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Jeff Kaplan

@jeff-kaplan · 29 positions · 0 changes of mind

American game designer and director, for nineteen years at Blizzard as a World of Warcraft quest designer and then game director of Overwatch; now runs the independent studio Kintsugiyama.

Jeff Kaplan did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    The question to put to a young person is what they want to do, not what they want to be — the roles are a costume and asking about them is cruel.

    Their wordsSo the advice that I always give, and it sounds so stupid, like this sounds really trite, but focus on what you wanna do, not what you wanna be.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 0:32:28 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 1st of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    A small team is not a compromise: it is the only size at which everyone is in the room for every decision, including the ones outside their discipline.

    Their wordsThe bigger the team, the more you become a cog in the machine. And on a small team, the way I like to describe it is you get to have a loud voice.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:23:54 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 2nd of 29 in this recording

    team size

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    The less two people on a team interact, the more they vilify each other's point of view — which is where "the artists just don't get it" comes from.

    Their wordsAnd there’s a weird thing that happens that’s just kind of a human nature thing. The less you interact with somebody, the more you sort of become alienated from them and vilify their point of view.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:24:36 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 3rd of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    If you recruited the best person in the industry, you owe their suggestions the treatment the best in the industry deserves rather than starting from doubt.

    Their wordsThat is the best prop artist in the industry. That’s who’s gonna show up on our doorstep, so when they show up here, we should treat them like the best prop artist in the industry instead of starting from a place of doubt and cynicism.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:27:06 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 4th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    A creative lead's job is to take the idea they think is wrong and try to make it work, because the best ideas come out of developing someone else's.

    Their wordsAnd it went from this kind of thing that I didn’t believe into to actually, like, a core part of who I am today as a leader, as a game designer, as a game director. And some of the best ideas have come from developing other peoples’ ideas
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:30:47 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 5th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    Not knowing what they were doing is why the World of Warcraft team succeeded, and being full of experts is why the Titan team failed.

    Their wordsAnd we failed horribly, and we had the best of the best on that team. And it’s because everybody was too much of an expert on how to make a groundbreaking phenomenon MMO.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:39:11 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 6th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our reading

    Crunch is wrong when it is imposed — an executive on a forty-hour week has no business telling anyone to stay late — but a person choosing long hours on their own life's work is not the same thing.

    Their wordsI don’t think executives who take off and work 40-hour weeks should be telling anybody to stay late. I think that’s wrong and immoral. But to me as an individual, as long as I’m not telling other people to do it, my life’s work is my passion and I want to do it as much as possible.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:48:10 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 7th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    You design along the path of least resistance: players will take the cheapest route to their goal, so the designer's job is to put the experience they want played on that route.

    Their wordsAnd I’ve heard it outside of Blizzard, other people in the industry, which is you design along the path of least resistance.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:56:20 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 8th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    Other players must be present in an online world but never compulsory: forcing interaction is what kept MMOs small, and letting people play alone is what made World of Warcraft enormous.

    Their wordsAnd what makes an MMO, massively multiplayer online game, massive is having the other people there. And they’re so important or else the world feels kind of wrong and dead. But the concept that we have to force you to interact with them to do anything is very off-putting to a lot of people.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 1:57:57 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 9th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    Ask gamers what kind of player they are and they describe the player they wish they were, so a designer has to watch what people do rather than believe what they say.

    Their wordsWe all, to some degree, lack the self-awareness of how we tick. So we’re all different types of gamers, but if you ask me to describe the type of gamer I am, I might actually be giving more of a picture of the type of gamer I wish I was or the type of gamer I want you to think I am versus the type of gamer I actually am.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:01:03 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 10th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  21. Our reading

    You cannot be an exceptional game designer without playing enormously, and a bad game teaches as much as a great one.

    Their wordsAnd the weirdest part about it is you’re not just looking for the greatest hits. You learn just as much from a shitty game that you do from an amazing game.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:01:34 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 11th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  23. Our reading

    Game design has no textbook, so a designer has to keep their own list of the elements of fun the way a writer keeps the elements of fiction.

    Their wordsAnd there’s no, like, textbook that exists for game design, at least none that has been introduced to me yet. But I think about, like, elements of fun.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:04:49 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 12th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  25. Our reading

    Ant-farm design — building something to watch what the players will do — is the wrong way to design a multiplayer game.

    Their wordsWhich is, you know, you’re the game designer who’s playing God, and players are the ants in your ant farm, and you want to see what they’re gonna do, which is not the correct way to be a good multiplayer designer.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:24:29 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 13th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  27. Our reading

    A live game has to be architected so it can be hotfixed on a dime; waiting for a client patch to fix what is broken is already too slow.

