Tag Archives: Bungie

Tech Companies Want Staff to Work from Home Due to Coronavirus

health, , , ,

It is a smart decision to do everything possible to limit the spread of coronavirus. Big tech companies are using the strategy of asking their employees to work from home. This may be a temporary decision, but I think the move could help normalize working from home.

The Verge reported that numerous tech companies have asked their Seattle-based employees to work from home to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. This includes Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Bungie.

Microsoft is allowing and encouraging its employees based in Seattle or San Francisco to work from home. These employees can work from home through March 25, 2020.

CNBC reported that Amazon is asking employees at its Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, offices to work from home (if they are able to) until the end of the month. This decision was made after an employee tested positive for coronavirus. Amazon has also restricted all nonessential U.S. travel in response to coronavirus.

CNBC also reported that Facebook encouraged all of its 5,000 employees in Seattle to work from home for the rest of the month. Facebook has closed its Seattle office until Monday.

Twitter announced that it is strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they’re able. Working from home will be mandatory for employees based in Twitter’s Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea offices (due in part to government restrictions). Interestingly, Twitter had already begun moving towards a more distributed workforce that’s increasingly remote.

Bungie stated that it has built a fully remote infrastructure for all Bungie employees across the globe, with the goal of prioritizing the safety of their employees.

My hope is that these moves will help to normalize working from home. Employees would no longer have spend time commuting, and could spend those hours with their families. They could reduce the amount they spend of gas each week. Workers could do their job without the risk of catching the next “office cold” or the flu.

Preorder Bungie’s Music of Destiny on Vinyl

Music

Bungie has something special on the Bungie Store that should attract not only fans of Destiny, but also those who collect vinyl records. You can now preorder The Music of Destiny, Volume I, Collector’s Edition Vinyl Box Set. It is priced at $99.00, and is estimated to ship late 2018.

The Music of Destiny, Volume 1 is a Collector’s Edition Vinyl Box Set of the music of Destiny, including the first official release of Music of the Spheres. Each individually numbered box set includes six LPs, an exclusive booklet of liner notes and Official Destiny Collectible Pin keepsake.

This Limited Edition pre-order opportunity is available through June 15, 2018, at 11:59 PM PST. Orders will be fulfilled and shipped in late 2018. All sales are final. Each purchase comes with a digital download of the music sent via email after placing the order.

Product Description:

  • Includes Music of the Spheres and Destiny Original Soundtrack tracks
  • 6-LP box set features high quality pressings by Gotta Groove Records
  • Each LP is inserted into a custom innersleeve
  • Direct-to-board printed Gatefold Jackets house each of the LP’s in sets of two
  • Each heavyweight box is individually foil stamped with a unique number
  • 180 gram pressing
  • Includes exclusive Booklet and Collectible Traveler Pin

The image that Bungie posted on the page where you can preorder the Collector’s Edition (which is the same image I have posted here), is described as a “render image”. The final design may vary.

In collaboration with the Bungie Foundation, all profits from the sale of the Collector’s Edition Vinyl Box Set will benefit Melodic Caring Project. They are a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that streams live personalized concerts to kids and teens who are battling serious illness in the hospital.

Bungie Removed Graphical Element from Destiny 2 Armor

Gaming,

Bungie made a decision to remove the graphical element (or, artwork) from a piece of armor in Destiny 2. To be more specific, the decision focuses on the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets. The artwork was removed after Bungie became aware what the imagery resembled.

On September 12, 2017, the verified Bungie Twitter account tweeted the following:

I’ve gone down an internet “rabbit hole” (so you don’t have to) in regards to the imagery on the gauntlets. I’m going to summarize the details here, and leave you to dig deeper if you want to know more background.  It helps if you know what the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets looked like:

It has been said that imagery looks like “kek”. World of Warcraft players might identify “kek” as “lol”.World of Warcraft has two factions: Horde and Alliance. If I play my Orc (Horde) and put “lol” into the chat – Alliance players will see “kek”. Blizzard intentionally prevents Horde and Alliance players from being able to verbally communicate with each other in-game.

The Know Your Meme website has details about how “kek” was taken up by people who use 4Chan. It appears they created a satirical religion around it. The Southern Poverty Law Center has a detailed article about “kek”. The key thing to note is that the artwork on the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets resembles the lettering on a flag that has been seen at some alt-right rallies.

Bungie made a blog post titled “Too Close for Comfort”. They provide more information than one can fit into a Tweet about their decision regarding the Road Complex AA1 gauntlets.

Earlier this week, we were made aware that a graphical element on one of Destiny 2’s armor pieces bore close resemblance to an internet meme that has been subsequently repurposed to represent hate and intolerance. This was completely unintentional. As an immediate response, we extended our planned maintenance window to remove the element from the armor piece itself, and will be following up next week with another patch to remove the same element from the UI icon and preview screens, scrubbing it from the game altogether.

The Bungie blog post has information about how that image got into the game, and what steps they are taking to prevent something like this from happening again.