The Like/Hate Thread

[Ashe]

When Kotick says stuff like "the goal... was to take all the fun out of making video games" or that he'd "prefer to pay his lawyers instead of his employees" and he promotes a workplace atmosphere of "skepticism, pessimism, and fear" then he deserves no sympathy from anyone, anywhere, ever.

Although Kotick's schemes are good in the short run, it comes at the cost of increasing alienation of labor, business partners, and customers. His career in the industry will hopefully end with him being hung by his own entrails.

Agreed entirely. Being a good business man doesn't remove the fact that you are also a complete and total dick. Yeah, he's trying to make more money, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. But its still a dick move to do so at the cost of every single person you can possibly cut the throat of, before you then retire and pass the entire company to ANOTHER Procter & Gamble CEO, to make sure they hate the product as much as you do. And yeah, he's not a fan of games himself, and I don't mean that as "OMG HE SHOULD BE A GAMER" but more in that he holds strong contempt for them, making comments about how Guitar Hero (and this isn't a quote, just paraphrase, because I can't find where I read this quote at this exact moment) "is for the lonely guy who can't get a date and sits at home playing video games on a Saturday night". I know that doesn't seem like a dick comment to some, but it does to me.

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Hate: School registration. Are you fucking kidding me? Where do I start? I've finally defeated one mini-boss of a bullshit situation after another and am almost there. Right when I'm less than a month from classes starting, I get told I need my transcripts and some tax info printed. I have no printer, but no problem, I have friends. I finally got my login info from the guy that did my taxes, and the school has found a work around to needing my W2s that I won't be able to get at all, so someone will be dropping those printouts off by my apt tonight.

As for the transcripts, I have to have a physical copy. They won't accept email or fax, but they will accept mailing a copy. Which doesn't make sense as a fax will print a copy just the same, but ok, we'll just go with that. I contact the High School to get a message informing me that 8 years after I graduated, they got up and built an entire new building in a new location. Well that's awesome, and the pics I saw of it on the site look great. They start this fall. That's cool, my transcripts are old anyway, so I'll just call the Board of Education. What? You don't have any of the transcripts there? Here's a temporary cell number to call someone from the High School about it? Fine. Call the number. "I'm sorry, but we're currently moving and the person who has all the transcripts to upload is unavailable. We haven't had contact for a while and I have no idea when the next time we'll be in contact with him is. Sorry for the inconvenience, is there anything else I can help you with?" "... Classes start on the 16th of August for me. Is there ANYTHING I can do to get my transcript? You mentioned uploading it, but I need a physical copy, so can I just get a copy printed there and then drive out and pick it up or have it mailed to the school? I have all their info to assist with." "Sorry, we don't know when we'll hear from him." "... Surely by August 16th you might-" "No idea. Is there anything else I can assist you with?" "This actually might mean I can't start school till Winter quarter. Do you have any suggestions for how I can NOT have to cancel everything and start then?" "I'll take your name and number and contact you if anything changes."

I talked to the college and the lady and I had a good laugh. "Wow, um, ok, well, uh... give me a second to ask around the office, I've never encountered this before. *few seconds* Yeah, none of us have ever heard of this. Why would they... Ok, we can possibly use your diploma temporarily for admission purposes but have to delay your admission clearance till later. I'm not at all sure what to tell you about financial aid though. This is pretty random." "Yeah, nothing is ever easy."