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Work Environment for Game Developers Must Change

Posted by Zonk on from the not-all-20-years-olds-any-more dept.

Christopher Reimer writes "C|Net is reporting from the GDC that the video game industry will have to improve its work environment as the working population gets older and unionization becomes an issue. From the article: 'Numerous studies have shown that developers and other workers putting in 12-hour days routinely make more mistakes as the midnight oil burns, said Francois Dominic Laramee, a freelance game developer and author. That means any extra productivity is eaten up by hits to product quality. "If your company is in crunch mode, drunken zombies may be checking your code right now," he said.'"

54 comments

  1. I want to... by gimpynerd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not really in the field yet but when I code for long periods of time it is usually of my own volition. If you wait until the next day often you forget some of what you were working on. Reaching a stopping point before you quit accelerates the development process.

    1. Re:I want to... by bladesjester · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There's a BIG difference in doing something because you want to do it and doing something because you *have* to do it. (Sure, you can NOT do it and then be the first one out the door in the next round of cuts).

      Until companies that enforce policies like this get smacked around (wether legally or through lost revenue, nobody at all willing to work for them, etc), this won't change.

      --
      Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
    2. Re:I want to... by gimpynerd · · Score: 1

      I was just trying to say that I probably would work that long whether made to or not. Now they should get some sort of compensation if it is required.

    3. Re:I want to... by ChaosDiscord · · Score: 4, Informative
      You clearly don't work in the field yet. Trust me, no employer will complain if you log some extra hours because you're in Deep Hack Mode. The problem is that you'll be asked to be working 12 hours days when you're not. You know those days when you really don't feel productive, so you do something else? For example, maybe sleeping for 16 hours after doing two up-all-night coding binges. Well, no break for you; you're expected to put in another 12 hour day and be productive. Repeat, night after night, week after week (weekends included). In extreme cases (all too common in the game industry), month after month. Eventually you're going to hit the point where you need a break. But your boss in more interested in having an ass in that chair than in real productivity. You'll be checking stupid mistakes into the code, you'll be oblivious to minor bugs. Eventually you'll get to a point where each hour of work you do actually sets the project further back instead of advancing it.

      Death marches (as they're affectionately known) aren't "I'm in the groove and can't possibly stop" all night coding binges. They suck the life out of you. You're typically fighting lots of bullshit (the same BS that got you behind schedule in the first place) and your morale is drained because you're never, ever on time. You're asked to the impossible; not a "I'll just work really, really hard" impossible, but "even if I never take breaks to eat, sleep, or use the restroom I'll never make that dealine" impossible. This isn't cool and the sign of a vibrant programming population. Death marches are typically the the sign of large, beaurocratic, grossly mismanaged companies with terribly managers, a complete lack of plans, and no real hope of accomplishing anything.

      --
      Search 2010 Gen Con events
    4. Re:I want to... by badasscat · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You clearly don't work in the field yet. Trust me, no employer will complain if you log some extra hours because you're in Deep Hack Mode. The problem is that you'll be asked to be working 12 hours days when you're not.

      Not to mention that if your employer gets the idea that you "want to" work all those extra hours, they'll cheerily push you even further than they would have before. Employees train their employers in what to expect from them, and while it can be tricky to do, you ideally want to let your employer know that while you're flexible, you also have limits. Sitting and working 12 hours a day without being asked to tells your employer "I have no life, and I enjoy being here, and I enjoy doing work" - forget about ever leaving that office once your employer figures this out.

      I worked for a major game publisher in New York for several years, and there was this constant push-pull between employees and bosses. Both sides would be trying to stake a few extra minutes out on either side of working longer vs. leaving early. Of course, in the game industry when I say "early" I mean around 8PM. We'd constantly be trying to sneak out around 7:55 or 7:50, and in turn our bosses would routinely throw four hours worth of critical work our way at 7:30 in order to keep us there, when they could have given us that same work at any time earlier in the day. I became convinced that it was done on purpose to get us accustomed to long hours.

      Over a period of time, I saw my earliest clock-out hour move, on a permanent basis, from a fairly consistent 7PM to an optimistic 9PM even during non-crunch times, with many nights during crunches much later than that. It happened over several years. Before I was hired, I was told "sometimes we work until 7 or 8", and when I first started there, indeed we all left at 7 on the dot. Then during crunch times it would be 7:30, then 8, and a "two steps forward, one step back" pattern emerged, where we'd never quite go back to the way it was before when the crunch was over. After you've been working until 8 for a while, 7:30 no longer seems so bad... similarly, after working until midnight for two weeks on end, leaving at 10PM feels almost like a break. Of course it wasn't, and everybody at the company broke down after a while - the turnover rate was conservatively around 50% from the time I was hired to the time I left. Almost nobody at the company I worked for was over 30.

