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[2020] Reflecting on what I’m grateful for


over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Some of you out there already know who I am, for those that don’t, my name is Bellissimoh and I’m the Product Lead for Personalization and Events on League.

Here in the US, many of us are separated from family on a day known for togetherness. Sitting at home and thinking about what I’m grateful for, a few things came to mind that I thought were worth sharing. Here we go.

I’m grateful for the mentors and coaches who believed in me early in my career and invested in me. They gave me opportunities, positive feedback to raise my confidence, and criticisms or perspective to check my ego.

I’m grateful to have a wife that shares a love for League with me. It makes staying up for Worlds or geeking out over things like KDA into things we share and remember together.

I’m grateful for our two Shiba Inus, Ahri and Teemo. In a year where it’s been hard to be home all the time they’ve made it a joy by constantly reminding me to play and be silly, and indulge in companionship during moments of rest.

I’m grateful to work on a game that a lot of people really care about. I got my start in the industry working in customer service on a few really small games. (Space Cowboy, Fly for Fun) While I was ecstatic to be working in the game industry, the audiences were small and no where near as passionate and vocal as the one we have here for League today.

I’m grateful to work for an audience that cares enough to holds Riot and our dev teams accountable. Accountable to what our stated values are as well as our stated intentions. Whenever someone is frustrated I know it’s born out of passion and whenever someone says thanks or expresses how happy they are with the game that fuels me and keeps me going.

I’m grateful to work on a game that has been around for 10 years and by the looks of things will be around for 10 more. When I grew up the most popular games were popular for months, not years. It’s crazy to think that some of the most popular games today will likely live longer than I will.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope that you have a great holiday and weekend. Here’s hoping your games are good and that your enemy Yasuo goes 0/8.

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over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by toiletrage

Wise to hope for the 0/8 Yasuo since that means they won't hit the 0/10 powerspike

Truth

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by beardedheathen

As much as I love to complain something keeps drawing me back to league. We also named our pets after league characters. Our dog Annie and cats Kennen and Teemo. I appreciate the work you guys put it. The fire and passion that comes out is really because we love it and want it to be the best it can be.

You’ve got quite the family of fur babies. :)

Also +1 to the passion coming from high expectations.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by penguin-cat

pet tax please provide pix of shibas

As requested: https://imgur.com/a/TMkXoTU

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

I'm personally grateful for the amazing job your team has done this year despite the turbulent year due to covid, the Spirit Blossom event in particular was amazing and really brightened up my summer after a boring spring of quarantine and zoom classes. Very excited for what the team has in store for next year.

My father told me something when I was a kid and did well in one of my classes, “Now that I’ve seen you get an A, it means I can expect an A. With greater performance comes even greater expectations of future performance.”

Here’s hoping we can continue to deliver on what are ever-evolving expectations from our players.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by FruitfulRogue

This is a really sweet post. As someone who is Native I've never celebrated Thanksgiving, always viewing as something to be a bit more saddened over then a time to simply give thanks to what I do have left.

Ironically this year was the year I tried to view things a little bit differently. My Mother is now confined to a wheelchair and I need to care for her. But I still have her. Something not everyone can say. This post just reminded me to be thankful for that. Have a good weekend Bell. I'm gonna go hug my mom now.

Thanks for sharing fruitful. Not only for sharing about your mom, but your perspective on Thanksgiving. Best to you and your mom.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by woodenrat

You guys get a lot of shit, but your team is passionate and you do a good job overall.

Thank you for the effort and excellence.

Truly appreciated.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Raichau

adorable

Yeah they aren’t as affectionate as most other dog breeds, but they have a ton of personality and are super smart. (More like cats really than dogs honestly)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by intellextar

Hey Bellissimoh! I remember the video when you talked about the skins and other content your team had in store for 2020. You were very memorable because you had a great narrating voice. This was a great post, thank you for sharing. I hope you and your family have a great one.

I’m privileged to represent the team of amazing developers that I work with. Best to you too intellextar.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by CMcAwesome

(@second pic) That smile, that damned smile...

Here are a couple more smiles:

https://imgur.com/a/eqguNVT

:)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by jessicavotingacc

I also named my dog Teemo! He’s a 4 year old lab, your Shiba Inus are super cute!

EDIT:

His baby picture chewing on some slippers https://i.imgur.com/fcbF4Jo.png

My doggy now!

https://imgur.com/E7icuXX

What prompted you to name him/her Teemo? Is he a champ you play or just a fun name?

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by twoawe123

Amazing when can i subscribe to this blog?

I try to write a bit on my Twitter @jbelliss.

I also do some hobbyist video editing on my YouTube channel for a variety of different games:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC_kKdTgHtTd1E0gxHhU17cA

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by trauja

Are you italian? Or is your name being italian just a coincidence ?

I’m actually half Filipino and half Swedish-German. The name Bellissimoh is a nickname some of my friends used, so I adopted it as my summoner name when I joined Riot almost 10 years ago.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by jessicavotingacc

I main Teemo have almost 800k mastery on him!

