長久的想象總在不經意間實現。或許就在一天開第五次會之前，就在吞下第三杯辦公室里味道極酸的咖啡時。夢想突然降臨，隱現在閃閃發光的海邊小村輪廓中，藏在青翠的山腳下。走上前，伸出雙手，熟悉的霓虹、米色墻壁和灰色拼接地毯統統留在身后。擁抱美麗的新世界，矢車菊藍色調的天空，搖曳的棕櫚樹，琥珀色的太陽倒映在水面上。讀者們，夢想就在這里，在充滿魔法和奇跡的世界，在壞人落敗英雄崛起造就傳奇的世界。沒錯，就在這里。在這個名叫歐文的地方，你還可能追求更多。

因為這里有加州著名娛樂王國——動視暴雪（100家最適合工作的公司榜單排名第84）旗下暴雪娛樂王國所在地。緩緩打開的安全門后，是世界上眾多職場人士的夢想圣地。

從入口走進辦公區，沿著水泥路向前，很快就會看見揮舞著斧子的霜狼獸人騎士，因戰爭無窮無盡而表情猙獰。穿過一扇門，迎面而來的是名叫泰瑞爾的無面者大天使，漂浮在14英尺高的空中，手中持劍，保護人類不受地獄力量的侵犯。天使身后是圣殿和禪室，再穿過一條長長的昏暗走廊，就是圖書館。在鐵與木組成的入口后方，成排的書本和游戲中間，終于能見到傳說中的魔導師——負責保護并向下一代傳承王國故事的人們。他們拍手歡迎，在大木桌前落座。

在這家市值達540億美元的公司里，“魔導師”是真實的工作，而且并不容易。動視發展迅速，今年的年銷售額同比增長6%，達70億美元，據稱月活躍用戶數3.85億人，而且每次發售新品都要擔心會不會影響利潤豐厚的前作。之前動視暴雪只是視頻游戲帝國，如今旗下已囊括書本、電影、玩具和電子競技。除了同為名叫動視暴雪的分公司，也就是員工經常簡稱的A-B，2015年在遙遠的英國倫敦收購了國王數字娛樂公司，該公司曾制作《糖果粉碎傳奇》等手游。

魔導師重任在肩，最重要的就是確保暴雪旗下諸多傳奇產品，例如魔獸世界、星際爭霸和暗黑破壞神等穩定發展。具體負責的就是肖恩·科普蘭、賈斯汀·帕克，還有學徒克里斯蒂·庫格勒。“（他們都是）世界級的地下城大師，還幫助公司里其他地下城設計者施展才華，”科普蘭如此形容前輩們。

“爵士圈有句話，說臉上每道疤痕背后都有個故事，”經常與魔導師合作的暴雪責任編輯羅伯特·辛普森表示。在暴雪的作品中，每個細節都有故事，“錯漏和不一致都會削弱故事的可信度。”

從魔導師們工作年限中就可見一斑，帕克已工作19年，科普蘭11年，庫格勒也已三年。他們在公司里還算不上最資深。暴雪內部到處可見印有特殊的啤酒杯、劍、盾、指環，偶爾還有頭盔（類似戰斗面罩），主要用來表彰工作時間很長的員工。動視有個展廳專門存放此類紀念品。

The vision will come to you when you least expect it. It will strike you a moment somewhere between accepting your fifth meeting request of the day and gulping down your third overly acidic cup of corporate coffee. You will see before you the outline of a gleaming village by the ocean, tucked into the base of a verdant mountain range. Step toward it. Reach out. Leave behind your familiar fluorescent light, beige walls, and patchwork gray carpet and venture instead to this beautiful place—its cornflower sky, its swaying palm trees, its amber sun that reflects off the water on the horizon. It is here, reader, in this land of magic and wonder, where villains are vanquished, heroes are made, and legends are born. Indeed, it is here, in this place called Irvine, where you might aspire to something more.

For this is the sovereign kingdom known as Blizzard Entertainment, part of the great California empire known as Activision Blizzard (No. 84 on this year’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list), where beyond the slow-moving security gates is a world most corporate denizens can only dream of.

Step inside the campus, walk along the concrete path from the entrance, and you will quickly confront an ax-wielding, wolf-riding Orc, its grimace frozen by the fury of an endless battle. Step through a door only to stare up at a faceless archangel known as Tyrael, hovering 14 feet in the air with sword in hand to protect humanity from the forces of Hell. Beyond this seraph, past the Sanctuary and the Zen Den and down a long and dark corridor, is the Library. It is here, behind portals of iron and wood and among rows and rows of books and games, where you will meet the Loremasters—the men and women tasked with protecting and passing on the stories of this kingdom for a new generation. They await you with hands clasped, seated around a large wooden table.