      This is the reality of the industry, and it's causing problems beyond simply a lack of productivity. You've got an entire industry of people who work at one company for a couple of years and then move on. Nobody ever develops a sense of loyalty, or history; people work on game sequels without ever having even played the original, they come up with new game designs and concepts that they don't even realize have been done a thousand times before. It's part of the reason for the buggy games, the lack of original concepts, it's why a one-time great company like Acclaim can fall so hard, so fast. (For the record, Acclaim is not who I worked for.) It is seriously hurting the industry as a whole and has definitely had a hand in bringing down several publishers. It's partially responsible for the consolidation we've seen in the industry over the past 5 years or so. (Of course, many other factors are involved in that too, but the lack of experience throughout the industry coupled with a high turnover rate and low productivity from unhappy, disloyal workers does not help.)

      People who are outside the industry seem to have a hard time understanding how pervasive a problem this is. It isn't just some companies and it isn't just some jobs. It's all game developers and publishers, and every position, from the company CEO's on down to the product managers on down to the designers, coders, and illustrators. It's everybody, in the entire industry. And it's an industry that's losing a lot of good people every single day because of it, who are then replaced by young

    5. Re:I want to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hence why I have finally decided to avoid "the industry" and go get an econ degree, even though I love games and was nearly about to go stake a claim as an indie - my parents convinced me that wasn't as good as getting a degree first. I figure that with a comfy job that I enjoy(all of which econ can provide), I'll have the free time to really get into game-writing as a hobby and maybe a way into the business, should the money or the chance to go for a "big" project interest me too. But really, I feel that it should be "writing," and not assembly line work.

    6. Re:I want to... by guru42101 · · Score: 1

      Overtime laws are one big hole for this. Especially in California where you can have someone work OT and give them no compensation at all. I REFUSE to take any job that doesn't either pay time and a half or gives comp time with overtime that will be paid out (at least at full rate) if not used. Also, I don't mean OT in the place of standard pay rates. If my coworkers of similar experience and ability are making 60k/year then I expect the same hourly equivilant.

      So far this hasn't limited me very much at all. I've flat turned down some jobs that refused to compensate me for overtime but I know if I had taken those jobs I would have sacrificed my own happiness and job stability in the long run.

      Companies that pay you for every hour that you're there care more about you're productivity and utilization. It is ALOT easier to get your work streamlined since the management is going to care more that they pay you 3 hours of the work week to fill in timesheets than spending a grand to buy some software that will let you track your time in 30 minutes of the week.

    7. Re:I want to... by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

      The only way developers will win out of this is if they form a Union and protest to hell. I really fear that the video game industry will then take a major hit.

    8. Re:I want to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not quite correct. Because the view in some places is that it's more cost effective to hire one person and have them crunch for 80 hours than it is two hire two people. What we need is sanity in high places. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

    9. Re:I want to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately the "crunch time" and "death marches" aren't limited to the gaming industry. They're prevalent in all software development whether commercial, IT/business, or government/military. And unfortunately stating that "Death marches are typically the the sign of large, beaurocratic, grossly mismanaged companies with terribly managers, a complete lack of plans, and no real hope of accomplishing anything" is not quite correct. It is definitely the fault of grossly mismanaged companies with terrible managers, but the companies in question can be quite small and lacking in beurocracy (which is occaisionally part of the problem--with no real accountability or procedure, people can "wing it" with disastrous results). My last company had all of 16 people, but due to the managers lack of ability to set requirements, estimate anything (or provide any time in schedules for QA), and provide any support for the developers who are supposedly "on their team", folks were working those 12 hour days on salary (no OT of any sort) with no hope of meeting deadlines. 4 months after I left (and 3 months after their supposed "deadline") folks were still in the death march with no real end in site. And the worst part is this: if a game has poor quality, then a company loses money. But if some other types of software have poor quality, people can lose their lives... Scary, isn't it?

    10. Re:I want to... by Drawkcab · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Prevalent is an overstatement. These situations occur in other industries, but they aren't the norm in most mature, profitable industries. Whatever bad experience you've had isn't representative of an entire profession.

      These conditions are the norm in the game industry, due to the rapid development cycle and the abundant supply of young programmers who would like to work on games rather than something less flashy.

