Jet Lagged
I remember back when this all started, a little less than three years ago, how exciting it was to fly to strange new cities for no other reason than because I drew comics. I’m not sure when that went away, but man, I fucking hate flying to strange new cities now.
Once you’re there it’s fun, and if you’re very lucky you might actually get to leave the hotel/convention center district and see how the regular people of that area live. In the case of comic comic conventions, it’s also really great to meet fans of Atomic Robo.
But the getting there and back part -boy that sucks.
This weekend I went to Seattle. Not for a comic convention, but to visit Valve Software. However, I was there essentially because of Atomic Robo, so what I was saying earlier applies. Dorinda and the Widget came with me, and we had a really great time. We left Thursday morning, finally adjusted to the 3hr time difference Saturday evening, and then flew home Sunday morning. Brutal.
Because of the NDA I was forced to sign with my feet after being handcuffed to a hissing old radiator and beaten within an inch of my life with a length of garden hose and some oranges in a tube sock, I can’t go into much detail about ALL THE AMAZING COOL SHIT I SAW. So be content just knowing that it was, in fact, amazing. And cool.
One thing I’m pretty sure it’s safe to talk about is how crazy-fantastic the structure of Valve is. I never expected to encounter a company that not only understood stuff like this, but implemented it into it’s daily operations. While there are people who are clearly senior, and people who are junior, Valve seems the closest thing to a true meritocracy that the modern world can handle. If you’ve got an idea and the intestinal fortitude to see it through, you’re the lead and you call the shots. Regardless of how long you’ve been there.
If you’ve got to work for someone other than yourself, this kind of place is a dream. They really seem to bend over backwards to create an environment that makes their employees (and employee’s families) as happy as possible. As one guy was telling me, Valve tries to hire people for life. They don’t want someone to come in for a year, learn all they can, and move on. They want them to stay until they retire. More than any of the projects they were working on it was this, their attitude towards the people who work for them, that really impressed me the most.
One thing I can safely talk about a little is Left For Dead 2. Hole-E-Shit. I thought the first L4D was a solid game. I don’t even like zombies, and I loved it. It gave me nightmares, and I came back for more. L4D2 grabs L4D by the nipples and cranks things up to Eleven. New “boss” baddies, a wider selection of guns, more ways to light shit on fire, and a selection of melee weapons that will satisfy anyone. Once again I had nightmares, and once again, I want more.
Things were nuts at Valve, as they are in final play testing at the moment. While this meant my visit was a lot less productive than it could have been it does mean I got to see the place at work under pressure. And if I’m lucky, it means I get to visit again real soon. As I understand it, people have a mandatory number of hours that they MUST play a game during the final weeks of testing. Internet connections have been cut and work stations wrapped in plastic to physically prevent people from doing other stuff when they are clearly slacking on the critical “playing games” part of their job description.
I did my best not to geek out too hard while I was there, but probably failed miserably. During an informal lunch with a half-dozen of the folks from Valve I felt like I was trying to drink from a fire hose as they told me about things they were working on, how the company operated and fielded most questions asked of me with a stunning, “Duhhhh, I dunno . . .maybe. . .I guess so?” Of all the amazingly talented folks that I met Bay Raitt was one of the highlights. Not only is he an amazing artist (you might know him best for designing Gollum’s face for the LoTR movies) but he seemed to me like a compulsive teacher. I got to spend a half hour in his office while he showed me a bunch of stuff that I can’t tell you about but which totally blew my tiny mind.
Saturday was a free day for us, so the our little family unit headed into Seattle. (Valve is in Bellevue, about fifteen minutes by car on the other side of Lake Washington.) We took the widget to the top of the Space Needle, for a ride on the city’s silly little monorail system, wandered around Seattle Center, and visited the Sci-Fi museum. Of course, the widget’s favorite parts of the trip where sitting in airplanes for thirteen hours each way, our rental car, and the pool at our hotel.
Despite the terrific head colds that we now all have thanks to the canned air of United Airlines and the crazy time-zone hopping, we had a wonderful time. If I’m a very lucky kid I will be invited back again once L4D2 is ready to ship, but if not I can at least say I’ve been to the Pacific Northwest (and loved it!), and that we really enjoyed the visit.
