For people all over the world, video games have become cemented as one of their most beloved and diverse pastimes, and getting lost in them is one of the most joyful parts of the day. Getting lost in the process of actually creating a video game can be disastrous however, and that seems to be what concerns video game developer Mark Kern in his criticism of Bungie’s workspace.
Mark Kern was a prominent designer at Blizzard for most of his career before leaving to found his own studio, Red 5, which createdFirefall. Since then he has been active in the gaming community in a number of ways, and has been outspoken in his criticism of other companies when he sees bad practice, includingBlizzard’s controversial ban of Blitzchung, and now with his criticism ofBungie.
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In a series of tweets, Kern spoke of a familiarity with Bungie’s workspace layout, which saw people sharing a large space with multiple programmers and monitors to a desk. He spoke at length about the problems such a layout causes, including constant interruptions and increased desire for personal space as it is denied by the floor plan, leading to loss of creative flow and personalization. He mentions that his own game studio tried this layout in the past and it was a mistake, contrasting it to Blizzard’s office system when he was working onStarcraftandWorld of Warcraftat the company. WhileActivision Blizzard is often ridiculed these days, and its workspace layout may very well be different now, Kern maintained that the office/open space system it had in his day was better, ensuring people didn’t feel like cogs and that sickness and stress did not spread like wildfire.
While there have been some replies refuting Kern’s claims, most have sided with him and his assertions, even offering corroborating stories from their own work. Many drew comparison to working in QA work, talking about answering technical questions in crowded, detrimental conditions. With the numerouschanges toDestiny 2since Bungie left Activision, including constant bugfixes, it’s very possible that solving technical problems is what many of the programmers on the floor are devoted to.
There could be any number of reasons for Bungie’s current workspace. According to Kern, it is often touted as promoting constant collaboration, but he states that when done at inconvenient times, this can cause more harm than help. Whether or not the layout was carried over fromBungie’s time at Activision, or whether it was implemented after the split, we may never know.
While development onDestiny 2has been constant, and new, polished content has been steadily released, there may be some evidence to support Kern’s claim in the constant stream of bugs the game has. This includes everything from tothe EDZ Obeliskto numerous weapon bugs. These are exactly the kinds of problems that could slip through in a bad workplace environment, so it may be worth looking into if Bungie wants to keep up bug-free productivity.
