Video Game Voice Actors Vote In Favor of Strike

[runic knight]

Oh no, whatever will I do without those npc voices in my video games. How will I ever know the guards are assholes who hate me for my sweetrolls?

Ok, snark aside, I think I support the VA on this one actually. They worked, they helped contribute to the success, only fair they get a portion of the success. While I would say the actual workhorses of the game creators should get the lion's share of that sort of profit sharing process, I don't see why the VA can't also get a little of that too.

Granted, voice acting is really low on the priority of games in general, and their complete removal wouldn't be missed by many people, if at all if they were replaced with newbies. And granted any sort of dip into the executive's private hookers-and-blow funds to pay for this is likely to be a corner cut somewhere else in the game's developer.

Still, if the games succeeds, the whole team should have a bit of reward for that effort, voice actors included. Seems just another example of how the overall system needs fixing though, rather than just patches here and there to hold it together long enough to milk things to death before pachinko-ing out ala konami.

 

[MatParker116]

Jen Taylor sums up VA's big problem in a nutshell:
"Nathan Fillion said to me, 'If you don't do one of these games, fans are going to be upset, but they're still going to buy the game,'" Taylor recalls. "There's only so much footing that you have as a voice actor. I don't know if it's because you don't see us physically or what."

 

[ecoho]

hate unions, so yeah im against these guys striking because all it does is hurt consumers not the companies themselves.

as to why I hate unions, well the majority are run by the lowest common denominator and as such are soulless morons, so lawyers

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

This should turn into an interesting exercise.

 

[Sonicron]

... Damn. I'm actually drawn to games in part by good VO work. Looks like a dry period for quality games on the horizon, at least for gamers like me.

 

[Tony2077]

sorry but your favorite va is on strike so we bring you some random bum off the street

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well if they get shafted with bad contracts then by all means put your foot down, people seem to forget this shit is better for everyone because it shows common folks do have a voice and they can push even the fattest ducks into a corner if need be.
But I don't have any specifics on how their contracts works so I really can't comment how just/unjust their actions are as everyone else loves to claim.

 

[JemothSkarii]

Well, I'd certainly enjoy having more games with little to no voice acting. Maybe then they can focus on more dialogue... or gameplay. Having said that, I wouldn't know VA work conditions, thinking about it I don't know how the industry works all that well outside of the publishing.

Soo... strike away? Good luck I suppose.

 

[P-89 Scorpion]

Nintendo executive 1 "games need voice actors?"
Nintendo executive 2 "I know right"

But seriously we already had so many games big budget barely break even (tomb raider reboot, hitman absolution) or financially bomb (Dead space 3) all this will do is increase costs and the amount of copies games have to sell and the publishers will have to cut back on expenses and what do you thing will be cut first graphics or voice acting?

 

[Sarge034]

Jen Taylor sums up VA's big problem in a nutshell:
"Nathan Fillion said to me, 'If you don't do one of these games, fans are going to be upset, but they're still going to buy the game,'" Taylor recalls. "There's only so much footing that you have as a voice actor. I don't know if it's because you don't see us physically or what."

Well Jen and Nathan, it's because we're here for the games not you. You're a sweet and savory topping to the meal that is the game. Example, Nathan (whom I am a very big fan of) did VO work in Destiny. Destiny was still a steaming pile of broken promises. Should you be charged a fee because the game sucked? No? Then why do you think you deserve a bonus when it does well?

capatcha "work ethic" these things scare me sometimes... >.>

 

[Amaror]

I find the residuals demand quite franky rediculous. Many VA say that they deserve them, because Actors in movies get them, which is a stupid argument. Actors in movies make or break the movie. They can make a good movie horrible and can make a horrible movie worth watching. And more importantly, they actually sell the movie. People go to a movie explicitly to watch an actor they like. Nobody buys a game for their VA.
In most games, a VA in a game makes at best no significant impact and at worst makes me roll my eyes at the cheesy VA and then continue with the game. Granted there are a few exceptions. The VA for the Stanley Parable or Bastion improved the game a lot in my opinion. But these are very few cases and in cases like these the VA's can negotiate better deals on their own.
But in general a single VA has just such a tiny, incomprehensible impact on the quality of the game that I just don't think that they deserve bonus payments for successfull games. They were not instrumental to that success, so why should they be rewarded for it?
That doesn't even begin to take into account that there are quite a few AAA games that are so expensive to make that they don't break even at 2 million copies sold. And Va's want a special bonus for contributing to a game, that didn't even break even?

