Saturday, September 26, 2009

Valve and the Community


Valve Software, the creators of Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead, Portal, and the Half-Life series. They have a knack for not taking things seriously in a serious way. They even play along with some of the eccentricities in the community. Which makes it pretty fun.

This is especially true in the Team Fortress 2 community. The game itself is over-the-top and humorous. Add to that the frequent replies of Mann Co., the fictional company that provides the Team Fortress 2 classes their equipment, and their CEO Saxton Hale just completes the picture (and I have to say, I am a HUGE fan of Team Fortress 2).

Here's a few compilations of their interactions with the community.

Giving sound advice on forum posting.




They're very forthcoming with customer feedback.
Shacker Lionhart32935 had a minor gripe with one of Half-Life 2: Episode Two's commentary recordings:
Hi Gabe! One [of] the commentators in episode 2 sounded really bored. I believe his name was Stevie or Steven, can't quite recall. Tell him to sound more excited. He makes games, he should be off the wall to talk about what he worked on. He sounded like Ben Stein was having more fun than he was.
Valve's Chet Faliszek wasted no time in righting the wrong, going straight to the source:
Thanks for your email. Based solely on your feedback we have decided to fire the offending party, Steve Kalning. Instead of sending him to HR and wasting their time, I have cc'd him on this email and this will act as his official notice. Clean out your desk Steve.
Thanks Lionhart for helping us make Valve a better place.
It wasn't long before a second email response followed:
Pat, after careful study, I realize steve bond could have also been the culprit. So since we can't really be sure, and really no sense wasting any more time on this. Mr Bond? Please clean out your desk as well.
Concerned that his complaint had already resulted in the loss of two jobs, Lionhart32935 replied:
How about just giving him a hug instead? I heard that cheers up many people. Buy him a drink, even better! It will make the work environment more exciting for him if he gets unexpected surprises from fellow coworkers.
Faliszek was having none of it:
That is the kind of weak thinking we don't need aroud here Lionhart. Hugs never got a 96 on the metacritic score.
Standards upheld!

Unfortunately, they're out of stock.




And are always open to new suggestions.




Valve, kudos to you.

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