      You even mentioned government jobs, but every government programmer I've ever known worked for =40 hours most of the time with paid overtime when it was required.

    11. Re:I want to... by Spankophile · · Score: 1

      Ok, Sure. When you're all hot and bothered about something, and you don't wanna let it slip, work a bit later, maybe sleep in the next day. Right? And how often do you do that?

      The problem is when your project is on the death march, and you are EXPECTED to be there 12+ hours a day, eat nothing but pizza and fast food because you're staying late (which BELIEVE ME makes you sick as hell, and even less productive).

      No one has a problem with being a little bit keen, and pushing a little harder. But you can only do that so much, and for so long.

  2. So what? by Seumas · · Score: 0, Troll

    Videogame developers aren't the only technical group that work hard and feel they do not recieve the benefits, vacation, salary and treatment they deserve. Deal with it. You're making VIDEO GAMES. It's not like you're digging ditches for a living.

    And high tech will never be unionized. Unions are for blue collar, physical labor work. It's for nurses, boilermakers, grocery store stockers, etc. It's not for people who sit at a desk and manipulate knowledge.

    1. Re:So what? by quark101 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That may be so, but videogame developers are often the only ones that speak out. I agree that high tech workers don't really need to be unionized, but that doesn't mean that companies should be allowed to run roughshod over the developers. I personally know several people who have worked both in video game testing and development, and conditions are often very, very bad. They may not need unions like laborers, but they deserve the same humane working conditions of other fields. Having to work 18-20 hour days for several weeks should not be allowed.

    2. Re:So what? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're making VIDEO GAMES. It's not like you're digging ditches for a living.

      As a lead tester, I worked 28 days straight for one project because my supervisor insisted, never mind that was in violation of the six-day work policy and management was looking the other way. On several occasions, I had to work a 32-hour shift to beat a deadline. I usually get hit in my performance reviews for not working enough hours. Go figure.

      Knowing video game workers, they would probably start a guild instead of a union. :)

    3. Re:So what? by Seumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's standard everywhere in the tech industry. If things go bad for one of our customers, I could be up for 48 hours or more. When I started in the industry, I went nine months without a day off. I've never taken a vacation in my life. I typically work 16 hours a day, including weekends. I might get paged at 2am one day and not be able to go back to sleep until 4pm two days later. I may have to be up on an emergency all weekend, then go to work that Monday.

      But that's life. That's how things go. I wouldn't mind being paid more for what I do and the time I put in, but hey - the industry blows right now and I'm happy to have a job.

    4. Re:So what? by Seumas · · Score: 0, Troll

      There is a world of difference between sitting in a chair and staring at a monitor for 20 hours a day versus digging ditches, running IV drips, or hauling garbage for 20 hours. I just can't see much justification for complaining when our jobs involve sitting.. drinking soda... and staring at a set of CRTs.

    5. Re:So what? by HarvardFrankenstein · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not even remotely true. I work for Lockheed Martin, as a software engineer no less, and we have a union that gets us all kinds of good stuff. Unpaid overtime, for example, is strictly forbidden. Admittedly, I'm told Lockheed was already pretty good to their workerbees to begin with (I wouldn't know - I've only been with the company for a few months), but engineers can and do unionize. With the way game developers get creamed, it's bound to happen sooner or later.

    6. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All you have to do to get paid is stare at the screen for 20 hours a day? Wow, I thought computer programmers had to type stuff.

      You definitely don't deserve a union if that's all you do.

    7. Re:So what? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's standard everywhere in the tech industry.

      When I got started working in the video game industry six years ago, crunch time was usually for a few weeks every three months or so. Now it's crunch time all the time and you're lucky to get a vacation for longer than a few days.

      The video game industry has a history of burning through people from when they come in at 20 until they leave at 30. I honestly don't know if I could another job testing video games since I'm 35 and I'm not willing to work 80 hours for months on end. The best and the brightest typically leave the industry after 10 years. It's no wonder we have shovelware instead of good quality games.

    8. Re:So what? by quark101 · · Score: 3, Informative

      You do have a good point there. But on the flip side, how many people do you know that do jobs like that for 20 hours a day, for several weeks at a time?

      I know several nurses. In and of itself, it can be very demanding work, both physically and mentally, especially depending on what subfield one goes into. However, even with the great shortage of nurses, they do not have to work overtime.

      Some of the game programmers I know have to though. And it isn't the fact that the work is fundamentally different. It's the fact that working conditions like this (18-20 hour days, for several weeks) are extremely detrimental to a person's health.

