Developers in BG?

Guys from Kabam, how can you comment on this? If this is really a developer, then what is he doing in the Fields? I mean, why should regular players compete with accounts that potentially have all the characters and unlimited resources? In all the games I've played before, the developer accounts were technical and never went to war against the players. If you write that he developed an account like an ordinary player, then, guys, what guarantees are there that this is so? Or that one day you just won't upload to it the characters that it lacks?

Comments

ItsClobberinTime

The fact that the game devs play their own game at high level with a legit account is truly an anomaly cause most game devs don't, at least not publicly with legit accounts at high level, and this guy is complaining? If anything you should be glad, this could potentially mean bugs and other issues will be found and fixed quicker, better balancing for all champs in general etc. I think you're just mad that they have the rarest title in the entire game, cope.

Kabam Jax

Hey Summoners,

I'd like to elaborate a little here, but first let me thank you! The vast majority of you have approached and discussed this topic very level headed. I feel this topic could have spiraled into a lot of yelling pretty quickly, and I was pleasantly surprised this morning.

Firstly, Kabam employees have always played MCOC and we have always been very clear about that. The comments of "do they even play their own game?!" have always made us chuckle. Some of us (definitely not me) are actually very good! But every one of those accounts is earned. We do not have "access to every champ" and we cannot pull any strings to earn wins, grant resources, etc. We play the same way you play.

This in-game tag exists to provide transparency, plain and simple. You've played against the dev team before, almost certainly. But now you can get really excited when you destroy a Kabam developer in Battlegrounds! I'm kind of excited to hear some of the stories that come from this!

Vegeta9001

Let me answer your question with another question. What guarantees that you built your account solely on your own? Without the help out outside sources? Just because a developer plays the game doesn't mean it's anything nefarious. Like others mentioned, game maybe a mess rn, but at least if Devs are playing at a reasonably high level more bugs may be discovered.

Renaxqq

Very good that devs are playing and enjoying their own game! Thumbs up for that!

ReignkingTW

So we've gone from

It's like no one from Kabam plays this game!

to

How dare anyone from Kabam plays this game!

1199345

nah mentioned in Global the other day that he works on balancing...genuinely nice in chat, and respectfully answered all questions...

As for BGs, maybe he's just doing his job...or making sure things are working as intended...or he's just enjoying some off-hours gameplay??

I personally think it's nice to see devs in-game...

klobberintyme

Fun fact: former employees still have active accounts. Well, accounts I can look at that aren't in an alli, anyway.

Thomildo

I remember Miike once told us he played, and people never knew it was him. I think this is a cool thing!
Is it like the legends title that can’t be turned off?

DNA3000

I guarantee this is false. In every online game you've ever played the developers of that game were playing the game alongside the players. You just didn't know it.

Except, common sense tells most people that the developers are out there, just playing anonymously, specifically to avoid this time of nonsense. The vast majority of players know or assume they are out there, and it is just the very few oddly conspiratorial ones that want to make a big deal out of it.

I say oddly, because it would be conspiratorial to think the devs deliberately cheat at their own game and suffer no repercussions from the company for doing so. Kabam as a company has no self-interest in allowing developers to cheat, and I've seen developers fired from other games for cheating. It is usually not worth the risk. But the odd part comes in when someone thinks the developers are deliberately cheating at their own game and explicitly highlighting their game accounts for extra scrutiny. Why would they do that?

RiderofHell

You made Virbranium 2? I'm struggling in silver for a week now. 🤣

Caleb1705

I'd much rather have devs playing their own game in real time as opposed to blindly trying to create updates and patches

ahmynuts

DNA3000

Just out of curiosity, when do you usually do your matches? Asking for a friend.

startropics

it's not fair! they have a snack wall and we don't.

gohard123

Never thought I'd see Don Robbie on Kabam Forums

Angryneeson52

I’m happy this is now a title so we can actually see that devs do play this game.

While I was always a firm believer in that they don’t. Based on how poorly the game runs sometimes and the amount of bugs, issues, ect on a monthly basis. Now I am a believer.

Hopefully one day Kabam will be able to produce like supercell. They get it right.

