Unicorns

There's something inherently merciless about professional game developers. When someone shows a sign of weakness, it's like a feeding frenzy. It's less ominous than it really sounds, mainly because professional game developers tend to be kids that never really grew up. Then again, I remember some pretty wicked kids in my time...

Last week, one of the designers last week was caught by three other designers looking at unicorns on his screen. We're talking about a shiny, silver, rainbows-and-lollipops-type unicorn. He claimed it was a link off an MMO site he follows, but that fact pretty much became irrelevent in the ensuing verbal crucifixion. It was mentioned to our project lead, who made a point of mentioning it to the rest of the designers and producers with many comments to the effect of "Oh, don't forget the unicorn zone!" and "What was that villain's name? The unicorn?" and "Keep in mind *unicorn* when we're developing the *unicorn* zone that we need to keep the *unicorn* spawns well-distributed. *Unicorn*."

Unfortunately for our unicorn-loving friend, it didn't end there. Within a half-hour, a picture of a rainbows-and-lollipops-type unicorn was send via email around the design featuring the unicorn-lover's face framed by hearts right beside the beast with the phrase "Best friends!" beside it. I did my part by forwarding the email pic to a friend in another company. Next morning, a stuffed unicorn named Darla was found on the unicorn-lover's desk. Later that day, his nameplate was replaced with a unicorn head and the phrase "I'm feeling horny!" More hilarity has ensued since then.

The unicorn-lover weathered the storm fairly well, and took it in stride by posting this YouTube video around design about - you guessed it - unicorns. Never trust those beasties!