      The wife of a ex-gametester has talked to me about visiting the company during crunch time. People there would be wearing jackets and several comforters off of beds, while they were working in a normal temperature room. Do you know why? Because they had been awake and working for so long, there body was starting to shut down. They could no longer produce sufficient body heat.

      Anyone who says that the video game industry doesn't need to change, or that makes light of the problems in it doesn't fully realize what those problems are, and how drastically major changes are needed.

    9. Re:So what? by Zerth · · Score: 4, Funny

      It used to be that construction workers did 12+ hours shift, worked in unhealthy conditions, crunched to finish on time, etc. building skyscrapers. But then one of the construction companies realized it was cheaper to hire a larger work force and have a safe workplace than to pay for repairs and death/disability. That company flourished and several other companies followed before legislation and unions forced the rest to comply.

      What's the difference between them and us? Well, the game companies obviously don't mind putting out crap products, so they don't have to redo the work, so we need to get them on death&disability.

      While I doubt anyone would be willing to work themselves to death, try going crazy if your insurance covers it:) Stress disorders, carpal tunnel, narcolepsy. Have fun with it!

    10. Re:So what? by BenjyD · · Score: 2, Informative

      Isn't that attitude the reason that so many games are buggy pieces of crap with half the promised features missing?

      Unless you're writing VBA for a living, software development is a mentally challenging process. It's physically not possible to keep up the same rate of coding for 20 hours. Your brain needs time to relax and process data.

      Personally, I tend to come up with better solutions to problems a few hours after I stop working on them and my subconcious has had time to process.

      Crunch coding is not only a bad idea for the workers, it's bad for the company too.

    11. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And high tech will never be unionized.

      Sucker. I'm a coder, and I'm unionized. 7.5 max per day, double time and a half for OT, regular pay increases (regardless of performance), union representation, virtual no layoff policy, you name it, we get it all.

      You just have to find a good employer. And no, a start-up with 10 employees, is not where to start looking. Granted, I will never get the chance at an IPO, or ownership, but I will never be outsourced, or put on a death march either!

    12. Re:So what? by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Amen brother. Actually, FDL (in the article) has been my editor for two books now and we've covered this very topic before. Every quality assurance textbook screams that productivity dramatically decreases after 10 hours to the point that it costs more to correct the mistakes they make than what you gain from making them slave away.

      I miss the game industry, but I wouldn't ever go back to it until I found a company that didn't force the 80 hour workweeks. I've only found one company (Gearbox) that seems to get it. They normally work a three-day week and when crunch time hits, they move to a five-day workweek. They were still able to get their title out on time and they were able to keep their employees sane.

      The solution to working conditions is obvious, it's just that few are willing to take that bold step of saying "Stop the madness!" and cutting back hours.

    13. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In addition to the other excellent replies to this post, I would add - so 20 hours working at a CRT isn't as physically intense as 20 hours digging ditches. Does that make either right? How about we have sane hours for both cases, and get rid of the concept that a person 'should' be working these sorts of hours.

    14. Re:So what? by guru42101 · · Score: 1

      With the way my current company works that means my monthly insurance rate would go up. The company pays X amount of my insurance per month. When the rates go up I have to shell out more cash.

      However, I do buy ergonomic devices on the company's tab and other such things for those problems. Currently the office has bought my wrist braces for to prevent carpal, a new chair (not an extreme one), ergo keyboard and trackball, and a few other things.

    15. Re:So what? by Poseidon88 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      That's standard everywhere in the tech industry...

      If you think your situation is "standard" and you are happy with it, you have a great deal to learn about a healthy employer/employee relationship. It is attitudes like yours that allow such treatment to continue.

      Overtime happens, yes. But I've been working in the software (not games) development industry for about 7 years now, and I've only had one employer that asked me to work unreasonable amounts of overtime. I define "unreasonable" as regularly having to stay more than an hour late, and working weekends for more than 2 weeks in a row. Turnover was high, and I made it clear to my supervisor that if things didn't change I would be the next to go. They were having trouble finding people to fill open positions, and quickly stopped asking us to come in on weekends because they couldn't afford to lose more of us. I still left the job a couple months later, but mostly because I got a much better offer.

    16. Re:So what? by knight37 · · Score: 1

      Dude, you are getting SCREWED and you're bending over for it. That is definitely NOT standard everywhere in the tech industry. Your employer is feeding you a bunch of bull if you think that.

