I briefly worked in QA at a major studio. They brought me in as a temp for the last four months before release, my working hours were 9am-9pm Monday to Friday, and 9am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday, with the option of overtime on week days. Employees were encouraged to take overtime, I did 9am til midnight most days. I worked around 90 hours a week for three months. The week that the game shipped, at around 6pm on the Friday, we were told to gather round and the manager thanked us for our work and told us we were no longer required and not to come in tomorrow. We also discovered that the publisher was paying the recruitment agency more than double our hourly wage for this privilege.

@mebradhen

5 жыл бұрын

sums it up

@fcoonjj4844

5 жыл бұрын

@@mebradhen This is something you experience as well in quality assurance in automation and firearms industry, not as long as someone can only lift 70 pound to 50 pound parts every day and repack them into new boxes for the rest of the line every day till they eventually collapse from exhaustion. The click I have in my left wrist that I have to snap back every day is a testament to what some places will have you do in temp jobs. Temp used to be extra help, now its second hand citizen treatment at bottom of the barrel pay.

As a gamer, I would be entirely fine with games taking 6 months to a year longer to complete if it means avoiding crunch for developers

@b.w.6919

5 жыл бұрын

Especially considering the "game mills" of today that produces a title every two years.

@stevelopez7653

5 жыл бұрын

I'm under the assumption that it's not really about the consumer such as you and me but for companies to satisfy investors and other money related goals

@c.jarmstrong3111

5 жыл бұрын

@@stevelopez7653 the thing is though, the money ultimately comes from the customer. Our demands are what drive the industry. We gamers choose to buy these games that have utilized abusive practices to produce, and we continue to buy the bullshit microtransactions and pre orders that have poisoned the industry.

@DarkKnightCuron

5 жыл бұрын

@@c.jarmstrong3111 Yes, the customer purchasing a game is important, but in order for that game to exist at all, there has to be investment capital in it. Without that, then the only way to fund AAA games is through crowdsourcing, which is really just a long-term pre-order. You're purchasing a product on a promise and dream, rather than reality. Unionization may be important for those working in the industry, but if it results in smaller studios being unable to produce a game or compete, that can be a detriment. If it results in fewer investors in that side of the market, then that can be a detriment. If it results in FORCING people to have to sign up for a union, that can be a detriment. It's not just a question of games taking longer, it might also result in lower quality games or some games not existing at all. Keep that in mind. Union's aen't a risk-less endeavor--it has it's own costs to keep in mind. If a redress of grievances is not possible within these studios, then I can see unions possibly working--so long as they dont tank the studio in the first place. All it takes is for a studio to miss two or three deadlines for game release (BioWare and Anthem comes to mind) before some parent companies decide to never do business with your studio again.

@fiiive2the5ix

5 жыл бұрын

We will sacrifice you're soul for 10 less hours a week

Releasing a video about unionization on May Day huh?

@JeremyGluckStuff

5 жыл бұрын

С О Ю З

@blackhawk4ful

5 жыл бұрын

it's called worker's day mister

@wizzzer1337

5 жыл бұрын

Russian orchestral music intesifies

@exquisitecorpse4917

5 жыл бұрын

Workers of the world, UNITE!

@Ardamax_

5 жыл бұрын

I always knew George was a pinko

Man, I’m only 5 minutes in, and I’m already ecstatic. You’re using your platform to speak about incredibly important issues, and doing it eloquently, as always. Thank you for this one, George.

@PurposelessRabbitholes

5 жыл бұрын

... uh, thanks? EDIT: was replying to deleted comment

@Profilejc98

5 жыл бұрын

no cap That was such a dickish thing to say

@shimp9824

5 жыл бұрын

Purposeless Rabbitholes oh hey man love your videos

I remember about two years ago I got an interview for a job at Telltale. An employee just left who was an alumnus of the college I graduated from and Telltale asked some professors from the school's film department to recommend someone else and they chose me. It was a phone interview so it was hard to tell, but the tone of the interviewers voice got significantly more evasive and nervous when I asked what the crunch time looked like since they were constantly releasing episodes and when I pressed for an answer he more or less admitted it was pretty much all the time. Needless to say I didn't get the job, which is just as good because if I took it it would have meant moving all the way across the country for a 40k a year salary in San Fran-fucking-cisco.

@mrshmuga9

5 жыл бұрын

Only to get fired because they went belly up anyway.

@wolfboy20

5 жыл бұрын

@@mrshmuga9 OP dodged a bullet

@wolfboy20

5 жыл бұрын

@Pavel Tikhonov also true lmaoo

@greenredblue

4 жыл бұрын

40k a year in SF? Wtf? A company I applied to in the same geography (but in data integration, the much less sexy side of software development) made a _starting_ offer of 80k, and I would've been happy to take 50. Exploiting passion to shortchange workers and make them feel disposable is one thing, but to literally cut their earnings in half? Whoa.

