Interview In the Spotlight: Cedric Debono

[Flexoo 6,980]

 

Hello there guys, and welcome back to the News section. If my memory serves me correctly, we promised you a voice interview with Cedric and so here it is in all its glory. Cedric tackled a lot of topics in this one, including his departure (and return), his plans, his workload, development stuff among many other things so get some sandwiches, a diet coke and get comfy becuase you ain't going anywhere for the next hour or so.

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Credits:

@skeletorXVIII - voice recording

@Hippin_in_Hawaii - editing

@LOLKILLERTOTHEDEATH - uploading

 

Here is also a written, shorter version of the interview:

 

Flex: Hello there tankers, and welcome to possibly the first ever voice interview in the history of the English Newspaper. This time around, we have a very special guest, the English community manager, Cedric Debono. Welcome Cedric!

 

Cedric: Thank you. For the record, I am the same guy who still didn't publish the results for the Meme Contest.

 

Flex: Maybe, you shouldn't have mentioned that.

 

Cedric: *laughs*. I promise I am gonna do it today so by the time you listen to this, it will have been done.

 

Flex: So, let's start with some introductions. You are an old-new face in the community and lot of tankers know you from your first appearence as community manager, but for all the newcomers, can you please tell us more about yourself?

 

Cedric: Sure. I live in Malta, which is a small island south to Sicily and I work from my home. Although I have been working with Tanki on and off for several years, the only person I have met face to face was Semyon Kirov, the former community manager, whom I met during his holiday time in Malta. I also met Khasim from the Russian V-LOG and Nikolai Kolotov who is the editor who works on the V-LOG. We first met in the meetup in Tbilisi and Yerevan, although we had already been working closely together for long time. I started working for Tanki as a proofreader in 2014. They needed someone to check the English texts and the collaboration sort of grew organically. Around a year later, Semyon moved on and I started working as a community manager. I chose a different approach because it was something the community needed and now I feel my approach needs to be different again to when I was last CM.

 

Those of you who knew me from the first time I was here know that I was very active in the community. This time, you probably notice I am much more in the background. That's because lot of my focus has shifted to the marketing side. There is a lot of publishing and announcements for me to do, but I feel I need to be more involved with the community. It won't be possible for me to reach the level of involvement as two years ago, but I have lot of people who fill in for me. We have , @CooperO, and we have Fabi (@skeletorXVIII) who is also heavily involved in the German community. We also have @Maf, Momo (), and a whole lot of people besides....

 

Flex: You have me...

 

Cedric: I have you, but obviously I can't mention you because otherwise people will think I did just because you are on the call. Just kidding.

 

Flex: Exactly, I had to remind myself.

 

Cedric: That's your moment of glory. Now give me back the spotlight. Let's pick up where we left off.

 

Flex: Okay, so the next question. This is kind of an interesting one because, as you mentioned, you were a community manager before which most of the tankers, at least in the English community probably know. You are probably the first ever community manager who returned, so we are all curious about why that happened? Had you been in some contact with Tanki after your departure or were you working on other projects?

 

Cedric: Yeah, that's a legitimate question, obviously. So when I left Tanki, what happened originally is that I was offered the job of Direct Response Copywriter in a cosmetics company. The job basically involved writing, advertising, and e-mail campaigns which is my speciality. I also did that in Tanki, but to much lesser degree. I felt a need to move on to a job that focused more on the writing; promotional texts, etc. I did that for a year and then I moved on to another company, a much bigger one, where I was also a copywriter. That was for a few months, but I felt that it was not the right fit for me. I was working in a huge, lovely office with free breakfast, lunch and dinner, lots of benefits, and free parking in one of the best areas in Malta.

 

Flex: Those are great conditions...

 

Cedric: Yeah, and it reminds me of the meme @Lankbouv made. Just check it in the thread, it is really funny. Something about a great work opportunity.

 

But, and I guess it was due to some planetary alignment, right when I was feeling out of place, I was approached by the new chief marketing officer who said: "Hey, Sergei Balabanov wishes to leave the company for personal reasons. We are looking for a new English CM and we would like to discuss this with you." So I gave it some thought, and I figured it was something I enjoyed doing, the management role, with a side of copywriting stuff. I have a great portfolio, so it's great to just work from home and have that kind of flexibility. But, with flexibility comes a lot of responsibility.

 

For example, I can leave for the beach without anyone knowing, but I have to be available on my cellphone, and if something comes up, I have to react quickly. Workers in the office disappear during the lunch break, but when I am eating and someting comes up, I drop the fork and sort it out. So, it is nice to have freedom of working from home, but it also comes with a couple of demands. But, I am fine with it; it's a trade-off.

