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I don't mind unionizing factory work on institutionalized sports, even though that can go poorly in some cases. There are some industries that have finite requi

I don't mind unionizing factory work on institutionalized sports, even though that can go poorly in some cases. There are some industries that have finite requirements and no amount of union bending can change the nature of the industry. There's only a few games that employ enough people to become an institution that requires worker protection. Star Citizen, Blizzard, Riot Games are institutions in their own right. Thousands of indie games are not and can make good wages or average wages by working solo or in small teams. Forcing these people to work to union rules (which will happen with union capture) breaks the model of independence for the sake of salaried employees. The large companies will merge and the industry will die. I can't agree with that.

Frondo 7y ago
The game industry will do just fine with a union presence. It won't die. Solo game developers will feel no union pressure, nor will small teams. If there are triple-A studios that are so fragile that they'll go under with their employees getting better working conditions, I will shed no tear for those. I will shed no tear for any employer whose continued business success depends on working staff 80, 120 hours a week, in the game industry or any other.
- friendlybus 7y ago
  That is the dream that we can unionize without it becoming an all-encompassing force. Hollywood has not experienced that.
  - claudeganon 7y ago
    Indie films still get made, big actors work at scale, or certain content shifts to new platforms (e.g. streaming). The decline of independence in Hollywood has little to do with unions and more to do with unregulated, entertainment industry monopolies.
    - friendlybus 7y ago
      Who do you think enforces those monopolies? Working outside SAG can have deleterious effects on your access to future roles. Disobeying Disney as a movie theater can sink your access to their future releases. Both the institution and the union work together to make the monopoly. They are two sides of the same coin. Psy, gangnam style becoming a billion-view hit doesn't happen in a heavily controlled music industry. YouTube made that happen. Unions are bad news and they are meant to be. The decade of good is over.
      - Apocryphon 7y ago
        Again, this is a failure of imagination, believing that unions are inevitably shaped like the unions of the past. As tech is founded on disruption and innovation, it is defeatism to assume that worker relationships have to be a certain way- especially when there are models of unions and management having a less antagonistic relationship, as in Germany.

Frondo 7y ago

The game industry will do just fine with a union presence. It won't die. Solo game developers will feel no union pressure, nor will small teams. If there are triple-A studios that are so fragile that they'll go under with their employees getting better working conditions, I will shed no tear for those. I will shed no tear for any employer whose continued business success depends on working staff 80, 120 hours a week, in the game industry or any other.

friendlybus 7y ago
That is the dream that we can unionize without it becoming an all-encompassing force. Hollywood has not experienced that.
- claudeganon 7y ago
  Indie films still get made, big actors work at scale, or certain content shifts to new platforms (e.g. streaming). The decline of independence in Hollywood has little to do with unions and more to do with unregulated, entertainment industry monopolies.
  - friendlybus 7y ago
    Who do you think enforces those monopolies? Working outside SAG can have deleterious effects on your access to future roles. Disobeying Disney as a movie theater can sink your access to their future releases. Both the institution and the union work together to make the monopoly. They are two sides of the same coin. Psy, gangnam style becoming a billion-view hit doesn't happen in a heavily controlled music industry. YouTube made that happen. Unions are bad news and they are meant to be. The decade of good is over.
    - Apocryphon 7y ago
      Again, this is a failure of imagination, believing that unions are inevitably shaped like the unions of the past. As tech is founded on disruption and innovation, it is defeatism to assume that worker relationships have to be a certain way- especially when there are models of unions and management having a less antagonistic relationship, as in Germany.