“Loremaster” is a real job at this $54 billion company. And theirs is not an easy task. Activision is growing rapidly—annual sales climbed 6% to $7 billion this year, and it now lays claim to 385 million monthly active users—and with every new venture comes the risk of repeating the tales of its lucrative franchises incorrectly. Once only an empire of video games, Activision Blizzard has come to encompass books, films, toys, and e-sports. In addition to its namesake divisions, A-B, as employees sometimes call it, in 2015 further expanded its borders to the far-off land of London to include the aptly named King, manufacturer of mobile adventures such as Candy Crush.

The Loremasters’ duty is to, amid all this activity, ensure that the legends of Blizzard’s Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo—never mind others elsewhere in the empire—accurately live on. That burden falls on the shoulders of Sean Copeland, Justin Parker, and apprentice Christi Kugler—“world-class dungeon masters that can empower the other dungeon masters across the company so they can execute on their awesomeness,” as Copeland describes it, paraphrasing his predecessor.

“There’s a saying about jazz musicians that every scar on their face tells a story,” says Robert Simpson, a Blizzard lead editor who regularly works with the Loremasters. Every detail has a story connected to it, and “every mistake and inconsistency makes you believe it less.”

The long tenures of the Loremasters—Parker, 19 years; Copeland, 11 years; Kugler, three years—are telling, though far from unusual. Everywhere you turn at Blizzard there are ceremonial steins, swords, shields, rings, and the occasional helm (a battle mask of sorts) to commemorate individual years of service. Similar objects decorate the halls at Activision.

在動視暴雪工作能享受的部分福利。

暴雪的人都會告訴你，上班是件開心的事。毫無疑問，常年陽光普照，處處椰林樹影功勞不小。無處不在的偉大戰士們——不少辦公樓入口高聳的游戲角色雕像也很受歡迎。不過真正讓員工不想離開的還是輕松的工作氛圍。在這里，熱情會得到回報，激發創意的討論受到鼓勵，人人追求卓越。“說實話，我對暴雪文化最自豪的一點是，表達不同意見完全沒問題，”1991年聯合開創暴雪王國的邁克·莫汗表示。“真正優秀的企業文化鼓勵建設性的爭論。”職業電競組織守望先鋒總監奈特·南澤爾表示同意。“能在這里工作說明你很優秀，所以應該做偉大的事，而且要積極參與我們的事業，”他宣稱。

雖然南澤爾加入暴雪才三年半，但從他的從業生涯來看——先是加入研究和用戶調研組織，然后一頭扎進電競圈，在暴雪王國里比較正常。很多人加入暴雪就是因為他們清楚這里可以充分發揮所長。11年前，布蘭迪·斯蒂爾斯揣著戲劇學學士文憑，還有對魔獸世界的熱愛加入公司，擔任軟件測試分析師；如今她已在動畫部門聯合領導模型綁定和角色模擬團隊。“很多人都從初級職位做起，熟悉各種業務，向同事們學習，不斷練習，在各部門輪崗最后找到適合自己的位置，”她表示。

山姆·狄迪爾是一位傳奇式的藝術總監，頭發濃密卷曲，1991年就加入暴雪。他很同意斯蒂爾斯的說法。重視人才管理和個人發展好處很明顯。“我們團隊的制作人之前在各種部門，客服、記賬、質量管理之類，”他表示。（此外他補充說，工作疲勞確實存在，所以時不時換個新領域會有幫助。）在50英里外的動視，還有5400英里外的國王娛樂，情況也差不多。“我們能享受小團隊的福利、感情和快樂，又能充分利用公司里更廣泛的人才網絡、知識和技術，”動視里以出品使命召喚系列聞名的Infinity Ward工作室負責人大衛·斯托爾表示。執掌國王娛樂的里卡爾多·扎科尼從倫敦打來的電話里簡單說：“學習曲線一旦平緩，就說明要重新開始學習。”

學習就要掌握各種技能，劍術、雕塑、劇本、烹飪、舉重，還有領導力，位于歐文的總部確實氛圍濃厚。“每周我都要上課學點什么，有時深入學習藝術，有時學習語言之類，”白色頭發的杰西卡·約翰遜說，她在動畫團隊擔任角色建模師。“抽出時間練習自律后，最終工作上也會受益。”

夕陽西沉，落日余暉染紅了陶制瓶罐。是時候返回現實世界了，還有一大堆會等著開。所以應該與這片神奇之地的國王波比·柯迪科談談了，他是王中之王，已在游戲王國徜徉27年之久。他目睹過從灰燼中成長為重要力量的帝國，多年經驗也讓他深諳如何吸引用戶。

