Man what a great article from someone so experienced, I do not know of anyone who could dispute him. Here is my favorate quote "Any manager who put their team through more than a month of pre-ship crunch to get the product out the door should be getting a pink slip, not a promotion."
Should game development studios get forced to follow normal employment rules (paid overtime, no more 7 days/12 hours weeks, etc) won't that result in more work getting outsourced to countries where the employment costs are cheaper and where labour laws are less strict?
The fact is that most of the big game studios are public listed companies so in the end all that matters is to produce at the lowest costs to get a maximum profit. If they can get the same job done elsewhere for a lot cheaper and with less hassle than I don't see why they wouldn't do that. Seems to work fine for GAP and Nike. Ok, manufacturing of clothese and shoes doesn't take a lot of intelligence and artistic skills but I can imagine that in countries like Korea and India these skills are available and if not people can be trained.
sad thing is.. I send this type of thing around at work and I get abusive emails from other employee's who are prepaired to take it up the ass 'in the name of working in the games industry'.
Some overtime might always be nessacary however the long periods of planned for overtime that Ea have been dishing ut to their employee's is wrong.
Sure eventually the games industry work might all get outsourced to other countries with poor economies, but for the moment I am glad that people are willing to stand up for their rights.
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard exetermists of mandatroy overtime??
Spacemonkey said:
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Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard exetermists of mandatroy overtime??
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I used to be...then I realised that you can make cutting edge games, that everyone at the huge studios play at lunch for the same pay, with decent hours, and no unnecessary guilt trips or political finger-pointing manuevers.
There are so many wierd ideas floating around about why it's important to work for a large corporation (benifits, technology, good ad budgets, development systems, expierenced co-workers, big pay) I have most to be simply not true, or not exclusive to large studios.
I read the article by Evan Robinson that p00p posted. It's important to read this quote from tha article
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any manager who leads his team into a death march has failed his employees, his superiors, and his companys investors.
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I now work at a small studio with cutting-edge technology, very talented co-workers, and bosses with realistic expectations who learn from their mistakes.
They're out there guys, just keep your ear to the ground, we need to keep talking like this at polycount.
I think I would be willing to do those long crunch modes if I was going to work on a really Huge ambitious game that had a limited budget , but the manager was really cool and the people I worked with were cool and super talented and I knew the Game was going to be huge if we could get in all the assests and features. Then again im single and no kids so I can do stuff like that. If I had a family though I would hate to spend my life at work even if it was game development.
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard extremists of mandatroy overtime??
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Yeah. I think it's because some feel they can justify their job that way (because they may not be able to in other measurements of performance). It's tough, because you have to appreciate it if somebody voluntarily works ridiculous hours to get something done, even if somebody else might be able to do it in half the time.
I am really looking forward to hearing a reply or comment on how things have developed from the other side of EA, please if anyone sees it then please post it, it has also caused a fair bit of a stir in the few danish games companies that exist, generally the management is much fairer and much much more open to comment, there are some similarities but they are dealt with in a different way (for example an enticement to stay late is a very good dinner, that way you save an hour in washing up and preperation anyway, pier pressure keeps you from abusing it). There is one company that havnt been quite as good to their employees as they could have been but wod of mouth is much more powerfull here, so i wont mention their name just atm but they do not have the resources EA does so are likly to be made accountable in a shorter timeframe.
Unfortunatly i am working atm otherwise it would have been good to hear more about how our managment are looking at the developments (surely more rationally), perhaps next friday bar.
Whatever if anyone hears some kind of responce from EA please post it ASAP...
@ DaZ funny i have noticed a lot of what you were saying, and guessed from having been in similar positions the same about your position (BTW it is funny seeing how peoples reactions to your opininions change when you go back, for me it was amazing to find out from them how much i had changed my POV), it is the subject for many a long evening(s) over beer and pool, i look forward to it... Even though they speak a different language here i recon that the cultural differences between UK and US are probably more than UK and DK at least as far as the working ethics go. Whatever you are doing a great as ombudsmann, hope you (and all) kan keep grinning whilst bearing it...
It's this stuff that makes me so glad I decided to pass on the studio job and do fulltime freelance (for now atleast), not that all studios are this bad of course.
I get to play with my son and spend quality time with the wife whenever I want, take breaks to go to the zoo and whatnot. Even though I watch my son all day and work at night, it's well worth it.
It made cnet this morning. I keep refreshing the BBC's tech page. When its hit there you know its mainstream.
tpe: I dont think that we will see a statement from EA either internally nor externally on either the 'ea_spouse' story nor the artists class action. To output such a statement would be to admit that there is even an issue.
To be fair, I think the kind of company loyalty furver that I described above is a bit of a Californian thing as opposed to US ( although If you've ever seen that disturbing video of a close to heart attack Microcost exec rallying troops at a company meeting I guess I should extend that to other tech hotspots such as Seattle ).
Whilst Im here, Id like to specify this issue to one or two studio's If at all possible. I worked at EA UK for many years and was perfectly happy and never did much O/T.
It saddens me greatly to think that this phenomenon might deter people from working in videogames, or CG at all ( which is a reaction Ive seen on quite a few different threads ) ea_spouse is one persons story. Im not sayng it didnt happen as told, but its an extreme case. Whilst I have been fairly vocal in the past about how hard we have been pushed for O/T, I havent had it nearly as bad as people on other teams and I think ( hope ) things will be different now, particularly after the last few days.
The thing that bothers me most about the class action, is that it appears that it's wholly about money. ( and heck, wherever lawyers are involved its bound to be ) Whilst O/T pay is a factor, I think the point that EA really needs to understand is, that its not really about the money, it's about being 'forced' to do OT. It's about the <alleged> 'mandatory saturdays' or even sundays demanded of teams for weeks on end. I personally work as hard as I think I need to ( and want to ) and will never do a 'mandatory' anything anymore. The individual does have some control. Thats probably easier for me to say than some of the young guys, since Ive been at the company a long time, am known and well regarded at the company so my fear of being fired is negligible. But anyway, just trying to keep things in perspective.
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard extremists of mandatroy overtime??
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Yeah. I think it's because some feel they can justify their job that way (because they may not be able to in other measurements of performance). It's tough, because you have to appreciate it if somebody voluntarily works ridiculous hours to get something done, even if somebody else might be able to do it in half the time.
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I hear that. I have seen it in several places. Artist A cannot create stellar art, so they make up for it by working insane hours. Problem is that most of the time Management sees them as a greater asset than artist B who does great art, on time, but goes home at 6.
Its some kind of lame badge of heroism, that "I am hardcore because I work 24.5 hours a day" It is not being hardcore, it is grinding your life down the drain.
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"On July 29, 2004, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA"). This communication responds to earlier e-mail communications from EA management regarding the litigation. The lawsuit alleges that EA improperly classified some of its employees, including 'animators,' 'modelers,' 'texture artists,' 'lighters,' 'background effects artists,' and 'environmental artists' as exempt from overtime, and therefore failed to pay those employees overtime compensation. Plaintiff's action seeks statutory penalties, damages, restitution, and injunctive relief.
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I always thought that exemption to pay overtime was complete bullshit.
