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Post by Lord Hayati on Mar 8, 2015 10:35:57 GMT -5
... A bunch of TNT staff just got Laid off.
D:
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Post by Shinko on Mar 8, 2015 10:58:02 GMT -5
Yeah, Duke Pikachu mentioned this a few hours ago.
Does not foreshadow good things. >>;
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Mar 8, 2015 11:13:34 GMT -5
This doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth.
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Post by Celestial on Mar 8, 2015 11:17:41 GMT -5
Well, this is...worrying, to say the least. >>;
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Post by Carolyn on Mar 8, 2015 11:26:53 GMT -5
... Guys, this post concerns me. Big time.
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Post by Shadyy on Mar 8, 2015 11:33:18 GMT -5
Oh dear :/
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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Mar 8, 2015 11:44:07 GMT -5
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Post by Ziporen on Mar 8, 2015 12:11:01 GMT -5
Heard about this the night before last... didn't want to post it. ;~; Sorry.
It's scary, and unfortunately the only thing we can really do right now is wait until Monday's news, if there's news.
Edit: To clarify a little, I don't think the lag is from the layoffs. (Although it certainly won't help.) I heard that they were announced before the news on Friday (or was it Thursday?), and the lag started around the time that the quests did.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Mar 8, 2015 12:27:00 GMT -5
So, JN Staff Nynex posted a blog about her thoughts on the subject and they're not very hopeful, infact she's preparing for the end of Neopets. While I'm still piecing the information together from what I can find, what I have discovered that among the laid off was Comastar (the HEAD of the content department) and Viola. And remember this is on top of TNT have lost staff members from the transition and some having quit, so they were already understaffed. So, what does this mean? Honestly I see only two ways Neopets can go, because lay offs is the sign of a serious problem and something needs and is going to change: WORST CASE: I can only assume the lay offs were due to the site either probably not making much profit or taking too much to run. According to Snarkie's twitter post and hearing they fired Comastar it seems like they're cutting away jobs not related to keeping the site running (though is by "Designers" Snarkie means programmers then scratch this statement). Eitherway, JumpStart downsized them and told the rest they got a few more months to stabilize the site. A few months come and go, very little or nothing improves, and JumpStart decides to close Neopets (and at best use the brand name to just sell real life merchandise, or at worst forget it exists). BEST CASE: Complete restructure to how Neopets is ran and we go back to the basics. The site came with a LOT of baggage which TNT tried to keep but the transition to a smaller environment meant they lost a lot of momentum and caused the site to start suffering because of it. If Neopets wants to survive now they need to go back to basics, at least until they can stabilize things. First order of business is the lag which has already been an uphill battle. They may need to start getting rid of non-important site content like old pages related to plots, Neopia Articles, and similar stuff to maybe see if that frees up memory on the server (of course they'll still need to be doing what they've been doing to get rid of the lag in the code). Sadly this would probably also mean no plots and events will become scarce at best (and annual things like the Advent Calendar would have to be scaled back). This may also mean a decrease in site content, maybe even skipping days updating the news since they'll have nothing new.
However going back to basics doesn't have to be a bad thing. As I said it's to get the site to stabilize and if they can do that they can start adding back content and more new content (probably slowly of course). Instead of focusing on plots and events they put focus on general goals, maybe even release new Avatars and Site Themes for us to collect. Maybe set up game challenges or maybe Battledome challenges (sure the BD isn't complete, but it has some additional functionality as seen with the Obelisk War). Instead of having us wait for the next big event has us focus on working toward goals. Little things that would be easy to do while they work to stabilize the site.
