Any opinions on my feature article in Gamasutra?
Like the thread title says...
You mean this? or do you have a newer one?
I believe Tim was referring to this recent Sept. 30 Feature:
A View Toward a Game Developers Guild
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4138/a_view_toward_a_game_developers_.php
@Tim >
I'll need more time to absorb everything before I can comment.
These aren't quick reads, and frankly I'm out of my league.
I learned what a game producer is
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- “The cinema as we know it is falling apart,†says Francis Ford Coppola.
“It’s a period of incredible change,†says the director of “The Godfather†and “Apocalypse Now.†“We used to think of six, seven big film companies. Every one of them is under great stress now. Probably two or three will go out of business and the others will just make certain kind of films like ‘Harry Potter’ -- basically trying to make ‘Star Wars’ over and over again, because it’s a business.â€
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ajbmamDBit14
RIP
General Motors was once the world’s greatest business. It was a business truly worthy of symbolizing the United States of America. It was destroyed by the Union of Auto Workers (UAW). And yet those running GM deserve at least an equal portion of the blame.
For over thirty years, the managers of GM simply refused to take an aggressive stand against the union. Now they’re paying for it, as we all are.
By not standing up and denouncing that Marxist ideology, which is inherent to labor unions of every stripe, the owners of GM unwittingly sanctioned that Marxist ideology. They gave it credence by being silent and by caving repeatedly to strikes or the threat of strikes.
http://fortcollinsteaparty.com/index.php/2009/06/10/what-destroyed-general-motors/
WASHINGTON - The Postal Service ended its fiscal year $2.8 billion in the red, battered by a faltering economy that cut the amount of mail being sent.
Postmaster General John Potter said the agency is making sharp cuts in hours and overtime, but added there are no plans for layoffs. Mail being sent dropped by 9.5 billion items.
By cutting back on spending, the post office had a net operating income of $2.7 billion in 2008, but still ended up in debt because of the requirement for a $5.6 billion payment to a health benefit fund for retirees.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_10978701
Firstly, great read... lots of good information there...
That being said... I like the idea of a guild, but am not a fan of unions. The game industry, as it is right now, already suffers from bloated budgets and is inefficient with teams, time, and money. My personal opinion is that a labor union, while helping ensure employee rights and provide increased security, will simultaneously increase costs and potentially drive game pricing upwards... which will not be good for the industry as a whole (I still believe that $19.99 - $29.99 is the best price point). I know that was not the crux of the argument, but it was briefly mentioned and the movie industry parallels (as unions) are undeniable.
Guilds must maintain leverage to be effective. Often, the only power they can maintain have been through a unionized mechanism. If the guilds needs (any hopefully by extention the guild members needs) are not being met, the guild - union - can enact strikes after proper negitioation. With out this power (or a replacement power), the guild won't have enough leverage to enact sustainable change.
Secondly, I am not sure that developers, as a whole, are ready to give up the idea they can work towards building an independent and self-sustainable entity (their own company that makes 'their games'). To adopt a model more like the tv/movie industry, each of the contributors has to accept a very high level of personal risk. Imagine telling programmers that they are like the journeymen used in the tv/movie industry (simplified):
1. Register with the union. --- maybe no problem
2. Check in to see if there is work for you. --- hmmm hoping for work...
3. If there is work, go in and get to it - queue based system most of the time... much of the time learning as you go at a break neck pace; as generalists/opportunists tend to have a preference. --- many developers have been working towards specialization for some time now
4. Once the job is done, wait for another job... the pay checks also stop - we could argue this is already the case with the game industry, but most of us realize that the testers account for a majority of layoffs that happen after a release (in comparision to producers, PMs, developers, artists, etc...)
I am not convinced the industry is ready or willing to make major steps in this direction, especially given that the perception (and potential reality) is that this leads to rises in production costs and product pricing. We have not pushed new ways to monitize our products effectively after initial release... at least none that do not lead to cannibalization (e.g. used games).
