Want to work in zenimax

Sigtric · January 2017

AlexTech0x wrote: »

Johngo0036 wrote: »

Stovahkiin wrote: »

Yolokin_Swagonborn wrote: »

I'd love to see the other side of the story. The real reasons for the decisions that just seem plain odd or counter intuitive to the community.

I'd love to see how ZOS playtests their own game. Do they understand PvE/PvP the way we do? Have their playtesters beaten maelstrom? Have their playtesters gotten grand overload in PvP. Do they even have playtesters?

Nope, their playtesters got nerfed in one of the last patches.

Ask yourself this question:
Have you EVER seen a person ingame with the zenimax logo next to their name, I havent and have played this game since beta.. so question answered..

Lol one of the messages on the loading screens is something about Zenimax players having the Z on their names.... i have NEVER ever seen one.

There is very little need for them to be running around in game as Game Masters. They don't play the game in such a way. They exist only for taking care of issues in the in-game world. The tip is stating that anyone acting in official capacity signed in will have the symbol. If someone is stating they work for ZOS and they do not have the symbol then I'd say it's a good idea not to trust them.

In my almost 2 decades of playing MMO games, I've only ever seen a Game Master ONCE, in one of them.

Korah_Eaglecry · January 2017

Valethar wrote: »

Wait.. They have quality assurance testers?

Its not that these types of companies dont have QA. Its that QA isnt used in the manner we as the customers/consumers feel it should be used. From the companies perspective. QA should identify issues but that doesnt necessarily mean it stops the product from rolling out. Especially if its something that can be fixed on the fly at another point in time. The only thing the company is worried about is issues that may prevent them from cashing in. Like a gamebreaking bug or something that prevents players from entering the game (en mass because honestly theyll ignore a platform like Mac if there isnt a large enough population). Obviously if players cant enter the game, they arent going to spend money.

Obviously from our perspective QA is supposed to identify all issues and then the company SHOULD fix them before release.

sirston · January 2017

Valethar wrote: »

Wait.. They have quality assurance testers?

If they do, there job must not be testing functionality of ESO

BuddyAces · January 2017

AlexTech0x wrote: »

Johngo0036 wrote: »

Stovahkiin wrote: »

Yolokin_Swagonborn wrote: »

I'd love to see the other side of the story. The real reasons for the decisions that just seem plain odd or counter intuitive to the community.

I'd love to see how ZOS playtests their own game. Do they understand PvE/PvP the way we do? Have their playtesters beaten maelstrom? Have their playtesters gotten grand overload in PvP. Do they even have playtesters?

Nope, their playtesters got nerfed in one of the last patches.

Ask yourself this question:
Have you EVER seen a person ingame with the zenimax logo next to their name, I havent and have played this game since beta.. so question answered..

Lol one of the messages on the loading screens is something about Zenimax players having the Z on their names.... i have NEVER ever seen one.

So this is your first MMO eh? The only time you will ever see someone with a Z by their name is if they take their Zenimax given toon into the game for an event or if for whatever reason you are contacted in game by a support person (has it even ever happened in this game??). You will never see a ZOS toon just standing around in a city or out playing the game.

So as a previous poster said, that loading screen is there to help stop people getting scammed by people claiming to be GMs.

Danikat · January 2017

Sigtric wrote: »

AlexTech0x wrote: »

Johngo0036 wrote: »

Stovahkiin wrote: »

Yolokin_Swagonborn wrote: »

I'd love to see the other side of the story. The real reasons for the decisions that just seem plain odd or counter intuitive to the community.

I'd love to see how ZOS playtests their own game. Do they understand PvE/PvP the way we do? Have their playtesters beaten maelstrom? Have their playtesters gotten grand overload in PvP. Do they even have playtesters?

Nope, their playtesters got nerfed in one of the last patches.

Ask yourself this question:
Have you EVER seen a person ingame with the zenimax logo next to their name, I havent and have played this game since beta.. so question answered..

Lol one of the messages on the loading screens is something about Zenimax players having the Z on their names.... i have NEVER ever seen one.

There is very little need for them to be running around in game as Game Masters. They don't play the game in such a way. They exist only for taking care of issues in the in-game world. The tip is stating that anyone acting in official capacity signed in will have the symbol. If someone is stating they work for ZOS and they do not have the symbol then I'd say it's a good idea not to trust them.

In my almost 2 decades of playing MMO games, I've only ever seen a Game Master ONCE, in one of them.

Exactly.

It's not telling you that because you're going to see someone from Zenimax every other day and they want you to know who they are. It's telling you that so that if you see someone like my lovely little sister when she played Ultima Online saying "Hi, I'm a GM and I'm here to make sure newbies got all the items they should have received when they started, please mail me everything in your inventory so I can check it and send it back" you'll know not to trust them and to report them for being the lying little **** they are.

Ever time I've seen devs/GMs in an MMO (excluding the volunteer GMs you could call for help in UO) or seen video/screenshots of other people spotting them they've been mobbed with so many people trying to stand near them for screenshots, use "funny" emotes on top of them or ask a million questions that it would make it impossible to actually play, so I suspect most of the ones who do play their own games keep it quiet.

Pallmor · January 2017

I'm pretty sure they're only looking programmers, artists, etc. (you know, people with actual talents and skills). If they just wanted random people spouting bad ideas, they could just peruse the forums.

ZOS_GinaBruno · January 2017

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

magnusthorek · January 2017

Could you name some, even if privately?

yodased · January 2017

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

Probably the bow/bow build healers light attacking with no vigor amirite?

Sigtric · January 2017

magnusthorek wrote: »

Could you name some, even if privately?

That sort of defeats the purpose of anonymity.

Godspeed · January 2017

Aeladiir wrote: »

Konkle and Sage were responsible for this game almost falling apart at the beginning, and are responsible for so many awful decisions in the development process. I'm glad they're gone - just look how much better ESO has become now that they're away. Sure, it's not perfect and the balance is flawed, but they've done so many downright amazing improvements since Wrobel and Lambert.

Thank god someone else knows what's up. Sage leaving was one of the best things that happened to this game. It was because of them we couldn't have nice things at launch. We couldn't even have standard features like nameplates for god sake. Don't get me started on konkle. Anyone else remember DKs at launch when there was no cc immunity?

Fudly_budly · January 2017

I, for one, think it's awesome the employees play along side us. If I were running ZOS, I would expect my game company employees to actually play the game we marketed.
"Good show!"

Junipus · January 2017

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

@ZOS_GinaBruno Might want to remove that helpful hint in the loading screens that states we should look out for Z-markers to identify genuine ZOS employees. Bit pointless if everyone plays anonymously.

coolme132b16_ESO · January 2017

They could "hire" some trusted people just to keep a eye on things

Titansteele · January 2017

People who have never worked in the gaming industry be like "that would be awesome ....................."

The grass is not always greener on the other side ..... fun fact Richard is only 19, he has just had a really hard life :@D

lehran · January 2017

Junipus wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

@ZOS_GinaBruno Might want to remove that helpful hint in the loading screens that states we should look out for Z-markers to identify genuine ZOS employees. Bit pointless if everyone plays anonymously.

The Z marker is for GameMasters, aka people whose job it is to be on the game and make sure people are behaving, banning botters/exploits, etc. I'm sure the GMs also have their own (unmarked) accounts for when they play on their off time as well, the marker is purely for actually working on-the-clock.

Sigtric · January 2017

lehran wrote: »

Junipus wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

@ZOS_GinaBruno Might want to remove that helpful hint in the loading screens that states we should look out for Z-markers to identify genuine ZOS employees. Bit pointless if everyone plays anonymously.

The Z marker is for GameMasters, aka people whose job it is to be on the game and make sure people are behaving, banning botters/exploits, etc. I'm sure the GMs also have their own (unmarked) accounts for when they play on their off time as well, the marker is purely for actually working on-the-clock.

This.

The way folks treat game devs? There's no way I'd want to advertise I was an employee if I was playing in my off time. They have the right to play anonymously in their off hours.

Milvan · January 2017

Sigtric wrote: »

lehran wrote: »

Junipus wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

@ZOS_GinaBruno Might want to remove that helpful hint in the loading screens that states we should look out for Z-markers to identify genuine ZOS employees. Bit pointless if everyone plays anonymously.

The Z marker is for GameMasters, aka people whose job it is to be on the game and make sure people are behaving, banning botters/exploits, etc. I'm sure the GMs also have their own (unmarked) accounts for when they play on their off time as well, the marker is purely for actually working on-the-clock.

This.

The way folks treat game devs? There's no way I'd want to advertise I was an employee if I was playing in my off time. They have the right to play anonymously in their off hours.

Also because nobody would believe them. At least I wouldn't!

Junipus · January 2017

lehran wrote: »

Junipus wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

@ZOS_GinaBruno Might want to remove that helpful hint in the loading screens that states we should look out for Z-markers to identify genuine ZOS employees. Bit pointless if everyone plays anonymously.

The Z marker is for GameMasters, aka people whose job it is to be on the game and make sure people are behaving, banning botters/exploits, etc. I'm sure the GMs also have their own (unmarked) accounts for when they play on their off time as well, the marker is purely for actually working on-the-clock.

When was the last time anyone ever saw someone with the Z marker? Pretty sure they've given up on anyone identifying themselves as ZOS employees even when working on the clock. Just happens to be an opportunity to raise the minor point during a thread sidetrack on a nearly identical discussion.

Elsonso · January 2017

Junipus wrote: »

When was the last time anyone ever saw someone with the Z marker? Pretty sure they've given up on anyone identifying themselves as ZOS employees even when working on the clock. Just happens to be an opportunity to raise the minor point during a thread sidetrack on a nearly identical discussion.

Actually, it is sort of interesting in that I have never seen the Z marker used in the game. I have seen GMs in the game, after launch, but it was before they rolled out the Z marker. I think the Z marker was added in anticipation of them being a fully supported AAA subscription game. It is just one of those things that they no longer need because that is not part of their mission anymore. It is there if they ever want to use it, but they really have no business reason to.

GreenhaloX · January 2017

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We did have a couple of our QA guys on our last episode of ESO Live discussing some of the work they do here, which you all may find interesting. The discussion begins around the 11 minute mark: https://www.twitch.tv/zenimaxonlinestudios/v/83265692

Also, while many of the ESO devs play the game, we all prefer to do so anonymously; there is no Z-marker in front of our names. You may have grouped with a dev in a dungeon and not even known it!

Cool.. so they are experiencing some of the same issues (i.e. lag, lag and more lags, particularly during combat; to name a few) and hopefully they are bringing these notable issues up during some of the weekly ZOS/Zen meeting or get together, right? Also, I wonder how they deal with running into those nasty egotistical (elitist type) players? I'm sure they are not one of those.. hmmm

jcaceresw · January 2017

I would really like to work into this game remotely and provide my ideas or solutions. I am a software engineer so I would prefer to mess with the code and some bit of infrastructure to explore and implement better server work processing for PVE and PVP gameplay.

Prof_Bawbag · January 2017

Stovahkiin wrote: »

Valethar wrote: »

Wait.. They have quality assurance testers?

I guess so. Maybe we need to have quality assurance testers for the quality assurance testers?

I know your comment was said in jest. however, it's easy for people to blame the quality testers when those people obviously don't know the first thing about the process. You don't even need to work in house to realise that most issues that get flagged up by testers get ignored, yet they're the first people to get it in the neck. You can see it in action on beta forums etc. Most of the issues highlighted get ignored. It's there in black and white that most issues get swept under the carpet.

Add to that, it's one thing having say 100 testers and having millions of people playing the game. It only stands to reason that a million or so people are gonna encounter a lot more unique issue than those 100 people are.

magnusthorek · January 2017

GreenhaloX wrote: »

Cool.. so they are experiencing some of the same issues (i.e. lag, lag and more lags, particularly during combat; to name a few) and hopefully they are bringing these notable issues up during some of the weekly ZOS/Zen meeting or get together, right? Also, I wonder how they deal with running into those nasty egotistical (elitist type) players? I'm sure they are not one of those.. hmmm

Guess not because they would probably play at very short distances to the megaservers, with rocket PCs, probably with access to unknown tweaking settings...

Heck, they could even have access to an alpha version (a closed version of a software that exists before the BETA - orly - restricted to developers/employees of a developing company) with additional fixes (pretty much an unofficial patch)

But this is probably by inner conspiracy speaking...

OrphanHelgen · January 2017

I like your idea, but honestly, 99% here doesn't know what they are talking about, but think they do.

Riejael · January 2017

ArchMikem wrote: »

You could try applying as a Quality Assurance tester, but I read some bad testimonies from people who used to do that.

Game tester has to be one of the worst jobs. You work 8 hours a day like every other job. But its spent playing video games and doing paper work. You're not just playing to have fun in the game. You're playing to break it, to see what is bugged, and to find the broken things the players will likely find on accident.

