Game Grape

Game Grape

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This article is from WeChat official account: Youxiputao (ID: youxiputao), written by Yan Jinyan, and the picture is from Visual China

Article Summary

The article tells the story of a management veteran named Zhou who worked in a game company for 9 years and decided to leave his job to accompany his family due to a child's words. He reflects on the balance between work and family.

• •    Lao Zhou gave up his high paying management position due to a sentence from his child

• •    The article presents a profound reflection on work family balance

• •    Old Zhou expressed his reluctance towards work and his emphasis on family

At present, how to get ashore and how to survive has become a topic that too many working people are contemplating. Most people strive to train themselves into a precise component, ensuring that they can operate continuously without deviation within the company.

But there are always people who yearn for freedom.

In April of this year, Lao Zhou, who had been working at Tianmei for 9 years and held the management position of "King of Glory", made a bold decision: to quit his job and go home to take care of his children.

After Lao Zhou's resignation notice was posted, it caused a considerable response and resonance on Weibo and Xiaohongshu, and many people admired his courage.

At the beginning, almost no one around him could immediately understand him. Living is already difficult, why give up the position that countless people dream of? Even with a certain amount of savings, taking care of children naked still means giving up better living conditions and possibilities, and even preparing to deviate from society.

Moreover, at the age of 35, Old Zhou is far from financial freedom. Like ordinary people, he is under the pressure that his age should have. Previously, due to various reasons, he had the idea of changing jobs, but after having children, he quickly put aside his restless thoughts; As children grow up, already small houses may become increasingly cramped; Not to mention, he, who is now idle at home, has to face the mundane life of daily necessities.

Despite this, Old Zhou still did not regret leaving. Faced with a gradually imbalanced life and internal friction at work, he believed that it was necessary to press the pause button.

Based on Lao Zhou's narration, the following is organized:

one

On the first day of resuming work during this year's Spring Festival, I found the leader's chat window on WeChat of the company. I opened and closed it for a while, and after struggling for a whole three hours, I still sent a large section of resignation letters.

He was shocked and wondered if my values had suddenly changed to another dimension. He came back and forth to meet me for a few times. Many people around me say that this decision is brainless and too impulsive. Looking back, I also find it a bit unbelievable, after all, I once fantasized that I would work at Tencent until retirement.

I have loved playing games since I was young. During breaks, I would gather classmates and draw maps on paper similar to Red Alert and Resident Evil. I will play the role of the director, throw dice, take a few steps, and draw a monster, which is a bit like the paper prototype we are making now.

After graduating from Chuanmei, I successfully entered Tencent. In these nine years, I have poured a lot of emotion into the project. Previously, I told my wife that we now have a child, but he can only be considered the second in line. The eldest is the king, and I have been involved in achieving this.

In the early stages of the project proposal and every challenging period of "King of Glory", I could truly feel that this was something I was interested in and loved, and my team members were also popular. Everyone accompanied each other and volunteered to work overtime until very late. Even if it's been spinning for two consecutive months, my thoughts haven't changed.

Of course, the workplace is unpredictable, and I have also thought about when I will leave this station. For example, when a project encounters some situations, I am fired or transferred; Or maybe staying in the same project for so long, I'm tired of it. If I want to change my mind, it's possible; I even imagined that I would play indie games.

But in reality, considering the trust and atmosphere that the team has built over the years, the process system that was finally established, and the various halos and benefits brought by the project, I have no reason to leave here voluntarily. If I can easily tell you that I didn't hesitate to leave, it would definitely be pretending to be X.

Moreover, after having a child to take care of in the first two years, I immediately dispelled all my strange thoughts and stayed calm for now. But to my surprise, it was precisely because of the child's words that I decided to resign in the end.

My child is already two and a half years old, but I spend very little time with him. Although working overtime until the early hours of the morning is not the norm, the child goes to bed early. When I usually return home, he probably has already rested.

The personal IP I am working on, "Kalpan," was originally created as a bedtime story. After my wife became pregnant, I started writing about it and wrote about a hundred chapters. I thought I could tell the children about it every day, but later I found out that he couldn't even see me before going to bed, and I didn't even talk about a few chapters in total.

Kalpan

The most frustrating thing for me is that this Spring Festival, I spent more time at home with my child, and our relationship reached its peak. I feel that he loves me very much. But on the third day of the Lunar New Year, he might have been getting up and suddenly looked at me impatiently, pointing to the company building outside the window and saying, "Dad's going home, Dad's going to work."

