> break stuff, but be ready to be penalized
I've seen things break a few times, and the attitude is always "how do we fix this" and then "how do we fix the system to prevent this type of error in the future", never "whose fault is this"
> occasional hack
They seem to happen fairly often
> nights
They're mostly days, since a large number of people have families to go back to; some people stay late with beer and pizza and friends, because that's the kind of thing they enjoy doing, but it's an optional extra. (Technically the hack day is optional too -- if you're not interested, you can carry on as normal)
> when there is an upcoming release
Hacks aren't about video-game-industry style deadline crunches - quite the opposite; a hack day is when you pause your regular work (barring emergencies, ofc) in order to explore and experiment with things you're interested in but wouldn't normally work on.
> in the near-term
Releases are always near (like, multiple times per day).