 

I also have the opportunity to work with some great people. I am not talking just about my employee colleagues, but also about the helpers I have. I feel privileged to be working with these amazing people. As CMs, we get a lot of blame for things we had no part in. That's part of the job.

 

Flex: Yeah, lot of tankers still don't understand what work the CM does.

 

Cedric: Yes, but on the flip side we get a lot of praise for things we don't do that are done by our helpers. Case in point, . She does a lot of work behind the scenes that people automatically assume I have done. Organization of the helper teams is almost entirely on her shoulders. I simply do not have the time to micro-manage. I do want to be accessible to everyone, that's why I am on Discord. But, micromanagement of helpers is on  and I personally believe she is doing a great job.

 

When I look at how the helpers' teams have evolved in the past few years, I can see a huge change for better. I know @skeletorXVIII is doing very similar thing in the German community. @CooperO is also a great help, she is one of those people to whom I can give just instructions and have a peace of mind knowing that it will be done and it will be done well. Luckily, @CooperO and  work together very well, they have very opposite characters and they balance each other.

 

Flex: They do say that opposites attract...?

 

Cedric: Yes, in this case opposites work well together. They complement each other. In this case,  is very assertive, she makes her case strongly and brings everything in the argument. Sometimes players accuse me of siding with her simply because she is my right hand. Players come to me and say that they got banned unjustly, that she has a thing for them, etc., but I am 99% sure the decision is fair and correct. She comes up prepared and provides all the facts, screenshots and documents related to the decision.

 

Flex: It's usually just a last desperate attempt for players to save their skins.

 

Cedric: Sometimes, yes. @CooperO, on the flip side, is very patient, cautious and diplomatic. I'm not saying that  isn't, but Coop is a very nice, pleasant person. I forgot to post the news, give me a second. This is also a part of the community managment. You are in the middle of something and suddenly you have to post some news and your boss gonna eat your soul if you don't. Then the forum gives you trouble and grief. Now the forum gave me an error and I have 3 of the same thing.

 

At this point, Fabi and Cedric discuss the announcement and the randomness of the job.

 

Cedric: Would you like to ask something more on this point?

 

Flex: You said so many things that I don't even know where to go back to. But I will return to the point where you mentioned your occupation as a copywriter. Now that you are back as a community manager, is there something that you do as a sidejob or are you just 100% community manager?

 

Cedric: I do a lot of copywriting for Tanki. The texts you see are written by me and then translated to another languages. On top of that, I have some clients on the side. I suppose you could say that's my practice. Obviously, the company is aware of it. Copywriting is actually more than ever a big part of the job I do now for Tanki.

 

Flex: Another question. You are in the situation where you were replaced by Nives (Sergei Balabanov) and now you have replaced him. I would like to know if you are (or were) in contact with him and if you talked about the job?

 

Cedric: No, not really. I am completely cut from Sergei, not in a bad way. We are just out of touch. Even Semyon Kirov is no longer in contact with me. I was away from Tanki and did not really have any contact with Nives. However, I kept in contact with Sasha Nazhenka, my current boss, and Sergei Tarasov who was my previous boss. Actually, we are still very good friends although he left the company and I never met him face to face. Now he is working for a very big game development company. He is really great guy and I plan to fly to Russia sometime this year to meet him. As I said, I stayed in touch with Khasim and Sasha and we exchange photos and information about the weather, since in Malta it's almost always wonderful. Whenever Sasha complained about the gloomy weather I sent her a photo of clear sky to which she responded: "I hate you!"

 

Flex: So, about Sergei. He did a great job as a community manager and you may have seen what he was doing these past few months. How would you rate his job, and is there something you have definitely picked up from him that you would like to continue?

 

Cedric: Sergei was the right person to take the job after me and he approached the job in a right way. There are things I feel I should pick up from him although in a different approach that reflects the kind of person I am and can become. Right now, I don't have exactly formulated points. On top of that, the first three months back in the company were really hectic and I needed to remember all the things I have been doing. I needed to go back to some of the past documents and walkthroughs I gave to Sergei. It helped him, and it helped me as well when I came back.

 

By the way, my wife and son just came home so we might experience minor interuptions. My son is looking at me in a peculiar way. He is 7. This is probably one of the biggest challenges. To him, I am just hanging out at home. He cannot reconcile the idea that I am at home and working. I work in a video game, I am not playing games! It can be very disruptive. That's what I miss on being in the office, the total sanctity of the place.

 

Flex: That was actually one of the questions I had for you. Integrating your family time with the job of community manager must be quite a challenge.

