Paul's Henderson @paulsrockinmastodon@shrike.club

@agonist speak your truth

All that to say:

Here's to you, Arkane Austin. Y'all deserved better.

As I was leaving, either the secretary or one of the devs, I can't remember which, ended up chasing me down and giving me a small paper bag. They had filled it with a bunch of exclusive swag and gear from various conventions, preorder stuff and launch parties.

Anyway. Long story short, I made some developer's days that day I think. I've entered the industry since then, and now I understand what it's like to be on the other side, and.... Well, among other things, I don't regret being a fake fan and gassing them up.

"Jesus christ, this must be one of the most fucking thankless jobs imaginable."

The audible "awwww" of thankfulness through the room was. Something else. And I remember thinking to myself:

The food I had ended up being brought to a breakout room in the studio where a few developers were discussing something over a table at a white board. I have no idea what, maybe some level design or something, I couldn't interpret the board and REALLY wasnt trying to dig for info

Anyway, after dropping off the food, as I was leaving, I dropped a quick "Hey by the way, thank you for making Dishonored." Fake fan I know I'm sorry

Now, I'll be honest and completely own this now, but, I was a fake Arkane fan. I had only played a bit of dishonored. However, I knew they were a big deal, and I wasn't gonna pass up the opportunity to be a nice delivery guy.

Since then I've pulled my shit together and played several of their games (Prey is a goddamn masterpiece), but at the time I basically knew "These were the dishonored guys" lol

So, when I brought the food to the desk, the secretary had me bring the food back.

Eventually, he caught on that I was a huge nerd, so he ended up skewing my orders a bit... nerdier, to say the least. At one point, he hooked me up with a delivery to Rooster Teeth's studio, which was amazing lmao

Anyway, he had a tendency to send me to game studios once he sussed me out. One time I delivered to Panic Button lol

But the one that always stuck out to me was the time I delivered to Arkane Austin.

I've told this story a lot, but for posterity and sudden unfortunate relevance

Years ago, I used to be a delivery driver for a major contracted food delivery company. I was so successful, in fact, that I was specifically contacted and brought on for their pilot catering program.

Instead of going through the usual app, they actually had a direct dispatch app that I contacted my dispatcher one-on-one with. He'd give me updates on orders, I'd communicate directly back, etc. We built a rapport.

@pleonasticTautology you got my hopes up mcconnell is still alive

(i'm not gonna do that because i'm not a bitch)

i'm like this close to calling it and going all in on the cubs and mariners

oh god half the dungeons and daddies characters this season are named after celebrities w/ ambiguously gendered first names instead of just one. tony colette (M) and kelsey grammar(F). amazing