Working in the industry i can confirm that if upper management approaches you in a menacing way while talking in a robotic voice while also wearing scary masks and the calendar isn't on Halloween day, it is indeed fear inducing
I'm trans myself and I cringed out of my body with worry when I saw certain dialogue choices in the game, it's almost like it was done specifically to provoke a certain LOUD crowd I can't wait for the game but all this drama and headache could have easily been avoided... was it really the right choice???
Was watching this video with my spouse and around the part where you were talking about people throwing one another under the bus to avoid the bad manager's evil eye, they leaned over and said , "Hey, sounds like my manager and everyone on my team!" Ouch.
Honestly nothing ruins a workplace or whatever like somebody trying to dictate everything with no room for even mild disagreement. Especially at work where it can easily result in people doing the bare minimum required then moving on rather than actually doing good work. Also I hope you've not been too strongly affected by the utter madness of this week. I've got DA:V holiday from work starting Friday, pretty hard to believe it's actually happening and seems like it'll probably be a game that I love
Your videos are always incredibly insightful. I am thankful and glad that you are offering your perspective on businesses, gaming, and culture. That said, blink twice if you have been subjected to or witnessed a fear-driven workplace within the last year.
Do the stylistic choices on the visuals and character design present in Dragon Age Veilguard have anything to do with Matthew Goldman leaving the company in 2021? Is it a coincidence that the logo changed after the switch of artistic and creative direction (it represented a golden sun before)? I also wanted to ask if these choices were intentional (going on a more stylized, cartoonish route instead of a overall more realistic look) , or were they more of a plan B because Bioware might have been in difficult position after him leaving, and therefore it could not have been done otherwise?
Another problem with fear culture is people can bring fear based motivations with them from another job and you might have to deprogram them before you can get them to take creative risks again or to get them to stop manipulating you.
Hey Mark, I was really exited for veilguard when I heard you were working on it. I love all the other games. However seeing the dialogue options from the skilup review and the writing style and the lack of player agency to be the kind of character you want. If this review is honest, which from the examples given it seemed to be. I guess I’m just wondering, did you try and make them change direction on the writing, did you agree with the tone - you probably can’t say anything now but will you make a video on this when your contract is over? The game may be a massive success but I know it won’t be for a lot of long time fans (not just of the series but of BioWare as a company) if that review was accurate. My girlfriend wanted to get me this game for my birthday but I’ve asked her to hold off until more reviews come out after seeing that review and was going to play it even though I have an exam I need to be revising for because I was that exited 😅 I really respect you so I guess I would like to know how this happened in your opinion if that review is correct.
@ Thank you for the response. I do really hope so, I want to enjoy it. I’m sure you can’t say anymore but I guess I was expecting this game to be very dark given that tevinter was always sold as the most evil place in the world where slavery and blood magic and terrible things happen all the time so I was looking forward to morally ambiguous choices between differing morally reprehensible factions. I guess for me the lack of choices moving forward from the keep I was able to forgive (but not really) but I really have to be faced with morally grey choices where there is no right answer and the agency to be a character you want to be. Even if there evil. I really hope I will enjoy the game though. This series means a lot to me.
The best system I ever worked under, was a leader who picked people for what their passion was. He then gave them total freedom, but with the knowledge that at the end, it Had to work together in the total product. So it was a challenge, not a command. And because of that one rule, that in the end all parts had to work together. We constantly talked to the other groups, to tell them what we were working on, but also to see what they were working on. And even the process of making all things work together was fun. Like a big puzzle. And yes we crunched. Not to the point that burned us out. But because of passion. And maybe some influence of ADHD. 😅But still to this day, I believe the best things are made that way. Not by chasing some numbers, and copying the success of others. And yes it gives no certainties about the success of your end product. But don't we have enough examples now, that calculating success is also no guarantee?