Again, I love the sentiment and ideaology, but just don't think the industry is ready for it. If we want this sort of strategy to be implemented... we have to get stakeholders (the funding) on boards and bring in the talent... To get the funding to have to prove (well.. convince) cost controll and profitability. To get the talent, you have to have the money and IP... I think you are getting close, but you still have a long way to go... Keep up the good work! Excellent article.
Originally posted by william.mcguire
I am not convinced the industry is ready or willing to make major steps in this direction, especially given that the perception (and potential reality) is that this leads to rises in production costs and product pricing.
How is it that having to maintain a huge staff of production people, and pay all the overhead associated with that, is more cost-effective than being able to maintain zero production people during pre-prototyping, and only needing to ramp up when you need those people?
I'm interested in pursuing new IPs, not making sure a production pool that is sitting idle has work to do. I'd rather have a tiny office of just top-level administrative, with minimal burn-rate, and rent and contract everything needed during production, than have some giant, bloated studio. I can't fathom how stripping down and minimizing burn would increase costs.
Having a staff that works as contractors increases the pay rate, typically significantly. A journeyman that builds sets might get paid $75 an hour plus time-and-one-half for overtime, depending on experience. Whereas a carpeter building houses (similar skill set) gets paid around $35 an hours plus time-and-one-half. But, the amount of overtime spent building a house and building a set is much different. Overtime on set is pretty commonplace, according to my friends. For many of them, they run through periods of feast-or-famine. So they try to make sure the feast is especially bountiful.
I am not convinced that you decrease your burn rate, on the whole, if you account for the increase in cost of labor. I guess you could outsource everything and save money... as the US does in the movie industry with Canada, Germany, New Zealand, etc..., but that is not exactly "apples to apples,"* and may ruffle feathers with existing local talent...
[*Note: there is special consideration when considering how movies get made. Depending on tax incentives in foreign nations and US tax incentives for investing abroad, an investor will get significant tax-breaks for his investment, while running the risk to turn a profit. In some cases, the investor holds little to no risk, which accounts for a portion of the not-so-great movies that were produced in the early 2Ks into today.]
A non-entertainment example of labor unions significantly increasing cost of production can be see in the automotive industry. The big three are bound by union rules. They operate staff at much higher rates than their foreign counterparts working within non-union states...
At first, I think I agree that you would decrease burn-rate. There would be an intial influx of talent that would like to test the waters and try the new method. There would be (probably) great success for the production company. But, after time passes - unions would eventually begin "negotiation" for standard rates, bonuses, and other increases (Canada does not have to worry about healthcare, but they might be interested in extended care coverages, dental, who-knows-what...). The long term would (in my opinion) lead to significant increases in cost of labor that would drive the cost of production up long-term (most studios are constantly working on projects to ensure they have a constant stream of income - which pays for the labor force).
I am not saying that you can't make it work. But, I do think that after a relatively short period of operation, the production work-force would organize and drive operation cost. If I am remembering correctly, the movie industry organized because of the mass-hire-then-fire that would take place during phases of a studios production - not because they wanted to, but because the union filled the role to protect the talented wokers. The unions ensured that the workers got more to help them waitout the periods of no work. In exchange, the studio had an at-the-ready, experience labor force, though at an increased hourly cost.
That being said, a production house (publisher) would be able to take-on more risky projects if a guild/union system was used. They could cancel a project during any phase and not have to worry about floating a hefty payroll. This could spur innovation and funded indie projects - as we see within the movie biz...
I don't disagree that a guild system could work - I just don't think we (as a labor force and industry) a ready for it. Though the publisher does not have to constantly foot the bill for rent, utilities, payroll, etc... someone else does. The guy who owns the office buildings/studios, the people who manage and schedule the labor force, the person who eventually performs the work will all want to be paid - and most likely to be paid in spades because of their increased personal risk. The payment has to come from somewhere.
I think most of have experienced that when prices rise, the "sales person" always increases the price more than they need...
Link ?