan/media sites for interviews. Ideally that allows for more community-driven questions to be answered, as opposed to any of us rather aimlessly talking about our day-to-day operations. They're also easier to pull off given that we're not publishing the content ourselves -- meaning much fewer resources on our end are required.
Uthul
1 decade ago
1 decade ago
And...maybe you can make me the director for the video and fly me out to California! "nudge, nudge"
Edited by Uthul 01/18/2014 11:37 PM
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
Rygarius
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
01/14/2014 01:28 PMPosted by FairadeyI want to hear more about the apparently amazing cafeteria at Blizzard HQ.
Obligatory picture of my lunch from the Blizzard cafeteria. :D
https://twitter.com/Rygarius/status/423217075121692672
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
Would a fly-on-the-wall developer meeting series be possible? Let us see one of the fabled sit downs, if it is very clearly stated that what is being discussed is just ideas maybe the community could handle it.
I can see how something like that would be cool. In reality though experiments like the recent "WoW Source" interviews would be closer to the final product than our weekly CM meetings with the developers. There's a certain production value and level of professionalism we want to achieve with any official Blizzard video, and not only are our meetings very informal, they're meant to accomplish something a little different than any public-facing interview. It's not really in anyone's best interest for us to repurpose those meetings for public consumption.
Nah. I've seen people throw darts to make important decisions before. At least, that's what I hope they're doing. If they're actually thinking about it, we're all in big trouble with the major rework going into WOD.
It's funny to hear blizzard (a multi-billion dollar company) talking about resources. But then again they are so stingy they can't hire a few programmers to fix bugs that have been around since vanilla, and they just recycle content over and over (see hearthstone, diablo 3 etc).
Aka - We only NET about 95 Million dollars per month...Clearly we don't have enough resources for ANYTHING like this...
Reality is often quite a bit more complicated than these clever little narratives devoid of facts people like to conjure up. I wish we could get together and chat about that in greater detail some day. I'm sure the three of you would exercise patience and understanding should the opportunity arise. :)
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
Yes there are so many of these mini-developers who all run very successful MMO's in their spare time.
lol ;p
Nethaera
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
Would be awesome to get a real glimpse of what it's like behind the scenes, but I wouldn't believe it.
Sadly, there's quite a bit that can't be shared and/or you would find terribly boring. I've been neck deep in spreadsheets and planning documents as are many others. "Behind the scenes" would involve a lot of photos of people staring at computer screens, sounds of frantic typing, email notifications flickering across the screen, instant messages, and meetings involving spreadsheets and planning documents. ;) There's a lot of work that goes on and not as much shenanigans as some would like to hope for, but as Zarhym said, we do try to give more glimpses into individuals and what they do at Blizzard when we can. We'll keep working toward that end as much as possible for you.
Nethaera
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
There are puppy cams.
There are otter cams.
There are cams where you can press a another button and feed ducks.
I want a Blizzard cam with a button where when pressed a cupcake is plopped onto a random CM's desk. :D
Oh yeah... I can't see how THAT could go wrong. ;p
Nethaera
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
Sadly, there's quite a bit that can't be shared and/or you would find terribly boring. I've been neck deep in spreadsheets and planning documents as are many others. "Behind the scenes" would involve a lot of photos of people staring at computer screens, sounds of frantic typing, email notifications flickering across the screen, instant messages, and meetings involving spreadsheets and planning documents. ;) There's a lot of work that goes on and not as much shenanigans as some would like to hope for, but as Zarhym said, we do try to give more glimpses into individuals and what they do at Blizzard when we can. We'll keep working toward that end as much as possible for you.
I think you are a little full of yourself. No one wants to see behind the scenes community manager, they want to see behind the scenes developers.
That's an interesting interpretation of what I said. I mention that I'm neck deep in spreadsheets and you assume that spreadsheets, emails, instant messages, and meetings with spreadsheets and documents don't apply to other people at the company including the designers. It does.
I'm not saying that the developers don't do cool things, but as Zarhym said, to show off said cool things, it would take a lot of work and an unvarnished/unpolished behind the scenes look wouldn't be too terribly informative or interesting if not presented well.
As for being "full of myself"... all I can do is smile and laugh.
Nethaera
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Community Manager
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
*Shrugs* I just want to know who to blame now GC has left.
You could always spread the blame out a bit more. ;)
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
After reading some of the follow-up responses to Neth's and my posts, I have a slightly different, more personal angle on this discussion I want to share!
I totally understand this desire you and others have expressed. I kind of relate it to desires I have to know more about how bands I listen to get along outside of playing music (social dynamic, if you will), what their rehearsals are like, how they collaborate when writing, what their production process is when making an album, etc. I have the same kinds of curiosities about movies and the actors/staff making them.
