I worked for about a decade in the game industry...and about seven years of it was in crunch mode. I'm mostly out now, just doing freelance work here and there...I think the final straw was crunching for a year on Tribes 2 and then getting pink-slipped with the rest of the design team two days after shipping.
And when I calculated my salary on an hourly basis, the guy down the street manning the Slurpee machine was making more than I was.
Yeah, it sure is fun working on video games.
Why do game companies treat their employees like chattel? It's like the punch line to the joke, "Why do dogs lick their balls?"
Because they can.
True story: an artist I used to work with complained to Dynamix's art director about the conditions, and his response was "You don't like it, tough. I can go over to UO, kick a tree and ten artists will fall out."
I've got enough horror stories to fill a book...maybe someday I'll write it.
I try to tell the younger set that they don't want to get into games, but they have to learn for themselves.
I keep wondering why the game workers of the world don't unionize. Other entertainment sectors have unions--actors, writers, etc. Why not game workers? It would go a long way towards eliminating the slave labor practices of the industry.
But that's just a bitter ex-game developer talking.
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I worked for about a decade in the game industry...and about seven years of it was in crunch mode. I'm mostly out now, just doing freelance work here and there...I think the final straw was crunching for a year on Tribes 2 and then getting pink-slipped with the rest of the design team two days after shipping. And when I calculated my salary on an hourly basis, the guy down the street manning the Slurpee machine was making more than I was. Yeah, it sure is fun working on video games. Why do game companies treat their employees like chattel? It's like the punch line to the joke, "Why do dogs lick their balls?" Because they can. True story: an artist I used to work with complained to Dynamix's art director about the conditions, and his response was "You don't like it, tough. I can go over to UO, kick a tree and ten artists will fall out." I've got enough horror stories to fill a book...maybe someday I'll write it. I try to tell the younger set that they don't want to get into games, but they have to learn for themselves. I keep wondering why the game workers of the world don't unionize. Other entertainment sectors have unions--actors, writers, etc. Why not game workers? It would go a long way towards eliminating the slave labor practices of the industry. But that's just a bitter ex-game developer talking.