Greetings, Vault Hunters! In this episode of Echoes From The Borderlands, we are taking a side quest from our main mission and discussing how we express our Vault Hunter pride through real-world meet-ups, online events, and by wearing Claptrap T-shirts, drinking from Claptrap mugs, and enthusiastically sniffing Claptrap-scented candles! We’re talking Borderlands Licensing, Community, and Live Ops with Host Joel Watson, Director of Licensing Erica Hollinshead-Stead, Lead Community Manager Noelle Pugh, and Managing Producer of Live Content Mario Rodriguez!
Speakers
- Joel Watson – Creative Producer
- Erica Hollinshead-Stead – Director of Licensing
- Noelle Pugh – Lead Community Manager
- Mario Rodriguez – Managing Producer of Live Content
Hidden Morse Code
- “I drink your Milkshake” – There will be blood
- “No Matter Where you go, there you are” – Buckaroo Banzai
Topics
- 00:00 – Intro
- 02:20 – Mario, What is “Live Ops”
- 03:35 – Does post-launch support change the way you develop games?
- 06:30 – A lot of people still play BL2, how does that affect your Live Ops decisions?
- 07:25 – Noelle, are you, as a community manager, in direct contact with the fans?
- 08:35 – Is that direct community interaction common in game development?
- 09:20 – How big is the community managing team?
- 12:50 – Did you expect being online all the time could be a job?
- 13:55 – Are the moments where community suggestions are actually not good for the game?
- 15:20 – Erica, is 90% of your time judging if Claptrap can be on a specific piece of merchandise?
- 18:00 – How do you judge the products for licensing?
- 22:56 – Pandora’s Box Advert
- 23:53 – When does the feedback for a new title start?
- 26:55 – Are there moments where the community cares deeply about something, you didn’t anticipate?
- 29:40 – Noelle, you mentioned BL3 did community differently, how is that?
- 33:30 – Are there features you built with the community?
- 35:15 – Are there story elements developed with the community?
- 36:00 – Is it risky to give players what they want?
- 37:50 – Are games better due to the continued support and community feedback?
- 38:50 – PAX Borderlands 3 Announcement
- 42:15 – Is cosplay huge in the community?
- 46:30 – Is there specific merch for cosplay?
- 47:55 – Biggest panel giveaway?
- 49:00 – Froyo truck?
- 51:20 – PAX garage sale?
- 54:30 – What is the most DIY thing you had to do in Licensing?
- 57:50 – What are SHiFT Codes?
- 1:01:50 – Tell me about The Hunt
- 1:04:25 – Licensing = Dream Crusher?
- 1:11:00 – Does Licensing struggle with localization as well?
My Reactions
- Another awesome side quest!
- 13:55 – About the developer not being able to implement certain suggestions. Yeah, the engine isn’t allowed to do certain stuff but some suggestions sound great but are actually broken and devalue the overall gameplay.
- 23:53 – Definitely guilty of theory crafting XD
- 29:40 – I met Erica when she did PR for Battleborn.
- 47:55 – I received one of those Maliwan SMGs, they are great!
- 50:40 – The Troy statue didn’t initially have eyebrows at the reveal event, they arrived at the event at the last moment, then they used a market to quickly draw those on.
- 1:10:00 – The BAMF shirt is really AWESOME!
- Wait What, where was my Marcus impression?
Behind the Scene Heroes:
- April Johnson
- Dakota Warren
- Robert Fernandez
- Hannah Terry