That being said most of the other demands are pretty reseasonable. This one demand just isn't.

 

[Silver Patriot]

So another 2 DLCs of our Ghost not saying anything then? *sigh*

OT: Good luck to them. My limited understanding of the Video Game Industry is that the working conditions for most places are abismal. Anything that can help improve any part of that is good to me.

 

[Kinokohatake]

Let's hope this gets figured out before it gets to a strike. Replaying the Mass Effect series and these game would be garbage without the freat va's in the game. I don't want to go back to late 90's va work because the studio doesn't want to give incentive bonus.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

I had anticipated them favoring a strike. I also see this same union effectively blacklisting any non-union voice actors once the strike -- assuming it truly happens -- concludes.

I'm all for better working conditions in the VO (hell, any) field. What I'm against is the VA's getting paid more because they're famous, as if the people who slave away on the game's foundation mean nothing. They, too, should be getting paid more.

 

[Jaegerwolf]

1: Dinklage is most likely a member of SAG so he's probably not crossing a picket line.

2: "new talent" would probably not be able to get any work outside games if they crossed. We'd most likely go back to development team members providing voices.

3: This is different from the writers strike. There you had a fight over revenue sources that hadn't even formed into something quantifiable. Here everyone knows just how much the product is making.

How much VO adds to the value of a game is debatable, but at this point it's pretty much expected in major titles. Even if you've got a silent protagonist you still have people talking around him. We're not going back to the age if all text for AAA titles.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm a bit shocked to see such indifference from people here over how voice actors/performers are generally treated by the gaming industry, and their detemination to wanna do something about that.

'Finally, no more Troy Baker and Nolan North. Some fresh voice talent.' You think they're gonna get treated any better? You do know these people have been doing tons of work bringing our games to life, and getting pretty shitty pay for it since the 90's right? Think of all the amazing performances we've seen in games over the years, and how none of those voice actors needed to put the work in since they get paid the same amount whether they do a good job or not (including motion capture performances). This is like the first time they actively speak out against it in 20 years, and they get treated like prima donnas stealing away money from programmers.

The demands on these people are increasing year by year, with the quality of many games hinging greatly on them doing a good job (The Walking Dead anyone?), and not only do they get treated as simple window dressing by the gaming industry but by the damn fans as well. Christ.

 

[RebornKusabi]

It's sad to think people are not okay with this strike or comparing it entitlement when it's the exact opposite, because voice actors are paid garbage. Let's put this into perspective- Destiny makes several billion dollars and the programmers and voice actors get none of that. In fact, if the game makers would like to strike too they should... Sadly to my knowledge programmers are not in a union. I think.

 

[MatParker116]

I'm a bit shocked to see such indifference from people here over how voice actors/performers are generally treated by the gaming industry, and their detemination to wanna do something about that.

'Finally, no more Troy Baker and Nolan North. Some fresh voice talent.' You think they're gonna get treated any better? You do know these people have been doing tons of work bringing our games to life, and getting pretty shitty pay for it since the 90's right? Think of all the amazing performances we've seen in games over the years, and how none of those voice actors needed to put the work in since they get paid the same amount whether they do a good job or not (including motion capture performances). This is like the first time they actively speak out against it in 20 years, and they get treated like prima donnas stealing away money from programmers.

The demands on these people are increasing year by year, with the quality of many games hinging greatly on them doing a good job (The Walking Dead anyone?), and not only do they get treated as simple window dressing by the gaming industry but by the damn fans as well. Christ.

Because in games unfortunately they essentially are and I wouldn't say a base pay of $1,000 a day and certain high profile VA's charging triple is poor pay.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

stuff

I'm not indifferent to the plight of voice actors. What I'm against is them getting preferential treatment over the slaves workers that lay the foundation. To use a combat-related analogy, the voice actors may be the poison-laced tip of the spear, but the programmers/QA/artists/sound engineers/etc. of the crew is the rest of the spearhead, the haft and the soldier wielding it.

Every cog in the clock is important, but we must remember cogs can be replaced.

 

[SomeGuyOnHisComputer]