[TRENCHES] Thursday, October 29, 2015 - Just A Game

Geth

Just A Game
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/just-a-game

They can’t give an award out to everyone.

Anonymous

Working as a web designer and developer for the games division of a Very Large Software Company, I had the opportunity to work on some impressive and fun projects. Back in the day before Millennials were a thing, web sites were more information-focused and less complex than they are today, and “web masters” (as they were once called) often found themselves doing every aspect for a particular project by themselves.

So one day, my boss forwards me an email from product marketing; it was the specifications for a sub-site, complete with verbiage, some assets, and a list of functional requirements. I dutifully prepared the web site, going back and forth with marketing over the site on our development server. Once completed, the often time-consuming process of Final Approval™ was the only obstacle to delivery.

I went on vacation with my girlfriend and prepared an email to my boss and delegate as to the status of the project, as well as the 30 seconds’ worth of work required to make the web site go live. It went live while I was on vacation without a hitch.

Fast forward six months later, and I was assigned a small section to add to our Intranet site announcing the recognition of certain employees for their efforts on specific projects and that these employees would be awarded a plaque and a payment of $800 at a company awards banquet. One of the projects being “recognized” was my very own sub-site.

Shockingly, the people they mentioned were: the marketing folks (no problem), my boss, and the fill-in who had literally pressed a button to launch it. My name was notable in its absence.

I complained to the lady in whatever-division-handles-award-giving-out and explained my situation. I complained that I had worked on the entire project alone from an IT and design perspective, that I had completed 99.9999% of the project. I pointed out that it had been assigned to me, and not the other recipients. I pointed out that the delegate had only pushed the site live, and my boss had only forwarded the original email to me and that given those credentials, I was certainly due recognition, the plaque, and the little bonus cheque (given tax deducations, the plaque was the more valuable item).

You know what her response to me was? “We can’t give awards out to everyone who was involved in the project.”

Jesus.

When my boss and my coworker went up on stage in their tuxes to receive their accolades, I did not clap.

michaelkdaw

If I'd been tasked with testing Doom 3, I'd have been out of a job.

zepherin

michaelkdaw wrote: »

If I'd been tasked with testing Doom 3, I'd have been out of a job.

Or you would have shown the type of lazy incompetence that gets you promoted.

SolaceInRage

New comic, woo, hey that's awesome. But where are the actual tales? It's been on the same one for quite a while now, and as much as I like the occasional comic the tales from the actual workers below it are why I check back a few times a week. I loved Jenny Breeden's "Customers suck" comic, and the "Not Always Right" boards because I'm amazed by the infinite variety of ways employers, employed and consumers can be stupid in funny ways. Why has it been frozen or so infrequent? Do you need a new mod to sort through and post them, did people stop submitting them because someone wrote the hyper critical sticky about users having fun playing detective and piecing together which game a tale refers to, or what?

DJSquiggy

pretty sure the sticky wasnt the problem. i would say the fact that the trenches forum posts are barren means that the interest in the comic as a whole is fading. you dont even have people complaining as much anymore because they gave up, or didnt feel like getting criticized for having an opinion.

I still check the site, still check the forums, but it might not last for long. there doesnt seem to be any community left, or they are like me and waiting for a new comic to show up.

Morgan Blackpowder

Maybe the once a week (if we're lucky) updates to the comic are a form of protest for the current author. "They won't let me put my by line on this... so.... I'm gonna sink the whole thing..." kind of attitude. Thoughts?