[Jintor]

Seems legit!

Poking through it now, but it looks like it might have some explanation of Valve's insane desks-on-wheels organisational structure.

Also, some great illustrations.

[Medalion]

Companion Cubicles for employees

[Emitan]

thank you based jinty

[Glass Rebel]

:lol the organization charts

poor Chet :(

[Vilam]

Matches up with what I've heard. We haven't gotten more Half-Life for awhile now because nobody is especially interested in working on it.

[Jtwo]

Ok goddamn it. something is going on. theres just too much Valve news lately.
something is going on. goddamn it.


wait i just remembered how theyre hiring. you thing valve hiring is enough to just word of mouth about their very existence going so much stronger than usual?

[Log4Girlz]

"Half-life 3 is a lie"

[Reno7728]

Page 22

[goodfella]

I want to work there.

Everyone is thinking it...

[Emitan]

There are lots of stories about how Gabe has made important decisions by himself, e.g., hiring the whole Portal 1 team on the spot after only half of a meeting. Although there are examples, like that one, where this kind of decision making has been successful, it’s not the norm for Valve. If it were, we’d be only as smart as Gabe or management types, and they’d make our important decisions for us. Gabe is the first to say that he can’t be right nearly often enough for us to operate that way. His decisions and requests are subject to just as much scrutiny and skepticism as anyone else’s. (So if he tells you to put a favorite custom knife design into Counter-Strike, you can just say no.)

Amazing.

[24FrameDaVinci]

I want to work there. Everyone is thinking it...

Pretty much.

[IceMarker]

I really got a kick out of that, I especially like the Glossary at the end. Now I finally know what Shitty Wizard in DOTA 2 refers to.

[Bo]

I just had the strangest thought. How are we going to explain that look of intimate familiarity, should one be drawn from our ranks?

[civilstrife]

Page 22 guy in elevator is wearing a Half-Life 3 shirt.

[Pikelet]

Empty Shelf on Fifth Floor—Place we’re planning on putting all those awards for Ricochet once the gaming world finally catches up with it.

The glossary at the end is absolute gold

[Acosta]

I want to work there. Everyone is thinking it...

Yep. I will never be talented enough though...

Thanks Jintor, amazing thing. But now I feel a bit depressed.

[Fjordson]

I want to work there. Everyone is thinking it...

Absolutely. Seems like an amazing company to be a part of.

[UnluckyKate]

Viral marketing for HL3 confirmed ?

[captainraincoat]

That explains why they take 10 years to release a game

Interesting company structure though...be interesting to see it done in retail

[Emitan]

Yep. I will never be talented enough though...

If I was hired by Valve I'd be terrified they had made some horrible mistake and I'd be worthless.

[Jintor]

I can't help but wonder if they'll ever release like a huge glossy book with this explanation, their cabal system, concept art, etc. Or if we'll ever get a "Masters of Doom" style book for ValveCorp.

Of note is the "valve press" label...

[Para bailar La Bomba]

Seems legit!

Only JaseC can confirm this!

Page 22

I swear the guy on the right in Panel 4 is Gabe.

[NBtoaster]

That explains why they take 10 years to release a game Interesting company structure though...be interesting to see it done in retail

They've released 6 games in the past 5 years.

[PumpkinPie]

They've released 6 games in the past 5 years.

Really? I was just about to post a trolling comment asking what a Valve employee actually does :(

[tearsofash]

I want a conference room that's a fishbowl.

[Mechazawa]

Empty Shelf on Fifth Floor—Place we’re planning on putting all those awards for Ricochet once the gaming world finally catches up with it.

I'd be pretty alright with a Ricochet reboot.

[Jarmel]

Ponies—The animals most beloved by those away from their computers, and most despised by people who prefer to hear jokes just once.

So the Portal team is working on a MLP game. Great news everybody!

[Bowdz]

Sounds like an absolutely amazing place to work. All credit goes to our lord Gaben for the vision he set out with.

[Acosta]

If I was hired by Valve I'd be terrified they had made some horrible mistake and I'd be worthless.

Yeah, pretty much. I can figure that even incredibly talented people will feel quite anxious with that structure in their first months.

