Feb 11
I’m Stepping Away from Massively and Games Journalism
There’s a lot I could say, enough to fill many additional posts and bore the crap out of you. Suffice it to say, my life is changing and it’s all a bit surprising.
This month will mark the end of my tenure as managing editor for Massively.com, and a conclusion to my career as a games journalist. I have been offered, and accepted, a position as a game designer at the SOE-Austin studio. I’ll be working on the DC Universe Online project.
As a result of this new position my wife and I will be moving to Austin, Texas at the end of the month. We’ll be there in about two weeks, actually.
I sat in on the Gamers With Jobs Conference Call for this week, and talked a bit about this newness there too. Feel free to listen in.
Please be aware: Massively is not closing. This isn’t the result of a cutback, I haven’t been fired, the site is 100% awesome. In fact, Shawn Schuster is going to be taking over as the Managing Editor of the site. As a reader of the site as well as a blogger there, I’m super pumped about Shawn running the show. He’s a top-notch professional and a fantastic writer. I’m really looking forward to see what he does for the site.
So what does this mean? Well, I’m going to be stepping away from MMOG Nation for a few months while I completely reorient my life. There’s no reason I can’t keep blogging here, just have to aim for a civil tone and probably not do a lot of talking about specific games. Though I offer no guarantees I’m not going to gush over Free Realms.
And of course, I won’t be done podcasting. I won’t be on Massively Speaking every week, but I’ll try to drop in on SUWT and GWJCC if they’ll have me.
Feel free to drop questions in the comments, I’ll try to answer as best I can. And thanks, as always, for reading.
46 comments46 Comments so far
Congratulations again. I hope this massive transition (no pun intended) goes as smoothly as possible for you. I certainly do not envy you the move. I hate moving. I hate moving out of state even more.
Fantastic news and you are always welcome on Limited Edition to talk comics whenever you like.
John
Whoa, congratulations, Michael!
best of luck, mr. zenke! soe couldn’t have found a better candidate, or a more savvy consumer of MMOs – we’ll certainly miss you at Massively, but look forward to seeing you try your hand on the other side of the MMO fence.
Best!
Conga-rats, Michael! I hope that your unique perspective will be able to bring something fresh to our hobby. I guess there is only one question left to ask: can we still think of you as “from the internet”?
Congratulations indeed. May you and your wife settle in well to Austin’s unique environment!
DCUO should be a very interesting project for you. Now please go do something stupid so that I can make fun of it in a comic… or alternatively, make it so awesome that I have no choice but to build a shrine of empty Starbucks cups and pizza boxes in your honor.
The choice is yours.
;-)#
well done, but does this mean less swearing? Lol all the best with the move.
WOO! Congratulations!! :D
I don’t comment often, but I’m always reading. I’ll still be here whenever you get back to the blog, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts as you make this transition.
Best of luck! /cheer!
Madison won’t be the same without you!
Thank you very much for all the kind words!
Brasse: I will certainly attempt to run full-speed. I’m hopeful that it’s not into a wall, but either way it’ll be interesting to see.
Scarybug: Bah, you guys’ll be fine. Besides, we’ll be back for visits often.
Live the dream for all of us man!
congrats, sounds like an exciting change =)
Congrats Michael. I’m sure you’ll do an excellent job, though I will miss your posts on Massively. I hope that you’ll continue to write about games here in your spare time.
Thanks for all your great work, and I look forward to playing DCUO!
This is awesome news, Michael! Huge congrats!
It was only a matter of time before someone snapped you up and away. Congrats!
Congrats man, welcome to the family. ;)
Way to go – crossing the fence to be critiqued instead of critiquing!
So what exactly does a game designer entail? Are you putting your toe back into the programming pond or is this more high level? Anyway, congrats and I look forward to hearing that you’ve picked up a Texas accent.
Congratulations!
Congrats, Michael! I look forward to seeing the results from your new work!
Congrats man! Sounds like a great opportunity.
Woohoo! DCUO interest +5! ;)
Hot damn. So that email I got the other day WAS accurate! I thought the guy was just blowing smoke up my ass.
Congratulations Michael! I look forward to roasting you over fanboy flames now that you’ve gone to the other side. :)
Jason (resident drunken idiot of Channel Massive)
Congratulations!! That is awesome news. I’ve been watching some trailers for DCUO here in recent days and I must say it looks really cool. They certainly upped their credibility with me even more by getting you on board.
Hope you enjoy Austin and Texas in general. I’ve lived here almost my entire life and it’s a great place. I know Genda (from CoW) lives in Austin, and I have a couple of other buddies there. If you ever need anything let me know.
This is great news, Michael. Congrats!
Wonderful and congratulations. I’ve done the huge life changing move twice and no, you won’t have time for blogging for a while. How exciting for you and your family. A new adventure and what I’m suspecting is a long held dream, come to life. Wow, massive congrats!
[...] Zenke crosses over and joins SOE as a developer for DC Universe Online! Way to go [...]