@@MarkDarrah Yep your right. I believe there was no group bigger then 15. And it was a long time ago. 🙂 But I see some parts of this, in the way Larian Studios works. It's like they have upscaled those small groups, to whole studio's. Or maybe I just want it to work, in these days. Must have that fool's hope. 😊
Fear is one response, but not everyone has that reaction, some of us get angry instead. I've never been one to sabotage any program I've been associated with (tripping), I didn't like damaging my coworkers or my work, but I was not above taking my ball and going home. Others would sabotage, so the problem with leading though fear is you never know when you are going to get the knife in the back. Fortunately my industry and skillset were such that I was never wanting for work, but I do enjoy being retired and not having to deal with this crap anymore.
I know the mask was in the thumbnail, but I was NOT expecting the voice. Well done, that was almost scarier than checking my bank balance after paying rent.
This absolutely bears out in my experience. Leading by fear sets a terrible example. If it starts with the CEO, it trickles down into each level of the company leadership. I've never worked anywhere that didn't need collaborative efforts, and you just cannot effectively collaborate if every coworker is your adversary. Fear turns everyone into adversaries. Though ironically, perhaps the most effective collaborative effort I ever witnessed at a workplace was the entire middle-management team slowly building an ironclad case against the director of our branch, then making synchronous complaints to HR in a landslide so overwhelming they were forced to respond, resulting in the dismissal of the director. So, I guess in a way, the fear did inspire some collaboration! But probably not in the way the director intended.
0:01 Lol you voice! Attention, sir! I, uh, bring an urgent message from Lord Vader. Gulp. It’s an honor to serve you, Darth Darrah. But, um, I must inform you that the Dark Lord of the Sith has requested your presence at once. He… he specifically said it was a matter of great importance.
This sounds to me like they don't know what they are doing until they do it. In my industry we don't attempt to do something unless we know we can do it within the budget and time allowed. It is managements responsibility to know the team's capabilities. We scope what we can do based on those constraints and limitations. Not beyond their abilities.
i think about James Cameron as i hear this --- and i love this movies, but the man leads through fear where the crew is concerned and we've lost Jon Landau, who will be the "mommy" for those people who need the lighter touch he provided? a great producer is worth their weight in gold though it should also be noted that a lot of "nice" directors just allow their script supervisors or assistant directors be the hard cases who get things done
I know this is not the topic of this video, but wanted to jump in and thank you for your (external) work on Veilguard. Playing it for 3 days now and while i am sure there will be lessons learnt, I can say the team deserves all the praises, like seriously, this should be the gold standard from now on from the technical perspective alone. I feel sad how the game launched in such a poor political climate, but I hope it will not hurt the game that much, I want BioWare to stay and continue to give us these epic journeys. I also hope the team is really proud of their work and this massive online troll attack doesn't wear on them.
I want to say I hope this topic isn't related to a project we're all thinking of right about now... I'm sensing that it is. Leading through fear seems like an extremely bad idea in creative spaces.
Wow, Mark, did you just explain why every character 'conflict' interaction in DA: The Veilguard is resolved with an HR dept whitewash? Why this game lacks the darkness other games in this IP have?
In a way, yes. To effectively run any organization of significance one must use all the tools available, not just the nice ones. Fear has its place. Fear of disapproval is a lot different than fear of losing your job. But to fear disapproval you have to respect the other person and most bosses don't command respect. So that's a nice little nuance, some shade of grey, isn't it? But to some people the world has to exist in black and white and so you get bad writing.
Because they don't want you to antagonize their self inserts, the only choices you have are to accept what they tell you. They want to force you to like them no matter what. This game that is Dragon Age only in name is just propaganda with the skin of a game. So far that scene with Isabella is the worst offender, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.
I am enjoying the game so far. feels like dragon age to me. It feels like a game that took from both old dragon age and old mass effect. The hate is mostly undeserved in my opinion but it looks like the game is doing okay financially.
I checked the same thing. launched at the same time as call of duty as well so from what I see it looks like its doing well for a singleplayer game going up against something like black ops.
I wonder how many employees are too afraid to speak up against certain modern-day real-world political messages and platitudes being shoehorned into a video game series where such political topics wouldn't logically exist or be well-received by the fans, like say... just as a for-instance off the top of my head... a medieval setting, taking place in an age long before those issue would naturally arise. These employees may simply think it would a bad financial move to awkwardly force such situations and dialogues into the game, even while holding the same political opinions personally themselves, but they're too afraid to say so to the game director out of fear of being labeled a bigot, getting yelled at and/or fired.
