Anonymous Zynga employee talks about the stock drop, and what it's like working at Zynga - Polidicks

[quote]I worked for Zynga for a year when my startup was acquired. Within a few months, we were putting in brisk 10 hour days as we started our new project. Six months in a launch date was handed down from above and we shifted to 11 hour days six days a week. People willing to play the politics game were given 'rockstar' status, quarterly bonuses and promotions. Project direction and goals shifted daily, innovation of any kind was difficult - we were constantly forced to hew our game closer to the Farmville/Cityville playbook. Six weeks before shipping the studio was flown out to San Francisco to launch our game - 12 hour days seven days a week, free of the distraction of friends, wives and girlfriends. I watched alcoholism and substance abuse skyrocket, relationships crumble (including my own), people slept on office couches, two developers got divorced, one nervous breakdown. They attempted to smooth this over with more stock, free food and t-shirts. Free food doesn't do you much good when you've lost fifteen pounds from not eating. Our game shipped and performed rather dismally, so the bonuses, raises, promotions and rest we were promised didn't materialize. With a now completely exhausted team, we were expected to work even harder to improve key metrics. Management would divert blame when these unrealistic metrics could not be hit. Our studio manager, possibly the only person who knew how the company was actually performing on a macro level, quit unexpectedly a few weeks after the IPO. But it was all going to be ok, just hang in there, we'd all be rich in a matter of months. We were told point blank in one studio-wide meeting that we would IPO "around $20 a share", and could expect $100 a share within a year if we "launched one or two more successful titles". A quick analysis of the company fundamentals placed it closer to $10. It now sits at $2.90. How does it feel? To spend years being worked into the ground, putting your life on hold and being egged along so top brass can cash out millions at $12 a share while the rank and file employees are in a 'lockout period'?[/quote] [url]http://www.quora.com/Zynga/How-do-Zynga-employees-feel-about-the-companys-summer-2012-stock-price-drop/answers/1435680?srid=DG[/url]

I have my doubts about whether this is real or just someone trolling. If it is real, damn does that ever suck. I'd probably be unemployed, only working on a hobby instead of working at Zynga.

why are big companies such pieces of shit

They got the taste of money and now the pay for it.

[QUOTE=Rediscover;37153025]why are big companies such pieces of shit[/QUOTE] Most of them, that is. And to answer your question, it's because money is usually their Directive One, with most other things falling by the wayside. Thing is, people aren't born with "humanity"; they have to earn it, and for a company comprised of many MANY people, that's a lot of humanities to earn, and even then they have to pool their humanities together and prove that the company is human and has a soul; Valve is probably the best example of being a very "human" company with a collective spirit of generally being great.

This is what happens when you copy and don't innovate or create original things [sub]farmville isn't original there are tons of games like it[/sub]

The Executive Producer for Star Trek Online quit Cryptic last year and went to work for Zynga. He returned about 4 months later because of how shit it was.

At least sweatshop workers aren't told they're going to be rich.

[QUOTE=ironman17;37153085]Most of them, that is. And to answer your question, it's because money is usually their Directive One, with most other things falling by the wayside. Thing is, people aren't born with "humanity"; they have to earn it, and for a company comprised of many MANY people, that's a lot of humanities to earn, and even then they have to pool their humanities together and prove that the company is human and has a soul; Valve is probably the best example of being a very "human" company with a collective spirit of generally being great.[/QUOTE] People are born with humanity, until they see money.

i should tell my mom this, she plays zynga games like crazy

[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;37153915]People are born with humanity, until they see money.[/QUOTE] Personally I ain't down with that; the way I see it, it ain't something you're born with, not something you inherit; it's something you gotta earn by proving that you can do right and consider others, prove that you are not only aware of yourself, but aware of your surroundings and the ramifications of your actions. Earning it is an important thing, and nothing short of mandatory for being human, though one mis-step and you can lose your humanity in an instant through so many things, like ending a life whose premature closure was unnecessary (killing someone who didn't deserve it), doing something unthinkable to a little kid, acting only about oneself for so long without acting for the benefit of others (getting greedy and butchering innocent developers, doing terrible things in the name of a profit margin). We all came into this world with nothing, humanity included, and we had to build up our humanity with the help of others. And that's one of the most important things ever; if someone needs humanity, you help them become human, whether they like it or not; if they're just reclusive then they probably aren't really hurting anyone, but if their actions end up hurting people who don't deserve it, then they need a crash course in humanity and a revival of their sanity. Collateral damage just isn't an appropriate excuse when it comes to people.

[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;37153915]People are born with humanity, until [b]schools tell them greed is good[/b].[/QUOTE] FTFY

I strive to make my living through game development, but I'll avoid companies such as Zynga like the plague. I'm not going to work under someone who doesn't have love for his job outside the salary. Luckily the indie route is easier to take than ever before.