I was stunned, isn't dad right at home? Isn't dad at home with you? In an instant, tears welled up in my eyes, giving me a feeling of being awakened. Originally, in the eyes of children, my meaning may be that white building.

The next few nights, I lost sleep and lay in bed thinking a lot. I began to doubt what I had done in the past two years. My child's golden companionship time may be before the age of three. I have already wasted more than two years and don't want to lose the last six months.

After having the idea of resigning, many friends around me came to persuade me. I guess they might think that everyone is like this, everyone can do it, why can't you? But I'm sorry, I just can't.

two

In many Internet enterprises, people with children will encounter a practical problem: time is not enough. I work late at night, but my work is not particularly flexible, so I may have to go early in the morning.

However, from my observation, many practitioners may have long been accustomed to this state - work always outweighs family, as if this is a conventional practice.

Previously, I also had the same idea as everyone, staying in the office all day, dealing with work, as if it was the most important thing in life. But with children, your worldview will be impacted, they are both familiar and unfamiliar, becoming a member of your family. Many people may say that we need to work hard to earn money and give our children a better future, but on the spiritual level, what can we give them without companionship?

So, after the Spring Festival, when I stepped out and looked at it, I realized that this thing was quite abnormal, but for some reason, in the current atmosphere, it was just like that.

I have also tried balancing work hours and getting my child back home before going to bed, but it's strange that you feel a sense of guilt. This is guilt towards team members. When you run home with your bag at 8 o'clock and see other classmates still at your desk, it's difficult for you to leave so decisively.

I also pay great attention to improving efficiency. If we can handle our work beautifully within the designated time, then everyone can leave work early. However, the problem is that the work can not be finished all the time, and it will be connected one by one. This is the Internet company. Its product iterations are frequent, and overtime is inevitable.

Many people say that the age of 35 is a hurdle, and at this age, even the strongest person may experience some loss.

I have also considered before whether I want to have children too late. At this age, there are too many things that consume my energy. If I have children in my twenties, can I work until retirement. But in fact, when I was young, I definitely couldn't understand this idea. At that time, I had to work hard to become a full-time employee and strive hard.

I think that being in it, everyone will definitely have certain contradictions and pains, and the management team will be the same. In Marx's words, this is a form of alienation.

This kind of alienation is extremely unfair to children. We may have been used to being screws for a long time, but children don't. And you cannot ask the company or team to change, you can only make self sacrifice and trade-offs.

Moreover, I am also a designer and artist, and my creative source comes from life. The reason for the theme of Calpan is the birth of a child, which inspired me. Essentially, if I continue to maintain my original state, I will only become increasingly inconsistent and unable to reconcile with myself.

After thinking it through, even if the leader advised me, I never wavered in my thoughts. There is no turning back arrow when I bow, and I know that if I loosen a bit, I may convince myself to accept everything again. I don't want to make this matter too superficial. It's in Sichuan dialect, it's just a twist, so the entire resignation process was swift and decisive.

It was quite interesting at that time. One day during a group meeting, we were discussing the focus of next week's work. My mind was full of resignation, but suddenly I instinctively said it out loud, leaving my mind blank. I counted and the conference room fell silent for almost half a minute, leaving everyone confused.

After the meeting, a colleague came to me and said, "Don't say anything, Lao Zhou. I actually understand you very well. I have been thinking about how to balance family and work recently, and you did the right thing." Do you know? At that time, I was deeply moved and relieved, and he was understood.

three

After the resignation notice was posted, many people asked me why I resigned. 80% of the reasons are definitely due to personal family, and another 20% may be due to internal friction at work.

After the handover, I took a long vacation first. During that time, I still dreamed of meetings and presentations at 3 or 4 in the morning. A few years ago, when this situation occurred, I thought I was an isolated phenomenon, but later I found it quite common.

Going deep into the hearts of every art student, everyone must have their own pursuit of artistry. But under the product model framework of large companies, artistry inevitably undergoes deformation and is then subject to submission.

The most common challenge that art faces after proposing a plan is operation and planning. We have also experienced a conference wheel battle before, from 9:30am to 11pm.

When I first entered the industry, I was quite competitive. When my professional abilities were violated, I often fought with cross module classmates. A good result, I can persuade them to form a standard and then move in this direction. The bad outcome may be compromise.

