Pros
- I think one of the main pros I was grateful for was being more personal with the community. Live Ops employees, for the most part, interact on a regular basis with players, both in-game and on Discord. It was really cool to see how passionate and dedicated most of the playerbase was, and that made me more determined to bring up issues or suggestions regarding gameplay, especially those that were a hindrance to enjoying the game. - The work keeps you busy, for the most part, and I enjoyed learning how updates came together every week, such as Xbox Wire, Pearl Shop, PS News, and even certain social media posts. - Most of my peers were awesome and worked extremely hard in their respective roles. - The company provides daily lunches via Foodja, where each employee gets a stipend to spend on one of two restaurants. - Boba is bought for everyone, sporadically.
Cons
If you've made it this far, unfortunately, the bad will outweigh the good at this place. You've been warned: - The managers DO NOT care about you. This is in regards to the Live Ops managers. And I'm not just saying this to put them on blast. They truly don't. You can have all the suggestions in the world, but if they do not like you or the idea does not come from them (or you aren't Korean/speak Korean), they will "acknowledge" the idea, and put it to the wayside. - Speaking of Korean, unfortunately, there is a Korean bias here at the company. Yes, the company itself is Korean, but they operate like their Korean branch counterpart. Meaning, they are very traditional in the way they run the business and NOT the way companies are supposed to run in America. They constantly micromange you and look over your shoulder. They are very censored in their ways. If you have an idea you would like to promote on social media, for example, it ALWAYS has to be approved by the KR branch. More often than not, they will deny anything that might "offend" KR players. Again, the NA and KR communities and cultures are worlds apart. - There is no structure and stable pipline. If you are told that something is going to be updated on X day/date or something is going to be released on X day/date, 9/10 those plans will change or never happen. If you're a console player, you know what I mean. You're told to tell the community things are being looked into, but nothing ever comes of it. This is why players will legitimately cuss you out or insult you while you're in-game, in Discord, or on stream. And GMs/CMs are expected to take it. - If you work an event on the weekend, be prepared not to get paid for it. You will get some sort of PTO, but that's not the same as getting paid, and you will not be paid for the entire time you worked. (i.e. if the entire work day was 12 hours, you'll get pto for 8). - If you have to stay after hours (7pm), you will NOT get paid OT. You get to come in "later" the next day. Please keep this in mind! - You'll never be given the proper responses to relay to the players when things go south, when updates aren't delivered on time, when content is delayed for some reason, etc. Management and the KR branch will tell you to just keep saying things are being worked on. The Devs will also REFUSE to address any issues regarding faults of their own - they'd rather stay radio silent and let the Live Ops teams figure it out. No accountability is ever taken. - Unless you pander to their needs and do what you're told without question, you will not be held in high regard, especially to the managers. The moment you speak out about their practices or refuse to do more work than you're actually paid for, without compensation, a raise, a job title change, etc., you're just a body at the computer. - If you're not 100% BDO is life, they don't care. I've been told by a manager during my 6 month review, that the company wants, and I quote, "people that have no lives, that always play BDO." This was obviously not what I signed up for and I made that known. - You will have work pushed on you that come from other roles, because they refuse to higher the help, and they definitely don't like when people bring up receiving more pay for work that's not in the job description. - If you have issues with a manager (which a lot of people do, but won't say), you WILL be gaslighted. Adapting to the American culture is an excuse they use to continue to treat American employees like they do in Korea, which, if this were truly an American branch, those people would be fired. There's also the excuse that the managers "didn't mean it," and there "must be a language or cultural barrier" to excuse their treatment towards you. Be prepared to be frustrated and upset during your reviews, if you're not on the pedestal with them or working yourself to the bone. - They want you to constantly be playing the game. I understand a role like this requires you to be very familiar with the game, in order to help the community, to provide insights and feedback to the company, etc., but unless you have no life or are very experienced with BDO, you're going to be pushed to play any chance you get. If you've never played it before, good luck. There's TONS to learn, and if you don't mind spending hours and hours with the game, then you're going to be miserable. In my opinion, it's not a great game. But even so, it's an MMO with many mechanics to learn. If you don't mind spending your free time in office and at home playing, God Speed! - On the flip side, if you are well-acquainted with BDO, you will be given more work than those on your team that don't know the game so well. Even then, you're not appreciated. - For some reason, the KR branch looks down on the NA branch, and when its voiced to leads or managers, especially when condescending comments are made in Slack for one reason or another, the KR branch is defended by NA managers and leads. Again, it's most likely the underlings not wanting to speak out against their superiors, because that's what they're used to in Korea. So, they expect you to take the unprofessional behavior, too. - Don't believe all the 5-star reviews, either. At the start of my employment, due to low numbers in applications to the company, we were forced to write 5-star reviews to make the company look better, which would, therefore, attract more applicants. It's a pretty despicable practice to have employees do, especially when just being hired, but I suppose you'll do anything to save yourself from drowning. - Good luck finding growth in this company. You won't be promoted and if you are, you'll be given way more work than what you get compensated for. Unless you're Korean and speak it, there's no opportunities for you. Most of the managers and leads are Korean. Besides that, there are companies that will pay you much more for similar roles, so unless you REALLY need a job or are looking to break into the industry, I'd take my time and look elsewhere. You're worth a whole lot more than what you'll get here. Period.