Now doing this won't be easy, I imagine many players would be upset and many may even leave the site if they were already angry with how things on the site has been going. TNT will ask us to understand, though even I'll admit I've been burned enough times to have my doubts. I'll still hang in there, if only because I put so much time into the site and want to see the site improve. But do note that dark times will be ahead. Well, those are my immediate thoughts. Many thoughts still linger but I think I'll end things here. I'm hoping for the Best Case option to happen, but note even if it looks like that's where things are heading if things don't improve the Worst Case scenario can easily swoop in. All I can say now is pray for the best, hope TNT can pull through, and ask JumpStart to give Neopets a chance. That said, as a friendly advice to the TNT staff, it might not be a bad decision to tidy up your resumes and look for a few potential jobs in case of the worst... SIDE THOUGHT: I wonder what this means for Droplet or the Neopian Times...  |
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Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Mar 8, 2015 12:33:54 GMT -5
Komori We need you now to play devil's advocate and argue that Neopets is going to stay alive and well. :3
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Mar 8, 2015 12:47:27 GMT -5
JN just posted. According to them all that's left of Neopets are a handful of programmers, the support team, and monitor team. Now I'm REALLY worried about Droplet. And not just because of the Neopian Times, is she now out of a job with a kid on the way? |
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Post by Fraze on Mar 8, 2015 12:54:30 GMT -5
Honestly, Neopets' glory days are long gone. Like, 8-10 years long gone. I don't think they're getting many new members anymore, just the old ones who have kept sticking around. If they want the site to keep going, then they'll need to a) put all their effort into retaining those old members, or 2) put all their effort into getting new members. They've steadily stuck with option a for a while, with regular plots and events; but if the entire content team is getting scrapped, then maybe they're going to try to focus on option 2 instead. Which won't be good for us, but it might be good for the continued success of the site.
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Post by Huntress on Mar 8, 2015 13:03:45 GMT -5
This feels kind of odd as far as timing goes. If this was standalone news, then I'd understand it as a case of "site's been steadily losing money and isn't what it used to be", etc etc.
But only a few months after a big overhaul of servers? Why bother with the transition and all the expenses/overtime/lag hullabaloo? Ye average company (especially a big one) doesn't make plans a couple months in advance, they plan years in advance.
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Post by Breakingchains on Mar 8, 2015 13:04:46 GMT -5
Uhg.
I try to remain optimistic about the site, since in my 14 years playing it I have seen so much crap come and go and people screaming it was going to tank every time there was a problem. But none of the disasters I remember are really comparable to this long of an issue with basic site functionality, nor to losing this much of the old-time staff. Losing those guys hurts. They're talented and experienced and I'm sure they'll do well, but even assuming content continues there is no telling how the site is going to change without them.
I've felt like the site was on an unsustainable course for a while. It's been clear they've been short of programmers--the user end of the site is dated, old plots don't work, the neoboards are growing mold, habi had the exact same issues from launch to retirement, and all the while new content and year-round events just poured more and more stuff into rickety systems. NC and ad revenue might just not have been cutting it anymore and I think between the sale, the lag and the layoffs we're just watching all of that hit the fan.
Now, that said.
Since Ghoulcatchers integrates with the neopets site, awarding NP and items, I think it's safe to say that JS does not want to tank it completely or replace the site with apps. Pikachu's best-case idea that they are stripping stuff down and stabilizing seems plausible to me. Neo is expensive to run, has reams of old content bogging it down, and probably is not bringing in enough revenue. What we might see is a looooong haul of more lag and, yes, more stuff getting pulled and simplified while JS sets up shop with their apps to get more revenue coming in--and then the site could grow in a more steady and sustainable way. Things are going to change, we aren't sure how yet, but hindsight will be 20/20.
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Post by The Scrac that Smiles Back on Mar 8, 2015 13:41:19 GMT -5
This is actually a typical business practice, so I wouldn't look too deep into it >_>;
When a company or project is taken over by another company or a company gets a new president there are almost always mass lay-offs. The idea is that new people will conform to the ideas of the new boss and not hold onto past ideals. And it typically happens roughly a year after the take over (to give the new boss an idea of how everything has been run and a chance to find flaws in the system and develop their own system).
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