@@MarkDarrah I'm referring to AAA game developer employees who know injecting real-world political issues into a game where they don't belong will hurt sales, but they are too afraid to say that to the game director or lead producer because they fear reprisal just for saying so.
@@MarkDarrah I think he's talking about the "wokeness." But, likely, doesn't want to say so because hes scared of being labelled a bigot, getting yelled at and/or fired.
@@Caculon Not referring to anything specific. The topic is fear in the workplace. I'm just saying it extends to political stances as well, especially if the lead members believe in political conformity.
Rly enjoying the new da game, what people rly forget, except the combat system, its much more "classic" and closer to da origins in structure of the whole gane, that i feel is, what people forget. But i remember u said bioware will never do a after credits scene again in ur inqusition video ... hold my beer :D
How can you have said The Veil Guard is a good game with all DEI-infested forced conversations inside the game breaking the 4th wall, also even when the game has Isabella , Morrigan, and Varric not even knowing what happened in past games? I thought maybe they just appeared once, but they are damm advisors. You sell out to those people after what they did to a franchise you helped make? shame on you, any respect I did have for you is gone. Hope the little money they paid you helps you sleep at night.🤮
@@MarkDarrah don't need to, many scenes like this one im talking about have been posted all over twitter , what baffles me is how you say it is a good game when they even keep breaking the 4th wall in a "dark fantasy medieval game" , this is beyond crazy. I never thought it was this bad when you said it was a good game, was waiting to see with my own eyes, but this? is also the whole fact of ignoring the past game relationships and choices with characters that are advisors for the whole game, the only logical explanation is they paid you because there is no way someone that loved this franchise can't be so blind as to what they have done to it. I can send you the link to the video showing this scene to your email , but there is more than just 1 and if you played the whole game is impossible that you did not see it yourself.
So far the game feels like the 2007-2014 bioware. people who are complaining about writing just havent interacted with character quests much yet. so far its no worse than inquisition as far as writing is concerned. feels better than inquisition in my opinion because it lacks the bloat.
Origins is a great game and one of my favorites of all time but those systems are a bit dated nowadays. My little brother wanted to get into dragon age but couldnt beat origins because hes not really into crpgs. he loved 2 and inquisition though. He was watching me play veilguard yesterday and said he might buy it since its not a crpg. He did like baldurs gate 3 but didnt like the turn based combat. I love baldurs gate 3 and I am loving veilguard. I like how there is diversity to rpgs coming out. its not all action or not all turn based. I am personally having a great time.
@MarkDarrah Sir you worked on origins. If you had any semblance of a spine, then we would be praising your final product. Not criticising you for buying reviewers like ign to propogate this crap DEI monstrosity.
Working in the industry i can confirm that if upper management approaches you in a menacing way while talking in a robotic voice while also wearing scary masks and the calendar isn't on Halloween day, it is indeed fear inducing
lol
Some people treat fear like a shortcut to compliance, but it's such a short-term pseudosolution.
Yes. You’ll get compliance. For a time
Thanks for the vid!
Thanks for watching
I'm trans myself and I cringed out of my body with worry when I saw certain dialogue choices in the game, it's almost like it was done specifically to provoke a certain LOUD crowd
I can't wait for the game but all this drama and headache could have easily been avoided... was it really the right choice???
I guess we will see
Was watching this video with my spouse and around the part where you were talking about people throwing one another under the bus to avoid the bad manager's evil eye, they leaned over and said , "Hey, sounds like my manager and everyone on my team!" Ouch.
OOOF!
Honestly nothing ruins a workplace or whatever like somebody trying to dictate everything with no room for even mild disagreement. Especially at work where it can easily result in people doing the bare minimum required then moving on rather than actually doing good work.