HungaryHippo

I think you’re slightly off base here. People, myself included, have questioned whether devs played the game at high enough levels to feel what the players do. For example, had any devs finished Carina’s V1 and 2 challenges?

I’m glad Kabam is hiring or contracting with people like karateman, DLL and nah and I believe their contributions will benefit the game in massive ways. However saying that it has “always been the case” is a bit of a slight of hand unless we start to see other devs in GC.

Overall it’s great news.

Demonzfyre

My god, are you really that cynical? What does finishing Carina's 1 or 2 have to do with anything? Miike has always had an account. Adora had an account. Jax talks about his on stream. DLL has has his account for a long time while being a developer. Pretty sure Kabam John has a YouTube channel for a long time. There's no slight of hand.

DNA3000

I don't understand your "slight of hand" complaint here. Kabam has made many statements in the past about their developers playing the game at all levels of play in response to players questioning this. This goes back at least to 2017 when AW was getting its first major revamp (i.e. when defender diversity was introduced) and Kabam was questioned on whether any of the developers even participated in high tier war. Jax is summarizing a long history he wasn't here for the entirety of, but those of us that were can attest that players have questioned both whether Kabam developers played the game at high levels and even at times at all, and in both cases Kabam has answered in the affirmative. This is not a recent development.

In fact I recall such discussions happening even before that, for example when 12.0 rolled out, but those were generalized complaints. "Top tier play" was a bit ambiguous back then. It was war revamp where I recall this first being challenged very specifically, where the notion of what "top tier play" was very specific and obvious.

startropics

i wish you could search by tag in game and find dev accounts. pretty cool to see who's playing and at what tier. any chance you could release a list?

Mauled

So let me get this right, we spend 7 years complaining that the devs don’t know the game because they don’t play it, but when you discover that they do, that’s no good either.

You can’t have it both ways.

DLL is also a dev, content creator and an officer in SSx-1 and is a really sound guy. You gonna make him quit because he’s now working in Kabam but has a regular account?

SuelGames

I ll be honest here, i thought this was shady af, agreed with the post maker.

However, after reading some of the comments, i started to change my mind, but not entirely, not until i saw Jax post, he made me check things from a diferent perspective.

ReignkingTW

@HungaryHippo while I appreciate your challenging the Kabam-does-no-wrong people, you're now coming off as someone that just disagrees to disagree

danielmath

I think it's good this way, that people can see they play. YEARS ago, there was a kabam developer that was possibly going to join 4loki, and it was super hush hush, where if he had joined the leadership was not allowed to let the people in the alliance know who he was. I thought it was silly, but that shows you that you might have even had a kabam developer in your own alliance, and just never knew.

HungaryHippo

I disagree

ReignkingTW

Agreed

HungaryHippo

I suppose I should ask since you seemed a bit sincere. You scoured my post history and didn’t see any time I sided with Kabam?

Not even the time I agreed with GW on the War compensation issue?

HungaryHippo

I'm saying that taking on DLL and nah (you'd agree these are fairly recent) is a different statement from "people we hired, started playing the game and are endgame players." That's why I said, "it's a bit of sleight of hand" because people here (not Miike or Jax, but haven't mentioned other names) are pushing DLL and nah as examples that their team always had top tier players. Surely you of all people understand the nuance?

Adding DLL and nah to the team (and hopefully more endgame players) is a great thing for the game in addition to having smaller and newer players on the team.

Edit: This is why I'm so thrilled to see someone like nah (and DLL, usually watch his streams) on the team. And it shows; KT1 has been singing DLL's praises for some time now.

Demonzfyre

DLL isn't new to the team.

GroundedWisdom

I know from personal conversations with Moderators here (and unless their internal policies have changed the same stands) that they play with their own Accounts, just like the rest of us. Some have been playing a long time. Others are fairly new, like Jax and his "baby Cav Account" (his words).
This isn't some new, fandangled thing. Their Accounts have been among us, and they don't get any kind of upper hand, or do any sleight of hand. They have access to test Accounts if they have work to test out, but the only thing seemingly new is the Title.
This whole conspiracy that they don't play their own product and they don't understand high level game play is just that, a conspiracy. Born of frustration and perpetuated over the years.