Imagine playing Super Mario Bros. You're in World 1-1. But you're going through the level... over and over. Busting every block, testing every jump. Testing every pitfall. And you have to record what you did, in detail, then reproduce it. You do that for every level in the game.

ESO wouldn't be much different except in the complexity. When they make a new zone, the QA guys have to search for everything in the zone that may get a player stuck. Play every quest, every option they can find and think of. They have to be throrough. They won't get everything. A dozen QA guys can't find everything that thousands of players will. But they get the most glaring and common things at least.

Ever die from touching a bridge? No? Good, they probably did and caught it before you could. Dumn stuff like that. Obscure builds that do 90k dps, no they won't catch those. A dozen people likely won't find option 48729 if x y z build, but a couple hundred thousand players will, or at least one of them.

Hell there's glitches, bugs, and exploits even we haven't found yet. =P I've seen things added to a game and get ignored by players for years. No buffs no nerfs during that time.. yet some guy.. one guy figures out how to use it in a weird way and it becomes OP as hell. Ironically.. Ravens in Planetside 2 were introduced 2 years before they received their first 'fix'. It took the players 18 months to figure out how awesome the weapon was.. in its basic advertised use.

Players like to rag on devs and QA teams. But they ain't as smart as they like to think they are.

Nebthet78 · January 2017

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Zos does obtain feedback from players. Not just via these forums. They have multiple groups they talk with and it has been this way since early on.

The problem is, most of those groups, are PVP oriented and don't give a crap about anything PVE related, because all they think about is what will make the game better for them, instead of better for everyone.

How do I know?

Because I know a few of these groups who participate.

Concenaros · January 2017

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Stovahkiin wrote: »

Valethar wrote: »

Wait.. They have quality assurance testers?

I guess so. Maybe we need to have quality assurance testers for the quality assurance testers?

I know your comment was said in jest. however, it's easy for people to blame the quality testers when those people obviously don't know the first thing about the process. You don't even need to work in house to realise that most issues that get flagged up by testers get ignored, yet they're the first people to get it in the neck. You can see it in action on beta forums etc. Most of the issues highlighted get ignored. It's there in black and white that most issues get swept under the carpet.

Add to that, it's one thing having say 100 testers and having millions of people playing the game. It only stands to reason that a million or so people are gonna encounter a lot more unique issue than those 100 people are.

I have to agree with this from working in QA previously.

Having a small group of testers try to replicate the issues that millions of players may experience is an impossible task. Like another poster mentioned as well, not all issues get caught by QA because they usually test on a separate server or environment that mimics the real environments. Most QA test on some sort've Dev server, QA-Production or Staging Server and then finally test things out on the real servers.

While these environments are setup to mimic real world conditions, a lot of the time things slip through into the production server or just aren't caught because the QA team is focused on testing one specific area or ensuring that recent changes aren't completely busting the already existing data on the Client and Server.

I've never done QA for an MMO but I imagine certain processes are similar and I can't imagine the sheer amount of things that need to be checked/verified before they're rolled out to live users.

It's always hilarious to see the community up in arms about an obvious bug that 'QA should have caught' but most of the time, they may have caught it and the devs don't want to fix it as it may cause more serious problems (knock-ons) or they simply don't have the time to dedicate to fixing it for the current dev cycle.

Mercutio · January 2017

No, you really don't want to work for a game company. Not if you enjoy playing games. Sausage makers rarely eat sausage for a reason.

There aren't really any "creative" positions, at least not the type I think you are describing. They aren't going to pay someone to throw ideas at them. Ideas are cheap.

But if you really, really want to, a few suggestions:

1) Learn programming. I'm not even sure what the main languages are these days, but if working 70 hour weeks and getting paid for 50 of them sounds appealing, go for it.

2) Become a really good writer. I've known some who got lore, quest writing gigs based on being published authors.

3) Start a community website. If it's a popular one you may get hired to work on their forum moderation team. At least that used to happen 10 years ago.

But honestly, you'd be better served by choosing a career path less stressful. Like inner-city pimping or 3rd World warzone supply runner. That way at the end of the day you can still relax online.

Gargath · January 2017

Main problem with working in game industry (as a translator, proofreader, tester etc) is that when you done all the work you had to, you don't wish to play the game anymore. Once you know all secrets and game aspects from inside, there is not much fun left. I used to work as the above and witnessed that on my skin. I wouldn't like to work on game in which I love playing a lot.