Also I hope you've not been too strongly affected by the utter madness of this week. I've got DA:V holiday from work starting Friday, pretty hard to believe it's actually happening and seems like it'll probably be a game that I love
Because it isn't my job to immerse myself in it anymore, I've largely been staying out of the "discoure"
@@MarkDarrah I honestly agree that staying off the cesspit that is 2024 Twitter is probably a smart idea for anybody's mental health
Mark Darrah why did you scare me like that? I have a weak heart.
lol
Your videos are always incredibly insightful. I am thankful and glad that you are offering your perspective on businesses, gaming, and culture.
That said, blink twice if you have been subjected to or witnessed a fear-driven workplace within the last year.
My current role working with a bunch of different studios exposes me to a bunch of different cultures.
Some good
Some not so much
Do the stylistic choices on the visuals and character design present in Dragon Age Veilguard have anything to do with Matthew Goldman leaving the company in 2021? Is it a coincidence that the logo changed after the switch of artistic and creative direction (it represented a golden sun before)? I also wanted to ask if these choices were intentional (going on a more stylized, cartoonish route instead of a overall more realistic look) , or were they more of a plan B because Bioware might have been in difficult position after him leaving, and therefore it could not have been done otherwise?
That' a question for BioWare. Or Matt I suppose
Another problem with fear culture is people can bring fear based motivations with them from another job and you might have to deprogram them before you can get them to take creative risks again or to get them to stop manipulating you.
Very true
Hey Mark, I was really exited for veilguard when I heard you were working on it. I love all the other games. However seeing the dialogue options from the skilup review and the writing style and the lack of player agency to be the kind of character you want. If this review is honest, which from the examples given it seemed to be. I guess I’m just wondering, did you try and make them change direction on the writing, did you agree with the tone - you probably can’t say anything now but will you make a video on this when your contract is over? The game may be a massive success but I know it won’t be for a lot of long time fans (not just of the series but of BioWare as a company) if that review was accurate. My girlfriend wanted to get me this game for my birthday but I’ve asked her to hold off until more reviews come out after seeing that review and was going to play it even though I have an exam I need to be revising for because I was that exited 😅 I really respect you so I guess I would like to know how this happened in your opinion if that review is correct.
I haven't watched that review.
It is a different game.
For me it still feels like a Dragon Age game.
@ Thank you for the response. I do really hope so, I want to enjoy it. I’m sure you can’t say anymore but I guess I was expecting this game to be very dark given that tevinter was always sold as the most evil place in the world where slavery and blood magic and terrible things happen all the time so I was looking forward to morally ambiguous choices between differing morally reprehensible factions. I guess for me the lack of choices moving forward from the keep I was able to forgive (but not really) but I really have to be faced with morally grey choices where there is no right answer and the agency to be a character you want to be. Even if there evil.
I really hope I will enjoy the game though. This series means a lot to me.
The best system I ever worked under, was a leader who picked people for what their passion was. He then gave them total freedom, but with the knowledge that at the end, it Had to work together in the total product. So it was a challenge, not a command. And because of that one rule, that in the end all parts had to work together. We constantly talked to the other groups, to tell them what we were working on, but also to see what they were working on. And even the process of making all things work together was fun. Like a big puzzle. And yes we crunched. Not to the point that burned us out. But because of passion. And maybe some influence of ADHD. 😅But still to this day, I believe the best things are made that way. Not by chasing some numbers, and copying the success of others. And yes it gives no certainties about the success of your end product. But don't we have enough examples now, that calculating success is also no guarantee?
Very interesting. How large was the team? I could see a lot of trouble scaling this up.
@@MarkDarrah Yep your right. I believe there was no group bigger then 15. And it was a long time ago. 🙂 But I see some parts of this, in the way Larian Studios works. It's like they have upscaled those small groups, to whole studio's. Or maybe I just want it to work, in these days. Must have that fool's hope. 😊
This was really good! Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween to you too!
Fear is one response, but not everyone has that reaction, some of us get angry instead. I've never been one to sabotage any program I've been associated with (tripping), I didn't like damaging my coworkers or my work, but I was not above taking my ball and going home. Others would sabotage, so the problem with leading though fear is you never know when you are going to get the knife in the back. Fortunately my industry and skillset were such that I was never wanting for work, but I do enjoy being retired and not having to deal with this crap anymore.
