Inside Valve’s plan to revolutionize the world of video games

[viper37]

From the Washington Post

Just before Halloween, a commentator covering Valve's most popular game, Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2), tweeted it would not have the seasonal event "Diretide." The time-limited game mode with Halloween elements such as virtual candy collection was a big hit on its first run in 2012. This time, Valve's imaginative fans felt tricked.
They spammed the Internet with this text art character, "(つ◕_◕ )つ," demanding that Valve "Give DIRETIDE." They even launched a Change.org petition, and they added a version of the character for download in Dota 2 itself. User ratings for Dota 2 on the review site Metacritic tumbled.
Last week, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell called the decision this year to skip Diretide "totally a mistake."  Newell, who started Valve with fellow former Microsoft employee Mike Harrington in 1996, has achieved a cult-like status in gaming circles. In person, he's a near perfect representation of Valve's "gentle giant": a bear of a man with a graying mop of unruly hair, full beard and the wire-framed glasses that have become his trademark. His conversational style is friendly, but measured -- you can practically hear the gears turning as he constructs the precise words to describe how his gaming empire works.
[...]

Long, like everything from the WP, but worth reading if you like management.

I like that flat management structure.  I wonder if&how it could work in a more traditional setting, say GM.  I have a hard time seeing that working with a multinational manufacturer, and imho, these kind of things can work well for Silicon Valley types (like Google), but unsure about the rest.

[Ed Anger]

More hats.

[celedhring]

From the Washington Post

Just before Halloween, a commentator covering Valve's most popular game, Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2), tweeted it would not have the seasonal event "Diretide." The time-limited game mode with Halloween elements such as virtual candy collection was a big hit on its first run in 2012. This time, Valve's imaginative fans felt tricked.
They spammed the Internet with this text art character, "(つ◕_◕ )つ," demanding that Valve "Give DIRETIDE." They even launched a Change.org petition, and they added a version of the character for download in Dota 2 itself. User ratings for Dota 2 on the review site Metacritic tumbled.
Last week, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell called the decision this year to skip Diretide "totally a mistake."  Newell, who started Valve with fellow former Microsoft employee Mike Harrington in 1996, has achieved a cult-like status in gaming circles. In person, he's a near perfect representation of Valve's "gentle giant": a bear of a man with a graying mop of unruly hair, full beard and the wire-framed glasses that have become his trademark. His conversational style is friendly, but measured -- you can practically hear the gears turning as he constructs the precise words to describe how his gaming empire works.
[...]

Long, like everything from the WP, but worth reading if you like management.

I like that flat management structure.  I wonder if&how it could work in a more traditional setting, say GM.  I have a hard time seeing that working with a multinational manufacturer, and imho, these kind of things can work well for Silicon Valley types (like Google), but unsure about the rest.

Pixar had a similar approach before the Disney takeover.