I'm going to get flamed for this, but i'm just curious. Do you guys honestly think you have poor work conditions? I've read the EA_Spouse stories and I gotta say that it's nothing compared to some of th IT industry conditions currently out there.
On top of that, you are doing something creative and fun. You can dress casual, goof off, listen to music, web browse etc. If they were so unhappy why would'nt they just work for a different studio? If he was working overtime and not getting paid, either sue if it was in his contract or just don't work the overtime. They did'nt force him to work 85 hours, and being a software engineer, i highly doubt he had a lack of other job options.
You need to read up on that stuff again. EA would have you sign a year long contract with a 5k deposit or something (don't recall exactly). So EA_spouses erm, spouse couldn't leave without paying 5k.
down, you funny.... you didnt read any of this stuff did you? In this guys case he couldnt leave because he had a year contract to fill that if he broke/was fired would have to pay back 5000. So he if he didnt work the overtime then he would be fired and then wouldn't be able to pay the 5000 back...
As for conditions, you know that one of the causes of cruch time is because people are goofing off when they are supposed to be working? As for how bad IT jobs are, well why cant they get diffrent jobs?
[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to get flamed for this, but i'm just curious. Do you guys honestly think you have poor work conditions? I've read the EA_Spouse stories and I gotta say that it's nothing compared to some of th IT industry conditions currently out there.
On top of that, you are doing something creative and fun. You can dress casual, goof off, listen to music, web browse etc. If they were so unhappy why would'nt they just work for a different studio? If he was working overtime and not getting paid, either sue if it was in his contract or just don't work the overtime. They did'nt force him to work 85 hours, and being a software engineer, i highly doubt he had a lack of other job options.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't understand your point here really. What difference to you is it that she made that post? Why would you begrudge her that? How does it affect you in any way shape or form?
If outsourcing was so great it'd have migrated 100% of the jobs already. Outsourcing is just like terrorists, not really happening but the people in power like to throw the term around to cause terror so everyone will obey and let themselves be oppressed.
[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand your point here really. What difference to you is it that she made that post? Why would you begrudge her that? How does it affect you in any way shape or form?
[/ QUOTE ]
A survey of Downsizer's posts will reveal that begrudging, contrariness and undeclared devil's advocacy are simply things he loves doing! As a retired gadfly myself, I notice such things.
Yeah, I love playing devils advocate. It does'nt mean I don't agree with her. I never read the whole $5000 part. But I swore I read most of the articles involved.
I was mainly curious if work conditions in the game industry are really that bad, because I do work in IT but wish to move over to game development. Most of the time I wont give reasons why my comments are relative, sorry about that.
As to wether or not us IT guys can just find new jobs. Simply, yes. But It's more difficult since a lot of our work is being outsourced, and IT in my opinion seems more competative. Granted we have more opportunities open, but the young kids out of college are favored since they require less pay. Also, once you build your life at a certain salary level, you tend to not want to compromise that. So we tend to have reasons to stay.
Just to pay devils advocate again. What guy signs a contract forfitting 5 grand if he has to leave? I've never heard of that, nor would I be dumb enough to accept that. Emergencies always come up, life changes fast. I hope they work things out, and i'm glad it brings things to light. But just dont treat it like your industry is the worst simply because it has the spot light.
I've also noticed my posts are very distanced. Meaning I always seem to miss something important. I apologize for teh swiss cheese memory. I certainly dont purposely mean to post my opinions as uninformed as they always seem to be. I guess it's my work environment, I always skim over things too fast.
I was mainly curious if work conditions in the game industry are really that bad, because I do work in IT but wish to move over to game development.
[/ QUOTE ]
For the most part you'll end up working more than 40 hrs/week for some period of time, but it really depends on the studio. When I worked my first job I was pulling 60-70 hour weeks sometimes but the again the project was behind schedule and slipping. Most of the people at my current job are probably around ~50hr/week, we've been asked to come in either saturday or sunday to help polish things up. Most people are excited about the project and don't mind much.
With that said there's a lot of talk about trying to get rid of overtime. I know studios like High Moon and a few others have a no/little overtime policy. It's a smart move, but crunch always looks good in the short term.
[ QUOTE ]
But just dont treat it like your industry is the worst simply because it has the spot light.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think that anyones really trying to say our industry is the worst, I can think of loads of worse places to be.. But really since we're in this industry it is of rather high interest that if we're getting treated badly and theres an oportunity to fix it, that we take that oportunity. Just because there are worse places to be doesn't make it right to just accept whatever comes our way.
In the past I've worked as a Salmon Carver at a fish farm in subzero temperatures, I've worked on a factory line as a sewing machinist making football strips, I've worked as a shelf stacker in a grocery store and also as a dishwasher.
Those were not fun jobs and they made it easy for me to appreciate the luxury of the games industry.
However, there's still a far greater amount of stress in the games industry than in those other jobs because noone works overtime unless they are paid time and a half thru to triple time depending upon the circumstances and generally noone cares at all about their job as anything other than a source of income.
Likewise those other industries do not have the potential to make such huge amounts of money due to talented individuals creative problem solving abilities.
Jobs like carving fish or working a sewing machine or washing dishes, anyone can do it, theres not so much art or creativity required.
With the games industry its very different, we as a group of workers are capable of something that on most occasions the people in charge are not, and often have no comprehension of even the fundamental requirements of the job.
It's because of the requirements to do such a highly skilled job being poorly rewarded and the workforce being emotionally and creatively blackmailed into providing massive amounts of money for a mostly talentless and morally bankrupt collection of faceless b$&*£!$'s that the event of these stories of abuse making their way into the public domain is an important thing.
