#its something about the absolute soul-destroying imagery of corporate bullshit that gets to me

[eyes-of-mischief]

weekly fic recs | 33

prompt: bureaucracy/office au

fandoms: bnha, dc, hq, mdzs

bnha

Heroics: Not Just Punching People Into Buildings, Apparently by stifledlaughter

"In today's practical test, you all will grapple with one of the worst aspects of being a hero," announced Present Mic to class 1-A. "Paperwork!"  

---

Sometimes, hero work isn't about capturing villains. It's about trying not to cry on the phone to the insurance agent after being on hold for an hour when they tell you that their company only accepts faxed forms.

He's Our Most Important Member by autumnconcept

As a member of the quirkless side of society, Izuku has long given up his dream of being a hero.

Remind him how he ended up in charge of an entire agency?

dc

Executive Assistant to the Batman by heartslogos

“So what’s someone like you doing working for someone like Wayne?”

“We’re star-crossed,” Tim answers, because clearly this job has only improved his ability to mouth off with a complete and total lack of self-regard.

(Rewrite of my old Assistant!verse)

on my desk by monday by calamityjade

(explicit)

Dick Grayson was tired of living hidden in his father's shadow. He desperately needs to find a space where he can thrive as just himself, and figures seeking out a simple job might be a good start; but being Jason Todd's assistant gives him so much more than he expected to gain. (No capes AU. Jason Todd is a lawyer and Dick is hired as his assistant)

haikyuu

hyogo melon code of conduct by goldplate

(mature)

“You misunderstand me, Miya-san. We’re not here to discuss the legality of your… melons."

-

Osamu's home garden gets the attention of the municipality's building and lot code compliance office.

the right path by norio

"What do you expect from our company?" the interviewer asked.

A job. A straightforward path, the only concerns about the budget for printer toners. A solitary lifestyle in a cubicle. But Akaashi curled his fingers around his resume and thought wryly that if he truly wanted all that, he wouldn't be applying to an anime company.

mdzs

Best man for the job; a detailed treatise on Chief Cultivation by Aerlalaith

“Just these?” He had thought, perhaps, given Jin Guangyao’s notorious organizational skills, there might be a few more, but it does not overly trouble him.

“Oh no, Chief Cultivator,” Jin Guangtian says. “This is just the index.”

(The peerless Hanguang-Jun faces his greatest challenge yet: bureaucracy).

The Roots Grow Riotous by hansbekhart

(explicit)

Sometimes Lan Zhan doesn’t work through lunch. Sometimes he makes conversation with coworkers in the halls. Sometimes he goes home instead of spending the last hour trawling through Grindr. But mostly, that’s exactly what he does. The sameness is comforting. His life spools out in easily measured increments: capsule collections, yards of hand dyed textiles, ninety day lead times, sell through figures, cost of goods sold. 

Every date in manufacturing can be calculated backwards and forward from a single horizon point: the date that the goods must arrive into the country where they'll be sold. Other than that, nothing else really matters.

Always Be Closing by betts

(explicit)

Wei Ying’s thumb hovered over Lan Zhan’s number. It would be a brief phone conversation. Not even a minute. He would tell Lan Zhan what needed to be done, and Lan Zhan would say “mn” a bunch of times, and Wei Ying would spiral all day about how much Mr. Hot and Perfect All the Time probably hated his guts, and it would be fine. Emotionally, no different than any other Tuesday.

Fine, sue him, he was a coward. He pulled up a new text and typed, My son is sick today. Going to doctor. Can you do smoothie hut call? 500m CRE + 250m LOC

He sent the text. The ellipses rose. He waited.

Or: During a long overdue divorce and messy custody battle, Wei Ying gets demoted to small business finance. There, he's partnered with a new closer who clearly hates him, until he finds out Lan Zhan is far more verbose—and dare he say flirtatious?—in writing than in speaking

But to be loved like a song you remember Even when you've changed by enbysaurus_rex

The manual was long, but it all boiled down to the same thing-- assess, capture, banish, assess, repeat. Keep the affected area to a minimum. Be proactive in protecting any device that can access the internet. Physical storage areas with names had to be up to standard (file boxes were allowed, so long as the lid was reinforced and could stand up to the particular talisman used), but anything else usually required paperwork and approval, even if it was retroactive. Wangji hoped everything was in file boxes this time, even though he knew it was in vain. None of his storage solutions had ever been declined, but it was a tremendous amount of paperwork, picture taking, and documentation for what was usually a relatively small collection. In this case, it was less likely to be true, and the documentation was likely to be equal to the names warded and sealed. He appreciated that.

#office aus have a special place in my heart #its something about the absolute soul-destroying imagery of corporate bullshit that gets to me #bnha fic recs #bnha #dc fic recs #dc #mdzs fic recs #mdzs #hq fic recs #hq #prompt #bureaucracy #office au #weekly fic recs

[gummybuddha]

Lord of Expectations

Blizzcon is only days away, and everyone is excited about what might potentially become an absolute shit show. Blizzard’s recent plague of controversy involving the banning of Hearthstone player  Chung ‘Blitzchung’ Ng Wai, their shitty appeal to the Blizzard community at large, and the embarrassment of having the US government sending a public letter telling Blizzard to kindly go unfuck themselves, was easily enough fuel to ensure that Blizzcon would have been a three-ring circus with Blizzard playing the role of the fucking clowns.

