Sad Irony of Working Conditions
I have to laugh at myself a little since it's almost 2am and I'm doing research on overtime pay, work/life balance, unionization and labor law... Given the complete frenzy over the ea_spouse post (which I'm guessing every game developer on the planet has read), I just had to do more research on union pros/cons, etc.
The IGDA's Quality of Life white paper got a lot of attention when it came out early this year. Interestingly enough, we heard several stories about how developers just stopped working the day the paper came out, reading it with coworkers and feeling like they were not alone, and that all the crap they deal with was out in the open and off their chest (ironically, one of those stories came from developers at EA's Maxis ;) Anyway.
The IGDA is not a union and can never "become" one. The IGDA is a professional association and serves a different role (professional development and industry promotion) than what a union would (fighting over working conditions). But, we do get a lot of questions along the lines of whether the IGDA will serve as a union, or if the industry should unionize.
Clearly, the status quo is unsustainable and change is required. But, I don't think unionization is the answer. For starters, the industry is too geographically dispersed. But, more importantly, there's still too much innovation (in terms of tech, tools, process, job roles, etc) to fit well within the often very standardized approaches of a union. Some view unionization as a stifler of creativity/innovation. Nevermind the fact that union membership and influence has been in decline over the past several decades.
(Interesting side note, often the unionization of just one or two major companies in an industry is sufficient to set de facto union-like conditions at all companies. So, one approach might be to just have EA unionize, with the working conditions in the entire game industry being impacted. I'd see this company specific approach more feasible that an industry-wide effort...)
From researching, it is interesting to see info on the reasons against forming a union, the decline of unions, movements on the right not to join a union, etc...
And, the swell up now is so great that mainstream news outlets are picking up the story, and there's news of a class action lawsuit against EA. It's only going to get worse if we don't work towards change.
The sad irony is that both the humane and economic benefits of striving for a high quality of life are far greater than the current approach to things. More on this later...
I could go on, but I'm getting tired, and my wife is going to kill me in the morning!
(Expect to see more from the IGDA on this issue soon, not least of which will be a Quality of Life Summit at GDC.)
Posted on November 12, 2004 01:43 AM
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Sad Irony of Working Conditions:
» Crunched from Grand Text Auto
An anonymous "EA Spouse" writes an impassionated plea for better quality of life for game developers, describing how his/her spouse has had to work such insane hours for months on end to finish a product, that it's upended their lives. The 400+ com... [Read More]
Tracked on November 12, 2004 11:18 AM
» In Defense of Crunch from Zen of Design
Between the initial blog post, the lawsuits, the academic studies and the calls to unionize, almost everyone has felt the urge to dogpile on EA. For some, the takeaway is that crunch is evil, and that it should never, ever happen. It's not an uncomm... [Read More]
Tracked on November 16, 2004 05:21 PM
Comments
You have to look at Hollywood, an industry that is very much similar to the digital gaming industry. Even the "crunch time" in the gaming industry is almost identical similar to the production cycle in the film industry.
Hollywood revolves around unions like SAG, WGA and DGA. In fact, there is no other industry that is more unionized than Hollywood. In an industry that is run with tight production schedules and prone to exploitation of its production and artistic talents, unions are the only mean to protect workers.
And unions work for Hollywood. Hollywood continues to be one the most competitive and creative industry of America. If union works for Hollywood, it should work for the gaming industry as well.
Posted by: Jareth at November 18, 2004 03:14 AM
Jason, thought you might be interested in this (given your recent visit to our shores) - Ireland ranked top out of 111 countries for Quality of Life... http://gamire.com/gamire/newsitem?id=624
Is it a naieve hope to think that the games industry in Ireland can live up to this standard? Let's see...
Posted by: Tony at December 2, 2004 05:55 AM