If they have to go after anybody, a big abusive company like EA should be a test case.
before i begin: i just wanted to say that what i say about e.a is a generalization, taken COMPLETELY from what i've heard from employees that have worked there. some of that information is seccond hand, as well. i'd also like to point out that at least 2 of the most tallented artists that post on these forums (daz and soul) work there, so obviously i reccognize that theres some awesome stuff going on that i'd be happy to be a part of. that being said, lets get this rant started.
remember that post a little while ago where a board member (whargoul? no...) was talking about how they made it to the top of the industry and had no drive to keep at it?
and then fuckin tuboy got all fucking bitchy and told him he should be slapped for talking about the games industry like that?
E.A games, as far as i can tell, from my observation and from talking to the employees, has the un-spoken rule of hire them young and burn them out. they do this because the day you get sick of being stressed to the limit and being ABUSED as an employee, they know that they can replace you with some little idiot who'll preform sexual favors to get into the industry, causing stuff like this.
from what i've heard from the employees, E.A doesn't give a shit if you spend the extra time and do quality work (this is a generalization, im sure there are lots of good projects at E.A) there's not much room for artistic advancement, and most of the games have a 1 year production schedual. it's not about making quality games, it's about making mediocre stuff and marketing it to the percentage of gamers who don't know any better.
and their making a killing doing to haha.
so yes, i hear about this all the time, and it bothers me. i suppose in another few years the industry will be unionized and the pendulum will have swung in the opposite direction, which is just as bad..
at any rate. I wouldn't mind being corrected if i'm wrong about E.A. if it's a nice place to work, i'm certainly going to send my reel there in a month hehe.
edit-- after reading this thred, my opinions about E.A have been re-inforced. fuck that makes my blood boil. there's NO way in HELL i'm putting up with that shit for more than 1 year.
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there's NO way in HELL i'm putting up with that shit for more than 1 year.
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That's exactly what they're counting on, that you'll put with it for at least a year and then bring in a new batch of kids that will put up with it for another year. Why put up with it at all?
This is copied from my post on CGTalk on this same topic. Thought I would share it with you guys here.
Here's another great example of what is wrong with the game industry.
From the most recent Game Informer cover story, the opening paragraphs of the Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks feature:
"For three consecutive days, Ed Boon and his team have not seen the light of day outside of Midway's Chicago-based studios. Amid the faint glow of computer monitors, we see the rings beneath programmers eyes and desks scattered with beverage containers and remenants of last meals. The feeling sinks in that we are witnessing the aftermath of a great battle that has been waged on the developement floor. Sensing our bewilderment with the state of things, we are quickly brought up to speed on the situation at hand, learning that the team had put the final touches on Mortal Kombat: Deception on the night prior to our arrival. Tunneling deeper into the workshop, we hear that several team members had purchased cots, one even equipped his office with a mini-fridge stocked to capacity with energy drinks. To maximize each day, the team even organized sleep shifts to get 20-30 mins of slumber before tweaking the code yet again."
Essentially it's things like this that glorify the death march of game development.
Granted this was towards the very end of the project where crunch is to be expected. But I'm sure many in the industry know this happens too much and not an the end of a project. Ed Boon is about 40 years old and when I read this all I could imagine was him sleeping under his desk on a $30 dollar cot at age 50. No offense to Ed Boon and the MK Team as I've been a huge fan of MK from the original and part of the reason I got into game development. To me there's nothing glorified about it.
To add some art/game schools even have their students go through a crunch period to simulate it as it would be in an actual studio. So early on it's taught to be the norm and acceptable.
entry level artists at EARS can make over 50k sure. The veterans can make well into 6 figures, although thats easier to achieve joining the company from film than games.
John: I suppose youre not a million miles off the mark. Whilst I dont think for a minute that all EA games are festering piles of shiat ( and I actually feel I've worked on some quality stuff ), it would be extremely hard to deny that EA's primary concern is shipping units. Heck, theyre a company, thats what companies do. But lets face it, as long as I work there, Im hardly going to be working on a Half-Life 2. Dev cycles tend to be a year, not five. ( personally Id like to meet somewhere in the middle but we cant have it all ) The yearly production cycle tends to put a cap on scope and quality for sure ( not to mention tends to create a long crunch period ). EA have aggressive ship cycles, and they dont budge.
That said, Id still like to re-iterate my last couple of paragraphs in my largish thread further up the page. It's not all bad! ea_spouse is a case that is at the extreme end of the spectrum, and it simply is not like that on all teams. I havent worked too hard in a while, I sure as hell cant complain about what they pay me, I have stock, bonuses, fantastic health care package, free use of an awesome gym. There are plenty perks.
Im not turning around and 'defending' EA here, but just trying to keep things in balance. It's not hell on earth. Its still a good paying job that I fundamentally enjoy doing. It just so happens that EA ( or, lets just say the Californian studios for now ) have a tendency to expect an awful lot from their staff, and crunch periods are too long. Hopefully however, the winds of change are on their way. Only time will tell.
"I wonder if a victory for the employees could lead to a gaming industry exodus from California?"
Hopefully an unlikely scenario, but you just never know. Which is exactly why there should be at least some trepedation with this lawsuit. We just dont what the ramifications are for a victory on either side.
I told Jamie a couple of months ago that he either has absurdly large testicles or he's incredibly dumb! Haven't figured out which, but all I can say is its pretty bizzare for him wandering around at work and having to look exec in the eye. That takes some guts.
If you want to read the details of the class action its now up here in PDF:
I remember when 60 hours a week was considered herendous.
Artists are so desperate that they're willing to take it in the butt and work 84 hours a week. There is only 168 hours in a week total. That leaves you 12 hours a day to take a dump, eat and sleep....and they probably aint pay'n for your lunch hour, so that probably leaves you only 11 hours of free time, per day.......no time to mountain bike, no time to surf, no time hike a trail....and if you're lucky you'll have time for sex.
Y'know, artists have got to stop thinking they're time and skills are worthless.
I had a teacher that said, I charge $50 an hour if somebody wants me so bad that it takes away from my free time.
$ 50 x 12 x 7 x 52 = $ 218,400 a year. Sounds fair to me.
And I was told that 10 years ago.
I've talked to other people that worked for salaried jobs outside of the game industry. They think 84 hours a week is nothing more then sweatshop hours.
You're more like Pedro making Nike sneekers in a 3rd world country, but more pay.
And Pedro probably doesn't have access to a computer. Most 3rd world countries don't have those luxuries. Art is usually considered frivolous and not a means to support a family in countries that are not fully industrialized.....I can see out sourcing possible in countries like Korea maybe India, but I don't see it happening in Mexico or China.
And Japan and Europe would probably charge just as much as US since they are fully industrialized.
DaZ- thanks for the reply. yes, of course, i've noticed that there's some great looking stuff comming out of there once and a while. i'm sure that it's not a total mad-house.. and like you say, when you hear about these stories, they're comming from the disgruntled employees. happy people don't bitch because they have no need to.
this thred got my friend and i talking the other night.
i guess in the long and short of it, if you want to change something in the industry, you've got to dive into the current and experience the way things work first hand, so that you can get perspective enough to be able to change things.
my friend and i are set, one day, on starting up a company. he's got the idea that he's going to work for 10 years to get an understanding of the way things work, and then start 'er up. the question is, in a place like E.A, in one of the bad projects that this thred is describes, is it possible to learn anything about the industry above your every day nose-to-the-grindstone rutine? it would seem to me that any company that would like to see it's employee's working 84 hours a week might be the wrong place to learn about the industry. anyone have an opinion on this?
