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Game Industry Workers Get Voice
Shodan writes "eToychest writes that a new game union of sorts has been formed to both recruit new industry talent, as well as give them a unified voice when it comes to maintaining a work/life balance. PEER (Professional Electronic Entertainment Recruiters) was created to establish and maintain ethical work standards and optimum recruiting service for game industry developers, publishers, and related industry companies." From the article: "The part that catches my eye is 'ethical work standards', which I cannot help but think was established, at least in part, due to all of the fervor surrounding EA and the treatment of its employees. The group seems to be a sort of 'worker's union', as they say that in an era where quality of life and rapid growth are chief concerns, PEER gives its members 'a representative voice.'" It will be interesting to see where this leads.
I've got some friends in the UK who are game developers. What about them?
Perhaps I've merely met a bad lot, but recruiters care far more about getting paid [by their clients, the game companies] than for the product they're selling [you].
This looks like a poor attempt at a union, if that. Infact this does not constitute a union. A union is where you pay dues and have union representation, union procedure on company property, and the government actually classifies you as a union. Its just a collective group of recruiters, not a union. It seems also this isnt an actual article Recruiters just care about cashing in on other people placement, they don't really care about the long term happiness of the employee they place.
This is a group of recruiters who get from 15%-30% of the first years salary as a placement fee.
that some companies will try and squash.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
..... when the Teamsters get behind this. After all, a that's group associated with organized crime will tend to generate respect from employers.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
But damn it, it's "furor" not "ferver." Nor should "furor" be confused wyth "Führer."
--Matthew
...the best way to get your job outsourced!
Unions are bred out of necessity, don't get me wrong. They are a great way for truly oppressed workers to force a change for the better. But, the problem is, once they get up a head a steam they become unstoppable juggernauts. Eventually, they run their own business into the ground. They first use their power to lift themselves up to some necessary minimum standards, then they force things, slowly but steadily, more and more in their favor. Until, eventually, they are getting guaranteed easy work at excellent pay from which it's nearly impossible to fire them. With costs so high, The Man to whom they just Stuck It To hemmorhages to death.
With some notable exceptions, game industry workers have it pretty good over all. You hear lots of talk about EA in particular, but nobody ever mentions their nice benefits packages. Last I checked -- this may not be true any more -- salaried professionals there get stock options and bonuses, along with PPO medical coverage (that includes drugs, pretty standard dental, and even a little for vision as well), and respectable paid time off. I worked there five years, and while I was called on to put in long weeks every now and again, those were the exception rather than the rule. Mostly they were 50-hour "crunch" time weeks, with a couple 60-hour ones thrown in, maybe 5-10 weeks out of the year. The rest of the time it was 8x5, with the occasional company-provided beer party starting on a Friday afternoon (during business hours) thrown in to help everybody unwind after meeting a milestone.
The game industry doesn't need a union. We're not the underpaid, overworked, downtrodden masses people want to think we are.
The poster said 'fervor' not 'ferver'.
fervor could be correct Intense heat, or passion.
Of course he probably did mean furor, but technical 'fervor' works.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The IGDA website is devoid of any mention of this new group. The International Game Developers Association already has a substantial presence in the industry.
Colonel Cranium this is Rectal Reconnaissance, we are on a collision course sir, Abort Abort!
So what if they have to work 80+ hours per week. Back in my day, I had to work 80 hours per day!
I don't see how this is a union. PEER is a recruiting company, and all of their goals revolve around this. "advance professional external recruiting," "improve and manifest the livelihoods of the candidates seeking career growth opportunities," "develop and improve the necessary skills to achieve high performance in professional external recruiting."
Sure, it's a recruiting company with noble goals, and if I needed a recruiter that's who I would turn to. But it is a recruiting company, not a union.
The ______ Agenda
I'm not sure what you'd call this, but it sure ain't a union.
More like some sort of nebulous standards body for the recruiting agencies that serve the game industry.
And since the employer (not the employee) typically pays the recruiter's fee, color me skeptical that this is anything more than PR.
What it really is, if you read their "charter", is a price-fixing scheme for headhunters. They "agree" that they should get 20% of the first year's salary, payable at hiring time.
There's a real union for game developers - the Animation Guild, local 839, IATSE, AFL-CIO. They represent most of the animation people in Hollywood, and they're organizing game developers who are artists.
... But get fired weeks later for using it.
Man are you guys nuts, 50+ hour work weeks with 1-2 hours of commute, you have what, 3 hours to spend with the family at night? Plus you get to work weekends!? Sounds GREAT! (no, not really)
No wonder women stay with men until they make 80K+ a year, leave and take 1/2 of everything plus child support, move on to the next guy and pillage his salary.
Divorce is at a 60-70% rate, and an average 10 men commit suicide a day due to divorce.
It might be nice to get great pay out of college, marry your sweet heart, but that changes when the divorce papers hit, and you cant quit your job because shes "Entitled" to your earning potential.
American Men are SUCKERS.
prenup, work 40 hours, take vacations, spend time with the family, enjoy life.
Most of these people posting about working in the games industry are in the early 20's with maybe 1 child or child on the way. All they see is a good paycheck, medical, and a little tired from working long hours.
Wait until your in your 30's, 2-3 kids, and a wife who is tired of the hours and not seeing you.
Divorce at 60%+ isnt a joke. If you dont spend enough time with your family, you will loose them.
So are Unions the answer? Could be, its not like our local governments are protecting us against outsourcing or overworked hours. They wont even stop doctors from living at the emergency rooms, where people are actually dieing because of overworked doctors.
There is a very fundamental problem with anything remotely related to created a union for software developers of any sort. That is that by joining or associating with this group, you are saying/admitting that your work is a commodity. Unions only work well when anyone with training or following a manual could accomplish the same job.
Software development (at least the quality stuff) is much more of an engineering or design type of occupation. These fields have clear differences between the quality of individuals who are doing the work. That's why good software developers can command a good salary, or good work conditions, or at least choose their job - because there's a very short supply of talented people.
Anyone who joins this "union" (I realize that term isn't agreed upon yet, but I'll use it) is on the bottom end of the spectrum trying to get a better deal. It's economics and self-interest. Anyone who can do better without it, will. This means that people in the union will inevitably be below, or at best, average in talent.
As for EA, if they people working there that are abused are so talented, they could get a well paying job doing something else. If making games is really that important to them, well then they're choosing the suffering to do what they want. Anyone who hates a job and stays in it for more than six months and still complains about it is clearly not able to get another job, and so they should be grateful for what they can get, or else they aren't looking for another job, in which case . . . , well, I don't want to get flamed.
I can't wait for the first video game strike.
PEER clearly is a way for established recruiters in the interactive industry to prevent new blood from coming in and competing with them too harshly.
It is not, however, a union.
The author of the original article quoted three words ("ethical work standards"), which as far as I can see don't even appear on the site, and converted them into a total misunderstanding of the organization. Irresponsible? Certainly.
Feb 10th, US game developers start union.
Feb 11th, IIT debuts game developer courses.
Feb 12th, thousands of US game developers laid off.
We've already lost this game.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Find me one CEO who doesn't try to artificially bolster their salary beyond what (true, open, honest) market forces would dictate, and I will concede you may have a point. As long as the ruling class uses it's power and money to screw us working folk out of the fruits of our labor, we are completely justified in screwing them back. And if you say, "Well the market doesn't work that way," I will reply, "It sure as hell does for the rich, why not us?"
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton