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they need to realize that they have a unique and valuable skill set The competition to be a low-paid drone in game development is huge; significantly more than

they need to realize that they have a unique and valuable skill set The competition to be a low-paid drone in game development is huge; significantly more than in non game dev. The games industry is powered by huge numbers of low-experience software engineers. They get paid in glamour and the thrill of being able to tell their friends they work in games. They could leave and go somewhere else for more money, but they don't want more money as much as they want that glamour. I've seen it myself; people take low-paid QA jobs at games companies for the love of spending 12 hours a day following mind-numbing instructions, repetitively playtesting a greyscale wireframe without sound or graphics assets. For the glamour of it. These people have skill sets that are unusual amongst the general population, but not in the realms of software engineering job candidates and even less so in games, where strongly talented people take Godawful jobs for the glamour of it. Yes, there are highly skilled, experienced software engineers in the industry too, but they're not the ones being fucked over in huge numbers on a daily basis.

Veen 8y ago
> The competition to be a low-paid drone in game development is huge. That's precisely why unionization is the best course of action. Game development companies aren't threatened if individual developers demand better treatment because they can be replaced by the next starry-eyed young dev seeking prestige and glamour. But if enough of them unionize and collectively bargain for better conditions, the industry has to listen.
- EliRivers 8y ago
  In the absence of other protections (and frankly, even in the presence of other protections), I'm a fan of unionisation, but I am from outside the USA; I understand people inside the USA commonly have different opinions about unions.
gowld 8y ago
People say that, but what's the glamour? Do you have friends in AAA gamedev? Do you think that's cool? Do their parents? Their little brothers? You know who is cool? the 2-3 people who designed and built Pac-Mac, or Legend of Zelda, or Braid, or Papers Please. Not the people making guns for Call of War 7 that's a clone of a dozen other AAA games.
- endemic 8y ago
  Exactly. I thought I wanted to make games professionally for a long time, then realized that I'd just be a cog in the machine if I worked for a large company.
- jtms 8y ago
  Yeah I think it’s cool that extremely powerful game engines are available for free to developers. There are many a reason why EA and others are taking a big hit, but the swell of really good games being produced by those 2-3 person teams has to be a big part of it. I haven’t played anything that could be considered AAA in quite some time (anything from FROM software being a very strong exception - I love their work)
- EliRivers 8y ago
  You mean, do I know who you happen to think is cool, which pretty much by definition has to be a cultural and personal opinion? Good for you. Lots of people think working on big flashy modern AAA games is cool and glamourous. I don't. You don't. Presumably that's why we won't work for glamour in the games industry. Lots of people are prepared to work for glamour in the games industry; they think it's cool.
- soup10 8y ago
  working on a AAA game that everyone has heard of is going to get you more kudos than some hipster indie title(looking at you Papers Please)
bena 8y ago
Yes. I see this a lot. There's a testing facility for one of the major studios nearby. Lots of people try to get jobs there and say they work at "X". But it's all QA. So I'm like "Cool, so you make minimum wage running tests". I mean, you may never see my name in lights, but I ain't hurting to pay the bills if you know what I mean.

Veen 8y ago

> The competition to be a low-paid drone in game development is huge. That's precisely why unionization is the best course of action. Game development companies aren't threatened if individual developers demand better treatment because they can be replaced by the next starry-eyed young dev seeking prestige and glamour. But if enough of them unionize and collectively bargain for better conditions, the industry has to listen.

EliRivers 8y ago
In the absence of other protections (and frankly, even in the presence of other protections), I'm a fan of unionisation, but I am from outside the USA; I understand people inside the USA commonly have different opinions about unions.

gowld 8y ago

People say that, but what's the glamour? Do you have friends in AAA gamedev? Do you think that's cool? Do their parents? Their little brothers? You know who is cool? the 2-3 people who designed and built Pac-Mac, or Legend of Zelda, or Braid, or Papers Please. Not the people making guns for Call of War 7 that's a clone of a dozen other AAA games.

endemic 8y ago
Exactly. I thought I wanted to make games professionally for a long time, then realized that I'd just be a cog in the machine if I worked for a large company.
jtms 8y ago
Yeah I think it’s cool that extremely powerful game engines are available for free to developers. There are many a reason why EA and others are taking a big hit, but the swell of really good games being produced by those 2-3 person teams has to be a big part of it. I haven’t played anything that could be considered AAA in quite some time (anything from FROM software being a very strong exception - I love their work)
EliRivers 8y ago
You mean, do I know who you happen to think is cool, which pretty much by definition has to be a cultural and personal opinion? Good for you. Lots of people think working on big flashy modern AAA games is cool and glamourous. I don't. You don't. Presumably that's why we won't work for glamour in the games industry. Lots of people are prepared to work for glamour in the games industry; they think it's cool.
soup10 8y ago
working on a AAA game that everyone has heard of is going to get you more kudos than some hipster indie title(looking at you Papers Please)

bena 8y ago

Yes. I see this a lot. There's a testing facility for one of the major studios nearby. Lots of people try to get jobs there and say they work at "X". But it's all QA. So I'm like "Cool, so you make minimum wage running tests". I mean, you may never see my name in lights, but I ain't hurting to pay the bills if you know what I mean.