"....and if you're lucky you'll have time for sex. "
with another person!
Nose Rider, I completly agree with you. It seems like most artist have an infiriority complex about their stuff, and the end result is a wishy washy business sense. Dont get me wrong, It makes all the difference to ask for crits and be critical of your own work, but If you get hired at say, E.A. chances are you got some skills and deserve to be treated as such.
Quality of Life Issues are Holding Back the Game Industry
Despite the continued success of the games industry, the immaturity of
current business and production practices is severely crippling the
industry. The recent frenzy of discussion over impassioned testimony about the
horrible working conditions within much of the industry attests to the reality
of this often unspoken disease.
As the professional association that unites the game development community and
serves as its voice, the International Game Developers Association is deeply
disturbed by this vicious cycle and is working to better the situation. Improving
the quality of life of game developers is an IGDA priority.
In tackling quality of life issues, it is important to realize that poor quality
of life is symptomatic of more fundamental challenges within the industry (e.g.,
consolidation, ever-evolving technology, one-sided contracting, lack of project
management expertise, no craft/job standards, etc), which in turn all need to
be addressed in order to truly improve our work/life balance.
What's more, game developers are sometimes just as much to blame for
submitting themselves to extreme working conditions, adopting a macho
bravado in hopes of proving themselves worthy for the industry. Our own attitudes
towards work/life balance and production practices need to change just as much
as the attitudes of the suits.
For those who are looking to unionization as an option, it is important to note
that the IGDA is not a union and cannot become one: the IGDA is incorporated
as a non-profit professional association, which has a distinct role from that
of a union. Further, as an international organization, the localized nature of
unions (i.e., often requiring state by state and country by country solutions)
is beyond our organizational scope.
It is unfortunate that it has gotten to the point of engaging in class
action lawsuits. While some industry workers choose such legal means to
gain retribution, the IGDA believes that a conciliatory approach is also an option.
The reality is that there are game companies that have proven that a focus on
quality of life can lead to great games, AND business success: BioWare, Firaxis,
Team17, Blue Fang, Cyberlore and Ensemble are just a few of the studios that
put as much effort on keeping their employees happy and healthy as on their bottom
line. These, and other sensible companies, realize that a strong quality of life
leads to more productive and creative workers. In turn, these workers produce
better games, and stay in the industry to share their experience with all the
passionate new recruits - helping to avoid common mistakes and recurring pitfalls.
Further, they realize that driving their people into the ground is a short-term
view that is not sustainable.
It is sadly ironic that those who strive for success at any cost don't
realize that mature and responsible human resource and production practices will
more readily bring them what they so desperately seek. That is to say, regardless
of the humane imperative, maintaining a strong quality of life is just good business.
The IGDA's white paper on quality of life best practices has already
served as a powerful tool, but it is only the first step. Via an upcoming best
companies to work for initiative, the IGDA will provide awareness of enlightened
companies and their practices so that others in the industry can learn from their
wisdom. Similarly, the IGDA will shine a light on the wealth of research and
knowledge being generated from outside the games industry.
To aid in these outreach efforts, the IGDA will be hosting a full-day
quality of life think-tank at the annual Game Developers Conference in
March. Also, we'll be encouraging our 80+ chapters from all over the world to
host local meetings and sessions to discuss and explore this important issue.
Further, the IGDA has two special interest groups that will help in sharing knowledge
and work on related issues: the Production SIG (working to formalize the production
process) and the Human Resources SIG (hub for HR professionals). The efforts
of these two SIGs, in addition to the ongoing work of the Quality of Life Committee,
will ensure a diverse perspective on solving quality of life problems.
This is only the beginning and we're still forming plans. We encourage
everyone to get involved. We ask that you contact us (qol@igda.org) to
volunteer, provide ideas, success stories, resources and any other relevant information.
In particular, the IGDA is requesting details on active and pending lawsuits
to add to our reference list online.
We have no doubt that with everyone's help and contribution we can save
the industry and art form we are all so passionate about.
A great read. "It is sadly ironic that those who strive for success at any cost don't realize that mature and responsible human resource and production practices will more readily bring them what they so desperately seek" is a particularly satisfying sentence, but Im also glad that the article includes the fact that as individuals we must also be held accountable for letting ourselves be taken advantage of.
I particularly like the anonymous forward button. It'll come in handy ;-p
"People at EA work long hours, in large part because of their great passion for making games"
Well, that clears that up. What's all this fuss about then?
I just read another article in the Seattle newspaper glorifying the 20-hour work day mentalitly. Granted it was about Halo 2 and was talking about the final phase of production, but it still made it seem like sleeping in your office was a cool thing to do.
I'd work 12/7/52 everyday if I got royalties, copyright benefits, stock and merchandise benefits.....but if all you got to look forward to is to get canned when the project is done, what's the point?
Has any artists become excuetives, besides the owners?
I can see out sourcing possible in countries like Korea maybe India, but I don't see it happening in Mexico or China.
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Noserider India is the largest third-world country on earth. Rat's lived in my mother's home growing up. She wasn't considered to be living amoungst the lowest cast either (far from it)
How can you 'not' see outsourcing to China when one of the largest game developers in the world has a studio there and shipped a AAA title from Shanghai (that's in China btw)
I think you can see outsourcng to India because it's happening and we've all heard about it, not because it is or isn't labeled as a 3rd world country (and it is).
There are more technically inclined and educated people living in China and India than there are people working in our slice of the techonogy industry in North America, all of the are worked alot harder than us, and make less than minimum wage (but over there a little goes alot farther, I've purchased a huge, tasty and healthy and hot meal from a hocker stand in asia for about $0.15 to $1.00)
Outsourcing is the ultimate reality for jobs that don't involve repetitive tasks that can easily be taught. Our culture excells (America most spacifically) corporate leadership, managment systems, innovation and creativity. Those are the jobs that most probably won't be outsourced.
I fear that a class-action lawsuit will mean the end of my career in the near future if I don't posses one of the above mentioned skills quickly. Chances are it'll force me abraod even if I do make it to the top where my job isn't outsourced -to train and lead the slobbering game development masses.
As far as outsourcing goes I think it's going to happen and keep happening regardless of a lawsuit. I rather focus on making improvements that we all can enjoy instead of worrying about running the gauntlet on eggshells to beat out someone who might take my job for willing to work for pennies and under poor conditions.
Chances are Pak that if things don't change it will be the end of your career and many others anyway. The IGDA report shows half of us leaving the industry in 10 years. How many guys do you know in the industry right now that is around age 40 or beyond? Yeah the industry is still young but old enough to start seeing some of these guys getting older trickling down their experience and seasoned talent to others.
