Official Discussion Thread for "Studio Director’s Letter: 2020 Retrospective"

The_Lex · January 2021

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_MattFiror @ZOS_RichLambert

Do you have any comment on how the team is preparing for the inevitable round of new lockdowns due to the rising number of Covid cases nation (and world) wide? If the last round stressed the system, has anything been done to prepare for a repeat of last year?

Katahdin · January 2021

The_Lex wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_MattFiror @ZOS_RichLambert

Do you have any comment on how the team is preparing for the inevitable round of new lockdowns due to the rising number of Covid cases nation (and world) wide? If the last round stressed the system, has anything been done to prepare for a repeat of last year?

They are already set up for working from home, what more would they need to do to prepare for more working from home?

Matt already stated they will do fewer new systems in new content this year to make it less complicated to develop and implement

.

The_Lex · January 2021

Katahdin wrote: »

The_Lex wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_MattFiror @ZOS_RichLambert

Do you have any comment on how the team is preparing for the inevitable round of new lockdowns due to the rising number of Covid cases nation (and world) wide? If the last round stressed the system, has anything been done to prepare for a repeat of last year?

They are already set up for working from home, what more would they need to do to prepare for more working from home?

Matt already stated they will do fewer new systems in new content this year to make it less complicated to develop and implement

.

Sigh

No. I meant - it was the lockdowns that created the influx of new players....the increased times online, etc., which contributed to struggling game performance. How are they preparing for a new round of lockdowns that could lead to the same result? Not every state in the U.S. is currently locked down. Sure, they're implementing less systems, but will that be enough?

If the last round stressed the system, has anything been done to prepare for a repeat of last year?

Calm_Fury · January 2021

The_Lex wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

The_Lex wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_MattFiror @ZOS_RichLambert

Do you have any comment on how the team is preparing for the inevitable round of new lockdowns due to the rising number of Covid cases nation (and world) wide? If the last round stressed the system, has anything been done to prepare for a repeat of last year?

They are already set up for working from home, what more would they need to do to prepare for more working from home?

Matt already stated they will do fewer new systems in new content this year to make it less complicated to develop and implement

.

Sigh

No. I meant - it was the lockdowns that created the influx of new players....the increased times online, etc., which contributed to struggling game performance. How are they preparing for a new round of lockdowns that could lead to the same result? Not every state in the U.S. is currently locked down. Sure, they're implementing less systems, but will that be enough?

If the last round stressed the system, has anything been done to prepare for a repeat of last year?

That first lockdown basically happened everywhere in the world at once, which caused that huge influx.

Things are more spread out now. Not everywhere is in lockdown, and places are coming in and out of lockdown at different times.

Plus, everyone is already used to the new routine now, so I don't think the impact will be nearly as big as it was in March.

Jaraal · January 2021

What makes working from home on your computer that much more difficult than working in an office on your computer? One would assume that ZOS has provided business quality systems for everyone, or allowed them to take their work machines home with them. Other than being able to walk over to somebody's desk and talk to them and instead having to text, email, or call them on the phone..... what exactly is different? Is it the distractions at home that prevent employees from focusing on their jobs as much as they would be able to in an office environment, or something else?

Crash427 · January 2021

Jaraal wrote: »

What makes working from home on your computer that much more difficult than working in an office on your computer? One would assume that ZOS has provided business quality systems for everyone, or allowed them to take their work machines home with them. Other than being able to walk over to somebody's desk and talk to them and instead having to text, email, or call them on the phone..... what exactly is different? Is it the distractions at home that prevent employees from focusing on their jobs as much as they would be able to in an office environment, or something else?

I've been working from home for almost 13 years now and the hardest thing about it is discipline. It's easy to get distracted or whatever and it takes a little while to get into a good routine. That said, it's not an excuse for poor work. I'm a freelancer though so I have to deliver. If I don't get things done or give my clients shoddy work I dont have crown store sales to fall back on.

Calm_Fury · January 2021

Jaraal wrote: »

What makes working from home on your computer that much more difficult than working in an office on your computer? One would assume that ZOS has provided business quality systems for everyone, or allowed them to take their work machines home with them. Other than being able to walk over to somebody's desk and talk to them and instead having to text, email, or call them on the phone..... what exactly is different? Is it the distractions at home that prevent employees from focusing on their jobs as much as they would be able to in an office environment, or something else?

As someone who works with programming and computers, used to work in an office and how work in house, I can tell you that some things definetly suffer.

Collaboration is just not the same, unless your company was already built from the start with remote work in mind. And ZOS, as far as I know, required everyone to move to Maryland.

While general programming like webapps can be done, but suffers, I think games suffer a lot more because there is a lot more creativity involved compared to an app that simply needs to read/write to a database liek 99% of apps out there.

I don't think the pandemic is an excuse for everything, but I totally understand that ZOS must be operating at most at 70% of the full capacity right now.

And considering that ZOS was already really stretched by the crazy content scheduled, that does make a difference.

colossalvoids · January 2021

That's pretty comical to read when remembering other new years letters with apologies and same promises that never gets delivered, like performance and (re)balance passes.

Hotdog_23 · January 2021

Jaraal wrote: »

What makes working from home on your computer that much more difficult than working in an office on your computer? One would assume that ZOS has provided business quality systems for everyone, or allowed them to take their work machines home with them. Other than being able to walk over to somebody's desk and talk to them and instead having to text, email, or call them on the phone..... what exactly is different? Is it the distractions at home that prevent employees from focusing on their jobs as much as they would be able to in an office environment, or something else?

Everyone must do what they think is best to stay safe and I’m sure ZOS sees it as working from home. Which does have science base behind it.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/faqs.html

That said as a RN in real life there is no staying at home for me or my co-workers. Same goes for environmental, nutritional, lab, maintained and even security. On one hand I see what they are doing but on the other hand I don’t. How many cashiers or food service people get to stay home. COVID is scary stuff but the world must go on.

After a while the excuse of doing less due to COVID becomes just an excuse in my view. The other side of the coin I would not want to feel responsible for making someone come in to work and they come down with COVID and die form it or a close family member. Knowing that there is no way to know where they caught it from but even a chance, they caught it at work is something I would not want to live with.

Stay safe