 

Cedric: It's the biggest challenge that I have. I am fully equipped to work from anywhere, but home is my ideal spot with two monitors, laptop, tablet. I have to have more than just plans A, B, C, D, E. If the electricity goes away, I still have UPS powering everything. I am prepared for 99% of scenarios. I have Teamviewer; for certain things we need VPNs etc. For example, for posting announcements I can use Teamviewer on my mobile when I am away from my PC.

 

Flex: Let's get to some light-hearted questions. Name 3 things on your desktop that you can't live without during livestreams or your work.

 

Cedric: Spotify. It's almost always open when I am at work, though obviously I can't listen to it in livestreams. I have been a premium member since 2014. But honestly, I do not have anything unnecessary. I can't afford to have a clutter. I have my personalized browser - Chrome with extensions like OneTap, Lightshot for screenshots, and Text Blaze, which is convenient for answering the same questions over and over again.

 

Flex: Another question: you mentioned that stuff changed from what it was two years ago. What does your daily routine look like now?

 

Cedric: Usually, I get in touch with my boss, look at what tasks I have for the day, and what deadlines I have pending for announcements and texts. I am often asked for feedback or to create in-game texts - for example the garage description for Yellow Bug paint was created by me. We also have some paints and bundles coming up, so that will be sorted between me and Khasim. Basically, it is always different. For example, on Tuesdays, I have to prepare for a community managers' meeting by collecting the feedback from community and creating a report. The fixed things are Tuesdays' meetings. On Wednesday, we work on scripts for V-LOG, Thursday we prepare it, and publish it on Friday. Then we work on subtitles. I have Momo who helps with the unofficial translations for the V-LOG and organizes the team. Right now we have 9 languages, I believe.

 

So yeah, on Wednesday evening I get the script from Khasim in "Runglish", and I check it, edit it, make it flow a bit better, add the parts that are unique to international community and then pass it to other community managers. Then Alex, our voiceover guy, starts recording the script, I check it and we create the promo. On Friday, I pick the V-LOG winners and post everything. It's a very time-consuming process. Just to give you an idea about the amount of text I made, just for the New Year I created 36 pages of text. There are lot of spaces there, but it's still over 5 000 words. Not only do I have to write the announcements, reminders, and promos, but also schedule them. On some platform it is possible, but on Steam or Forum, for example, I have to do it in real time.

 

Flex: Now that we've covered your job, let's talk about your plans, if you have any. Maybe a second Meme contest? 

 

Cedric: *laughs* I actually plan to post the winners of the first one. I definitely need to find a way to do these contests. Previously, I had the time to do stuff myself, but now I cannot manage these things anymore. I need to shift to the approach that I should not do things that are not really necessary and focus more on things that only I can do, like announcements. I need to minimize interruptions as much as possible and focus my attention on the important things I must do. As I mentioned, I want to improve my community interaction. I would like to get on more Discord calls as the platform is very easy to use. I have had such calls with 3 or 4 people and it was so much fun. What else have you got?

 

Flex: Last question. You are back to the game, obviously you are not much of a gamer, but have you checked Tanki recently - there are a lot of new additions, like alterations and drones - any chance we might see you in battles with tankers, at least occasionally?

 

Cedric: I would like to, but I just don't have that much time and to be honest, my idea of playing Tanki is not about having fun, but doing work. Even if I play for fun, it still feels like work. It's like: " I wanna go out tonight, lemme hang out in the office." even if it is the best office in the world, the work is done, and I don't wanna go there! Tanki is a fun game, especially for me, because I have all the crystals and equipment I want and I can beat you to a pulp with supplies.

 

Flex: Really? You will go there, make us all jealous?

 

Cedric: I mean everything you have, I can have for free, and I can go into the battle and just overwhelm you with supplies, even if I am a crappy player, not to rub it in or anything...

 

Flex: Okay, we will play PRO-battles from now on.

 

Cedric: People are so gonna hate me for that statement. But joking aside, I do play occasionally, but not on my main account, because I don't want to have to deal with players saying: Hey! A community manager." I play one battle and that's enough.

 

I do check the updates, and I am pretty happy about them. I am also excited about overdrives, but I did not have a chance to test them. We hope it won't be a long wait, but the thing is that so many things can go wrong with this feature. We can't take chances. Believe me, if you are frustrated, programmers are ten-times more frustrated. I remember the first mention of overdrives in the livestream with Semyon, already two years ago now. But I hope you can understand that all these programmers work on these features for so long and when they are so close, out pops a bug that can appear at any time.

