32 replies to this topic

[Belorion]

Who is going to be filling the recent void of Community Relations?

This is a rather important position and the community needs someone to be the point of contact for issues and concerns.

Is someone stepping into this role, or will there be a new hire in this regard?

[Viges]

There is no one to answer this question (now). See what they did here?

But you will get your dev vlog in a month or two (I guess).

Edited by Viges, 19 February 2014 - 08:29 AM.

[Iacov]

why exactly was he set free?
because the official post could mean anything...

though i have to admit, the devs lately do a better community relation than the community manager did (information wise)
garth would be a damn good gamemaster though

[Imperius]

Iacov, on 19 February 2014 - 08:49 AM, said:

why exactly was he set free?
because the official post could mean anything...

though i have to admit, the devs lately do a better community relation than the community manager did (information wise)
garth would be a damn good gamemaster though

I said the exact same thing to my friend about Garth.

[John MatriX82]

Probably one of the few good-sensed @ PGI has gone or has been fired. Not a good sign.

[Codex Clavdex]

This news really worries me because I think that Garth was made a scape goat for all of PGI/IGP community problems. If u read a lot of Garth's posts and listen to Old NGNG podcasts that had him as a regular guest you would hear him state that he was keeps out of the loop with reguards to what was going on over at PGI. I remember a couple of time he flat out said that he was not imformed nor invited to any meetings or planning sessions and most of the time could only answer community questions with a "I don't know but I'll look into it and get back to you" but he never would get a answer.

I have a feeling that he got tired of being a propaganda man for PGI and either left on his own or he stood up to to them and was proptly fired either way,RIP Garth.

[Lupin]

Might explain why MWO so out of touch with it's players. And maybe having a good sense to get off the train before the wreck.

Edited by Lupin, 19 February 2014 - 12:55 PM.

[Nauht]

Yeab it was plainly obvious Garth was used as a scapegoat and either kept out of the loop when it came to PGI matters or was told to keep the community in check. Impossible to do when your company gives you nothing to stand on and consistently underperformed for so long.

Pure speculation but he didn't strike me as one without a backbone (responding and apologising publicly when the shiet hit the fan) so he probably said something to Russ or one of the higher ups. Not a good career move when you lock horns with your boss, but then again it was a pretty shiet job back in then.

[TehSBGX]

My guess is he quit. As people have mentioned he seemed to have been kept out of the loop on important things on pgis end, and something like that can get pretty frustrating for a guy whos supposed to relay communications.

[Zeusus]

I'll start with the TLDR: He likely quit or was laid off, but it's doubtful he was fired.


Long version:
I highly doubt he was fired since PGI is a Canadian based company. "...simply a matter of his skill set no longer matching the evolving needs of the product and studio" is not grounds to fire someone in Canada, as it tends to results in lawsuits since you are expected to retrain them. More likely laid off as it is generally cheaper and fair game in that scenario (lots of loopholes to allow for it).

As to getting fired for standing up to their boss? Doubt it unless he was blatantly offensive and vulgar. Basically if he said something like "I can't do my job without this info" and the reply was "you don't need it" and he then tried to do his job he is more or less safe from being fired (well, he'd have grounds for wrongful dismissal).

For reference in case it was not obvious I am Canadian and in the tech industry so I'm well versed in how this works in practice. The only time I've heard of someone getting fired was a guy drinking vodka while watching... uh... adult entertainment in the office.

Edited: fixed some typos

Edited by Zeusus, 19 February 2014 - 02:48 PM.

[Bagheera]

Maybe we need 2 CMs, so they can play good cop/bad cop.

I nominate Roadbeer and Redshift2k5. Because the bad cop would be hilarious and the good cop would be quite knowledgeable and a skilled writer.

[Leifanator]

There was a community relations person?

Maybe I didn't watch the right areas of the internet or just didn't see the right posts here on the forums. I think it was November that I got all excited with all the information that came out around about that time and it's tapered off again, but I'm fairly certain that that month several developers were posting and not any one person in particular.

Anyway, I have high hopes and low expectations that a new community person will be able to keep us better informed.

[Sephlock]

Iacov, on 19 February 2014 - 08:49 AM, said:

why exactly was he set free?
because the official post could mean anything...

though i have to admit, the devs lately do a better community relation than the community manager did (information wise)
garth would be a damn good gamemaster though

[Nauht]

Zeusus, on 19 February 2014 - 02:47 PM, said:

I'll start with the TLDR: He likely quit or was laid off, but it's doubtful he was fired.


Long version:
I highly doubt he was fired since PGI is a Canadian based company. "...simply a matter of his skill set no longer matching the evolving needs of the product and studio" is not grounds to fire someone in Canada, as it tends to results in lawsuits since you are expected to retrain them. More likely laid off as it is generally cheaper and fair game in that scenario (lots of loopholes to allow for it).

As to getting fired for standing up to their boss? Doubt it unless he was blatantly offensive and vulgar. Basically if he said something like "I can't do my job without this info" and the reply was "you don't need it" and he then tried to do his job he is more or less safe from being fired (well, he'd have grounds for wrongful dismissal).

For reference in case it was not obvious I am Canadian and in the tech industry so I'm well versed in how this works in practice. The only time I've heard of someone getting fired was a guy drinking vodka while watching... uh... adult entertainment in the office.

Edited: fixed some typos

Sorry but you sound a little naive. No manager/boss with any experience would ever straight out fire someone unless there's been a clear breach of something written down but there are other ways to get that person to leave. The end result is the same.

That is if he didn't quit to really move on, which may also have happened but usually when someone leaves on good terms there'd be an announcement and a goodbye... especially if you're the community manager.

[Roadbeer]

Belorion, on 19 February 2014 - 06:49 AM, said:

Who is going to be filling the recent void of Community Relations?

[Chemie]

The skill set of a community communicator is not needed at PGI.

[Zeusus]

Nauht, on 19 February 2014 - 04:05 PM, said:

Sorry but you sound a little naive. No manager/boss with any experience would ever straight out fire someone unless there's been a clear breach of something written down but there are other ways to get that person to leave. The end result is the same.

That is if he didn't quit to really move on, which may also have happened but usually when someone leaves on good terms there'd be an announcement and a goodbye... especially if you're the community manager.

Sooooo did you read what I said at all? Cause what you said is exactly what I said....

[Duncan Aravain]

PGI will probably replace Garth with a Chia Pet; not that Garth was anything like an unthinking plant,but rather that PGI will listen/respond with the same intensity and results, while spending less on care. You will be missed,Garth.

[Krinkov]

A friend works for an engineering company and gets a month of vacation time per year. No one actually takes a month off in one chunk because the head of the company has said if they can survive without you for a month they probably don't need you. Garth just took two months off for his honeymoon. My guess would be they just noticed they didn't actually need him around anymore.

[Zeusus]

Sterling M Archer, on 19 February 2014 - 04:37 PM, said:

That's what an employer says when they can you.
See where it says "Skill set no longer matching ... needs"

Read between the HJs.

I'm going back to not bothering with these forums, as no one reads the full post....