Congrats bro!
Congrats!
its all been said already. (though i strongly second the disappointment that you will no longer be “from the internet” )
There’s way too many reasons why you are qualified for this position, any recommendations on the strongest thing bloggers can do to get themselves considered by studios for a development position and follow in your footsteps??
(after all, what fanboy blogger wouldnt want to make the amazing jump you have?? I’m jealous and now aspiring to do the same. Cheers to you MZ)
Thats really awesome news! Not a game im looking forward to but your perspective will help make it as good as it can get.
Also welcome to Texas y’all! See you on the Guadelupe this summer.
Awesome news indeed! Me = mega mega jealous.
All those years of reading comic books as a kid is about to pay off ;P
Grats Michael!
I’ll stay on your RSS feed for as long as you keep it up, it’ll be interesting to hear what you have to say “from the other side” :)
Just remember to keep things fun!!
Congratulations on the new job! I’m really going to miss your writing on Massively. Hope you can keep up with some guest spots on SUWT and GWJ.
[...] MMO journalism and former boss at Massively, Michael “Zonk” Zenke, has jumped over to actual real game development by accepting a position as a game designer with SOE on DC Universe Online. Way to go! Michael, [...]
Grats! Great to see another fansite/journalist type guy get into the industry. Game design can be daunting at first, but you’ll get good quick.
Congratulations and all the best!
CONGRATULATIONS Mike! Very happy to see you join the other side. Good luck :)
I already did lots of congratulating you. :) But, I just wanted to say that some of my most fun blog posts to go back and read are the ones while I was transitioning from a Minnesotan blogger to a Californian community manager. Don’t stop blogging just because you’re going through a change in your life, just change the focus. Do it on your Tumblr if you want. But make sure you’re writing all this stuff down, it’s actually helpful throughout the transition and not a hinderance. Plus, you have readers who’d enjoy it.
Congratulations, man! That’s fantastic.
Grats Michael!
I can see from this congratulations list that there’s a few of The Older Gamers guild that read your column.
Grats again from all of us :)
Congratulations! Put a bit of evil in a few games, eh?
[...] a move that really, really made me happy, Mr. Zenke is moving away from games journalism an will be a game [...]
[...] is losing yet another excellent writer – but his reasons are full of awesome. Congrats on the new job, Michael! It is just not going to be the same without you [...]
SOE Spits in Our Face!
On February 11, 2009, one of the more prolific and accomplished MMORPG bloggers accepted a position at Sony Online Entertainment. For a day or so, I struggled with my own selfish concerns that the blogosphere lost another top talent. Then, that disappointment turned to anger, as the company we love to hate (for valid, sane, logical reasons or not) made another personnel decision that left me scratching my head.
Why is it always SOE that snatches the top, public domain talent? Is that what happened to Cyanbane and EQ2-Daily as well, but we just haven’t learned the REAL truth? What right does SOE think it has to just yank away one of our few well-reasoned and talented writers? I mean, we see what happened after Zenke wrote about the coup that was the hiring of Dave Christensen. A little over a year later, two of my favorite games have the wonderous, capitalistic boondoggle that is Station Cash. What a public relations nightmare!
And now the mystery is, what are their plans for ‘ol Zen? First, they pull away one of the few dedicated, consistant critics of all MMO’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Schuster follows close behind, as his constant (although validated) gushing over LotRO can NOT be good for SOE. Secondly, I simply am dumbfounded by the continually stupid decisions of SOE in their hiring decisions. Game Designer? Zenke? He advocates FTP games! I mean, that is the path to the utter destruction of the MMO community. His idea to lower the barriers for entry, lowering the learning-curve, and making MMO’s more accessible to all gamers, will only serve to taint the new games with millions of NEWBS. God save us.
So I conclude with yet another reason to rant on SOE. Why do I continue to send my monthly subscription fee in their direction? Well, it just might be, that for some bizzare twist of logic, I am attracted by this company that continually pisses me off. Many will take offense to my next comment, but unlike Blizzard, they aren’t the Microsoft of MMO’s. They take chances (and WOW is Zenke a BIG chance!). They snatch up games that were sure to die quick, painful deaths, allowing us to sail the open sea or to adventure in massive, unzoned worlds. They piss us off constantly with questionable decisions, yet amaze us with written and artistic content that goes above and beyond anything we had played before.
So maybe that is what their doing with Zenke. What might make me really angry now, might cause me to zombie at my computer in a year or so, totally enthralled with the captivating content in DC Universe. I only hope so. Otherwise, we have only suffered greatly with the loss of one our community’s best talent.
Good Luck MZ, and safe travels. Say hello to Brenlo and Ashlanne, and please convince them to have Fan Faire in the Upper Midwest soon! Thanks for the years of enjoyable reading.
wow! congratulations! I hope it all works out in Austin.
Oh wow, that’s excellent!
Best of luck to you!
Congrats to the job and make DCUO the best game there is!