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And all for what? So that you can make a video game? A video game that has a 90% chance of failure, no matter how great your personal contribution. So that some fat kid can sit on his couch all afternoon instead of going outside to play Cowboys and Indians? So that you can walk by a box in the bargain bin and nudge your buddy in the ribs to let him know you created some insignificant piece of artwork buried deep somewhere inside that CD where no-one you know will ever see it? And you yourself will probably never even play the game. After working on it so long and so hard you only hope to forget the experience and move on to the next chapter of your life. And even if your game does become a success, what does that hold for you?
Can you trade in that success for anything worthwhile? The most you can hope for is that the bullet entry on your resume will buy you another job doing the exact same thing, working the same long hours, but for a different company. And round and round game developers go, until they become burnt out and leave the industry, taking all their accumulated talent with them, to be replaced by a new batch of bright eyed and bushy tailed, yet inexperienced developers. It is no wonder there are so many crappy games. It is the same reason there are so many crappy hamburgers at McDonalds. Same business model.
My experience with the company has been fairly rough. Not to the same extent as the claimed 82 - 84 hour work weaks... but still quite bad.
When I started off on my first project things were fine. Normal 10 - 6 hours were good for me. About 2 months into that I saw myself slipping more and more into the late hours. Eventually I saw myself coming in at 10:30am - 11am and staying as late as 12am - 1am. That's about 13 hours. But you also have to include my commute. I commute 1.5 hours to get TO and FROM work.
My schedule was like this for months on end:
08:00 am Wake up for work
09:00 am Leave home
10:30 am Arrive at work
01:00 am Leave work
02:30 am Arrive at home
03:00 am Fall asleep (you have to factor in a good half hour for me to get ready for bed. Brush teeth, shower, etc)
That roughly gave me 5 hours to be at home. No. Not to be at home.. to sleep at home. I rarely saw my family on the weekdays. I'd occasionaly catch my father watching TV late at night but at was it.
The unhealthy hours I put into work was actually quite life threatening. Becoming very drowsy driving home late at night quickly became normal as the months passed by. I never thought much about it then. I always thought to myself that as long as I knew I wasn't falling asleep that I'd be fine.
This went on for months. Then it came. We were told that Saturdays were mandatory. Instead of having the entire weekend to catch up things and take care of shit you need to do in order to live... I only Sunday to do that.
I didn't like it one bit. But it was being asked of me. And being the complete idiot I was I did my Saturdays. Don't get me wrong. I may have been pissed off about the hours I gave away to EA, but I still put in 100% into my work. Thinking that at the end of it all I'd be rewarded with something that would justify the insanity I went through.
And so our game nears its deadline and everyone is excited. Not because the game is about to be finished, but because finally everyone on the team could finally take a break and go on vacation. Everyone on the team had been crunching for several months already.
We all get pulled into a meeting. Expecting the good news. And what we got was an absolute bomb shell. Our game's release date got pushed back. Needless to say, no one was happy.
We all pushed hard, put in insane hours only to be rewarded with what? More work and more hours. I shrugged it off and did my hours. STILL hoping that something good will surely come at the end of it all.
Eventually the game gets finished. And I was given a mere 2 weeks time off and a measly pay raise. Not to sound arrogant, but everyone I can reference can attest the level of talent I brought with me to EA. Specialy when you compare the quality of my work compared to the other artists on the team.
So the first project finishes. I take my 2 weeks off and come back to work. During the next 2 months or so, I get shuffled around a few projects before finally ending up on my 2nd official project.
This is how EA works after current projects are finished and new onew are started. Employees are simply thrown into the projects that need the most man power. No questions asked. You're simply notified that you're heading for a new project and that you'll be changing managers. There are exceptions to thise, but are usually reserved for the more senior employees. But even that requires a fight.
So anyways... 2 months after I came back to work, I was finally ready to start my new project. The project had already started before I joined and I believe had already been going on for about 3 - 4 months. I was put on the project because they were in dire need of character artists.
As usual... my schedule started off fairly slow. But just like the previous project, I quickly started seeing myself staying later at the office. And just like the previous project, everyone in the team was pulled into a meeting and was informed of the upcoming mandatory Saturdays. No big deal, right? But you're probably thinking that this is coming up a month before final. You'd be surprised.
Mandatory Saturdays were in effect 6 (SIX) months before our targeted release date. Not only were Saturdays mandatory, but "core hours" were also being enforced during Mondays - Fridays. Core hours meant having to be at work at 10am sharp and leaving whenever your tasks for that day were done. Which roughly translates to past midnight.
Now, bear in mind my hours, and I was fortunate to have a manager that understood this. So I continued on with my usual "get to work before 11am" routine. But at the same time I was also giving them a bit of a "fuck you" because I would sometimes leave "early" (around 8 or 9).
Several weeks into crunch, I'd learned that a friend of mine was going to be in town for a week. So I decided to leave work very early to go see her and some friends. The following day (I arrived around 11:30am), I see an e-mail in my inbox that was sent to me around 10am. Asking me to phone the person (not my manager, someone else in some type of management position) when I got in. So I did. The first thing that came out of the person's mouth was: "Did you just get in?"
"Yes."
And the person goes on about how I NEEDED to be at work by 10 and that I also NEEDED to stay late because we were on crunch. I can understand asking me to be at work by 10 since that was a given. But how did the person know I left early the previous day? There was no e-mail in my inbox that required my reply when I left early the previous evening.
This really pissed me off. I kept silent while the person rambled on the phone then I simply hung up.
I suppose you can argue that I did come in late. But you sort of have to put things into perspective. I'd already been working hard the previous weeks, putting in more than the required hours. What happened then was a 1 time deal. What? Just because a team is on crunch I'm not allowed to see my friend and enjoy a normal night out with people I know? And so what if I came in late that day? I was (and still am) never late for any kind of deadline.
The project pretty much went on for the next several months with everyone putting in late hours. The engineers had the worst because they were being give an enourmous amount of work on a daily basis. And I kept going with my hours. Though, I still did late nights more often than not.
The 2nd project was worse than the first because the 2nd project was littered with cheesy pep rally meetings with upper managent putting up a horrible attempt to boost morale among the team.
We all knew what we were making. We were making an incredibly questionable game and putting in late hours for it. Hearing management lie through their teeth was painful.
Eventually the product shipped on time. Not because our crunching paid off, but because the company amassed such a large team near the end, it was impossible to NOT finish on time. The size of the team was in constant growth throughout the 6 month crunch. Yet we were all still required to put in a lot of hours for 6 days a week.
That right there says 2 things about the project. There was too much to do and too little time to do it in. AKA shitty management.
I got nothing except another shitty pay raise from that project. To be honest, "shitty" is putting it nicely. Look at it this way... the increase in my paycheck is not even enough to cover a week's worth of lunch.
And here I am now. On my 3rd project taking it as easy as I possibly can. I've learned my lesson from the past 2 projects. I'm not going to be the one getting abused again only get nothing at the end of it all. I do 40 hours a week. Play games, watch movies, and take frequent breaks when I want. And even with doing all that I'm still able to get things done on time.
I'm feeling quite good to be honest. There's no stress from work. I'm eating healthy. I'm actually able to eat a home cooked meal for dinner now. And my social life is ramping back up because I now the free time to enjoy my week nights.