穿過另一扇門和長長的走廊，國王在盡頭等待。他坐在柔軟的寶座上，肩膀后面滿是棕櫚美景。我們問他為什么員工都如此開心。問他為什么就像之前安迪·西蒙茲說過，暴雪的員工都相信“自己的工作很酷，而且做的是別人關心的事。”我們問他如何打造舒心的工作環境，就像另一個名叫朱莉·法班尼克的人解釋的，人們“不用打扮得‘衣冠楚楚’”便能友好相處。他嘴角揚起微微一笑。

“我們的目標是讓每天更開心，”柯迪科回答說，眼中閃過一道光。“如果以生產快樂為使命的公司還營造不出快樂的氛圍，還有誰能做到？”（財富中文網）

本文另一版本將刊登于2018年3月1日出版的《財富》雜志，為100家適合工作的公司系列文章之一。

譯者：馮豐

審稿：夏林

Some perks of working at Activision Blizzard.

The people of the realm are quick to tell you that they are happy here. The perpetual sun and the palms help, no doubt. And the ubiquitous presence of their great warriors—the towering statues of game characters that stand at the entrance to many campus buildings—is most welcome. But it’s the daily freedom it affords that keeps most people from uprooting and finding work elsewhere. Passion is rewarded, creative discourse is encouraged, and excellence is paramount. “Honestly, one of the things I’m most proud of about Blizzard culture is that disagreeing is okay,” says Mike Morhaime, who co-established the Blizzard kingdom in 1991. “A really good culture actually encourages healthy debate.” Nate Nanzer, the commissioner of the Overwatch League, a professional e-sports association, agrees. “You are here because you’re great, and you’re expected to do great things and be an active voice in what we’re building,” he proclaims.

Though Nanzer has been with Blizzard for only 3? years, his path—first joining its research and consumer insights group before diving headlong into e-sports—is common in the greater Activision Blizzard empire. Many people come to this place because they know their versatility will be rewarded. Brandy Stiles joined 11 years ago as a quality assurance analyst with a college degree in theater and an affinity for World of Warcraft; today she co-leads the rigging and character simulation teams for its animation group. “We’ve got a lot of people here who started in entry-level positions, made connections within the company, learned peer to peer and practice to practice, and switched between titles to find their spot,” she says.

Sam Didier, a legendary art director with a dark mop of heavy-metal hair who joined Blizzard in 1991, concurs. The merits of talent management and individual development are manifest. “All of the producers on our team came from customer service or billing or QA or any other department,” he says. (Besides, he adds, battle fatigue is real. It can be helpful to embark on a new mission from time to time.) This approach rings true 50 miles north at Activision as well as 5,400 miles east at King. “We’re able to balance the benefits, feeling, and fun of being on a smaller team with the benefits of the broader network of talent and knowledge and technology in the company,” says Dave Stohl, leader of Activision’s Infinity Ward studio, known for its Call of Duty series. Riccardo Zacconi, the reigning monarch at King, puts it more simply in a phone call from London: “When the learning curve goes flat, you have to learn again.”

Even if that includes lessons in swordsmanship, sculpture, screenwriting, cooking, weight lifting, or leadership, as it does in Irvine. “I take a class once a week no matter what—either learning more art or a language or something,” says Jessica Johnson, a platinum-haired character modeler on the animation team. “You’re scheduling time to practice a discipline that ultimately leads back into your work.”

The sun is getting low in the sky now, its rays tinged in terra-cotta. It is nearly time for you to return to the real world and the parade of meetings that awaits. You must therefore speak with the emperor of this fantastic realm, Bobby Kotick, the king of kings who has presided over these lands for 27 years. He has watched the empire grow from near-ruin into a great power; surely he knows what attracts people to it after all these years.

Through another door and down a long corridor, the emperor awaits. You find him seated on a soft throne with a panoramic view of palms visible over his shoulders. You ask him why the people are so happy. You ask him how, as one citizen called Andy Simonds earlier described, it remains a place where people believe they can “work on cool stuff that other people care about.” You ask him how he fosters an environment where, as another citizen named Julie Farbaniec explained, people “don’t have to ‘suit up’?” to coexist. The corners of his mouth turn upward into a slight grin.

“Our purpose is to make every day more fun,” Kotick replies with a glint in his eye. “If you can’t be a great place to work when your mission is that, who can?”

A version of this article appears as part of the 100 Best Companies to Work For package in the March 1, 2018 issue of Fortune.