It's pretty analogous across all arts and entertainment industries, and I think it's because the overarching goal is to create an extremely polished piece or product that moves, inspires, and/or entertains people. The audience is usually not given much of a view into the nuts and bolts of any particular project though, unless some sort of behind-the-scenes feature is released. But even then it's generally not raw video footage, or some producer's diary made public. In whatever format it's delivered, it's scrutinized, polished, and packaged for public consumption first. And that's really what I was getting at in my initial posts, including why it takes resources from around Blizzard to create any such behind-the-scenes material. Profits and revenue aside, employees are resources, of which there is a finite amount, who have any number of day-to-day tasks to keep this ship sailing. :)
Maybe this is getting too esoteric or abstract... I believe that those who pour blood, sweat, and tears into creative endeavors to ideally entertain the masses want to have a lot of control over how information about the work and its creators is presented. The process of completing the work might sometimes be boring, or even dirty, and if an audience gets to peek behind the curtain too much it might irrevocably change their perception of the finished product -- not necessarily because the revelation is damning, but because it takes impact away from the intended experience of the creation itself.
And, all that said, we still want to share with you what we can when we can, because World of Warcraft is ultimately an ongoing collaborative endeavor, in which having an engaged and informed audience providing input is incredibly important. That's why we talk everyday with the public on the forums and social media. We can talk more candidly without necessarily showing you all the nuts and bolts we use to generate the 1.21 gigawatts necessary to keep the mystery and the history unfolding. WHAT.
No harm, no foul! You originally said:
If the argument is that image matters to people -- whether it's the image of an individual, a company, or a brand -- and you're not usually seeing a person at "face value" by looking at their social media profile, I wholeheartedly agree. That's pretty much inherent in social media and not exclusive to any person or group of people, be they celebrities, "semi-celebrity nerd status" folks as you describe, or anyone else. ;)
01/15/2014 10:39 AMPosted by OratoryI'd love to be a fly on the wall in a developer meeting where various things are discussed and ideas thrown around brainstormed. And probably get bored after realizing it's not as exciting as I imagine it.
Maybe I'm being xenophobic here but I think the high production values of things Blizzard puts out with all the translations hampers the ability to do more things. Quality over quantity is usually ideal but raw dev notes would be pretty cool.
I totally understand this desire you and others have expressed. I kind of relate it to desires I have to know more about how bands I listen to get along outside of playing music (social dynamic, if you will), what their rehearsals are like, how they collaborate when writing, what their production process is when making an album, etc. I have the same kinds of curiosities about movies and the actors/staff making them.
It's pretty analogous across all arts and entertainment industries, and I think it's because the overarching goal is to create an extremely polished piece or product that moves, inspires, and/or entertains people. The audience is usually not given much of a view into the nuts and bolts of any particular project though, unless some sort of behind-the-scenes feature is released. But even then it's generally not raw video footage, or some producer's diary made public. In whatever format it's delivered, it's scrutinized, polished, and packaged for public consumption first. And that's really what I was getting at in my initial posts, including why it takes resources from around Blizzard to create any such behind-the-scenes material. Profits and revenue aside, employees are resources, of which there is a finite amount, who have any number of day-to-day tasks to keep this ship sailing. :)
Maybe this is getting too esoteric or abstract... I believe that those who pour blood, sweat, and tears into creative endeavors to ideally entertain the masses want to have a lot of control over how information about the work and its creators is presented. The process of completing the work might sometimes be boring, or even dirty, and if an audience gets to peek behind the curtain too much it might irrevocably change their perception of the finished product -- not necessarily because the revelation is damning, but because it takes impact away from the intended experience of the creation itself.
And, all that said, we still want to share with you what we can when we can, because World of Warcraft is ultimately an ongoing collaborative endeavor, in which having an engaged and informed audience providing input is incredibly important. That's why we talk everyday with the public on the forums and social media. We can talk more candidly without necessarily showing you all the nuts and bolts we use to generate the 1.21 gigawatts necessary to keep the mystery and the history unfolding. WHAT.
01/15/2014 02:07 PMPosted by Artefon
As for being "full of myself"... all I can do is smile and laugh.
That's the spirt Neth. Life is more fun if you're laughing. Also sidebar thanks for my first blue response of any sort in all these years.
P.S. If Zarhym is still sad give him a /hug for me. Candles can /hug right?
No harm, no foul! You originally said:
01/14/2014 10:41 PMPosted by ArtefonThe tone from Zarhym is fitting here as I was just running through Diablo III the other day joking with a friend about how arrogant Zarhym must be in real life after coming upon our the fifth or sixth gold champion pack with a lead named Zarhym. We saw quite a few more playing through to the end of the act...
Then you think about all of their cool guy twitter pics. Selfies in shades sipping posh beverages. "Cool and aloof" take 3403. Click! Couple that image with the comment about the public show for interviews and you quickly realize there's no point in asking them to just be real people. Those at Blizzard in the spotlight seem to be too deep in the abysmal depths their own semi-celebrity nerd status and can't be asked to come up for air anytime soon.
Would be awesome to get a real glimpse of what it's like behind the scenes, but I wouldn't believe it.
