Says staff lose right to complain if they leave projects.
A developer on upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, has backed up WAR Online developer Mythic's stance on the crediting of personnel, saying that staff "lose the right to complain if they leave".
Earlier in the month game website Shacknews reported on a number of disgruntled ex-Mythic employees who contacted the site to complain that they would not be credited in the final Warhammer Online game. EA-owned developer Mythic Entertainment later confirmed that the former staff members that contributed to the game would not be recognised.
AdvertisementSupporting Mythic's stance, Blizzard's J Allen Brack, production director of Wrath of the Lich King, told VideoGamer.com in an interview from Leipzig Games Convention, that while Blizzard "try to credit appropriately", his philosophy was that ex-employees "lose the right to complain if they leave".
He said: "For us, anyone who worked on the game we try to credit appropriately. Even if we had people leave. We actually had hardly any people leave so we didn't really have to deal with that. But just from me from a philosophy standpoint if someone left, they have no idea what happened after they left, they have no idea whether they had to get rid of their stuff or re-work it or anything. They lose the right to complain if they leave. It's a weird thing to be angry about I guess."
Head elsewhere on the site for our full Wrath of the Lich King interview from Games Convention.
Leathersoup wrote at 19:03 on 28 August 2008
But what happens if the employees do not leave of their own volition? What if they're forced to leave due to cutbacks? Is it then still fair to say that they didn't take part?
Sean G wrote at 04:18 on 30 August 2008
Is it so hard to accumulate a credits list throughout the course of a project, rather than assemble it the day it ships? And wouldn't it be more fair to strike names from the list only if their contribution is mooted, rather than the moment they cease employment? Surely someone who left after spending the first year of a project setting its course is no less deserving of credit than someone who joins the project in its final month.