It's easy to dimiss the games industry as being full of soft whiny brats in cushy desk jobs, but that's not really the story.
It's a lot easier to ruin the lives of people who care about their jobs than the lives of those that don't care and very few people make games if they don't care about them.
I'm pretty happy to see that this news item is continuing.
I'm not certain where it will end, it's doubtful it will accomplish the things we need dealt with collectively but it's a start and that's really all we need to get the ball rolling and work toward effecting a positive change.
Replies
-R
Also, in line with the 15 million dollar artist settlement, this news yesterday: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14431229.htm
*waits by the mail box*
[/ QUOTE ]
The time is near
On top of that, you are doing something creative and fun. You can dress casual, goof off, listen to music, web browse etc. If they were so unhappy why would'nt they just work for a different studio? If he was working overtime and not getting paid, either sue if it was in his contract or just don't work the overtime. They did'nt force him to work 85 hours, and being a software engineer, i highly doubt he had a lack of other job options.
As for conditions, you know that one of the causes of cruch time is because people are goofing off when they are supposed to be working? As for how bad IT jobs are, well why cant they get diffrent jobs?
I'm going to get flamed for this, but i'm just curious. Do you guys honestly think you have poor work conditions? I've read the EA_Spouse stories and I gotta say that it's nothing compared to some of th IT industry conditions currently out there.
On top of that, you are doing something creative and fun. You can dress casual, goof off, listen to music, web browse etc. If they were so unhappy why would'nt they just work for a different studio? If he was working overtime and not getting paid, either sue if it was in his contract or just don't work the overtime. They did'nt force him to work 85 hours, and being a software engineer, i highly doubt he had a lack of other job options.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't understand your point here really. What difference to you is it that she made that post? Why would you begrudge her that? How does it affect you in any way shape or form?
I don't understand your point here really. What difference to you is it that she made that post? Why would you begrudge her that? How does it affect you in any way shape or form?
[/ QUOTE ]
A survey of Downsizer's posts will reveal that begrudging, contrariness and undeclared devil's advocacy are simply things he loves doing! As a retired gadfly myself, I notice such things.
I was mainly curious if work conditions in the game industry are really that bad, because I do work in IT but wish to move over to game development. Most of the time I wont give reasons why my comments are relative, sorry about that.
As to wether or not us IT guys can just find new jobs. Simply, yes. But It's more difficult since a lot of our work is being outsourced, and IT in my opinion seems more competative. Granted we have more opportunities open, but the young kids out of college are favored since they require less pay. Also, once you build your life at a certain salary level, you tend to not want to compromise that. So we tend to have reasons to stay.
Just to pay devils advocate again. What guy signs a contract forfitting 5 grand if he has to leave? I've never heard of that, nor would I be dumb enough to accept that. Emergencies always come up, life changes fast. I hope they work things out, and i'm glad it brings things to light. But just dont treat it like your industry is the worst simply because it has the spot light.
I've also noticed my posts are very distanced. Meaning I always seem to miss something important. I apologize for teh swiss cheese memory. I certainly dont purposely mean to post my opinions as uninformed as they always seem to be. I guess it's my work environment, I always skim over things too fast.
I was mainly curious if work conditions in the game industry are really that bad, because I do work in IT but wish to move over to game development.
[/ QUOTE ]
For the most part you'll end up working more than 40 hrs/week for some period of time, but it really depends on the studio. When I worked my first job I was pulling 60-70 hour weeks sometimes but the again the project was behind schedule and slipping. Most of the people at my current job are probably around ~50hr/week, we've been asked to come in either saturday or sunday to help polish things up. Most people are excited about the project and don't mind much.
With that said there's a lot of talk about trying to get rid of overtime. I know studios like High Moon and a few others have a no/little overtime policy. It's a smart move, but crunch always looks good in the short term.
But just dont treat it like your industry is the worst simply because it has the spot light.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think that anyones really trying to say our industry is the worst, I can think of loads of worse places to be.. But really since we're in this industry it is of rather high interest that if we're getting treated badly and theres an oportunity to fix it, that we take that oportunity. Just because there are worse places to be doesn't make it right to just accept whatever comes our way.
Those were not fun jobs and they made it easy for me to appreciate the luxury of the games industry.
However, there's still a far greater amount of stress in the games industry than in those other jobs because noone works overtime unless they are paid time and a half thru to triple time depending upon the circumstances and generally noone cares at all about their job as anything other than a source of income.
Likewise those other industries do not have the potential to make such huge amounts of money due to talented individuals creative problem solving abilities.
Jobs like carving fish or working a sewing machine or washing dishes, anyone can do it, theres not so much art or creativity required.
With the games industry its very different, we as a group of workers are capable of something that on most occasions the people in charge are not, and often have no comprehension of even the fundamental requirements of the job.
It's because of the requirements to do such a highly skilled job being poorly rewarded and the workforce being emotionally and creatively blackmailed into providing massive amounts of money for a mostly talentless and morally bankrupt collection of faceless b$&*£!$'s that the event of these stories of abuse making their way into the public domain is an important thing.
It's easy to dimiss the games industry as being full of soft whiny brats in cushy desk jobs, but that's not really the story.
It's a lot easier to ruin the lives of people who care about their jobs than the lives of those that don't care and very few people make games if they don't care about them.
I'm pretty happy to see that this news item is continuing.
I'm not certain where it will end, it's doubtful it will accomplish the things we need dealt with collectively but it's a start and that's really all we need to get the ball rolling and work toward effecting a positive change.
r.