NYT on EA Games

The New York Times has a story investigating the EA Games accusations that we reported on before. They use the phrase "toiling like galley slaves" to describe EA's programmers, and note that EA has a formal policy of hiring young, naive people who are willing to work long hours for low pay.

Comments

Redundant

[andywebz]

Let's get a +5 Redundant on this article, stat.

as always with the NYT

[minus_273]

Take with a grain of salt. I say this not becasue I disagree with the accusations but becasue the NYT has a tendency to editoralize or fabricate news.

Re:As an IT Guru

[Reality Master 101]

I hope the NYTIMES keeps hounding on these issues. While i'm not a Game programmer I am a consultant and I get shafted left and right with abuses of power like this.

Oh, please, spare me the 'woe is me' crying. Companies owe you NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING. Presumably you are an adult. You, as an entity, enter into an agreement with another entity to trade labor for money. No more, no less. If you think there should be more than that, then you are simply living a fantasy.

I hate to be so harsh, but seriously, grow up. Your employer is not your parents. Take some responsibility for your own life. If you don't like the way the ledger balances with whoever you are doing business with, then find someone else. It's just silly to act like you are a victim in the whole thing.

Don't make me dick slap you, you slackers

[gelfling]

I have an ex wife and boat payments. Now get cracking you code crunching monkeys or I'll find some Cambodians who will.

Heads down, write code, shut the fuck up. This is your last warning.

Re:Possibly offtopic

[bobcave]

what in the holy fuck is presidence? do you possibly mean 'precedence'? It's fucktards like you who don't know the difference between "there", "their", and "they're" - and "your" and "you're". If you want to make a point in English, try to *speak* (or write) in f**king English. Or, just phonetically spell everything and be judged a fucktard.

Re:how is that different from other companies

[ArsSineArtificio]

As a member of upper management, you do not, generally, perform any of the duties that actual make the company run on a day to day basis. Senior management positions can often be vacated for weeks or even months at a time without having any significant effect on the company.

So what you are saying, in a nutshell, is that you don't really have a very clear idea of what it is that corporate management does, or indeed what a corporation does or how. That is understandable, and no doubt you are deeply proud of your ignorance. What is amusing, however, is that despite sniping like yours, the idea that intellectual capital has value is the fundamental insight which built the software industry in the first place.

Twisting arms.

[bs_02_06_02]

I can see the employees point of view. EA must've held these people hostage. They put guns to their heads. They made them come to work. They forced them to stay late.

I just don't get these whiny people. They don't have any experience, they're fresh out of high school, trade school, junior college, or regular college, and they want megabucks, short hours, and the rest of their lives handed to them on a silver platter?

As someone else mentioned, where else are you going to get a job without any experience at that age? I'll give you a clue. McDonalds is always hiring. I hope you don't mind grease.

Re:Predictions?

[ronfar]

I realize I'm a hippy peacenik and therefore not aware of the way people in the military think (though my Dad was an Air Force Lieutenant), but why would you compare a Navy career to EA?

Don't you think that the Navy is a tad more important than the latest version of Madden? I can understand sacrificing yourself for your country, but sacrificing so the latest Sims expansion can make it out in time?

Heck, I suspect that the Navy is a step up from EA...