Vikings Pillage, Rape, Rap, In Roughly That Order

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Scott Jennings| 69 Comments

I’ve been down with the flu this past week, much like, well, everyone else. So I’m a bit late with this; but on the off chance your brain hasn’t already melted:

Every game company I’ve worked at has done some sort of company music video (especially in Austin, where literally everyone has a guitar in the closet and dreams of playing Rock Band FOR REALZ).

I’m pretty sure CCP is the only ones crazy-Viking enough to actually post theirs on the Internet.

Im chillin at my desk with two girls and one pimp cup
Sippin champagne, reading mails checkin what’s up
Isk spamming scum bags disturbing the peace?
WOOP WOOP its the sound of space police!

Eazy-E wept.

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  • Gx1080

    For those wondering:

    http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1190366

    TL,DR: o/

    If that isn’t a recruitment video, it should.

  • http://www.antipwn.com/blog IainC

    I saw this on the live feed from Fanfest and my jaw hung open with the pure awesomeness of it. I really can’t imagine any other games company having the cajones to release it, expletives and all.

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    I still refuse to grind asteroids.

  • http://stabbedup.blogspot.com/ Stabs

    I have a new favourite rap band!

    Anyone else think of that dooberry from Activision bragging that he’s busy stamping the fun out of working for his company?

    Go Go CCP!

    Interestingly it’s not just the Icelandic nutcases (which perhaps one might expect) but it looked like they have their Shanghai and US offices in on the fun too.

  • http://www.jenncutter.com/ Jenn

    I have to admit that I absolutely loved the video even though I don’t play any of their games.

  • http://www.cheapaionkinah.net Aion Kinah

    I really can’t imagine any other games company having the cajones to release it,lol

  • Mandella

    I may just have to go mine some asteroids for that.

    Maybe it’s just because I just came away from another discussion where one of the posters honestly sees all the devs and management of any company as nothing more than marketing robots, making no decision that is not dictated by the almighty dollar.

    Nice to see evidence that alcohol must factor in pretty strongly too…

  • xaldin

    Wow… yaknow I really couldn’t get into the game honestly. The whole grinding mining on astroids just didn’t do it. That said those hotties they have I’d sure grind for XP.

  • Vetarnias

    Meh. It isn’t even in Icelandic.

  • http://stabbedup.blogspot.com/ Stabs

    Regarding alcohol the CCP Iceland team is famous amongst fans for absolutely heroic levels of alcohol consumption.

    Regarding asteroids I started in Eve a few months ago intending to develop an economic character. I went mining but then had to re-tool when I learned a bit more about the game.

    Asteroids and mining are not the way to go.

    Daytrading is very profitable but perhaps a bit dull for many and missions are very profitable. Mining is significantly less isk per hour than running missions unless you have more than 6 alts all mining at once.

    This thread is a good summary of the economics:
    http://www.eve-search.com/thread/1072069/page/1

  • http://www.gawaintheblind.com GTB

    My issues with EVE are pretty well known and mostly concern the horrible skill system they have. But that video actually makes me want to play the completely unrelated video game that they happen to make, just because of their awesome rapping and lyrical “skilz.”

    That is astounding to me. That video contains UNRESISTABLE hype.

  • Jarnis

    The EVE skill system is only horrible if you…

    - Want to be a jack of all trades (that happens only after many years, sorry)
    - Want to constantly change what you want to do in the game (it usually takes a few weeks to train for a new role)
    - Think that you can’t play unless you are maxed out (not true)
    - Think that your ship and your equipment is the deciding factor in combat, so you first need to train X months to use a certain fit (nope – real playskill and numbers matter a lot more)

    I do agree that those learning skills should go away (most easiest way would be just set every learning skill at V for every character) as they are a rather silly speed bump in developing a new character, but otherwise the skill system works quite perfectly. You can’t grind it, you can have a quite capable character for a narrow role in just a couple of weeks, yet there is no “everyone is level 80 in same gear” problem and there is always some new path to train for, even after five or six years of playing.

    No, EVE does not provide instant gratification and it requires some dedication and planning – since that keeps the teens away, I consider this to be a positive thing.

    I do agree on one negative bit – EVE is strongly biased towards multi-account play. Many activities need multiple skillsets and/or pilots and as you can train only one character per account at a time, each alt is effectively a new account – which can drive up the total cost of playing quite a bit. Many players who get over the initial learning cliff end up subscribing to two accounts or more simply because it greatly simplifies many advanced tasks when playing solo and can be useful even in fleet PvP (2nd account scouting), turning EVE from 15$/mo game into 30-60$/mo game. I’m happy to pay that (I have 3 accounts), but for some it is an unacceptable “price hike”.

  • Vetarnias

    @Jarnis
    Why do I have the feeling Geldon will want to respond to your post?
    (And if he doesn’t, I will.)

  • Kemor

    Brillant stuff, CCP guys are really way out there.

    That said, this arn’t gonna make me get back into EVE :)

  • http://plaid-jello.com Grelf

    That was hilariously amazing.