 

Do you remember the Tankipocalypse? The game was down for 22 hours or so. The heat in the office was unimaginable. You know that Tanki is a game that only makes money if it is online. The game was not working, but you still had to pay the employees, for the office, electricity, all these bills. You have people breathing on your neck, so the pressure on the programmers is immense. It's also a huge loss of money. This was all caused by a bug, hidden in the game for 7 years. The fact that the game was only down for 22 hours was only thanks to preparations of the developers, otherwise it would have been far longer.

 

I see a lot of criticism, mostly coming from just a couple of tankers. The thing is that the negative voices are always the loudest ones. I feel it is very unjust criticism. Some say: "You should fire all the developers and hire all new ones and give them a month to fix the game. If they can't, they are also fired." That's not the smartest idea. Let's say we fired all the programers. The team has doubled over the past year, so it is quite big team. If you fire them all at once, overnight you have no programmers. Who is gonna run the game? Assuming you fire everyone, will you magically find replacements for everyone? Hiring new people is actually very time and money consuming at this level. Even if you somehow manage to hire a whole new team within just two weeks (which is best case scenario)? Now, this person will need minimum two weeks to learn all ins and outs of the code. If you are a programmer, you know that even if the code is impeccable and fully documented, it is still a massive headache. And that is just one person.

 

In the world of software development, so many things can go wrong at any time, even if you plan properly. It's just really unfair for people to call them incompetent. When you think about it, even companies that are ten or a hundred times bigger than Tanki, with massive budgets - the hiring power they must have - they can hire the best programmers but they still get criticised for what they do. Slip-ups happen. It's not because these people are stupid. I can guarantee you the people in the Tanki office are not stupid, they are actually very smart people. But, they often must make decisions in a very challenging and fast-paced environment with very little data, to try predict what will happen in one, two, five years ahead. Very few people understand this. On top of that you have to face the directors, who can completely scrap your concept, after several months of work. We are talking big money. The decisions developers do may cost the company half a million dollars. If you think developers are just sitting on their butt, sipping coffee and looking at code, you are very off.

 

Questions?

 

Flex: No! Not at all. That was the last one from me.

 

Cedric: I probably covered some material that you weren't about to ask either.

 

Flex: Yeah, and a lot of material that I hadn't ever even thought about. But it's good because lot of tankers are actually asking these questions, so it's handy to shed a light on these subjects. Thank you very much for all this information, and thank you for your time!

 

Cedric: Is someone gonna make a transcription of this?

 

Flex: Definitely! Probably gonna do it myself.

 

Cedric: Just you?

 

Flex: Maybe I will appoint some reporters.

 

Cedric: If you give this task away, I want a screenshot when you give them the file.

 

Flex: Yeah, I mean, 1 hour and 30 minutes of footage, they sure will be happy.

 

Cedric: Okay, so, I am gonna call it a wrap. Thank you all for listening and thank you for the interview. And if you would like to have another, let me know!

 

Flex: My pleasure. Yeah, definitely. Also, thanks to @skeletorXVIII for recording the audio and editing.

 

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Thank you all for listening or reading, respectively. We hope you enjoyed it and that you got to know Cedric a little better, or that he answered some of your hottest questions. If you liked it, feel free to leave us a comment and maybe even suggest the next subject for this torture of interrogation. See ya on the battlefields!

 

[Pun 902]

Interesting :ph34r:

[Pyre 3,485]

Juicy.

[Positive 1,136]

great job.

[P.4.R.K.O.U.R 329]

7-year-old aspiring tanki pro?

[LyT 222]

LoL

[Local.Shaft 726]

Lovely interview, I listened to the whole interview, Thank you for fulfilling our promise, @Flexoo, and @Cedric Debono

[Person_Random 4,991]

Cedric's mugshot is kinda scary.

[3dL 454]

Nice

[Pseudonym 1,157]

CM Legend!

[tanki.75 10]

:O

[IVIelon 1]

Tanki's true and only hero. All my questions marks in my head are exploded with this interview. Can't wait to see more interviews to see what things you will uncover for us. And good luck with the 7 Y.O. boy :)

[The_End_Is_Near 146]

Very nice interview, I'd read all of this again. (Not really..)

[GioKvlividze 0]

Cedric Debono!Please say me,can u add kits in garage?I'm waiting for it for 1 week.

I'm interested only this question1

 

:)  :)  :) 

[concretehill 8]

yay

[Person_Random 4,991]

PME!!!!  Alrighty Cedric, can you do a 1v1 against Flexoo?

[MeTrIKSS78 272]

I enjoyed reading your subject, thanks  :)

[Groonter 89]

I loved this interview, very interesting everything that Cedric says, I heard it from beginning to end, thanks for providing such good material :)

[cryptor 589]

Great Job! :)

[Adab 2,896]

A very amusing & captivating Interview.  :P