In a revealing student documentary, Valve talks more about snacks than videogames.
The best part of working at Valve isn’t getting to deal with franchises like Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Portal on a daily basis. According to this documentary, it’s all about the snack bar (and a pink cookie).
The documentary was created by students from the Ballard High School Video Production Program for the 2009 Northwest High School Film Festival. It’s a little old, but if you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a treat. It goes deep into the heart of Valve, wherein lies a snack bar of epic proportions.
For example, Valve’s snack bar has a giant bowl full of Snickers. With accoutrements such as this, Marc Laidlaw says that Valve has the best snack bar in the industry “by far.” Erik Wolpaw was ready to exit the videogame industry for good before he visited Valve and saw its display of snacks. Gabe Newell says it “reflects the personal preferences and desires” of everyone that works at Valve. However, the room is not without its flaws.
Wolpaw seems to have the most issues with the room, what with people trying to use his stick of butter, the disease resulting from communal snacks, and the snack bar lady that probably hates him. Thankfully, he can survive for a week off of one 7,000 calorie cookie.
The documentary won in its category at the festival, and rightfully so. It’s a look into the kinder side of videogame development, where a rough day at work can be washed away with the promise of free beef jerky.
Source: Reddit