    Their wordsYou know, obviously, we patch our games and that’s where we fix a lot of bugs, but if you really wanna run a game like Overwatch or World of Warcraft successfully, you need master level engineers who have architected the client and server in such a way that you can hotfix the game on a dime.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:34:58 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 14th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  29. Our reading

    A game is at its best on the day it is pitched, and every day of development moves the real thing further from the imagined one.

    Their wordsWhen you come up with the idea and you start pitching it to people, that’s the best the game is ever gonna be, and then you work on it.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:45:23 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 15th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  31. Our reading

    Social media is built so that maximum hyperbole wins, and the negative direction pays better than the positive.

    Their wordsAnd unfortunately, social media in general is designed in such a way where the maximum hyperbole works, and that’s how you get the most points is by being max hyperbolic.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:54:25 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 16th of 29 in this recording

    social media

    Interesting

  33. Our reading

    Weathering a firehose of criticism is now part of a creator's skillset, and it is quietly removing creators whose work the world will therefore never see.

    Their wordsNow part of the skillset is being able to weather like a fire hose of criticism like the world has never seen.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 2:58:46 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 17th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  35. Our reading

    Ideas are infinite and worthless; vision is the ability to shepherd one into existence, and Titan had an idea with no path to reality.

    Their wordsWhat I call vision is the ability to not only take a great idea, but shepherd it into existence, and you’re doing that through inspiration first and foremost.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 3:11:24 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 18th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  37. Our reading

    A game must be incubated by the smallest possible group with whatever technology is to hand, and the team expanded only once the idea is proved.

    Their wordsThe right way to incubate a video game is you have the smallest group possible and you try to get the idea across with whatever technology you can get your hands on, using other engines, using art from whatever. You prove out that idea, and once you know what you’re doing, then you expand the team.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 3:14:50 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 19th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  39. Our reading

    The best feature you can add for the player is shipping.

    Their wordsThe best feature we can add for the player is shipping.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 3:18:21 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 20th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  41. Our reading

    Scope is a creative decision, not a production one: the game, art and tech directors have to do the cutting themselves.

    Their wordsThe mistake I see on a lot of game teams is scope becomes a production problem.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 3:27:49 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 21st of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  43. Our reading

    Players say they want a fair match, but what they actually want is to be slightly better than the other side — and no matchmaker can deliver that.

    Their wordsAnd the reality of what they want is they want a match where they’re slightly better than the other guy.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 3:54:57 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 22nd of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  45. Our reading

    Overwatch put too much weight on whether the team won; a hero shooter built today should foreground individual contribution, because that is how people actually play.

    Their wordsSo I would, if I was to redo it today, or for any aspiring hero shooter makers out there, I would actually downplay the team factor, and try to put more focus on individual contribution.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 3:56:48 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 23rd of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  47. Our reading

    Almost no game ever catches the wave, so a game that has caught one should be ridden to the end rather than paused to build its sequel.

    Their wordsThere’s this phrase of catch the wave, ride the wave. Most games fall off the back of the wave. They don’t catch the wave. No one plays it or plays it for two weeks.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 4:07:13 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 24th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  49. Our reading

    You do not need a CFO to make World of Warcraft — you need artists, engineers, designers, producers and an audio team.

    Their wordsWorld of Warcraft, when we made it, there was no CFO at Blizzard. You don’t need a CFO to make World of Warcraft. You need artists, engineers, designers, producers, and an audio team.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 4:20:09 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 25th of 29 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  51. Our reading

    Breath of the Wild is the greatest game ever made: most games become best in their genre for getting one thing right, and it gets all of them right.

    Their wordsThere’s so many things that that game gets right that other games are lucky if they get one of those things right, and are… become best in their genre just for getting that one thing right. And Breath of the Wild does them all right and the best.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 4:55:53 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 26th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  53. Our reading

    The trouble with AI as a development tool is that it is overconfident in what it delivers, and its hit rate is nowhere near good enough.

    Their wordsThe problem with AI right now is it’s overconfident in what it tries to deliver.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 5:03:44 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 27th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  55. Our reading

    No creative work should ever be used by AI without its maker's permission; doing it is no different from stealing.

    Their wordsI think there’s a lot of moral concerns around AI when it comes to creative pursuits as well, like no one’s creative work should ever be used by AI without their permission.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 5:04:44 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 28th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting

  57. Our reading

    Small studios are the future of gaming: the genuinely new ideas come out of them, and the big studios acquire rather than generate them.

    Their wordsSmall studios are the future of gaming. The big studios basically acquire the small studios for new IP and ideas, and the small studios grow in. The really compelling, new, innovative ideas are gonna come out of small studios.
    spoken · official transcript hear it at 5:08:00 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493youtube.com 29th of 29 in this recording

    Interesting