My impression is that programmers who work in the gaming industry programmer in the US accept poor work conditions because they love games, they love writing ga

My impression is that programmers who work in the gaming industry programmer in the US accept poor work conditions because they love games, they love writing games, they feel there's a certain "glamour" to it, and also (sort of recursively) because of peer pressure. Similar to aspiring Hollywood actors and film makers. So the employers take full advantage of that. But it's really the programmers' choice. I'm quite sure anyone working on writing games (as opposed to actors) could get a job with better conditions in a MegaCorp very easily, if only they could bring themselves to write "boring" apps in a corporate environment. And I suppose after a certain age, getting married and having kids, many game programmers will eventually do that anyway. Here in Japan the problem is deeper. It's not limited to a subset of IT/software companies, so there's not much choice. The difference between working in a big company and in a so-called "black company" is not that big. It's mostly perceived prestige and stability, not so much actual work conditions like hours, pay and career path. To make things worse, this is a country where social change happens very slowly. Technological novelties are readily embraced, but companies would rather slowly sink than give equal opportunities to women or foreigners or otherwise change their modus operandi. Some examples: * companies expect hand-written resumes. You're a student applying to 10 companies? Write 10 resumes by hand. Oh, and include a picture. * if you're a woman, things you should expect to be asked in a job interview: "Are you planning to get married? Are you planning to have kids? If so, are you leaving the company?" * are you 30 years old and already changed jobs twice? Job hopper. * are you over 35 and want to change jobs? Too old.