[JaseC]

Matches up with what I've heard. We haven't gotten more Half-Life for awhile now because nobody is especially interested in working on it.

Gabe debunked this theory in a recent podcast.

Edit:

Only JaseC can confirm this!

Haha, I'm sure we have at least one Valve employee here on GAF; but, as much as I would love to say otherwise, I'm not one of them.

[Pachael]

So the Portal team is working on a MLP game. Great news everybody!

That was such a joy to read.

[Gowans]

Sounds like an absolutely amazing place to work. All credit goes to our lord Gaben for the vision he set out with.

Yup as someone who works at a massive world wide corporation this sounds like Nirvana.

[which1spink]

elevator guy

[nullset2]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Jintor]

Gabe Newell—Of all the people at this company who aren’t your boss, Gabe is the MOST not your boss, if you get what we’re saying

lololololol

[Vilam]

Gabe debunked this theory in a recent podcast.

Thanks, I'll give it a listen.

Admittedly, nothing I've ever heard was directly saying that Valve employees weren't currently interested in working on the next iteration of Half Life. Everything else written in that guide matches up almost exactly though, from project selection to peer evaluations. Going from there, the speculation why we haven't heard from HL in forever seems like a natural conclusion... but like I said, I'll check that podcast out.

[KimiNewt]

If this is all what happens in practice, it sounds absolutely amazing.

[Emitan]

lololololol

I've loved that line ever since they used it in the TF2 blog.

[Phat Michael]

im going to show this to my CEO and management team. It should blow their minds.

[Tain]

how is a working dude not gonna swoon at this?

jesus

[criesofthepast]

Seems like heaven to work for a company like this. You gotta have a real type of special people working in this kind of environment to not make shit go south very quick. No rules. No bosses. Could spell trouble. Somehow Valve seem to be making it work. They got a damn good team of people over there if this handbook accurately describes how things truly work there.

Hiring process must be tough as shit.

[Hylian7]

Shitty Wizard—Person responsible for all Dota 2 bugs. Aka Finol.

Well, I certainly didn't expect to see an explanation for that in here!

[MMaRsu]

Why does my desk have wheels?

Damn that part is so cool.

[Sober]

Q: If all this stuff has worked well for us, why doesn’t every company work this way? A: Well, it’s really hard. Mainly because, from day one, it requires a commitment to hiring in a way that’s very different from the way most companies hire. It also requires the discipline to make the design of the company more important than any one short-term business goal. And it requires a great deal of freedom from outside pressure—being self-funded was key. And having a founder who was confident enough to build this kind of place is rare, indeed. Another reason that it’s hard to run a company this way is that it requires vigilance. It’s a one-way trip if the core values change, and maintaining them requires the full commitment of everyone— especially those who’ve been here the longest. For “senior” people at most companies, accumulating more power and/or money over time happens by adopting a more hierarchical culture.

Probably one of the more important parts in the handbook.

[jooey]

well that made me depressed

[JaseC]

Oh god, the Glossary is amazing:

Manager—The kind of people we don’t have any of. So if you see one, tell somebody, because it’s probably the ghost of whoever was in this building before us. Whatever you do, don’t let him give you a presentation on paradigms in spectral proactivity.

Parking Garage Elevators—Autonomous hostage-taking devices with a will of their own. Beware.

(Un)weighted Companion Pillow—The thing Erik Wolpaw carries around with him and covers his mouth with after others have sat on it

And so on.

[Zaptruder]

These guys get it. They get it to the nth degree.

They're a cabal of freethinkers that don't take authoritative dogma, that don't kowtow to plebian democracy, that just lets their people be the best people they can goddamn be.

And they have fun, and make money doing it. They work and live, hand in hand; a place where you work because you really believe in what you're doing - and one that helps you get paid, allowing you to do the things you believe in.

But this is an elite company - you couldn't structure society like this without significant changes. There just aren't enough people with the right mindset to get it to this degree. It would be good if there was, and it's really as awesome as it gets. But it is a good model to drive culture and society towards.

[derFeef]

I .... have no words. It's beautiful and scary.

[$200]

Damn this makes me wish I am a Valve employee..

[lastplayed]

The flat structure and being able to choose where you work blows my mind.