At this year's New York Comic Con, Managing Editor Jon Wood had the chance to talk with Josh Drescher, Jeff Hickman and Paul Barnett about the perception held by some that their roles at EA Mythic are purely PR. The three talk openly about their roles at the company beyond what we see at shows, in video dev dairies and elsewhere.

After their presentation at the 2008 New York Comic Con, I caught up with Jeff Hickman, Josh Drescher and the always wacky Paul Barnett from EA Mythic's Warhammer Online to talk a little bit about the guys, the promotion of their game and what their in-office jobs actually entail.

The first question that I asked was just how many events like Comic Con (where they gave a very amusing presentation that I will talk about in a later article) they have done over the past few months. After a small fit of laughter, Paul answered with an attempt to put things into a bit of perspective:

"I have done 275,000 air miles over the last two years," he said. Knowing Paul, I asked for clarification and he assures me that not only was that the number when he wrote it in his blog, but that it has increased ever since the last time he checked.

Read it all here.

Being a game designer means that you don't have to sit in front of your computer most of the time. Some people are oblivious to this but as a game designer myself for more then a decade, my best idea always come when i either relax, half as sleep or /shame on the potty...

All to say that you can "easily" do what Paul and others do as PR, and still be very productive with ideas, directions and feedback to your team.

Looks like a good read, but Jon you mispelled read as red next to the article link.

damn i wish they were going to the San diego comic con!!!!

"Another important thing to remember," Josh said, "is that part of making a game is responding to your customer base and the only way that you can understand what your customers think about what you are doing is to go out and talk to them, shake their hands, show them what you're doing and that you're not just operating in a cave working on something that you don't intend to show them until after you've got their money.

Now thats what I like to hear from a developer!  This alone is why the game is going to kick so much ass and leave others wishing they had listened to the customers instead of just trying to get their money!  {AoC devs in particular comes to mind...}

Originally posted by VirgoThree

Looks like a good read, but Jon you mispelled read as red next to the article link.

Fixed

Thanks for the read...veru interesting

Originally posted by needalife214

damn i wish they were going to the San diego comic con!!!! 

We are!  We haven't finalized who'll be attending, but we wouldn't miss SDCC under any circumstances.  :)

Originally posted by JoshEAMythic

Originally posted by needalife214

damn i wish they were going to the San diego comic con!!!! 

We are!  We haven't finalized who'll be attending, but we wouldn't miss SDCC under any circumstances.  :)

 See now, this. This right here. Josh takes the time to note the concern and address it on a totally different forum that isn't devoted to WAR at all. That's caring about the fan base in my opinion.

PR departments are extremly important and especially when they ask the fan base what the pros/cons are of a game.........as long as they dont act like politicians that say one thing and do another!! LOL!!!!

Nice stuff to read.

Just wondering on a side note: Anyplace i can see where the team will be? Or is there is going to be a stand from EA Mythic? I myself live in The Netherlands, Wondering if they will be showing theirselve's in Holland.

Our current event schedule is here:

http://herald.warhammeronline.com/eventcalendar/index.php

That doesn't include certain press-only events or things GOA is running independently.

2 things.

it pleases me to know your hard work for warhammer, and i have for high hopes for you game. after playing a little DOC, and playing the strategy games. i know you guy's please your users very well.

and the other...  i hope to make it to one of the conventions. would love to meet ya guys.

ps... (polish game faster?)

Originally posted by Stradden

 

Originally posted by VirgoThree

Looks like a good read, but Jon you mispelled read as red next to the article link.

*sigh* In my defense, I wrote that when we got home from NY after driving all 15 hours in one go.

 

 

Fixed

Damn I'm impressed. The longest I drove in one go is 4 hours and I was tired after even that. What can I say I hate driving.

Look at that, Josh came to this forum to speak out to the fan base. Absolutely amazing. Makes me glad I already preordered the CE :)

Great Stuff EAMYTHIC!!!   

How cool is that ....they believe in Customer Service...they are communicating directly with their fans/future customers...that is customer service with a big CS!!

Can't wait to play your game guys...have pre-ordered ..signed up for beta..even won a contest..

Now all that needs to happen is either the beta allows me in..or the game releases!!  hehe

Keep up the good work..we're cheering for ya!

Cend