Slashdot Mirror
Behind the Guildhall - The Story of the Students
Sam Machkovech writes "Multiple stories about SMU's Guildhall game design school have already shown up on Slashdot, but none like this. My friend and coworker Paul dug into the motivations and stories behind people who dropped their lives to learn the art of game design in an upstart school, and what the story may lack in technical information, it more than makes up for in the students' accounts. Included is a particularly touching story about a student who survived the 2002 Sari Club terrorist attack in Bali. It also touches upon the excessive overtime and dedication that the job requires, which means graduates should be plenty prepared for their future careers."
"...graduates should be plenty prepared for their future careers."
We should be trying to remedy this work situation, not prepare people for it.
If you love the work that you do and don't mind getting overly engrossed in it then it is not so bad working the long hours, but simply preparing students for the drudge and grind of the real-life workplace because it simply is the way it is just plain sucks IMO. Get them excited about their careers and then let them decide if they want to burn themselves out instead of preconditioning them for it.
News Reporters Make Tasty Polar Bear Treats!
Won't gov't intervention be required to make the information public?
:) Good point!
But, I think you now what I mean. We don't need another logic error riddled peice of legislation that creates a bigger problem than it was intended to solve.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Depends.
The game companies can get away with all sorts of stuff because demand is huge vs. supply. I'm sure most of us at one point or another wanted to have a job that did nothing but involved games (or perhaps more correctly, to show our parents that playing games can be a job). A QA tester (which is probably where most people start) has a pretty nice job description - "Play games all day and report bugs" - sounds fairly enticing to sit in front of a computer/TV playing games - prerelease games, at that! Of course, while accurate, the true job is far more mundane, and the reality of it all sinks in (60 hour weeks, $8/hr, must find X bugs every week), and the "play" involves running into walls continually.
Others see programming as the way to go. Given the option (without knowledge of working conditions) of a boring job programming Microsoft Word, or some application using a database for insurance companies, and an "exciting programming job" as entry level game programmer, which looks more appealing?
EA and other companies have long treated employees this way - it's nothing new. Just until quite recently, it was more or less a poorly-kept industry secret (I can't recall when I first heard about it, but I knew when I graduated). Of course, I *did* apply to gaming companies, but this was more of "finding a job" rather than "I want a job in the gaming industry".
If people are aware of the situation that they are getting into, and choose to get into it anyhow, should government legislate it?
so - if a company has a policy to hire only 8 year old girls to work the sewing machines, but discloses it, they should be allowed to do it?
take your randian shit and go home. the only way capitalism works, is if it is well-regulated.
... hi bingo
Everyone thinks they're a game designer. Its not game design the companies are looking for, since EVERYONE thinks they're a game designer. Game companies are looking for highly intelligent programmers, or highly talented artists. Its EXACTLY like Hollywood, where they don't think they need writers, but they need big name actors and special effects.
Game design has some real challenges to it, and theres many things that seem like a good idea but isn't fun in a game. I'd be interested in taking an online course on game design just to see what they got right. I'm not saying I know everything, but I know some stuff like balancing mechanics, MMOG theory, etc. Like I said, everyone thinks they're a game designer, including me. And man is the industry hard to break into. I've had about 7 interviews in ten years and hundreds of job applications.
God spoke to me.
Just because a prospective worker is aware of the situation doesn't make it legal/ethical to deprive that worker of overtime or compensation. Instead of developing a reasonable number of games at a time, it sounds like developers with perpetual crunch time are working on twice as many games as they should be, overworking the employees and pretty much turning unpaid overtime and comp time into company profit, essentially stealing from the employee.
If you love the work that you do and don't mind getting overly engrossed in it then it is not so bad working the long hours ...provided that you're single, or don't care about your family, or otherwise have no social skills whatsoever.
Part of the reason I finally decided I wasn't cut out to be a programmer was because I felt guilty working overtime on projects while my wife and kids were expecting me back at home, and that wasn't even on a regular basis.
How would that work? I mean, seriously...even if you open the door to the coop, they'd just stay in & play games. What can you do if your free-range programmers don't want to range free? Can you still use the "organic software" (now there's an interesting term) label if you gave them the choice, but they didn't take it?
It's already happened. Look at Counterstrike - that was "made in a basement", and its already orders of magnitude more popular than any other multiplayer FPS.
Games don't necessarily require "bazillions of dollars" to make.
How much technical expense does it take to come up with a game like Bejeweled? Or Chris Sawyer's original Roller Coaster Tycoon?
EA's business model is mega-budget games with mega-expensive licenses and mega-production costs, but that doesn't mean that's the only way to make games.
Read my blog.
if child labor were legal, we would see it in america
;) Nothing wrong with putting kids to work under some amount of control.
Child labor does exist in america, it's called farming. It is not unusual for farm kids to work 20 - 40 hrs/week during the school year and 60-80 during the summer. I think it's legal and it happens even if it isn't.
I don't really think there is much wrong with it either, yeah, I hated it as a kid, but it builds character. Props to dad for that