      --
      Knight37 - Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer
    17. Re:So what? by Embedded2004 · · Score: 1

      You have to be kidding, I have never heard of anyone in the tech industry having as bad as job as that? Where do you live? Everyone I know from the tech industry (non-game development) works normally 8-9 hours a day.

  3. Something to say... by Dormann · · Score: 5, Funny
    There's a lot I could say on this topic, but it wouldn't be wise for me to post anything from my work machine.

    Check back on this page around 2am. Better make it 3.

  4. The reasons behind crunch time... by Fitzghon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...is bad management, plain and simple.
    If game development teams had better management and more realistic timelines, the programmers would not have to pull 12-hour shifts and we would be seeing higher quality titles on the market.

    Fitzghon

    1. Re:The reasons behind crunch time... by Dr.+Weird · · Score: 2, Interesting
      This argument doesn't sit well with me; if game development (or other) teams at company A had more "realistic" timelines the competitors would get their game out before those at company A. Company A's employers would be out of a job.

      Hell, all the programmers' jobs you're trying to make better would rather be working the 12 hours at the competitor than not working at their newly out-of-business game shop.

      Now, there are questions of these longs hours affecting quality, as you said. The real question to be answered is: in that last hour, is anything productive done? Of course the coders are not as fresh and productive as they would be a lower schedule, but as long as more good coding is being done than mistakes being made, it could still be worth the work.

      All that said, I'm sure there is room for better management of the projects.

    2. Re:The reasons behind crunch time... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Its not just that 'last hour' being unproductive, its the entire shift. Not much more gets done in a 12 hour shift vs an 8 hour one. Especially 12 hours day after day.

      But those long shifts look good for the middle manager reporting up the chain. "We're doing everything we can, boss!"

    3. Re:The reasons behind crunch time... by Dr.+Weird · · Score: 1
      That's an argument I can buy.

      Still I, and lots of people I know, can work 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is not uncommon in the sciences in academia, nor in several ``professions.'' I think some people just enjoy/value work more than others; they just have different levels of work at which they feel balanced.

      So I hope that those programmers working the long hours are doing this because it's what they have a passion for. Unfortunately, I fear your point is probably correct.

  5. About Time by FzArEkTaH · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Game Developers, or really anyone working on a PC for a long time should be given frequent breaks and some physical activity - if not they will turn into freakin zombies. Union isnt a bad idea if you ask me! Caffine and coding can only keep you alert for so long. /me looks @ clock and sips his coffee- wow 79 hours without sleep i better go to bed...... imma recheck this code again real quick

  6. Change focus by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Games have to stop being about money and start being about the players. This will only happen when players actually start to take some ownership of the games they play. This is already happening with MMORPGs but the legalities of virtual property are really preventing any further progress at the moment. Open Source MMORPGs offer an opportunity for greater player ownership. By contributing art to an Open Source MMORPG, and retaining your copyright on it, you are clearly placing a stake in the ground which says "this is mine." At the same time you're showing your dedication to the community of players who play MMORPGs by saying "you can use it for whatever purpose you like." When players start to control the games they play, enjoyment is guarenteed to follow.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Change focus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One has to wonder who is giving the developers money if not the players. One has to wonder why they're giving the developers money if they don't feel it's worth it.

      Clearly it is about the players, and more to the point, it's about giving the players something they're willing to pay for.
      --matt

    2. Re:Change focus by j450n · · Score: 1

      That's a very noble but misguided sentiment. I'm a huge proponent of "games as art", but I don't want to be developing every game that I play. I love making games and (hopefully) I like to the play the games that I make. Even so, I would hate to lose the pre-packaged complete made-by-someone else experience. When you made the monster that you're fighting, it kind of takes away some of the magic...

    3. Re:Change focus by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Games are about disposable culture. Some people are ok with that, others would prefer an ongoing developing culture. Unfortunately we're just not able to choose right now.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    4. Re:Change focus by knight37 · · Score: 1

      Your suggestion is that game players take up the slack and start developing their own games to give the game developers a break?

      --
      Knight37 - Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer
    5. Re:Change focus by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      What I'm suggesting is that games should stop being hammered out on an impossible schedule with as small a budget as possible so they can be consumed and discarded as if they were unchanging, unmaintainable "entertainment".

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  7. IATSE? by skyman8081 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seeing as video-game developement is a creative field in the entertainment industry. Should IATSE(Internation Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employee's) expand to allow video game developers into it, as well as its curret grouping of Theatre and Film Industry workers? The problem might have already been solved.

