Agh. Yeah - I know. I orignally just posted under anon. because I didn't have a/. account but I didn't realize that my comment wouldn't show up that way. I registered an account and cut/pasted my previous post but somehow lost the formatting.
Sorry about that - I should have done the preview thing, but figured it would keep the original formatting.
I make games for a living, and sure - I'd like more money for what I do. I knew when I got into the industry, however, what the hours were like and what the pay was like. The only thing that I had an honest misconception about was the royalty issue. I had thought that tons of hard work would result in good royalty checks but after 4 1/2 years in the industry I think I've recieved a grand total of $500 in royalties. Not the end of the world, but I don't think that you're getting the issue here.
I've seen alot of arguments from the voice actors who are seeking the extra money that "...the average, working-class actor is lucky to get four of those ($275/hr) jobs a year." Um... so because you decided to go into a field that pays either poorly or erratically, I'm supposed to give up a portion of whatever money I _might_ recieve from the project I worked on for two years so that you can be "compensated" for your day's worth of work? I'm sorry - if you don't like what you do for a living pays GET A NEW JOB.
I agree - there aren't 10 Jim Careys or Vin Diesels, etc. But I know for a fact that top notch stars like that DON'T make the $275/hr minimum that the Voice Actors Guild is worked up about. I worked on Men of Valor for 2015, and one of the voice actors on the project was Sean Astin. He made around $50k for about eight hours of work. That's a HELL of a lot more than the minimum - and it's just me but I'd say that $6250/hr is fairly adequate compensation for that kind of work. What bothers me - and all of the coders, etc. that have been making noise about wanting more money - is that not only do the voice actors get paid anywhere from 5-10 times as much per hour as the developers do, but now they want royalties (residuals) from the game for the four or eight hours they put in on it when the developers who typically put years of 50-60+ hour weeks into the project won't see a dime in royalties.
Of course the developers aren't (usually) stars. But your close comparison between game development and Hollywood isn't very accurate. Set developers, grips, etc. - the support staff in a film - create the atmosphere that the actors and director use to tell their story. They're an essential part of the process, but without the actors and director you have no movie. That's why actors are stars and fameous and all of that.
Without the coders, designers, and artists that physically make the game - create it from the code that drives the game engine to the textures and models that make it look good to actually designing and implementing the gameplay that is the heart of the game: game developers _are_ what makes a game. I've certainly never purchased a game because so-and-so actor did a voice on it, but I _have_ purchased many games because specific developers created them. Like actors in Hollywood, game developers are what bring a game to life and give it character. And that's not a quality you can merely export.
ADDENDUM: Hrm. Never posted before - didn't know you needed an account to get this to show up. There's a duplicate under anyonmyous coward, but I wanted my comments to show up.
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Agh. Yeah - I know. I orignally just posted under anon. because I didn't have a /. account but I didn't realize that my comment wouldn't show up that way. I registered an account and cut/pasted my previous post but somehow lost the formatting.
Sorry about that - I should have done the preview thing, but figured it would keep the original formatting.
I make games for a living, and sure - I'd like more money for what I do. I knew when I got into the industry, however, what the hours were like and what the pay was like. The only thing that I had an honest misconception about was the royalty issue. I had thought that tons of hard work would result in good royalty checks but after 4 1/2 years in the industry I think I've recieved a grand total of $500 in royalties. Not the end of the world, but I don't think that you're getting the issue here. I've seen alot of arguments from the voice actors who are seeking the extra money that "...the average, working-class actor is lucky to get four of those ($275/hr) jobs a year." Um... so because you decided to go into a field that pays either poorly or erratically, I'm supposed to give up a portion of whatever money I _might_ recieve from the project I worked on for two years so that you can be "compensated" for your day's worth of work? I'm sorry - if you don't like what you do for a living pays GET A NEW JOB. I agree - there aren't 10 Jim Careys or Vin Diesels, etc. But I know for a fact that top notch stars like that DON'T make the $275/hr minimum that the Voice Actors Guild is worked up about. I worked on Men of Valor for 2015, and one of the voice actors on the project was Sean Astin. He made around $50k for about eight hours of work. That's a HELL of a lot more than the minimum - and it's just me but I'd say that $6250/hr is fairly adequate compensation for that kind of work. What bothers me - and all of the coders, etc. that have been making noise about wanting more money - is that not only do the voice actors get paid anywhere from 5-10 times as much per hour as the developers do, but now they want royalties (residuals) from the game for the four or eight hours they put in on it when the developers who typically put years of 50-60+ hour weeks into the project won't see a dime in royalties. Of course the developers aren't (usually) stars. But your close comparison between game development and Hollywood isn't very accurate. Set developers, grips, etc. - the support staff in a film - create the atmosphere that the actors and director use to tell their story. They're an essential part of the process, but without the actors and director you have no movie. That's why actors are stars and fameous and all of that. Without the coders, designers, and artists that physically make the game - create it from the code that drives the game engine to the textures and models that make it look good to actually designing and implementing the gameplay that is the heart of the game: game developers _are_ what makes a game. I've certainly never purchased a game because so-and-so actor did a voice on it, but I _have_ purchased many games because specific developers created them. Like actors in Hollywood, game developers are what bring a game to life and give it character. And that's not a quality you can merely export. ADDENDUM: Hrm. Never posted before - didn't know you needed an account to get this to show up. There's a duplicate under anyonmyous coward, but I wanted my comments to show up.