But before you think this was the end of the spectacle, it was just recently discovered that Blizzard will have no open Q&A’s on this years Blizzcon schedule, possibly suggesting we are seeing a Blizzard that is desperately trying to get the public to focus on “just the game.” Now I know what you are thinking. Kyle, why are you being so mean? Why can’t you just focus on the positive, like new WoW expansions or the possibility of Diablo games? Because I can’t help but think of Bobby Kotick getting a shit-eating grin at the idea that he or anyone else at the head of Activision Blizzard is just going to successfully hide from public scrutiny. Just…no…no…

But for the sake of the discussion, I would personally be overjoyed at the idea of a polished up version of Diablo II. Even if it was just touched up enough to run on modern systems, the game is such a classic, that it’s preservation needs no real justification at this point. It’s earned its place in gaming history. 

But when people ask me about another Diablo game, a Diablo IV if you will, then I can’t help but destroy their expectations. I can’t help but remind them that until Diablo Immortal drops, Diablo 3 is the worst Diablo game in the series.

I know that seems unrealistically unfair considering Reaper of Souls did so much to fix Diablo 3’s issues and make the game enjoyable. I would even admit that I have played many hours of Reaper of Souls and quickly paid for the Necromancer pack without hesitation, a rare moment of don’t give a fuck for me. 

But all of those things don’t hide the fact that at launch, Diablo 3 was an absolute cluster fuck. I have a hard time choosing what was the worst offender for me, the painfully dry story, the utterly neutered imagery, the horrible loot drops, or the fact there was no secret cow level… Ha, sorry, I’m obviously joking. It was the god damn Auction House. You knew it was gonna be the auction house. 

I mean just look at that down there. Someone had the fucking nerve to ask another human being for 135 dollars for shitty crafting materials. That’s more than the cost in USD for two fucking copies of Diablo 333333333333! 

I don’t think I have to say much more than that. The idea that players would have to pay money for items in a genre focused on item acquisition is ludicrous; even back in 2012. Players were obviously pissed about this aspect and as a result, Blizzard’s official forums were full of posts trying to understand why there was such a poor jump from Diablo 2 to 3.  What happened after would be fit for a soap opera. In a rare interview with Blizzard North co-founder David Brevik at Gamescon 2012, David was asked about his thoughts on the game and the community reaction. The interview, done by Diabloii.net, went show that Brevik was not really digging the itemization in Diablo 3 either, pointing out a few key elements that he found rather perplexing. But the drama to unfold was focused on one particular comment Brevik made on how he thought Diablo 3 would affect the overall Legacy of Blizzard North’s work.  

This comment quickly found it’s way back to the staff that made Diablo 3, which were shocked about the criticism and mad about the idea that Blizzard North had obviously been an original A-Team, not easily replaced. 

It was a rare glimpse into the culture of Blizzard employees at the time. It showed that there was a portion of Blizzard that felt no responsibility for turning their backs on fans and embracing the absurd corporate culture that the game industry was slowly being poisoned by.  But the moment was quickly stolen by Diablo 3 lead director Jay Wilson, who simply posted: “Fuck that loser.” A quip that was so outrageous, that it ran on several news sites.

That was years ago. Eventually, Jay ”Fuck that loser “ Wilson was pushed out of the lead role and was replaced by Joshua Mosqueira and Kevin Martens. Reaper of Souls managed to improve upon the game, getting rid of the real money auction house and making loot drops more valuable to the player picking up the items in question.

But even then, with all the improvements, Diablo 3 was still in no way the sequel I was expecting, and I expect Diablo IV to be an even larger departure.

I know that some people will defend Blizzard, saying they had a chance to learn from D3 and even the launch of World of Warcraft: Classic. But although classic WOW proves there is a demand for old school Blizzard games, I doubt it will have any impact on how Blizzard will ultimately approach another Diablo game.

And the recent controversy with China does not assure me that Blizzard is just not moments away from glazing its entire community with jizz over the very idea that players will be opening their wallets again. I don’t think Blizzard has the self-control at this point to make another Diablo game that is not absolutely full of bullshit mechanics designed to print Bobby Kotick another Telsa in his driveway. Want more evidence for that, look at Battle for Azeroth and all its time-gated content, the rep grinds, and systems designed to ensure that you are going to spend 15 dollars a month.  But Kyle your playing World of Warcraft.  Yes, I am. But that does not mean I can’t be critical of the game. I love large elements of Blizzard’s games, and so far the good has outweighed the bad. But there will be a day where I can’t justify the bullshit. There will be a day that no matter how much I love the worlds that Blizzard has made, I will have to push myself away from the computer and find something else to do. Hopefully, that day is a long time away. But it can be surprising how fast that day comes for certain things you like.

#Blizzcon #Blizzard #diablo #diablo iv #world of warcraft