Memories from the Office of a Game Publisher – Office Space

Everywhere I look across social media I seem to be encountering two things. Economic news about the pending commercial real estate collapse, and the movie Office Space. The former is vaguely interesting to me, as I applaud the work-from-home movement (better in the long run for everyone, from employees to employers and on to the tread on your tires), and the latter is one of my favorite movies. If you’ve not seen it, you should get some popcorn and give it a look see….but only after you clock out as its not a movies-from-home movement!

But these two fish bowls got me thinking about my own fish bowl. I’ve been doing this, publishing games, for 25 years, how have my offices fared?

The first of my offices was in my kitchen, dining area in my home. That was in 1999-2001 or some such. Kathy (the wife, there can be only one) was exceedingly patient. I remember it well as my computers walled off the table and faced the kitchen so that any small raiders in diapers were plane to see.

The second office was short lived, ’02 or thereabouts. We rented office space from a friend of mine and tried to do that. It lasted about a year, maybe.

In 2003 I moved back to the house, but by then we had closed in an annex to the house and made it a library/office. I worked there for what seems like several years. Todd joined me there and later came Davis. We had three work stations, each with our own desks.

In ’05 we started the print shop in that annex and everyone was kicked out. I moved back to the dining/kitchen area and set up my old office. It was very inconvenient. The family had grown and was continuing to do so.

In ’06 we moved to a new, bigger house, one we picked because it had a room perfect for my office. I set up there (where I still am). In the beginning it was just me. Then Todd moved from the mail room (the large room adjacent to the office) to my office and we shared the space for about a year. But we eventually drove each other nuts, him with my music and me with his slow typing! So he moved back into the mail room, as we moved a great deal of the storage to a warehouse.

As a side note, previously all TLG backstock was in Fort Wayne or the mail room, it was crowded, but we moved the back stock to a local warehouse.

Todd remained in the mail room and me in the office I currently occupy. He moved on to other offices eventually and left me here. My current office has gone through many changes, the desk continually moving, dial up to digital, to no phone at all, painted walls from white to green and all the other sundries. But despite the alterations, I’ve been here for the better part of TLG’s 25 years.

I think its time for some new duds though. Not sure where, but I do know I’m not going to help the commercial landlords get out of whatever bind they are in. Maybe there’s a pasture somewhere, sans the cows, where just the green green grass is blowing back and forth in the wind.

Maybe.

* The Annex served as my office for several years. I loved this space as it gave me plenty of room to work, natural light, and I could see outside with ease.