True enough
I know the mask was in the thumbnail, but I was NOT expecting the voice. Well done, that was almost scarier than checking my bank balance after paying rent.
Lol
This absolutely bears out in my experience. Leading by fear sets a terrible example. If it starts with the CEO, it trickles down into each level of the company leadership. I've never worked anywhere that didn't need collaborative efforts, and you just cannot effectively collaborate if every coworker is your adversary. Fear turns everyone into adversaries.
Though ironically, perhaps the most effective collaborative effort I ever witnessed at a workplace was the entire middle-management team slowly building an ironclad case against the director of our branch, then making synchronous complaints to HR in a landslide so overwhelming they were forced to respond, resulting in the dismissal of the director. So, I guess in a way, the fear did inspire some collaboration! But probably not in the way the director intended.
Wow . Yeah you don’t want to inspire an uprising
The entry 😂😂😂😂😂
SPOOKY SEASON!
@@MarkDarrah wuhahaha
How do you handle the "not accepting unacceptable work" part?
You can provide feedback even REALLY negative feedback in
Specific, actionable, measurable ways.
Its about the work not the person
0:01 Lol you voice!
Attention, sir! I, uh, bring an urgent message from Lord Vader. Gulp. It’s an honor to serve you, Darth Darrah. But, um, I must inform you that the Dark Lord of the Sith has requested your presence at once. He… he specifically said it was a matter of great importance.
LOL
Two more days Mark :D What do you think about reviews?any opinion? i can only say that for me any bad review is not killing my hype for Vailguard :)
I've been staying away from the press for the most part
@@MarkDarrah wise choice bahahaha
This sounds to me like they don't know what they are doing until they do it. In my industry we don't attempt to do something unless we know we can do it within the budget and time allowed. It is managements responsibility to know the team's capabilities. We scope what we can do based on those constraints and limitations. Not beyond their abilities.
Its hard to budget for creativity.
Or to understand an individuals capability for it
@@MarkDarrah I'm surprised the people paying the bills allow this. Paying for something without a plan.
i think about James Cameron as i hear this --- and i love this movies, but the man leads through fear where the crew is concerned
and we've lost Jon Landau, who will be the "mommy" for those people who need the lighter touch he provided?
a great producer is worth their weight in gold
though it should also be noted that a lot of "nice" directors just allow their script supervisors or assistant directors be the hard cases who get things done
Sometimes you need a heavy. BUT...
The consequences are severe indeed
indeed
Ghostface bosses are upstairs, so be quiet! :) Happy Halloween!
We have horror monsters at home
Brother, the thumbnail alone makes me wish I could sub again 😂
lol
I know this is not the topic of this video, but wanted to jump in and thank you for your (external) work on Veilguard. Playing it for 3 days now and while i am sure there will be lessons learnt, I can say the team deserves all the praises, like seriously, this should be the gold standard from now on from the technical perspective alone. I feel sad how the game launched in such a poor political climate, but I hope it will not hurt the game that much, I want BioWare to stay and continue to give us these epic journeys. I also hope the team is really proud of their work and this massive online troll attack doesn't wear on them.
Thank you
I want to say I hope this topic isn't related to a project we're all thinking of right about now... I'm sensing that it is. Leading through fear seems like an extremely bad idea in creative spaces.
I've seen a lot of projects. This kind of thing crops up all too often
Wow, Mark, did you just explain why every character 'conflict' interaction in DA: The Veilguard is resolved with an HR dept whitewash? Why this game lacks the darkness other games in this IP have?
huh?
In a way, yes. To effectively run any organization of significance one must use all the tools available, not just the nice ones. Fear has its place. Fear of disapproval is a lot different than fear of losing your job. But to fear disapproval you have to respect the other person and most bosses don't command respect. So that's a nice little nuance, some shade of grey, isn't it? But to some people the world has to exist in black and white and so you get bad writing.
Because they don't want you to antagonize their self inserts, the only choices you have are to accept what they tell you. They want to force you to like them no matter what.
This game that is Dragon Age only in name is just propaganda with the skin of a game. So far that scene with Isabella is the worst offender, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.