    (Goes to check how skill training is going)

  • Goodgimp

    @Geldonyetich:

    I’ve played EVE for 3 months solid and have yet to equip a mining laser beyond the newbie tutorial.

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    @Vetarnias
    Well, I’d hate to betray your expectations, you know? ;)

    @Jarnis
    Actually, I guess you’ve got me nailed on the “think you can’t play unless you’re maxed out” categorization. Sort of. It just seems to me that EVE Online has an elaborate economic class difference in that new players are perpetually supporting those above them, and those above them can afford the ships to freely gank new players to alleviate the boredom of managing their corporate empires.

    @Goodgimp
    I think I’m speaking figuratively about the grinding asteroids thing. You will grind something in that game, and product of an asteroid is involved.

  • http://bdadv.blogspot.com Bonedead

    Man those guys are fuckin brilliant, so funny. /hatsoff to CCP

  • http://www.thisisnotacommunity.org D-0ne

    I’m not impressed. Needs more cow bell.

  • Doug

    What I want to know is, are the girls in that video working at the company? If so how do you approach them and ask them to be rap video b1tches? If not did they expense the company for rap video b1tches? If so how did that go with accounting?

    I MUST KNOW.

  • Goodgimp

    Geldon, the exact same thing could be said for *any* MMO out there. If it’s a WoW clone, it’s grinding little gold punctuation marks (which personally I just cannot tolerate any more. I lasted precisely 17 minutes in Aion). If it’s UO, it’s clicking on trees and rocks ad nauseum. If it’s Everquest… uh, yea, I don’t even want to go there.

    But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The video is quite… entertaining?

  • http://www.antipwn.com/blog IainC

    Doug, the non-embedded version names all the people in the video. The brunette is the Marketing Director and the blonde is the CEO’s assistant.

    Watch it here.

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    Geldon, the exact same thing could be said for *any* MMO out there. If it’s a WoW clone, it’s grinding little gold punctuation marks (which personally I just cannot tolerate any more. I lasted precisely 17 minutes in Aion). If it’s UO, it’s clicking on trees and rocks ad nauseum. If it’s Everquest… uh, yea, I don’t even want to go there.

    Yes and no. The grind is there, indeed, but there’s a certain question of the level of cerebral satisfaction brought about from actually performing the actions that make up the grind.

    A few games bring this about through a reasonable amount of depth. Some games bring this satisfaction from fast-paced frenetic action that challenges the mind to keep up with them. Many games do neither, and consequently these games don’t get played by me.

    Case in point: EVE Online. I’ve played it before. I’m aware that the game does have some sophistication in the dizzying amount of skills and equipment that are available, not to mention all the social engineering that’s involved in building a successful empire (or swindling other players out of theirs). However, as far as being an involving game decisions go, it doesn’t have much to speak for it.

  • http://blog.weflyspitfires.com We Fly Spitfires

    “Bugs coming at us like in Starship Troopers”.

    I didn’t think it was possible but now I love CCP even more.

  • dartwick

    Geldon was appearently was unable to play EVE successfully.

    Im in no way saying EVE is for everyone. But there are a multitude of challenging ways to play EVE requiring careful decision making.

    But if you are afraid to engage with the population instead of the NPCs and accept the resulting risks then it could seem like all it involved was repeating missions(although theres a lot of missions now) and mining.

  • Raelyf

    To be fair, you don’t have to grind anything. CEO of my current corp simply took a handful of friends and their rookie ships out into lowsec a few weeks after starting, and have made their way pirating ever since.
    Myself, I took a more grindy start, running missions and such for several months. Now I make all my money off ransoms and wrecks of other players as well. Every battle and every ransom is different and exciting, and I never feel like I’m grinding.

  • Hally

    RL has been kicking my butt lately and I’ve been too busy to even think much about gaming, but watching this video reminded me of what draws me to gaming. People just doing their own thing and trying to have a good time is what it’s all about. Well done, CCP!

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    @dartwick

    Geldon was appearently was unable to enjoy EVE successfully.

    Fixed that for you.

  • http://emprint.livejournal.com Russell

    As a CCP employee, what I like is that this actually does represent the good side of working here. Raucous, talented and pretty much unashamed that we do what we do how we want to do it.

    And it doesn’t deny that it’s hard, which is nice. I’ve known companies with much worse crunches that try to cover it up with what a bunch of fun-loving folks they are.

    CCP? We work fucking hard. We also sing about it.

  • harl

    @geldonyetich

    So you dislike any game that has a grind?

  • http://www.thisisnotacommunity.org D-0ne

    “The brunette is the Marketing Director and the blonde is the CEO’s assistant.”

    Um, if either was my daughter I’d let her know that she can now retire a wealthy woman as she has a clear, un-disputable, un-losable sexual harassment/Hostile work environment claim.

    Unless of course the job description for Marketing Director and CEO assistant lists “acting like a skanky whore in public before millions of future potential employers” as a job requirement… This “game company” will fail, be bought, like they all do, eventually. Then these two women will have to find jobs… And there’s this video on the Internet.

    Think ladies! Think!

