FatShady's Pilgrimage to Redlynx! | Forums

[FatShady Live]

Hi guys, really sorry it has taken me this long but i seriously have only just gotten over jet lag after being home for a week. so i'll try and give as much detail as i can about my trip and include as many photos as i can. Note that when i arrived i signed a non disclosure agreement basically saying i can't reveal any secrets so don't bother asking... also, i didnt really see anything anyway so there really is nothing to tell.. but onto my trip.

I left Australia (Sydney) at about 4pm in the afternoon Wednesday 9th of May. My flight went to Helsinki via Singapore and took about 24 hours to land in Helsinki. My first awesome adventure after all of that was that i left my iPhone and book and headphones on the flight and had to wait another 24 hours to get them back. The issue here was that i didnt have any way to look up the address of Redlynx, no GPS or map to get directions so i was kinda lost. I made my way to Helsinki and then found an internet cafe to look up their details. Notmally i would have used my phone to take a pic of the map and address or take a note but as i had no phone, I actually used my DSLR to take a screen shot of a PC in the middle of the train station and then used that to guide myself to their offices. I looked stupid but it kinda worked.

I arrived at the Redlynx offices after about 28 hours total travel, which i am claiming as the longest commute to work in history. the offices from the outside are not even sign posted and when i was told it was Opasinstilta 8 (or whatever, thats off memory), it was actually 8A through to 8E and none of these doors said anything about redlynx. The offices are also, as ANBA described, from an architectural period in Finland's past where the thought was that east germany or russia or some other wholly depressing place had got it right, and the Finnish architects decided that this was the look to go for!.

I finally found the right door and travelled up in solid gold lifts (like plastic faux brass or something but cool all the same) up to the 6th floor. I then pressed a button that would change my life for ever. This button was a doorbell that allowed me to step foot into the most sacred land for Trials Fans. the Redlynx offices. The place where so much magic and wrestling as taken place. I was tired, but also excited about what awaited me.

The first thing you see is this, the famous coat rack, an essential feature in any Finnish office, considering that it was considerably colder than in AUS. Also you have to take off your shoes. Im glad i'd watched previous episodes of Redlynx TV and interviews so i was aware of this custom and didn't offend anyone.



Right in the doorway you look down the hall at a few posters and the cool timber walls,



and taking pride of place right at the front door is a area dedicated to the fans and community that make this place so great. I really liked that this stuff was showcased right there rather than hidden in a drawer somewhere. Clearly these guys care about the community.



Interestingly, the frame on the right hand side commemorates the time where the staff all received goats. Seriously.. goats.

It's actually a pretty big office as you can see here with a series of rooms off the central hallway. Each room has staff grouped around their common roles. One for IT, one for Testing, etc. Yes that is camouflage you see hanging in the window to the right. Wonder what those IT guys are getting up to huh?



This is the testing room which i think wins the award for most monitors. Also I think Microsoft would be pleased to see that 2 dev kits are used as a monitor stand. Actually the most expensive monitor stand i've seen.



This room is where i spent a bunch of my time playing trials and generally hanging out. Good times and thanks gents for welcoming me into your team actually did official testing... and yes, it is as boring as that sounds. Imaging playing Trials but instead of competing for leaderboard times or enjoying the tracks, you are playing the shortest possible track to make sure that the leaderboard scores are synced up. Yeah, its THAT much fun! Respect for the dudes that do this job though as the game would be nothing without dedicated and hard working test peeps.

I then checked out the rest of the office. Next was the room where our team favourite ANBA spends most of his time. No one could however explain what caused the massive hole above his desk in the roof and why they decided to repair it with cardboard?



The IT room was next and I will say that these guys are underappreciated at work. I mean, they are surely the hardest working in the entire office and were the best dressed at the party (more on that later).. Thanks Jesse, is that what you wanted me to say?



One cool feature of the office was a fully stocked games area where anyone can take what they want, including consoles and hand helds to play games. They are a bunch of gamers after all and encourage staff to check out a wide variety of games.



Next I was taken to the ***** wall or whatever it was called. Not sure i should be sharing this but I think you'll guys want to see what this place is really like. There is a white board that seems to have been overrun with ***** drawings. I decided to draw my own... Aussies represent!



Lastly on the tour, I was taken past the negotiation floor.. or as it is known to the rest of us, the office wrestling mat! Great place that is actually regularly used to settle office disputes.



Here is ANBA and I disagreeing about what he should wear to the party



So to say thanks for their warm welcome, I decided to put on a traditional Aussie morning tea and laid out a bunch of Aussie favourites. Some great food here. Interested to hear what the guys liked. I think Milo was liked?



As you can see, this office was truly a cool place to hang out and I really enjoyed my time there. If you can imagine working where games can be played like this during office hours, you get an idea of the type of place this is. Just be warned, the home field advantage is strong and if you try to play supercross against Ville you will lose!



Overall it was a great experience. I got to meet a bunch of guys that prior to this trip, I only knew them as a green name on a forum. It was hard for me actually because when introduced in person, you use your real name, but I only know their forum names. Whats worse is that their gamertags are also different again so it wasn't until the third day hanging out with Ville that I realised he was on my friends list already and had been for a while.!

I am so greatful for the opportunity to get to meet these guys and just be in the same room as them. They made me feel totally welcome and it was a journey that I will not forget.



If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to try and answer them for you. Hope that was enough of a write up that gave you an insight to their lives. I've got plenty more to share, but that will have to do for tonight. I'll try and share more tomorrow, its getting late here and I gotta get up for work soon!

EDIT: Oh, one last thing.. if anything can sum up the trip, it would be this clip. There might only be two people that get a laugh out of this but I had to post it! Great times guys.

[rlmergeuser]

Here is ANBA and I disagreeing about what he should wear to the party

Classic ANBA...

[Oski]

Interestingly, the frame on the right hand side commemorates the time where the staff all received goats. Seriously.. goats.

I'm pretty sure they didn't RECEIVE goats, but donated them.

https://www.giveagoatnow.com/

[FatShady Live]

Interestingly, the frame on the right hand side commemorates the time where the staff all received goats. Seriously.. goats.

I'm pretty sure they didn't RECEIVE goats, but donated them.

https://www.giveagoatnow.com/

Nah man, they had to receive goats to be able to donate them.. so in my mind, they each took a couple of goats home for the weekend before giving them away... thats how i pictured it anyway!

[rlmergeuser]

Trying to think of a joke about goats that is forum friendly, not doing so well, fairly sure they would all get me banned

[ben1bob]

great pictures man.

what's that squeezy bottle of stuff next to the goat certificate? hopefully not lube.

[Happyflow]

A window next to the fighting area. Wonder how many times that needed to be fixed already.

[rlmergeuser]

Welcome back home mate. Glad to see you enjoyed yourself.
I noticed no meat pies on that table. Bit hard to get through the airport I suppose.
Anyway welcome back to gods country
monsta

[Oski]

great pictures man.

what's that squeezy bottle of stuff next to the goat certificate? hopefully not lube.

Hand sanitizer -stuffstuff, duh!

[T4KShadow]

jealous! Hope you had a good time Shady, and thanks for sharing.