[Edit] Note the rapid pace at which things are done at work. I've been working for 1.5 years. And already I've been able to ship 2 full games. 2 games in 1.5 years. That isn't right.
Great read Soul. Thanks for sharing. That does suck and you should strive to get a better situation for yourself.
As artists aren't we suppose to get inspiration from outside of the job through things such as seeing the outdoors, seeing a movie, playing other videogames, etc.... Just sounds like so many are simply getting robbed of life and for many their youth. Makes me glad I got in the industry a bit older than I was originally hoping to.
Replies
http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/11/643#more-643
The fact is that most of the big game studios are public listed companies so in the end all that matters is to produce at the lowest costs to get a maximum profit. If they can get the same job done elsewhere for a lot cheaper and with less hassle than I don't see why they wouldn't do that. Seems to work fine for GAP and Nike. Ok, manufacturing of clothese and shoes doesn't take a lot of intelligence and artistic skills but I can imagine that in countries like Korea and India these skills are available and if not people can be trained.
Hopefully crunch times will be reduced, and those working them will be properly rewarded.
Some overtime might always be nessacary however the long periods of planned for overtime that Ea have been dishing ut to their employee's is wrong.
Sure eventually the games industry work might all get outsourced to other countries with poor economies, but for the moment I am glad that people are willing to stand up for their rights.
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard exetermists of mandatroy overtime??
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard exetermists of mandatroy overtime??
[/ QUOTE ]
I used to be...then I realised that you can make cutting edge games, that everyone at the huge studios play at lunch for the same pay, with decent hours, and no unnecessary guilt trips or political finger-pointing manuevers.
There are so many wierd ideas floating around about why it's important to work for a large corporation (benifits, technology, good ad budgets, development systems, expierenced co-workers, big pay) I have most to be simply not true, or not exclusive to large studios.
I read the article by Evan Robinson that p00p posted. It's important to read this quote from tha article
[ QUOTE ]
any manager who leads his team into a death march has failed his employees, his superiors, and his companys investors.
[/ QUOTE ]
I now work at a small studio with cutting-edge technology, very talented co-workers, and bosses with realistic expectations who learn from their mistakes.
They're out there guys, just keep your ear to the ground, we need to keep talking like this at polycount.
-R
(At Adobe, management worried when the turnover rate hit 18%. EAs 50% is evidence of a grossly dysfunctional culture.)
[/ QUOTE ]
http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/11/643#more-643
Turnovers like that usually equate to alot of assholes. I've experienced high school....don't wanna live that out again.
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard extremists of mandatroy overtime??
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah. I think it's because some feel they can justify their job that way (because they may not be able to in other measurements of performance). It's tough, because you have to appreciate it if somebody voluntarily works ridiculous hours to get something done, even if somebody else might be able to do it in half the time.
Unfortunatly i am working atm otherwise it would have been good to hear more about how our managment are looking at the developments (surely more rationally), perhaps next friday bar.
Whatever if anyone hears some kind of responce from EA please post it ASAP...
@ DaZ funny i have noticed a lot of what you were saying, and guessed from having been in similar positions the same about your position (BTW it is funny seeing how peoples reactions to your opininions change when you go back, for me it was amazing to find out from them how much i had changed my POV), it is the subject for many a long evening(s) over beer and pool, i look forward to it... Even though they speak a different language here i recon that the cultural differences between UK and US are probably more than UK and DK at least as far as the working ethics go. Whatever you are doing a great as ombudsmann, hope you (and all) kan keep grinning whilst bearing it...
tpe
I get to play with my son and spend quality time with the wife whenever I want, take breaks to go to the zoo and whatnot. Even though I watch my son all day and work at night, it's well worth it.
family > any job
tpe: I dont think that we will see a statement from EA either internally nor externally on either the 'ea_spouse' story nor the artists class action. To output such a statement would be to admit that there is even an issue.
To be fair, I think the kind of company loyalty furver that I described above is a bit of a Californian thing as opposed to US ( although If you've ever seen that disturbing video of a close to heart attack Microcost exec rallying troops at a company meeting I guess I should extend that to other tech hotspots such as Seattle ).
Whilst Im here, Id like to specify this issue to one or two studio's If at all possible. I worked at EA UK for many years and was perfectly happy and never did much O/T.
It saddens me greatly to think that this phenomenon might deter people from working in videogames, or CG at all ( which is a reaction Ive seen on quite a few different threads ) ea_spouse is one persons story. Im not sayng it didnt happen as told, but its an extreme case. Whilst I have been fairly vocal in the past about how hard we have been pushed for O/T, I havent had it nearly as bad as people on other teams and I think ( hope ) things will be different now, particularly after the last few days.
The thing that bothers me most about the class action, is that it appears that it's wholly about money. ( and heck, wherever lawyers are involved its bound to be ) Whilst O/T pay is a factor, I think the point that EA really needs to understand is, that its not really about the money, it's about being 'forced' to do OT. It's about the <alleged> 'mandatory saturdays' or even sundays demanded of teams for weeks on end. I personally work as hard as I think I need to ( and want to ) and will never do a 'mandatory' anything anymore. The individual does have some control. Thats probably easier for me to say than some of the young guys, since Ive been at the company a long time, am known and well regarded at the company so my fear of being fired is negligible. But anyway, just trying to keep things in perspective.
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone else finding that some of their co-workers are die hard extremists of mandatroy overtime??
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah. I think it's because some feel they can justify their job that way (because they may not be able to in other measurements of performance). It's tough, because you have to appreciate it if somebody voluntarily works ridiculous hours to get something done, even if somebody else might be able to do it in half the time.
[/ QUOTE ]
I hear that. I have seen it in several places. Artist A cannot create stellar art, so they make up for it by working insane hours. Problem is that most of the time Management sees them as a greater asset than artist B who does great art, on time, but goes home at 6.
Its some kind of lame badge of heroism, that "I am hardcore because I work 24.5 hours a day" It is not being hardcore, it is grinding your life down the drain.
"On July 29, 2004, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA"). This communication responds to earlier e-mail communications from EA management regarding the litigation. The lawsuit alleges that EA improperly classified some of its employees, including 'animators,' 'modelers,' 'texture artists,' 'lighters,' 'background effects artists,' and 'environmental artists' as exempt from overtime, and therefore failed to pay those employees overtime compensation. Plaintiff's action seeks statutory penalties, damages, restitution, and injunctive relief.
[/ QUOTE ]
I always thought that exemption to pay overtime was complete bullshit.
If they have to go after anybody, a big abusive company like EA should be a test case.
KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL
[edit] actually one of my better managers agreed with the above and conciders it one of the managments failings even in himself [edit]
tpe
remember that post a little while ago where a board member (whargoul? no...) was talking about how they made it to the top of the industry and had no drive to keep at it?
and then fuckin tuboy got all fucking bitchy and told him he should be slapped for talking about the games industry like that?
