I'm probably less cynical now that I was a few years ago about this sort of thing - different company, different corporate culture and all that - but some of it rings painfully true. I was reading pieces of it to some coworkers - including one of the game designers - and they were almost falling out of their chairs laughing. It's funny 'cuz it's true.

Funny stuff.

Okay, I will admit that by the end it gets a little on the whiney side. Maybe I've been too corrupted by the industry. I mean - yeah. You are getting paid to do a job. And it's never as glamorous as it sounds. You want to see your Vision (tm) come to life? Go indie! But I think the contrast between expectations and reality for would-be game game designers in the big Game Making Machine is pretty hysterical.

Sounds like he never got anywhere in the game industry because he has a narcissistic, cynical, me-first attitude. Go figure they didn't trust him to run with anything.

What a perfectly dismissive comment, Zack. Beautiful in its circular nature. On the other hand maybe he has a "me-first" attitude because he really does have something compelling to design and has been given the lead role but watched in dismay as it was dropped into the meatgrinder of day to day game development and obliterated.

Toned down the ending.

Of course it is dismissive. I'm a game designer at a major studio. If you throw tantrums when your ideas don't get in, you will just be a pain to work with and no one will take your actual good ideas seriously. I should know, I watch people like you burn out every year. The key to being a good designer isn't having good ideas but being able to work with all the stakeholders to turn those ideas into reality.
I've had a design role on some really shitty games. And I fully believe that we could have salvaged those games if we went a different direction with the design. But it wasn't my sole decision. All you can do is learn from it and do a better job next time. Learn why people did not gravitate to your ideas.
In my opinion, the problem with a lot of designers these days is that they think that what they need to do is talk and the manna that spills forth from their golden lips will be a saving grace to the industry. A good designer doesn't talk - he/she listens.
I don't think you are a bd designer GG - I've never seen your work (maybe I have, but you are anonymous). I just think you have a bad attitude which 1) won't get you anywhere and 2) won't help other designers reading your rants.
If it feels good, great. But GSW shouldn't be linking to it.