My wife has almost 800k mastery on Teemo as well. :)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by aroushthekween

Bellissimoh I love you AND YOUR VOICE! 😍
I am so grateful to you for giving us such amazing skins and events this year and such stunning thematics!
The Spirit Blossom Event was so GOOD and I even bought the pass... I hope the next Summer Event is as grand as this was so I can buy the pass again and spend all summer glued to my laptop! 😅
Thank you for giving my mains Janna, Karma, Nami, Lux, Rakan, Kayle and Morgana gorgeous skins this year and thank you so much for giving so many unpopular champions some of the most beautiful skins after SO LONG! I know it means so much to people who main those champions.
Y'all are literally creating a Battle Queen skin line for the QUEENS OF LEAGUE (r/queensofleague) and I am so grateful for it!
I hope next year is full of gorgeous skins (Lunar Revel Camille?🤞🏻 Immortal Journey's Kayle?🤞🏻 Star Guardian Sona?🤞🏻), amazing thematics and hopefully the comeback of some of my favourite skin lines Immortal Journey's✨ and Star Guardians🌟 and fun events to play with friends!
(PS. I have to admit, you did break many hearts by admitting you were married😭... But THANK YOU because she don't thirst over married men hunty💁)

The team worked super hard to deliver more skins this year than ever before. (Going from an average of 70-80 a year to almost 140) This has enabled us to have lower play rate champs have releases in some of our newer thematics like Battle Queens. Cheers and thanks for the support. :)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Missing42

As a player, I don't like the work you guys do, to be frank. I hope you don't take offense to that, because I also recognize your work is (despite my personal judgments) tremendously successful. In fact, you're an inspiration, and I truly hope to end up in a similar position one day. Life usually doesn't work out the way you want it to, but that doesn't mean it's wrong to dream, I guess!

Hard to take offense to an honest take delivered calmly with respect. What you say about life truly resonates with me, as my original plan doesn’t look anything like my reality today. Here’s hoping that your pursuits pan out. Cheers man.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by GA_Deathstalker

Thank you for getting Events back on track and giving them an interesting twist.

The problem with doing good work is that people will always look forward to the next thing you do and so I am looking forward hoping for the next event and hoping we get some even more graspable Runterran lore-event and get something that outshines even Burning Tides! You are on the right track for it and as someone that doesn't buy battle passes I want to thank you for still providing a great experience.

Thanks Deathstalker. With every big event we do like Spirit Blossom, there’s some amount of nervousness leading up to it. Did we invest in the right things? Is our execution good? Will players love it?

Sure enough once Spirit Blossom landed we experienced a sense of elation, catharsis, and relief. It was clear players enjoyed it as much as we did. That moment is shortly followed by a new looming pressure to deliver something even better.

It can be a lot of pressure at times, but many of us here at Riot signed up for this. :)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by bz6

Wow what a great post this is..

I don't think you know how much we ALL want to see League just last forever. Grateful to be part of a community and supporting a company that resembles 'some sort' of humanity.

You and me both. :)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by ThorusXbabaR

Is it me or are Shiba Inus owners the vegans of dogs? They don't say they have dogs, they have Shibas.

You know over never thought of it that way but now that you say it maybe?

I think it’s because most behavioral expectations you have for a typical dog will not be met with a Shiba. :)

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by bz6

I had a random ass question boss.

Is there a position at Riot on skin or gameplay team that provides qualitative feedback on gameplay design choices or like skin clarity? This would include benchmarking the feedback in parallel to the diverse variables in game.

So we actually have a couple of positions that are responsible for building and rolling out clarity guidelines, but we also do expect that all contributing artists and members of our team understand and adhere to them.

This last year we saw a bunch of feedback around clarity so we’ve taken the time to improve our internal guidelines in an effort to have better consistency moving forward.

This means there’s some stuff we’ll have to go back and adjust over time, similar to the VFX clarity updates that have happened over the last couple years.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by bz6

But yeah what is the official title for a role like that? Would love to look into something of that nature. I love building guidelines and making sure those values are met <3

Typically our art and design directors are the ones who work with different craft leads to build such guidelines.

Having deep experience either in designing characters or in evaluating art for consistency and clarity are reasonable paths to get to such a role.

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Gutterbones-

This month is my one year anniversary as a League player, and I just want to say how impressed I am with Riot and their dedication to their players. It's something which sets Riot apart, and I think it's one of the keys to their success. For a company to actively listen to their player base and incorporate their feedback into the game (often promptly!) is a rare thing. Anyways, I'm grateful for you, your team, and a great game that I'm looking forward to playing for a long time! Keep doing what ya'll are doing and best wishes this holiday season. Looking forward to seeing you in the 2021 event/skin video, and I wouldn't be mad if you hinted at the next Morgana skin either! ;D

https://media.tenor.com/images/f0c6fe12d73ff84bfa3a943946df4345/tenor.gif

over 3 years ago - /u/Bellissimoh - Direct link

Originally posted by Jangetta

I know you won't see this but I'm grateful for league.

I rescue huskies specifically in Texas, and I name all my fosters after League, if I get the ability to name them. :)

I've had Ekko, Tibbers, Ahri, Darius, Sona, and Qiyanna. Tibbers goes home tomorrow!

That’s amazing. Kudos for helping out them out. :)

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