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Published on December 21st by Rich Stanton

The content creator was invited to plan a compendium of game knowledge.

IGN released an in-depth investigation of Bungie’s alleged workplace harassment culture on December 10. A particular focus of the report is the working conditions of the narrative team, including the "boy club culture" and the ongoing austerity period: now, a popular creator of Destiny content has also served as a Bungie contractor, adding his story to the pile .

Myelin Games is considered the authority of the legend of destiny, so much so that when Bungie decided to make some books based on the game's magic book cards, it let him do most of the work.

Bungie initially signed a contract with Myelin to make a magic book. These cards tell the legend of fate in a piecemeal manner, and his job is to organize and organize existing materials in a meaningful way for the reader. In the video below, he recounted his experience working with Bungie on this project, saying that the IGN article made him realize that his experience as a contractor is not unique.

Before telling his story, Myelin quoted some of the propositions of this article: the writer was rewritten at the last minute, sometimes just when the line was about to be recorded, and was told to thicken it; and “some of Bungie’s old guards Especially precious" about this legend.

After several months of building the book and final proofreading—the final stage before the publication entered the printing press—Myelin received an email a week before the book went to press. It told him that another person would be added to the project, and eventually passed the book and made suggestions. This person is a member of the so-called "Old Guard" who sent the following email to Myelin at the time.

"In this last level, my goal is just to make [this book] the best. Considering the insight and understanding I have gained from cultivating the ideas of these stories and caring for the soil, I might put it forward at the last minute Some challenges/changes make sure it reaches that goal, if you will."

Let's stop and admire the route of "caring for the soil". Well, of course the author of this email continues to take care of Myelin's soil. "[This is] the old guards made it clear that they have more knowledge and experience of fate," Meilin said.

The email sender continued to question Myelin's work fundamentally: why he chose this particular structure, why the chapters are arranged in this way, etc. Myelin went on to illustrate how he responded, and at this point, it seemed just annoying rather than scary.

"Although it was frustrating to question all the work I did the week before the deadline, I was angry, but I understand," Myelin said. "Unfortunately, it didn't stop there: the book is finished, finished, and sent to everyone as a PDF, saying'it's ready for printing'. I checked and noticed that I was at the end of the credits The title has changed.

"No one has talked to me about this. No one told me that it will be changed. [My credit] was originally the curator of the legend, because that was what I did; I planned the legend. What's worse, The person who was added to the team, the former "old guard", was given this title, and I was given a different title, Lore Consulting. I don't think this reflects my role."

Myelin wrote the following emails to senior leaders related to this book:

"Hello everyone. I'm not sure how to ask this question, I know it is a sensitive topic, but I want to talk about my performance in this book [...]. I feel like a'lore' "Consultation "Meaning that I did not do much work for this book [...]. I think I am more active in this project and have been involved since it was first proposed as an idea. I worked very hard to organize, plan, and integrate Decide which magic book cards should be included and what will give knowledge nerds and non-knowledge nerds the best experience.

"I hope this doesn't sound silly. I know I am a newbie to Bungie. I am just signing a contract. However, I still feel that'consulting' does not accurately represent the work I have done for the project. I am not sure of the best title. What is it, but I want to hear your thoughts."

After receiving the email, Myelin organized a conference call with the project leader, and he began to explain his position and how much he did on the book.

"When I described my role and my concerns, in the middle of the sentence, the protagonist interrupted me. In the middle sentence, I had to explain because it was a phone call and not an email, but when they interrupted me in the middle -Sentence, when I said my feelings, they said something like:'I want to stop you. We won't say "I". This is a team project.

"Obviously I was talking about what I did, I said'I' [...] and they continued to rant, saying it was not about the individual, but about the team. I think I don't know anything about it. In the gaming industry, I don’t have one, but I also feel very selfish because I brought up this conversation. It’s like I’ve done something terribly wrong in the book. I’m really angry. I’m really angry. Clearly remember where I was when I received this call [...] When this person interrupted me and gave me these nonsense, general, corporate,'when there is no "me", I feel like fucking me Throw your phone across the road in the team. That's—imagine the most cookie-cutter team conversation you can imagine, and then imagine fucking doing something to someone for months, and they’re already working on a project After a few months, they were just talking about their feelings."

With your credit downgraded on a project that you spent months on, getting the exact "team talk" can seem quite annoying. As Myelin pointed out: "If you don't use the word'I', I really don't know how you talk about issues like book credits."

Myelin said he was so angry that he stopped talking. When Bungie's leaders realized that they might have gone too far, the phone got better. They tried to go back, and in the end, they and Myelin reached an agreement on the new title of the book's credit.

"I have a very small understanding of how this person usually works," Myelin said. "I have a strong desire for control, which makes me feel like an idiot-I think this is their nature, as they can easily fall into that reaction naturally, as if they have rehearsed many times before. The result may be this. "

The Grimoire project went from a book idea to three volumes, and as these things went on, it was very successful enough to make Bungie decide to make the fourth book (Myelin originally developed a six-book series plan). But Bungie decided that myelin would not be involved this time-he only knew about it when the studio announced other books.

"The first thing I thought about was that I was kicked out of the team because I was not a team player," Myelin said. "I was kicked out of the team for complaining. I should shut up, maybe I will have the opportunity to do more work. I think I ruined my relationship with Bungie, then I angered the leadership team or this person, I will in the future Was forbidden to work with them."

Some people might see things like this and say something fussy about book credits or misjudged calls, but the broader context is that contractors are punished and then frozen when they stand up for themselves. The difference between being considered a legendary curator or legendary consultant may seem small, but if you spend months curating knowledge, it won't be. And everyone should stick to the principle of where credit should go.

"It makes me very sad, really angry," Myelin said. "Because I know I only get a small part of the content that the narrative team must endure. I'm not sure where to start. I hope to provide this information to Bungie. I hope they will take it seriously. I hope they will take action to ensure that it does not Happen again."

The allegations about Bungie’s workplace culture do come with warnings: Many people who spoke in the original IGN report also have fond memories of the studio, and the CEO acknowledged the problem, apologized, explained what they were doing, and promised to take More action comes. From the outside, Bungie does not sound like an incurable place: it has historical problems and domineering "old guards" that need to be alert to how they treat others. 

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