E.A games, as far as i can tell, from my observation and from talking to the employees, has the un-spoken rule of hire them young and burn them out. they do this because the day you get sick of being stressed to the limit and being ABUSED as an employee, they know that they can replace you with some little idiot who'll preform sexual favors to get into the industry, causing stuff like this.
from what i've heard from the employees, E.A doesn't give a shit if you spend the extra time and do quality work (this is a generalization, im sure there are lots of good projects at E.A) there's not much room for artistic advancement, and most of the games have a 1 year production schedual. it's not about making quality games, it's about making mediocre stuff and marketing it to the percentage of gamers who don't know any better.
and their making a killing doing to haha.
so yes, i hear about this all the time, and it bothers me. i suppose in another few years the industry will be unionized and the pendulum will have swung in the opposite direction, which is just as bad..
at any rate. I wouldn't mind being corrected if i'm wrong about E.A. if it's a nice place to work, i'm certainly going to send my reel there in a month hehe.
edit-- after reading this thred, my opinions about E.A have been re-inforced. fuck that makes my blood boil. there's NO way in HELL i'm putting up with that shit for more than 1 year.
Scott
there's NO way in HELL i'm putting up with that shit for more than 1 year.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's exactly what they're counting on, that you'll put with it for at least a year and then bring in a new batch of kids that will put up with it for another year. Why put up with it at all?
Trying to figure out if it's worth it....paticularly since homes normally cost over 450k in California.
Here's another great example of what is wrong with the game industry.
From the most recent Game Informer cover story, the opening paragraphs of the Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks feature:
"For three consecutive days, Ed Boon and his team have not seen the light of day outside of Midway's Chicago-based studios. Amid the faint glow of computer monitors, we see the rings beneath programmers eyes and desks scattered with beverage containers and remenants of last meals. The feeling sinks in that we are witnessing the aftermath of a great battle that has been waged on the developement floor. Sensing our bewilderment with the state of things, we are quickly brought up to speed on the situation at hand, learning that the team had put the final touches on Mortal Kombat: Deception on the night prior to our arrival. Tunneling deeper into the workshop, we hear that several team members had purchased cots, one even equipped his office with a mini-fridge stocked to capacity with energy drinks. To maximize each day, the team even organized sleep shifts to get 20-30 mins of slumber before tweaking the code yet again."
Essentially it's things like this that glorify the death march of game development.
Granted this was towards the very end of the project where crunch is to be expected. But I'm sure many in the industry know this happens too much and not an the end of a project. Ed Boon is about 40 years old and when I read this all I could imagine was him sleeping under his desk on a $30 dollar cot at age 50. No offense to Ed Boon and the MK Team as I've been a huge fan of MK from the original and part of the reason I got into game development. To me there's nothing glorified about it.
To add some art/game schools even have their students go through a crunch period to simulate it as it would be in an actual studio. So early on it's taught to be the norm and acceptable.
That said, Id still like to re-iterate my last couple of paragraphs in my largish thread further up the page. It's not all bad! ea_spouse is a case that is at the extreme end of the spectrum, and it simply is not like that on all teams. I havent worked too hard in a while, I sure as hell cant complain about what they pay me, I have stock, bonuses, fantastic health care package, free use of an awesome gym. There are plenty perks.
Im not turning around and 'defending' EA here, but just trying to keep things in balance. It's not hell on earth. Its still a good paying job that I fundamentally enjoy doing. It just so happens that EA ( or, lets just say the Californian studios for now ) have a tendency to expect an awful lot from their staff, and crunch periods are too long. Hopefully however, the winds of change are on their way. Only time will tell.
Hopefully an unlikely scenario, but you just never know. Which is exactly why there should be at least some trepedation with this lawsuit. We just dont what the ramifications are for a victory on either side.
I told Jamie a couple of months ago that he either has absurdly large testicles or he's incredibly dumb! Haven't figured out which, but all I can say is its pretty bizzare for him wandering around at work and having to look exec in the eye. That takes some guts.
If you want to read the details of the class action its now up here in PDF:
http://www.eaovertimecase.com/
Artists are so desperate that they're willing to take it in the butt and work 84 hours a week. There is only 168 hours in a week total. That leaves you 12 hours a day to take a dump, eat and sleep....and they probably aint pay'n for your lunch hour, so that probably leaves you only 11 hours of free time, per day.......no time to mountain bike, no time to surf, no time hike a trail....and if you're lucky you'll have time for sex.
Y'know, artists have got to stop thinking they're time and skills are worthless.
I had a teacher that said, I charge $50 an hour if somebody wants me so bad that it takes away from my free time.
$ 50 x 12 x 7 x 52 = $ 218,400 a year. Sounds fair to me.
And I was told that 10 years ago.
I've talked to other people that worked for salaried jobs outside of the game industry. They think 84 hours a week is nothing more then sweatshop hours.
You're more like Pedro making Nike sneekers in a 3rd world country, but more pay.
And Pedro probably doesn't have access to a computer. Most 3rd world countries don't have those luxuries. Art is usually considered frivolous and not a means to support a family in countries that are not fully industrialized.....I can see out sourcing possible in countries like Korea maybe India, but I don't see it happening in Mexico or China.
And Japan and Europe would probably charge just as much as US since they are fully industrialized.
http://www.eaovertimecase.com/Complaint.pdf
this thred got my friend and i talking the other night.
i guess in the long and short of it, if you want to change something in the industry, you've got to dive into the current and experience the way things work first hand, so that you can get perspective enough to be able to change things.
my friend and i are set, one day, on starting up a company. he's got the idea that he's going to work for 10 years to get an understanding of the way things work, and then start 'er up. the question is, in a place like E.A, in one of the bad projects that this thred is describes, is it possible to learn anything about the industry above your every day nose-to-the-grindstone rutine? it would seem to me that any company that would like to see it's employee's working 84 hours a week might be the wrong place to learn about the industry. anyone have an opinion on this?
with another person!
Nose Rider, I completly agree with you. It seems like most artist have an infiriority complex about their stuff, and the end result is a wishy washy business sense. Dont get me wrong, It makes all the difference to ask for crits and be critical of your own work, but If you get hired at say, E.A. chances are you got some skills and deserve to be treated as such.
Subj: IGDA: Quality of Life Issues are Holding Back the Game Industry
Date: 11/16/2004 6:31:59 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: qol_letter@igda.org (IGDA)
To: myemailaddre@mindyourownbusiness.com
Open Letter November 16, 2004
Quality of Life Issues are Holding Back the Game Industry
Despite the continued success of the games industry, the immaturity of
current business and production practices is severely crippling the
industry. The recent frenzy of discussion over impassioned testimony about the
horrible working conditions within much of the industry attests to the reality
of this often unspoken disease.
As the professional association that unites the game development community and
serves as its voice, the International Game Developers Association is deeply
disturbed by this vicious cycle and is working to better the situation. Improving
the quality of life of game developers is an IGDA priority.
In tackling quality of life issues, it is important to realize that poor quality
of life is symptomatic of more fundamental challenges within the industry (e.g.,
consolidation, ever-evolving technology, one-sided contracting, lack of project
management expertise, no craft/job standards, etc), which in turn all need to
be addressed in order to truly improve our work/life balance.
What's more, game developers are sometimes just as much to blame for
submitting themselves to extreme working conditions, adopting a macho
bravado in hopes of proving themselves worthy for the industry. Our own attitudes
towards work/life balance and production practices need to change just as much
as the attitudes of the suits.