    BTW ladies you have up to six months after the “incident” to file and since these morons put this shit on youtube your incident origin, time start, is valid until they remove this from the entire Internet.

    The gaming industry once again proving that “we have the common sense God gave a Garden Slug”. Why, oh why, didn’t they hire dancers?

  • Mordur

    Don’t forget the Beership

  • Jarnis

    Um, CCP is in Iceland, not in United Lawyer States of America. In Europe, courts still have some shred of common sense left and something like this would be, at best, laughed out.

  • http://www.antipwn.com/blog IainC

    Why, oh why, didn’t they hire dancers?

    Perhaps because the two ladies in question wanted to be a part of a fun and self-parodying video?

    I sincerely doubt that this video will make an iota of difference to their future employment prospects.

  • Mordur

    Yeah, that’s a pretty retarded comment D-One.

    Culture differences aside, this wasn’t a bareboob assgrinding video. They’re washing a ’99 suzuki charade. I’m willing to bet they even came up with ithe idea themselves.

  • http://www.antipwn.com/blog IainC

    I’ll also note that your apoplectic white-knighting didn’t extend to the senior producer who dances topless or the VP of sales who affects a campy and effeminate manner. Surely you’re not suggesting that self-parody is only funny when boys do it?

  • Mordur

    Actually IainC… in the case of Nathan the senior producer. We might have a case of indecent exposure.

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    @geldonyetich

    So you dislike any game that has a grind?

    You define the grind as “has something within the game you can advance (e.g. experience/levels, skill points)” then no.

    If you define the grind as “what happens when you play a game that forces you to commit to repetitive activities long after you’ve mastered (and bored) them in order to reach the part of the game you think you want to play” then yes.

  • dartwick

    Geldon based on your last response I have to once gain say you failed to play EVE successfully.

    If your problem with EVE was that you dont like costly PVP, or that you hate EVEs combat mechanics or that you like avatar based games or that you require seriously deep, well scripted adventures then I would say – yes its not for you. Which is cool.

    But the problem you cite simply show that you didnt experience muh of EVE.

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    If your problem with EVE was that you dont like costly PVP, or that you hate EVEs combat mechanics or that you like avatar based games or that you require seriously deep, well scripted adventures then I would say – yes its not for you. Which is cool.

    Exept for the avatar-based game requirement, I’d say this is accurate enough.

    It’s just wrong to say that “I failed to play” EVE on the grounds that failing to play would suggest I didn’t know how to play it. On the contrary, I understood how to play it quite well. Sure, there was a little bit of a learning curve involved, but I wasn’t afraid to dig into a Wiki to pick up what I needed to know.

    I didn’t see any long term appeal for me due to the asforementioned costly PvP, unsatisfying (fairly shallow unless you’re trying to operate in formation with many other players) combat mechanics, protracted grind, and so on.

    I would go so far as to agree with you when you say I “didn’t experience much” of EVE Online. Sure, if you don’t venture out into 0.0 space, you’ve not seen a whole lot of the game universe. However, the reason why I didn’t bother is that I didn’t see anything there to interest me. One could just as easily say that EVE Online failed to meet my tastes.

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    You know what would be a really cool EVE Online experience for me is if I had the opportunity to program and run multiple ships at once. I don’t think the individual ship experience has enough to interest me in that game. However, with multiple ships zipping around performing my whims (a bit like Egosoft’s X series) that’s a lot more interesting. I’d probably even be willing to humor getting ganked in 0.0 space, on the grounds that making money is fairly hands off.

  • http://www.thisisnotacommunity.org D-0ne

    Yes, I’m retarded… Good answer.

    IainC,
    I’m suggesting you’re the immature, unprofessional idiots I’ve always thought you were.

  • Guy

    Geldo, I agree, I would pay to control a whole fleet, or at least several ships. Same for a ground based army MMO. Elements of strategy games and RTS’s in an MMO.

  • Fraeg

    Kudos to them that is the funniest thing I have ever seen from a gaming company. Although Romera managed to be pretty funny for the wrong reasons.

  • http://Chrome.blogger.com Chrome

    My gaming money goes toward paying for that? Retarded.

  • Zaphid

    Well, no other company has ever done that…except Blizzard

  • http://www.antipwn.com/blog IainC

    <blockquote.IainC,
    I’m suggesting you’re the immature, unprofessional idiots I’ve always thought you were.

    So why didn’t you say that instead of all the poorly argued nonsense about sexual harassment?

    If seeing people having fun on the internet angers you so much might I suggest taking up a different hobby?

  • hanshotfirst

    This just reaffirms my long held belief: the only excitement in CCP’s EVE Online takes place on their forums and fansites.

  • http://link Sad93

    We should definitely do this again sometime. ,

  • http://dsob.wordpress.com geldonyetich

    @Guy
    Indeed, but it’s not even that I’m trying to put a RTS/Strategy implementation in the game (though that might be fallout). It’s just that there’s all this dynamic content and nifty economy in place, but my place in it as an individual player is just too small and boring. It’s no wonder so many players like to multibox the game, but I’m not shelling out $30+/mo for that.

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