If the argument is that image matters to people -- whether it's the image of an individual, a company, or a brand -- and you're not usually seeing a person at "face value" by looking at their social media profile, I wholeheartedly agree. That's pretty much inherent in social media and not exclusive to any person or group of people, be they celebrities, "semi-celebrity nerd status" folks as you describe, or anyone else. ;)
Edited by Zarhym 01/17/2014 12:11 AM
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
01/16/2014 06:09 PMPosted by KénpachiWhile I agree that making a behind the scenes is usually a polished and well thought out piece of work takes time and resources I believe the best way to actually get this done would be to have one of the blizz fan sites do it with just a home camera, they can visit various areas on different days and ask a few questions....I know of a couple I would ask is to actually see what goes on during a regular maintinance on the hardware and software....and then I MUST see the power generator ( and count how many gerbils it takes to power everything ).
At the end of such a video I think everyone who takes part in WoW should get in a group in front of the camera at the end, introduce themselves and their job....including the janitor...its only right that he who keeps the bathrooms tidy of night elf stains and empty all the trashcans of worgen fur.
We've done similar things in the past and it generally works. But it also kind of goes back to what I said about artists wanting to have control over how their art, or the process of creating that art, is presented. Even if a third party is brought in to shoot a bunch of footage and conduct interviews in order to piece together a documentary, we wouldn't just let them have full creative control and final approval. There's always the chance that something could be edited out of context and create frustration/confusion in the community, or something gets filmed we didn't intend for.
In other words we're still very hands on in examples such as you brought up. We'd have Blizzard Communications staff with a camera crew at all times while they're on campus to monitor the b-roll and interviews -- standard protocol for any media visits anyway, and why you might see me in a lot of campus tour pictures, hehe -- and the completed product would require our review and have to be given our approval before it's ever made public.
Again, that's not to say that we don't or won't consider/do this type of thing, but it doesn't reduce Blizzard resource requirements as much as you might think.
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
01/16/2014 06:21 PMPosted by AilidaIf the argument is that image matters to people -- whether it's the image of an individual, a company, or a brand -- and you're not usually seeing a person at "face value" by looking at their social media profile, I wholeheartedly agree. That's pretty much inherent in social media and not exclusive to any person or group of people, be they celebrities, "semi-celebrity nerd status" folks as you describe, or anyone else. ;)
It's your fault for displaying yourself in such a way. Social media has always been a competition to see who can be the biggest... well, you know. That's why I don't participate. If you don't want to be seen in that way - and seeing as you took the time to respond to it, we know it got to you - then don't display yourself in such a way. Don't blame social media for the way people think of you. You made them think that way.
First, it didn't get to me. If you read everything with full context I responded to him because he implied (in response to Nethaera) that he might have made me sad. I wanted to be open about it and let him know that I didn't take offense. I sometimes respond to people who are critical of me or Blizzard because this is a discussion forum, which means constructive debates are welcome. While Artefon was being a little critical in his initial rant, and hinted that he thought he might have offended me in some way, I found a bit of common ground with him and decided to point it out.
Second, I don't understand your point after reading the post a few times. I'm not sure what such way I'm displaying myself that you're faulting me for. His post about employees worrying too much about their image on Twitter wasn't directed at me specifically, which he said more directly in a follow-up post in this thread:
01/15/2014 05:45 AMPosted by ArtefonThe second part was a jab at some of the guys who do post on twitter. Coming from what Zarhym said about having to put on a public face it seemed a decent place to make fun of the people who look like put more effort into their twitter pictures. I have to assume they make fun of some of each others pictures on there. The point being we aren't going to get the inside scoop at Blizzard partly because of the reasons that were stated and mostly due to what I thought was hinted at: that inside information early and out of context would cause more problems than it might alleviate and in order to give that behind the scenes look without causing those problems you can't just film anything back there. More likely you wouldn't be able to film any interesting happening development wise.
And no, it isn't fun posting when people get hurt. I'm sure Zarhym isn't though. He knows I'm only grumpy because I want to take cool Val Kilmer quality selfies myself, but I can't because I'm an ugly dwarf still... and I currently have no idea when I'll be able to get to Draenor and fix my ugly face... because we maybe need a blizzard series thing... Probably.
Third, it's not clear to me if you're suggesting that I shouldn't worry about how I'm perceived by the public on social media and the forums, or that I shouldn't be on social media at all because it's shallow. In either case, those suggestions are pretty much in direct opposition to a core component of how a Community Manager operates. Together with PR we're members of the Communications team at Blizzard and we're public spokespeople for the company. Interacting with the public on forums and social media is in the very fabric of my career, and I want people to get to know me. Showing a bit of my personality while engaging players reinforces the fact that this is a company of human beings who not only share common interests with many people in the community, but are also part of the community as well.
So when we're engaging a large audience and interacting with many people via many outlets, image matters! Blue text shouldn't come from a nameless, faceless entity. :)
Lastly, don't take my response to your post as some indication it "got to me." As I said before, this is a discussion forum. In the context of this discussion about players getting an inside look at Blizzard employees, I saw an opportunity to clarify some things after reading your assertions. It doesn't mean I took it personally.
Zarhym
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Blizzard Employee
1 decade ago
Some kinda inside blizzard series?
01/16/2014 07:28 PMPosted by FlourenceCould you tell me why dragon soul did not live up to the standards that every other end of expansion raid has had?
That's not relevant to this thread at all.
Please stay on topic, find a thread that's relevant to the topic you want to discuss, or (if there isn't one already) create a thread on the topic you want to discuss.