For those who are looking to unionization as an option, it is important to note
that the IGDA is not a union and cannot become one: the IGDA is incorporated
as a non-profit professional association, which has a distinct role from that
of a union. Further, as an international organization, the localized nature of
unions (i.e., often requiring state by state and country by country solutions)
is beyond our organizational scope.
It is unfortunate that it has gotten to the point of engaging in class
action lawsuits. While some industry workers choose such legal means to
gain retribution, the IGDA believes that a conciliatory approach is also an option.
The reality is that there are game companies that have proven that a focus on
quality of life can lead to great games, AND business success: BioWare, Firaxis,
Team17, Blue Fang, Cyberlore and Ensemble are just a few of the studios that
put as much effort on keeping their employees happy and healthy as on their bottom
line. These, and other sensible companies, realize that a strong quality of life
leads to more productive and creative workers. In turn, these workers produce
better games, and stay in the industry to share their experience with all the
passionate new recruits - helping to avoid common mistakes and recurring pitfalls.
Further, they realize that driving their people into the ground is a short-term
view that is not sustainable.
It is sadly ironic that those who strive for success at any cost don't
realize that mature and responsible human resource and production practices will
more readily bring them what they so desperately seek. That is to say, regardless
of the humane imperative, maintaining a strong quality of life is just good business.
The IGDA's white paper on quality of life best practices has already
served as a powerful tool, but it is only the first step. Via an upcoming best
companies to work for initiative, the IGDA will provide awareness of enlightened
companies and their practices so that others in the industry can learn from their
wisdom. Similarly, the IGDA will shine a light on the wealth of research and
knowledge being generated from outside the games industry.
To aid in these outreach efforts, the IGDA will be hosting a full-day
quality of life think-tank at the annual Game Developers Conference in
March. Also, we'll be encouraging our 80+ chapters from all over the world to
host local meetings and sessions to discuss and explore this important issue.
Further, the IGDA has two special interest groups that will help in sharing knowledge
and work on related issues: the Production SIG (working to formalize the production
process) and the Human Resources SIG (hub for HR professionals). The efforts
of these two SIGs, in addition to the ongoing work of the Quality of Life Committee,
will ensure a diverse perspective on solving quality of life problems.
This is only the beginning and we're still forming plans. We encourage
everyone to get involved. We ask that you contact us (qol@igda.org) to
volunteer, provide ideas, success stories, resources and any other relevant information.
In particular, the IGDA is requesting details on active and pending lawsuits
to add to our reference list online.
We have no doubt that with everyone's help and contribution we can save
the industry and art form we are all so passionate about.
Note: This letter is also available online at http://www.igda.org/qol/open_letter.php
and can be easily forwarded,
anonymously if desired.
The IGDA Board of Directors,
Bob Bates
Jason Della Rocca
Alex Dunne
John Feil
Mitzi McGilvray
Brian Reynolds
Jesse Schell
Kathy Schoback
Related Links and Resources
===========================
White Paper: "Quality of Life in the Game Industry: Challenges and Best
Practices"
http://www.igda.org/qol/whitepaper.php
Event: Quality of Life Summit: An IGDA Think-Tank
http://www.cmpevents.com/GD05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=4063
IGDA Quality of Life Advocacy Site
http://www.igda.org/qol
Winning Workplaces Competitive Advantages
http://www.winningworkplaces.org/library/research/advantages.php
Article: It's Not Just Abusive. It's Stupid.
http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/11/643
Article: Joe Straitiff's Journal
http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/2004/11/10/
Article: EA: The Human Story
http://www.igda.org/articles/easpouse_qol.php
Great Place to Work Institute
http://greatplacetowork.com/
Article: Employees readying class-action lawsuit against EA
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/11/news_6112998.html
Article: "Developer working conditions hide a cancer in the games industry"
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=dev&aid=3721
Article: Programmer Sues VU Games Over Excessive Work Hours
http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/06/30/1558238.shtml
Top 6 Work-Life Balance Books
http://humanresources.about.com/cs/worklifefamily/tp/worklife.htm
IGDA Global Chapters Index
http://www.igda.org/chapters/
Production Special Interest Group
http://www.igda.org/production/
Human Resources Special Interest Group
http://www.igda.org/hr/<br />
[/ QUOTE ]
I particularly like the anonymous forward button. It'll come in handy ;-p
LeJomphe posted this in the 2d/3d forum. Its an interesting read in light of the rest of this thread.
Well, that clears that up. What's all this fuss about then?
I just read another article in the Seattle newspaper glorifying the 20-hour work day mentalitly. Granted it was about Halo 2 and was talking about the final phase of production, but it still made it seem like sleeping in your office was a cool thing to do.
Nope, I am not feeling any cooler
Has any artists become excuetives, besides the owners?
http://www.maxforums.org/thread.aspx?tid=273863&r=27
I can see out sourcing possible in countries like Korea maybe India, but I don't see it happening in Mexico or China.
[/ QUOTE ]
Noserider India is the largest third-world country on earth. Rat's lived in my mother's home growing up. She wasn't considered to be living amoungst the lowest cast either (far from it)
How can you 'not' see outsourcing to China when one of the largest game developers in the world has a studio there and shipped a AAA title from Shanghai (that's in China btw)
I think you can see outsourcng to India because it's happening and we've all heard about it, not because it is or isn't labeled as a 3rd world country (and it is).
There are more technically inclined and educated people living in China and India than there are people working in our slice of the techonogy industry in North America, all of the are worked alot harder than us, and make less than minimum wage (but over there a little goes alot farther, I've purchased a huge, tasty and healthy and hot meal from a hocker stand in asia for about $0.15 to $1.00)
Outsourcing is the ultimate reality for jobs that don't involve repetitive tasks that can easily be taught. Our culture excells (America most spacifically) corporate leadership, managment systems, innovation and creativity. Those are the jobs that most probably won't be outsourced.
I fear that a class-action lawsuit will mean the end of my career in the near future if I don't posses one of the above mentioned skills quickly. Chances are it'll force me abraod even if I do make it to the top where my job isn't outsourced -to train and lead the slobbering game development masses.
-R
-R
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/busine...ner=rssuserland
As far as outsourcing goes I think it's going to happen and keep happening regardless of a lawsuit. I rather focus on making improvements that we all can enjoy instead of worrying about running the gauntlet on eggshells to beat out someone who might take my job for willing to work for pennies and under poor conditions.
Chances are Pak that if things don't change it will be the end of your career and many others anyway. The IGDA report shows half of us leaving the industry in 10 years. How many guys do you know in the industry right now that is around age 40 or beyond? Yeah the industry is still young but old enough to start seeing some of these guys getting older trickling down their experience and seasoned talent to others.
And all for what? So that you can make a video game? A video game that has a 90% chance of failure, no matter how great your personal contribution. So that some fat kid can sit on his couch all afternoon instead of going outside to play Cowboys and Indians? So that you can walk by a box in the bargain bin and nudge your buddy in the ribs to let him know you created some insignificant piece of artwork buried deep somewhere inside that CD where no-one you know will ever see it? And you yourself will probably never even play the game. After working on it so long and so hard you only hope to forget the experience and move on to the next chapter of your life. And even if your game does become a success, what does that hold for you?