I am enjoying the game so far. feels like dragon age to me. It feels like a game that took from both old dragon age and old mass effect. The hate is mostly undeserved in my opinion but it looks like the game is doing okay financially.
The only thing I can see on sales is steam rankings. But it popped into #1 on launch day so that is a good sign
I checked the same thing. launched at the same time as call of duty as well so from what I see it looks like its doing well for a singleplayer game going up against something like black ops.
I wonder how many employees are too afraid to speak up against certain modern-day real-world political messages and platitudes being shoehorned into a video game series where such political topics wouldn't logically exist or be well-received by the fans, like say... just as a for-instance off the top of my head... a medieval setting, taking place in an age long before those issue would naturally arise. These employees may simply think it would a bad financial move to awkwardly force such situations and dialogues into the game, even while holding the same political opinions personally themselves, but they're too afraid to say so to the game director out of fear of being labeled a bigot, getting yelled at and/or fired.
Not sure what you are talking about
@@MarkDarrah I'm referring to AAA game developer employees who know injecting real-world political issues into a game where they don't belong will hurt sales, but they are too afraid to say that to the game director or lead producer because they fear reprisal just for saying so.
@@MarkDarrah I think he's talking about the "wokeness." But, likely, doesn't want to say so because hes scared of being labelled a bigot, getting yelled at and/or fired.
@@BelieveIt1051 trans people don’t hurt sales, BG3 and Cyberpunk sold very well, the only thing that hurts sales is a bad product.
@@Caculon Not referring to anything specific. The topic is fear in the workplace. I'm just saying it extends to political stances as well, especially if the lead members believe in political conformity.
Rly enjoying the new da game, what people rly forget, except the combat system, its much more "classic" and closer to da origins in structure of the whole gane, that i feel is, what people forget. But i remember u said bioware will never do a after credits scene again in ur inqusition video ... hold my beer :D
… yeah wrong on that one
How can you have said The Veil Guard is a good game with all DEI-infested forced conversations inside the game breaking the 4th wall, also even when the game has Isabella , Morrigan, and Varric not even knowing what happened in past games? I thought maybe they just appeared once, but they are damm advisors. You sell out to those people after what they did to a franchise you helped make? shame on you, any respect I did have for you is gone. Hope the little money they paid you helps you sleep at night.🤮
How far have you played the game?
@@MarkDarrah don't need to, many scenes like this one im talking about have been posted all over twitter , what baffles me is how you say it is a good game when they even keep breaking the 4th wall in a "dark fantasy medieval game" , this is beyond crazy.
I never thought it was this bad when you said it was a good game, was waiting to see with my own eyes, but this? is also the whole fact of ignoring the past game relationships and choices with characters that are advisors for the whole game, the only logical explanation is they paid you because there is no way someone that loved this franchise can't be so blind as to what they have done to it. I can send you the link to the video showing this scene to your email , but there is more than just 1 and if you played the whole game is impossible that you did not see it yourself.
Yo this comment is fucking disgusting and full of brainwashed nonsense. I have a feeling you don't even know what half the phrases you used, mean.
So far the game feels like the 2007-2014 bioware. people who are complaining about writing just havent interacted with character quests much yet. so far its no worse than inquisition as far as writing is concerned. feels better than inquisition in my opinion because it lacks the bloat.
Origins is a great game and one of my favorites of all time but those systems are a bit dated nowadays. My little brother wanted to get into dragon age but couldnt beat origins because hes not really into crpgs. he loved 2 and inquisition though. He was watching me play veilguard yesterday and said he might buy it since its not a crpg. He did like baldurs gate 3 but didnt like the turn based combat. I love baldurs gate 3 and I am loving veilguard. I like how there is diversity to rpgs coming out. its not all action or not all turn based. I am personally having a great time.
Glad you are having fun so far
Lol if only you followed your own advice.... Then Dragon Age Veilguard won't be this DEI woke disaster....
Huh?
@MarkDarrah Sir you worked on origins. If you had any semblance of a spine, then we would be praising your final product. Not criticising you for buying reviewers like ign to propogate this crap DEI monstrosity.
Boo. Me scared now :3
Oh no