Braedan said:
I'm sure I would be fired quite quickly, but my response to unpaid overtime will always be a resounding "NO".
Bosses try to "make as much money as possible" yet when employees try to do the same they get fired.
Edit: Also, this crunch shit, is just that, shit. If your management can't allot the right amount of time to make your game it shouldn't be taken out on the developers. Just because "it's what they all do", doesn't make it right.
This is why Unions are a great thing and also why, in most industrialised nations the capitalist powers that be, that like keeping the money exactly in the same pockets it's always been in-have worked so dam hard to demonise unions and trades unionists in their Conservative owned western media outlets( which is nearly all of them).
This shonky way of behaving will, natch, be defended and justified with the "right now, in this climate...you're lucky to even have a job!" in the firm belief that some other unlucky schmoe will pick up where you left off should you have enough crappy treatment. It's all BS as we all know this isn't the way to get best work quality or best productivity from any workforce let alone a creative one. Unrealistic time frames are agreed upon by management who either lost touch with today's game development as they've moved to the money side a long way back or by people who never helped create anything in their lives so it's no wonder you see "crunch"times of months of people working 14 hrs a day for 30-40consecutive days with just the odd day off here and there. even those outside this business would defend these practises but they shouldn't as bad treatment is bad treatment and does nobody any favours in terms of quality,quantity, in terms of health for employees(mental and physical)and in terms of image and reputation of the development company involved.
What, I wonder, do companies who treat people this kind of way expect to happen when things pick up? Where are they gonna find talented people prepared to trust them in the future? Well, if we had stronger unions(and not so we can go all militant and strike whenever a boss farts too near a worker, but to help mediate and represent workers in a bid to stop situations like these spiral out of kilter. We're taught to hate unions these days in the UK and seem to forget that they weren't all about striking and Arthur Scargill but about getting a fair days pay, at fair hours for a fair amount of your work. With them there to curb the worst excesses of the company owners everyone's reputation is better off, workers should be happier and more productive and DEFINITELY will be more loyal to an employer who treats them well.
We shouldn't, though, be shocked at the greed and unfairness of an industry which, unlike ANY other on the planet assumes they deserve money from second hamnd sales of their games/work/product! I'm a musician and if someone sells on my CD do I think I should get a cut? do I think I should do a "passport" so it can now be played by this new owner? NO and NI. I think I should have made a better record that they might want to sodding well keep and will look on the buyer of the second hand copy as a possible future buyer and downloader of my future songs. Why gaming is sop over entitled is beyond me but if they want to cry about used sales and about piracy they need to stop making it a them and us situation.
They give piracy an excuse by being so wanton with their own greed that it's easy for pirates to say the industry deserves whatever we throw at them and, because we legit gamers are the ones hit again and again it becomes easy for us to turn a blind eye to the piracy we see. PSN/online passes are another dividing line that seems way unfair and short sighted to boot considering just how many of us have had, at one time, had to rely on used games just to HAVE a few games to play and now buy enough to support the industry having gone through being poor students. Does gaming REALLY want to lose today's youth and tomorrows big buyers just because they cannot be grown up about used sales and look at the bigger picture just once?
Just sick of us(gamers, workers and game development workers too)being treated like shit by the industry we keep afloat throgh thick and thin and have little clue as to just why games thinks it's always a special case. It's like any other artistic/pop art/creative entertainment industry and needs to learn that and maybe respect the people making and playing the games which fill coffers up a little better. The lack of a decent union at game devs etc will see more of this maltreatment of workers and an over entitled, out of touch industry leaving legit gamers picking up the tab for all the issues that might be sorted out if the industry was forced to show a little respect. If they DID maybe more gamers would be unwilling to turn blind eyes to piracy etc.