[QUOTE=ironman17;37153085]Most of them, that is. And to answer your question, it's because money is usually their Directive One, with most other things falling by the wayside. Thing is, people aren't born with "humanity"; they have to earn it, and for a company comprised of many MANY people, that's a lot of humanities to earn, and even then they have to pool their humanities together and prove that the company is human and has a soul; Valve is probably the best example of being a very "human" company with a collective spirit of generally being great.[/QUOTE] Agreed. You really need humanity to make it anywhere. Reversing hollowing and kindling bonfires is just too important if you want to acquire a decent soul level, and places like anor londo are just impossible without it.

[QUOTE]12 hour days seven days a week, free of the distraction of friends, wives and girlfriends. I watched alcoholism and substance abuse skyrocket, relationships crumble (including my own), people slept on office couches, two developers got divorced, one nervous breakdown. They attempted to smooth this over with more stock, free food and t-shirts. Free food doesn't do you much good when you've lost fifteen pounds from not eating.[/QUOTE] This is honestly the saddest part in the article, I hope to god this is true and not a troll

Well if is this is true then it's another reason why these cunts deserve to go out of business.

[QUOTE=DinoJesus;37155089]Agreed. You really need humanity to make it anywhere. Reversing hollowing and kindling bonfires is just too important if you want to acquire a decent soul level, and places like anor londo are just impossible without it.[/QUOTE] Oh har-de-[B]har-har[/B] Dark Souls joke; whatever boy, the point still stands that most folks don't really get born into anything, especially not humanity. World ain't gonna do you any favours man; friends and family might, but otherwise you gotta earn your place in the race, prove that you qualify for the big marathon, get experienced and earn your soul.

Humanity is silly, I keep getting invaded and its really annoying

[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;37152991]I have my doubts about whether this is real or just someone trolling. If it is real, damn does that ever suck. I'd probably be unemployed, only working on a hobby instead of working at Zynga.[/QUOTE] very convincing trolling

Even if this source was a fake, I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if these things actually happened within zynga.

Zynga sucks from every point of view. I feel sorry for the one who wrote this.

[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;37152991]I have my doubts about whether this is real or just someone trolling. If it is real, damn does that ever suck. I'd probably be unemployed, only working on a hobby instead of working at Zynga.[/QUOTE] Working in the game industry is hit-or-miss. And by "miss," I mean "have your soul sucked out for nothing."

[QUOTE=ironman17;37153085]Most of them, that is. And to answer your question, it's because money is usually their Directive One, with most other things falling by the wayside. Thing is, people aren't born with "humanity"; they have to earn it, and for a company comprised of many MANY people, that's a lot of humanities to earn, and even then they have to pool their humanities together and prove that the company is human and has a soul; Valve is probably the best example of being a very "human" company with a collective spirit of generally being great.[/QUOTE] A publicly traded company is legally mandated to put profit before anything else. This is a case of that really going way too far. Valve is privately owned so they operate on their own agenda.

Well then, there should be either more privately-owned companies that don't fuck about with investors; even if they're a large source of revenue if you're willing to have their balls bumping against your chin as you flutter your eyelashes, the trouble and damage they can cause to aspirational design documents just doesn't seem worth it if all companies do is make boring "safe" ventures and push their employees into overdrive for too long (it's good to cut down a little, but too much and it just gets boring; besides it's better to fail due to overambition than to fail because the game is fucking boring and generic). If more people stopped buying cookie-cutter beep-boop generic hiccough, companies would have to change their strategies. It's one of the reasons why I like indies better than most triple-A developers chained to over-obligated publishers, since the indies usually aren't obligated to make a game that's guaranteed a return; they just make the fun things they wanna make and usually don't bother with pushing the envelope in expensive photorealistic environments. I still like Valve though; they're the kinda guys who've been doing it right, and don't really need to worry too much about money since they have a big (mostly) reliable online distribution service where they distribute third-party games and take a fair cut. Not everyone can have this though, which is understandable, but in regards to EA, the psychopathic murdering bitch doesn't deserve to even be allowed to hop on the bandwagon. CD Projekt definitely deserves to have their GOG, though; they're cool guys in regards to distributing stuff free from DRM, and they brought us Witcher 2 which was pretty awesome. Then again apparently CD Projekt kicked off their ventures as game translators, translating games into Polish, and now they've got a lucrative digital distribution system like Valve. I guess it helps to have something strong to kickstart your epic ventures and ensure you don't worry too much about turning profits, so you can be awesome and not chained to anything like investors, save for the guys that buy your games and use your services.