Work Environment for Game Developers Must Change

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.'"

Comments

So what?

[Seumas]

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.

Re:So what?

[Seumas]

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.