    --
    Two Roommates and a Boyfriend, updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
    1. Re:IATSE? by LordNimon · · Score: 1
      The software developers working on a video game are no more "creative" than any other software developers. The guy optimizing a 3D drawing algorithm is doing the same kind of work as the guy optimizing an operating system's memory manager.

      The level designers are doing creative work, because their job is a lot like architecture. But if only creative people get to work normal hours, then the software developers will be the only ones working late nights.

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
    2. Re:IATSE? by skyman8081 · · Score: 1

      Nor is programming any more "creative" than hammering Luan sheets to a frame of 1x3's. A guy building a flat or setpeice for a Stage Show or Film Production is no different than a contractor building a wall for a house or building.

      IATSE is not just for the designers of shows, they also cover the people who do the low-level grunt work of building sets, flying scenery, and pushing setpeices around the stage.

      --
      Two Roommates and a Boyfriend, updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
    3. Re:IATSE? by Acy+James+Stapp · · Score: 1

      God I hope not. My wife works in the film industry and the minimum health and retirement coverage required by IATSE is horrible. There is little incentive to provide more coverage than is required by union contracts.

      Don't forget that although unions represent employees, they are bureaucracies and a form of private governance (as are neighborhood associates) in and of themselves and suffer from the same inefficiences and institutional problems and large agency suffers from, and as a union member, you are required to abide by the union's decisions.

      --
      -- Too lazy to get a lower UID.
    4. Re:IATSE? by AppleTRON · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are many fields of game development that could and should probably be covered by the IATSE. Audio editing and sound design (an area especially close to me) is one. Union sound editors are covered in a contract when they work for TV and Film hiring union labor. As yet, there is no union for game audio editors and sound designers. Should it fall under Local 700? Or should there be a new union of Interactive Entertainment Employees? I don't know, really ... just pay me for what I do. And well, please.

      --
      *AppleTRON*
  8. Zombies? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    "If your company is in crunch mode, drunken zombies may be checking your code right now," he said.'"

    Sounds like the next spinoff... Code Auditing of the Dead. Guess this one will support a keyboard and mouse as controllers.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. Indeed by MagicDude · · Score: 1

    This is indeed ludricrous. We can't expect game programmers to routinely work 12 hours shifts. Think of the inneffective programming taking place. Only doctors and nurses should work those kind of hours, since apparently they don't need to be on their toes when doing their jobs.

    1. Re:Indeed by ShawnDoc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Now you understand why malpractice insurance is so high.

    2. Re:Indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Sure, doctors and nurses work 12+ hour shifts. They even do it for 3-4 days at a time. However, they then get a day or two where they don't have to come in to work at all.

      Game developers on the other hand, get to work 12+ hour shifts, 7 days a week, for weeks on end.

      And for the people out there who say, "You aren't doing 'hard' work like digging ditches!", I say, "You're right, I'm not digging ditches. If I were digging ditches, I'd work a 6-8 hour shift, 5 days a week, with paid overtime."

  10. caffeine != sleep by 602 · · Score: 1

    Caffeine is not a substitute for sleep.

    A recent study by Jan Born et al. of the University of Lubeck in Germany showed how a night's sleep enabled 59% of subjects to discover a trick to simplify a tedious calculation, compared to 23% of a control group who didn't sleep between two trials of the task. (Time magazine, 12/20/04).

  11. No Unions... by Momoru · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unions usually start out with good intentions, and us coders would get better hours, better working conditions, fair wages etc...but eventually every union turns into a monster. Because once it has accomplished its primary goal, it doesn't know what to do...so it keeps pushing and pushing for more. Want your job to be outsourced quicker? Unionize. You've seen it in the automotive, airline, and sports teams unions that the union keeps pushing for higher and higher wages to the point where a guy that screws car seats in for a living makes $35 an hour, and an airline can no longer make a profit, or a hockey season gets cancelled. Unions make competition with other countries and non unionized companies extremely difficult. (Part of the reason Walmart makes so much profit). I know all the pro-union people may jump down my back, but this is coming from someone who's from 3 generations of union workers.

  12. false alarm by LordMyren · · Score: 2, Informative

    false alarm, there's still hordes of sharp young'uns beating down the door trying to replace your lazy ass.

    dont go into the game industry expecting a nice cushy job. expect hell, like fending off the fifth of all computer science students who would probably kill to get a gaming industry job.

    definately an exagguration, but i imagine google and pixar to be the only similarly employer-driven markets out there.

    -Myren