Mattnettic leaving KI.

[Flash33]

UPDATE: Matt is now Principal Designer for The Sims at Electronic Arts.

[jlegendwielder]

So...he jumped as opposed to being pushed. Good for him; I smell a pay increase...Congrats to Mattnetic.

In case anyone on these boards happens to be in touch with him and it seems appropriate, let him know that if he ever comes to headquarters an old Centralite (me) would be happy to show him around town.

[AstralFrost]

UPDATE: Matt is now Principal Designer for The Sims at Electronic Arts.

I can't blame him... Thats a pretty good upgrade if I do say so myself, whether you like EA or not...

[YourToothbrush]

UPDATE: Matt is now Principal Designer for The Sims at Electronic Arts.

That's a heck of a climb, good for him!

[edward sky]

Glad he moved elsewhere rather than be let go; Wish him the best, it's always bittersweet to see KI staff leave after so long though honestly.

What a weird feeling it would be if all the originals were gone and whose hands would our long beloved game be in.

[Willowdreamer]

What a weird feeling it would be if all the originals were gone and whose hands would our long beloved game be in.

You're going to have this feeling more and more as you go through life - it is the way of the world. We have to trust that those who leave provide enough information and train their replacements well on the basics. The next generation of developers and artists will bring their own ideas, and hopefully we will be in for an influx of enthusiasm and creativity.

[Dylan Windwalker]

You're going to have this feeling more and more as you go through life - it is the way of the world. We have to trust that those who leave provide enough information and train their replacements well on the basics. The next generation of developers and artists will bring their own ideas, and hopefully we will be in for an influx of enthusiasm and creativity.

The only or rather main concern I have with the new employees who will be replacing Mattnettic and others that move on from their positions from Kingsisle is whether or not they play the game. And I'm not talking about playing the game to running their own private server to see whether an update mechanic works, I'm talking about playing the game regularly in their free time and interacting with other players because the best teacher is subjective firsthand experience and witnessing the problems of the game for themselves. A person could take endless notes about a certain topic but they will never achieve the same knowledge if they weren't there themselves (of course this is different in regards to history, this is very much narrowed down to things in the present and ones a person could actively participate in). That's why I have a high respect for @Eric Stormbringer since I've seen him play the game before he became a Ki Employee (plus other stuff like his transparency/communication with the community).

Ki doesn't seem to have a good track record of this but I guess that's a different concern since they're not the new employees and its the new employee's personal responsibility to do what their colleagues seemingly may not do, what they think is best to maximize their ability to implement improvements to the game.

[Allison DeathWielder]

The only or rather main concern I have with the new employees who will be replacing Mattnettic and others that move on from their positions from Kingsisle is whether or not they play the game. And I'm not talking about playing the game to running their own private server to see whether an update mechanic works, I'm talking about playing the game regularly in their free time and interacting with other players because the best teacher is subjective firsthand experience and witnessing the problems of the game for themselves. A person could take endless notes about a certain topic but they will never achieve the same knowledge if they weren't there themselves (of course this is different in regards to history, this is very much narrowed down to things in the present and ones a person could actively participate in). That's why I have a high respect for @Eric Stormbringer since I've seen him play the game before he became a Ki Employee (plus other stuff like his transparency/communication with the community).

Ki doesn't seem to have a good track record of this but I guess that's a different concern since they're not the new employees and its the new employee's personal responsibility to do what their colleagues seemingly may not do, what they think is best to maximize their ability to implement improvements to the game.

Players often say that devs need to play their own game in their free time, but it really seems unfair as an expectation to me. You're basically asking them to work on the game for 8 hours a day, then go home and get back on the game they just spent 8 hours staring at. Not only would that create burnout very quickly, but it's also essentially asking them to do more work unpaid in their free time. I'll bet you anything Eric understandably doesn't play the game as much as he used to outside of work since he started working at KI, and I would also bet you that's true of most devs for any game.

Reality is that devs have a very different perspective on their games from players. It's not necessary to be an active player of a game you develop in order to understand it and work on it within the numerous constraints that players are not privy to (many of which likely give players the false perception devs don't understand). Basically, what I'm getting at is that I don't care if new blood actually plays the game in their free time and I think it's ridiculous to expect that, but I do expect them to know how to do their jobs and the people employed at KI definitely have shown that they do, so I'm unworried in that department.

Right now I'm most worried about newer hires being chosen by Gamigo to start shifting toward repeating their history of milking games dry rather than keeping them fun. Unfortunately, it's going to be a long time before we actually know that's where we're headed and will probably be too late by then.

[Arthur Wethersfield]

I think that it's important for Devs to play the game they work on. Devs should understand the game from a player's perspective.

I play 15-30 minutes every day. I'm up to the last fight in Lemuria. I've almost finished the Winter Scroll of Fortune and I've finished the previous 9.

Arthur (Gary)

[Dylan Windwalker]

I think that it's important for Devs to play the game they work on. Devs should understand the game from a player's perspective.

I play 15-30 minutes every day. I'm up to the last fight in Lemuria. I've almost finished the Winter Scroll of Fortune and I've finished the previous 9.

Arthur (Gary)

Thank you for that Even if it isn't as much play time as many other players, I think its sufficient to capture the player experience.