Memnir wrote on Feb 26^th, 2014 at 3:13pm:


Maybe the 3BC Cabin Boy can help perk you up.

So how many producers did DDO need with a team of 8 developers?! Rowan, Glin, and apparently her for 3 years? Are there any more closet producers who can come out now?

Rowan didn't do a great job, but DDO was hemorrhaging players under Fernando and Rowan did manage to staunch the flow. Well, at least reduce it to a slow bleed. I certainly wouldn't have wanted his job.

I wonder if we'll finally learn the answer to "How many Executive Producers does it take to fix a First Failed Login bug?"

Yea ive never done any research on this guy nor met him like the rest of you guys... but... they should get somebody to take the job that actually gives a shit about what the actual players care about.. the sad thing is... thatll never happen..

Meursault wrote on Feb 26^th, 2014 at 4:32pm:



Rowan wasn't even around long enough to spell DDO.

I doubt it was because he got hurt about what people might of said on the forums. How long was he around anyway? Long enough to figure out this ships got some leaks and an engine that barely splutters along?

Hathorian wrote on Feb 26^th, 2014 at 12:57pm:


Or maybe he did such a good job on DDO...I love how it always always goes to the negative in internet world.
PR rocked. I'd work with him again on any project at any time.I would not say the same about...others.  Everything complained about here was already in motion before he arrived. All I know is bugs are down, smiles are up, and my bonus was good. He-and DDO doing good or bad- had nothing to do with the layoffs. DDO really had a killer year. It still is.

Forums:It doesn't bother us. If you are on this side of the world, you get really used to the bile quickly. I find it far more entertaining to watch the new people in the business experience the forums for the first time. Is it helpful. No. Annoying. Yep. When a question is asked and the same snark or witty response isn't helpful. I've thought of just making a chart so people could just say 'Insult 7!' 'Response 24!' It would save time anyway.

I'm sure Cyr and Cam Neely will now tell me how much I suck too. And then I won't sleep, and cry into my little pillow and think about all the evil I have caused.

No, I'll finish this glass of wine, move the laundry around and go to bed, or watch some Space Battleship Yamato.

To quote a pretty accurate article:
There will always be people—no matter what we say or how we treat them—that will judge us. Whether you're at the gym, at work, taking the train, or even online playing Call of Duty. Even now it's happening. You will never be able to stop people from judging you, but you can stop it from affecting you.

Think about the worst thing that could possibly happen when someone is judging you or what you're doing. I guarantee that chances are—nothing will happen. Absolutely nothing. No one is going to go out of their busy lives to confront us, or even react for that matter.

Maj, when you take over the world, can I haz Cordovan's job?

I'd like to try my hand at banning everyone who offends me, real or imaginary, including myself at times.

SEE?! I TOLD YOU HE WAS TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

rest wrote on Feb 26^th, 2014 at 11:29am:


It was all planned apparently.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.

He just came over to piss in the pot plants on the DDO side of the building for a bit, and then back home to LOTRO to save the day.

majmalphunktion wrote on Feb 26^th, 2014 at 11:48pm:


MajMal,
Great to hear that you like and respect him - makes working together easier.
Whilst I don't believe you're lying (you don't need to, you could just say nothing), it also doesn't make a lot of sense from a business point of view.
Why move a Producer between product lines for 12 months and then back, and then tell us it was all planned?
Someone got the bullet fit not performing, and Rowan was thrown back into the mix.  It is usually referred to as reacting, not planning.
Also, if an orgn is planning resource cuts, you don't normally do it with half finished work and projects.  Your plan would have some sort of milestone in mind where there could be handover of work.  I know, I know the software industry is special in that way, but there are still better ways to do it reduce business risk.

There is good saying that comes to mind now, "no point in polishing a turd"

My guess is WB delivered you guys a big brown bag filled with a steamer in it and told Turbine mgmt to deal with it on short notice.

Back to Prod Rowan, there is not much he could achieve in the short time he was here.  And if he was having success, why move him?  Why not prolong his successful tenure and put someone else into LOTRO?

And if DDO had a killer year with bonuses galore, why would any sane business manager lay-off half the staff of a profitable enterprise and jeopardise next year's profits?  Does not make business sense.
If DDO had just been through a major project and it was finishing, understand shedding resources you don't need for the they year ahead, but that is not the case.

Some good long term people are let go, many with half finished work by all accounts - that is not what happens in the normal course of profitable business.

So put away that polishing cloth and enjoy your wine and the forum whining. 

FoS is gone from ddo, if this is Rowan's doing he gets an A for effort from me!

AngryKobold wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 4:11am:


Hmmm.
A few of your points I am unsure about.
I don't recall making any reference to any specific content being good or bad, or anything about p2w or not! or even commenting whether as a player I felt the game was successful or not.  So not sure how I got tagged as a moron.

My intention was to convey a business opinion based on what info we do know - the same as any investor/financier/ shareholder might do.  You can only act on the indicators and the published info (99% useless in most cases because it has been sterilised by the PR people and lawyers).

What you propose is plausible - it is certainly another way to look at it.  But from my business experience, it doesn't "smell" right.

My intent is not to target individuals, but you speak of Rowan coming in to fix things.  Anecdotally, the LOTRO people don't see him as a success story.  LOTRO has suffered a significant decline under his stewardship, so if true, it is unlikely that they sent him to DDO for short stint to sort things out.

I believe his move back to LOTRO was reactionary.

Regarding future strategy of DDO - maybe they are positioning assets for sale.  It is possible, but laying off so many experienced software development staff is a high risk strategy.  How do they propose to hold the value of DDO with such a small team, if the sale takes more than 12 months?

If that business unit (DDO) was making enough profit to pay great bonuses, then I cannot see any reason to remove nearly half the technical team.  You might always trim or reduce through attrition, but this was a drastic cut.

Your last comment unintentionally sums up the turbine problem succinctly.  Long term, it doesn't matter what internal mgmt KPI's you meet, if your customers are unhappy your business will fail.  Whilst I understand you cannot respond to individual players, you must endeavour to satisfy the majority of your players to stay in business.  So if you're high-fiving and patting each other on the back for a great year, but your player base is describing your recent efforts as crap - is that successful?
It comes down to profitability over time.  Will those burned by previous xpacs continue to buy more.  Only time will tell.
So let agree to disagree and see what happens to DDO in 2014.

majmalphunktion wrote on Feb 26^th, 2014 at 11:48pm:


It has always been my philosophy that positive constructive feedback is far more likely to be listened to and acted upon than vinegar/piss/vitriol. Who are you most likely to listen to....someone who insults you and is highly negative to you or someone that is constructive/empathetic/positive and genuinely trying to help?

DDO is an awesome game (the best I've ever played) and I think it helps to remember that people wouldn't even be on the forums (and obviously so passionate) if they didn't like it.

Hathorian wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 9:29am:


Don't depend on that much. There are several people here that don't play DDO regularly anymore.