Can you trade in that success for anything worthwhile? The most you can hope for is that the bullet entry on your resume will buy you another job doing the exact same thing, working the same long hours, but for a different company. And round and round game developers go, until they become burnt out and leave the industry, taking all their accumulated talent with them, to be replaced by a new batch of bright eyed and bushy tailed, yet inexperienced developers. It is no wonder there are so many crappy games. It is the same reason there are so many crappy hamburgers at McDonalds. Same business model.
[/ QUOTE ]
trippy... but true.
When I started off on my first project things were fine. Normal 10 - 6 hours were good for me. About 2 months into that I saw myself slipping more and more into the late hours. Eventually I saw myself coming in at 10:30am - 11am and staying as late as 12am - 1am. That's about 13 hours. But you also have to include my commute. I commute 1.5 hours to get TO and FROM work.
My schedule was like this for months on end:
08:00 am Wake up for work
09:00 am Leave home
10:30 am Arrive at work
01:00 am Leave work
02:30 am Arrive at home
03:00 am Fall asleep (you have to factor in a good half hour for me to get ready for bed. Brush teeth, shower, etc)
That roughly gave me 5 hours to be at home. No. Not to be at home.. to sleep at home. I rarely saw my family on the weekdays. I'd occasionaly catch my father watching TV late at night but at was it.
The unhealthy hours I put into work was actually quite life threatening. Becoming very drowsy driving home late at night quickly became normal as the months passed by. I never thought much about it then. I always thought to myself that as long as I knew I wasn't falling asleep that I'd be fine.
This went on for months. Then it came. We were told that Saturdays were mandatory. Instead of having the entire weekend to catch up things and take care of shit you need to do in order to live... I only Sunday to do that.
I didn't like it one bit. But it was being asked of me. And being the complete idiot I was I did my Saturdays. Don't get me wrong. I may have been pissed off about the hours I gave away to EA, but I still put in 100% into my work. Thinking that at the end of it all I'd be rewarded with something that would justify the insanity I went through.
And so our game nears its deadline and everyone is excited. Not because the game is about to be finished, but because finally everyone on the team could finally take a break and go on vacation. Everyone on the team had been crunching for several months already.
We all get pulled into a meeting. Expecting the good news. And what we got was an absolute bomb shell. Our game's release date got pushed back. Needless to say, no one was happy.
We all pushed hard, put in insane hours only to be rewarded with what? More work and more hours. I shrugged it off and did my hours. STILL hoping that something good will surely come at the end of it all.
Eventually the game gets finished. And I was given a mere 2 weeks time off and a measly pay raise. Not to sound arrogant, but everyone I can reference can attest the level of talent I brought with me to EA. Specialy when you compare the quality of my work compared to the other artists on the team.
So the first project finishes. I take my 2 weeks off and come back to work. During the next 2 months or so, I get shuffled around a few projects before finally ending up on my 2nd official project.
This is how EA works after current projects are finished and new onew are started. Employees are simply thrown into the projects that need the most man power. No questions asked. You're simply notified that you're heading for a new project and that you'll be changing managers. There are exceptions to thise, but are usually reserved for the more senior employees. But even that requires a fight.
So anyways... 2 months after I came back to work, I was finally ready to start my new project. The project had already started before I joined and I believe had already been going on for about 3 - 4 months. I was put on the project because they were in dire need of character artists.
As usual... my schedule started off fairly slow. But just like the previous project, I quickly started seeing myself staying later at the office. And just like the previous project, everyone in the team was pulled into a meeting and was informed of the upcoming mandatory Saturdays. No big deal, right? But you're probably thinking that this is coming up a month before final. You'd be surprised.
Mandatory Saturdays were in effect 6 (SIX) months before our targeted release date. Not only were Saturdays mandatory, but "core hours" were also being enforced during Mondays - Fridays. Core hours meant having to be at work at 10am sharp and leaving whenever your tasks for that day were done. Which roughly translates to past midnight.
Now, bear in mind my hours, and I was fortunate to have a manager that understood this. So I continued on with my usual "get to work before 11am" routine. But at the same time I was also giving them a bit of a "fuck you" because I would sometimes leave "early" (around 8 or 9).
Several weeks into crunch, I'd learned that a friend of mine was going to be in town for a week. So I decided to leave work very early to go see her and some friends. The following day (I arrived around 11:30am), I see an e-mail in my inbox that was sent to me around 10am. Asking me to phone the person (not my manager, someone else in some type of management position) when I got in. So I did. The first thing that came out of the person's mouth was: "Did you just get in?"
"Yes."
And the person goes on about how I NEEDED to be at work by 10 and that I also NEEDED to stay late because we were on crunch. I can understand asking me to be at work by 10 since that was a given. But how did the person know I left early the previous day? There was no e-mail in my inbox that required my reply when I left early the previous evening.
This really pissed me off. I kept silent while the person rambled on the phone then I simply hung up.
I suppose you can argue that I did come in late. But you sort of have to put things into perspective. I'd already been working hard the previous weeks, putting in more than the required hours. What happened then was a 1 time deal. What? Just because a team is on crunch I'm not allowed to see my friend and enjoy a normal night out with people I know? And so what if I came in late that day? I was (and still am) never late for any kind of deadline.
The project pretty much went on for the next several months with everyone putting in late hours. The engineers had the worst because they were being give an enourmous amount of work on a daily basis. And I kept going with my hours. Though, I still did late nights more often than not.
The 2nd project was worse than the first because the 2nd project was littered with cheesy pep rally meetings with upper managent putting up a horrible attempt to boost morale among the team.
We all knew what we were making. We were making an incredibly questionable game and putting in late hours for it. Hearing management lie through their teeth was painful.
Eventually the product shipped on time. Not because our crunching paid off, but because the company amassed such a large team near the end, it was impossible to NOT finish on time. The size of the team was in constant growth throughout the 6 month crunch. Yet we were all still required to put in a lot of hours for 6 days a week.
That right there says 2 things about the project. There was too much to do and too little time to do it in. AKA shitty management.
I got nothing except another shitty pay raise from that project. To be honest, "shitty" is putting it nicely. Look at it this way... the increase in my paycheck is not even enough to cover a week's worth of lunch.
And here I am now. On my 3rd project taking it as easy as I possibly can. I've learned my lesson from the past 2 projects. I'm not going to be the one getting abused again only get nothing at the end of it all. I do 40 hours a week. Play games, watch movies, and take frequent breaks when I want. And even with doing all that I'm still able to get things done on time.
I'm feeling quite good to be honest. There's no stress from work. I'm eating healthy. I'm actually able to eat a home cooked meal for dinner now. And my social life is ramping back up because I now the free time to enjoy my week nights.
[Edit] Note the rapid pace at which things are done at work. I've been working for 1.5 years. And already I've been able to ship 2 full games. 2 games in 1.5 years. That isn't right.
As artists aren't we suppose to get inspiration from outside of the job through things such as seeing the outdoors, seeing a movie, playing other videogames, etc.... Just sounds like so many are simply getting robbed of life and for many their youth. Makes me glad I got in the industry a bit older than I was originally hoping to.