Dear Paradox: Please don't outsource your content design

[Indyclone77]

I think this notion comes from Mexico and Portugal Focus Trees. But there only the basis was created by external help, but making the basis into a real Focus Tree with Gamemechanics and ingame narration was done by an internal content designer, as far as I know.

Mexico was entirely done by inhouse Content Designers

 

[Áurum]

I'm someone who is generally very supportive of the PDS team. But I was deeply disappointed to learn that the design work of the new country pack had been outsourced to freelancers.

I'm not intending to disparage anyone. I'm sure the people who worked on this pack are talented and devoted. This is about corporate policy and the integrity of the product.

In regards to policy, content should be designed in house. Period. If a freelancer is good enough to contribute to the game, they're good enough to be paid a salary and provided benefits. Anything less smacks of exploitation. As to integrity, when I pay for a PDS product, I expect the work to be done by PDS. Sub-contracting is for shady home repairs, not titles crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.

I know we all want content faster. But I, at least, want it done right, and done ethically. It wouldn't be fair to boycott this particular DLC, having not made my opinion known earlier, but I won't be purchasing DLC in the future that has been created in such a manner.

P.S. I know art and focus tree design have been hired out to freelancers in the past, and, to be honest, it's a practice that's always bothered me. Having a country pack whose design has been wholly outsourced, however, crosses a line that I find profoundly troubling. Paradox needs to be a better company than this.

Why? The Greek focus tree looks good, and if that means Paradox can do more things at the same time, go for it.

 

[Kazakk]

What a ridiculous logic this is. So, having freelancers help with development is exploitation? what
I'm happy they're doing what they can to push content faster. The new focus trees are smaller than past DLCs, but they fit the minor role of the nations that are being updated.

 

[safe-keeper]

I'll withhold judgment as I haven't seen the finished product.
As long as payment or hiring practices aren't exploitative, and the end result is good, and PDX can indeed afford to outsource, more power to them. Bringing in people from outside can also bring in new ideas and perspectives, and add some diversity overall.

Again, there's no rule that says outside content has to be inferior to in-house content. For example, I found Life is Strange: Before the Storm, by the people who gave us Ratchet & Clank (IIRC) to be better than Life is Strange 1 and 2 by Dontnod . Better filler content (D&D and a play as opposed to collecting bottles or hunting a McGuffin memory stick), more insight into the subject matter they tackled, and more believable characters.

Also, since they're just country packs, PDX might be less tempted to put important fixes into them, sparing us the decision of buying or boycotting them .

 

[Dlin369]

I feel a bit mixed about the use of freelancers - on one hand I really like that we can get content packs spaced in between the big expansions. On the other, I worry if this process is expanded the quality might go down.

All in all I'll have to see how this next content pack works out before I make any final judgements

 

[Jimmyfeellucky]

I don't mind hiring freelancers as long as their focus trees are better than the French focus tree in LaR though .
I'm still hope to see another Bratyn tier focus tree from a freelancer.

 

[pdstanbridge]

It feels a bit like you're cutting off your nose to spite your face. Each to their own though.

 

[safe-keeper]

What a ridiculous logic this is. So, having freelancers help with development is exploitation? what

Not in and of itself, no. Of course it isn't. But here in Norway, and doubtlessly also in other countries, we're seeing a shift from people being hired for steady, long-term positions, to the use of short-term seasonal positions that keep being replaced, and which makes finding a steady, secure and safe job harder for a lot of people. Hiring a freelancer to do the same work as your regular staff could also primarily be a way to get the same content at a lower price.

The obvious upsides are that the freelancer gets work, and that we get more content than we would otherwise.

 

[qer]

I do think that the OP is quite on point, but it is a trend that we see in almost all sectors so for the moment I think that it will be an uphill figth that probably would take a lot of time to correct.

What worries me more is that while it usually a good idea to out-source to increase profit on the short term, the quality of freelance work is much harder to guarantee, less so with a fixed release schedule. I don't think that this country pack may be of a lesser quality, but if more and more work is done by third parties, I would expect the general quality to suffer.

 

[safe-keeper]

It is a bit worrying that the freelancer is in a cage...

 

[kettyo]

Being outsourced or not is less of a concern for me than the usually apparent lack of coordination between the content designers and the AI programmers. As we have quite a few really good focus trees but the AI seldom can manage them, in fact most of them lack seriously in AI logic.

Hey the Portugal tree is the first where the AI strategy prepare_for_war is used with warmaking focuses.

I'd say the old Japanese tree was kind of an exception as it actually had some AI logic for it's use like attacking Russia only if she's at war with someone or attacking England only after she's at war with Germany, and doing either only after defeating China. Not a perfect logic for sure but at least something.

The German tree has some logic but they tend to fail regularly because of how the focuses interact with wargoals.

 

[Meglok]

Oh good grief. I don't care if work is done in house, by contract, by freelance, or by moonbats from Venus, as long as the work is well done. It is not up to customers to decide either PDS hiring policy or whether a person should be paid for freelance contract work by PDS. If someone is happy with the offered compensation, they will do the work. If not, they can negotiate for more money or pass on the job. Customers don't need to interject their pet ideologies or economic theory into the process.

 

[Sultan Suleiman]

@Indyclone77 and @Archangel85

Thank you SO much for clarifying the situation. You've allayed most of my immediate fears pertaining to quality and fair treatment. I apologize for wording my original post so strongly--there were some terms used in the developer diary that, coming from elsewhere, could have been red flags.

I am especially sorry to @Buzz! , if his feelings were hurt by any of my words. Again, my criticisms were not directed at him personally, or his ability, but at company policy. I was concerned for him and the in-house developers, not just the content itself.

Regarding my reference to outsourced focus trees, I was indeed thinking of Portugal's, but I realize now that that example was a mischaracterization.

To those who understood the issue, like @safe-keeper, even if you didn't agree with me, I appreciate your helping to explain the matter to others.

@Meglok

Do you think it's reasonable to accuse me of having a "pet ideology" after examining the contents of your own post?

You have not one, but two quotes from famous right-wing personalities railing against socialism in your signature. You chide me for not keeping my economic opinions to myself after loudly proclaiming your own. And the views you do express, with respect, are so classically ideological they could be from a textbook.

You're welcome to your opinion, and please, voice it whenever it is in misalignment with my own, but you know what they say about picking specks from black kettles in glass houses: it ends with Red Riding Hood getting thrown to the gingerbread giant's three bears.

(That said, though we differ here, I've always found your assessments of the game itself fair and even keeled.)

 

[him_15]

I can live with that as long as the quality is up to (my) standard.