Jeremy Monken, a former GM on Warhammer Online, writes an insightful piece over at The Escapist on the rise and fall of Warhammer Online from the perspective of a Game Master. Entitled "Casualty of Warhammer" the article details his history with Mythic, from touring the facilities, to his eventual employment at the company as a GM after losing his job at a D.C. newspaper, to his personal experience with the many layoffs that hit Mythic over the past year. which of course, eventually hit him.

By December, paid subscriber numbers for WAR had dropped from a reported 800,000 to fewer than 300,000. We quickly learned we weren't immune to EA's company-wide layoffs as two rounds hit my department and familiar faces disappeared.

The first to go weren't surprises. CSRs that were less adept with the software and less able to deal with customers stopped showing up. It was the third wave that had most people updating their resumes. People who had become our friends and mentors - guys whom we would all ask for advice or help with difficult issues - got cut. It became obvious that nobody was safe. The party was over.

Our department became more spread out as our neighbors were sent home. Most of us avoided speaking with our former coworkers lest we remind them of what they lost or remind ourselves of what was coming. It was a sad, lonely atmosphere. Every blank monitor was a gravestone.

Jeremy was only employed at Mythic for a few months, but going from the article it sounds like it was one heck of an emotional roller coaster.

Read the full piece over at The Escapist.