For example, when designing a scene, art will consider whether the landmark matches the worldview, starting from the architectural spatial structure and the behavioral relationships between people. In theory, it is a very reasonable design, but when cross module students come in, they may think that the design does not conform to the tone and is not handsome enough. During the process of repeated debugging, it is easy for people to experience internal friction.

This can actually be understood, after all, there is a lack of universal context between modules. It is difficult to make art understand gameplay and operational strategies. Similarly, other students may also lack theoretical knowledge of art and design. Especially in large factories, everyone is relatively far away, without sufficient communication and trust, disputes may arise, and in the end, each can only take a step back.

In my opinion, arguments and compromises are all fleeting moments, but the final design product needs to be launched. It is just a lack of certain artistic information, and this is not something that can be stepped back.

Before I became a manager, I actually had some hesitation. As I mentioned earlier, I may be more like a native designer with a career development path. Originally, I focused on consulting as an art director, but later I realized that as a manager, I might have the opportunity to compete for some resources and try to change some of the environment.

I fully agree with what the previous leader said, that the accumulation of our professional skills is actually very important. Work should not constantly deplete employees, organizations should provide resources and space for everyone to grow.

Later, we offered courses internally, translated excellent knowledge from overseas, established school enterprise cooperation, and invited masters to give lectures. There are also two internal student sharing sessions every month, and some may even be promoted to the entire IEG for collaborative learning. During that period, I felt that the team atmosphere and condition were particularly good.

I have also considered promoting some institutional reforms. For example, in terms of creativity, can we slow down appropriately, or can we establish a dedicated creative team to take them out of production and only be responsible for creative ideas. Perhaps it is a mixed team with students from multiple modules such as literature, art, music, etc. We can fix these people down and develop them specifically for a certain sub module, which is beneficial for overall coordination and creativity.

But the problem is that the company has its own operating mechanism, which inevitably involves fairness. For example, employees need to be assessed, and once someone leaves production, how can they level the playing field?

There are still many such problems, and I think there is no way to solve them. A large factory is like a huge machine, it moves very slowly, and it is difficult to make timely and significant adjustments during this process. Whether it's corporate culture or workflow, it requires stability to ensure the lowest efficiency requirements. This is a world-class challenge.

Therefore, in the business environment, I have actually become an old fogey for a long time. I can accept the rules of society and enterprises. At most, I can only spare time to do some independent creation after work every day.

Many people don't understand why you're so tired from work and still have to do this, but it's actually my detoxification method.

Lao Zhou's Independent Creation

Of course, I'm not saying that work is just endless pain and internal friction. In the past few years at King, I have also gained a lot of sense of achievement. Whenever we do map renovations or design a racing year, and see players discussing the content, I feel particularly satisfied because the creation ultimately requires the participation of the audience to complete.

Before, Universal Studios in Beijing had a special area for Glory of the King. I would also like to take my child to see it and tell him about these IP stories that my father participated in designing.

four

After leaving my job, I took my child to Hainan. He had never seen the sea before and had only heard of it in stories before.

Now, he can't fully adapt to me staying at home all the time. When he gets angry and conflicts with me, he still yells at me and asks me to draw, but it's actually quite fun because I can feel him gradually forgetting my previous work state.

My sleep quality has also improved, and the high pressure in my subconscious is being eliminated. I have never dreamed of work again.

As I have been at home for a long time, I have also realized many things.

Nowadays, everyone may feel that work is filled with various pressures and they really want to escape, but my mentor once said that freedom is relative, not absolute.

Even if I am now free from the pressure of the company, I will still face many daily necessities and personal creative bottlenecks. Simply put, a person's life is always accompanied by stress, which is a normal state. Assuming that a person has no stress at all, it is actually an unhealthy state.

Moreover, humans are social animals, and you will always maintain your sociality and be needed by those around you. For example, the team may no longer need me now, but the industry still needs me. For example, on Bilibili, there will be many strangers who like to watch me draw and think that companionship style creation is very valuable; For example, the elderly at home may need me more and more.

So, I just chose to leave the company temporarily due to personal family reasons, but I will not give up on creating and working. I now spend more time every day creating Kalpan, expressing myself, and maintaining communication with the industry. In the future, when my child grows up a bit, I think I may still return to work at the company.

In the workplace, we all have unpleasant things that exist objectively and are difficult to change. It's just about how you make choices and gain a relatively free space.

This article is from WeChat official account: Youxiputao (ID: youxiputao), written by Yan Jinyan

Game Grape

Game Grape

Having judgment and foresight.

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