... ten seconds from sleep. If you blink, you could miss it.

I stumbled across the 2012 Valve Employee Handbook online a few weeks ago and, unshockingly, it is brilliant. The fundamental ideas behind every single thing I read, watch, and play from Valve are perfect, so of course the Handbook would be too.

"A fearless adventure in knowing what to do, when no one’s there telling you what to do"

Valve Handbook (direct link to .pdf)

Their well documented, "unique" (to put it mildly) approach to game design is flawlessly reflected in the corporate culture at Valve. A hundred miles past the "trailblazer" line, this is an idiology that requires a full devotion to the idea that your employees are your company. Once you are fully on board with that idea, it is pretty easy to see how all these other whacky ideas would evolve naturally, but I'd be shocked to see even a quarter of them being allowed to even sprout in any other company.

This is a creative culture and flat reporting structure that many game companies claim to have, but when you see it fully realized it is painfully clear how far ahead of everyone else Valve actually is.

One day Valve.... one day...