I internally cackled at your description of GDC at the beginning. Before I got into games, I was so eager about all these talks and I imagined these were the kind of thoughtful discussions that happened in a studio everyday. Then I got a job in games. The first thing I learned is that maybe 1% of devs follow or care about GDC. Mostly designers, and mostly juniors. Some of the most experienced people in this business are completely ignorant of what the rest of the industry is doing except for the one or two AAA blockbusters they play every year. And why? Well when you're working so much, when do you find time to watch conferences and play interesting indie titles?

@dosbilliam

5 жыл бұрын

Which could be stated to be another issue with crunch; when you spend 60 hours a week working, you can't take any time to see what news is coming in the industry. Considering that could include new design ideas, a programming shortcut that could cut out hours of time from another department, or (this is kind of a stretch, really) a new way to organize sound or video files to reduce the hard drive blueprint the game you're making is going to take, losing out on that information is a great case of shooting one's own foot. :/

@ineednochannelyoutube5384

5 жыл бұрын

@@danielmiller7635 Lets all work ourselves to death!

@AverageJoe8686

5 жыл бұрын

OP +1

@aolson1111

5 жыл бұрын

@@danielmiller7635 I know you don't have any idea what you're talking about, but if it was simply a matter of who is cheaper, then they would have already made the switch. They haven't, because the simple fact is that relatively few countries have the talent to make a good AAA game, and they're almost all Western first-world countries. This isn't manufacturing which any idiot could do. Why do you think most big studios are located in the most expensive cities in the world? They could save millions on office space alone by moving anywhere else, but they don't. The go where the talent is.

@AdobadoFantastico

5 жыл бұрын

Also they're filling a quota for those GDC talks. A lot are just garbage. People don't always have new interesting lessons, revelations, and tech to share.

Crunch is bad management. Permanent crunch is an arms race between studios. The hospital industry fixed the problem with new laws limiting the amount of hours a doctor can work on the clock.

@MessiahProphylaxis

3 жыл бұрын

I agree with the first half of your statement. The healthcare industry has not come close to fixing the problem. They don't even have basic PPE one year into a pandemic because it was cheaper not to plan ahead for PREDICTABLE catastrophes like pandemics.

35:04 "You could really decrease company costs by decreasing the executive compensations". Nailed it. Congratulations on the video. Your channel is getting better and better.

@taylorciccotelli7822

5 жыл бұрын

Never forget when Iwata took a salary cut to better support the people working under him.

@user-ke5uh9wz2l

5 жыл бұрын

Or maybe eliminate them

@Sairagna

5 жыл бұрын

@@showmemoviesnow this relies on the presumption that existing executives are payed in accordance with their levels of competency. This is an incorrect assumption.

@Sairagna

5 жыл бұрын

@@showmemoviesnow they are payed what they can convince their board to accept, the executive is often part of the same aperatus that determines their own wages if you don't see the conflict of interest that an employee has the ability to self determine wages then I don't know what to tell you. Also no I would not agree that a company is 100% in the business of making money. Or rather that they will 'always behave in the most rational manner that would maximises profit' companies make unrational decisions all the time and corporate entities do not make decisions in some sort of God like omnipotence, executive staff make decisions and since the staff are made up of humans they are fallible. Moreover employees will act in the manner that offers the best security for themselves (this is why office politicking is such a problem and HR exists). I agree with your last point that quality leadership can form a significant improvement to an organisation however being able to parse a quality CEO or COO is a very difficult thing to do. Both in the hiring process and the ongoing performance evaluation of that leader. Often leadership will 'game' a system where they can receive bonuses based on very simple targets that would be achieved under any circumstances (Activision is particularly guilty of this). There is also the factor to consider that there is significant industry flow between leadership positions and a quality banking CEO man not be a good organisational fit to a video game company, but many ignore this in the hiring process because the 'believe' that such a person would offer an organisational benefit (reduced operating costs) but this often comes at the cost of another part of the organisation, one that the business made its initial success on. EA is a good case study for this.

@88fibonaccisequence

5 жыл бұрын

@@showmemoviesnow Maybe don't waste your time arguing basic economics with a socialist. I can tell you from experience that these people are a waste of effort.

How is it possible to work 100 hour weeks? Even if you "work" 100 hours in a week, doesn't mean your productive or efficient at all. This is unfathomable to me. I work 35 hours per week in a successful software development company. Thank god I live in a country with proper employment laws. In Germany it's illegal to work more than 48 hours per week. The normal is 40 hours per week. Working overtime is heavily regulated. You can easily argue that 6 hour days and maybe only 4 workdays per week might even be more productive. There are several scientific studies about this. There is a company that even did an experiment where for a time they made everyone only work 2 hours per day instead of 8 hours, but they had to give everything they had in those 2 hours. Way way more productive. In 8 hour days people do so many other things cause otherwise you wouldn't survive. How many times you do go get coffee? Chit chat with other employees and what not?

@grundergesellscahftmkii6196

5 жыл бұрын

Well not sure about US, but in PRC most of company preassure theirs worker to work 100h/weeks.

@icyjiub2228

5 жыл бұрын

I love how a country that was literally split in half by the cold war would be called socialist by the American right wing. All because our legislators had to put on a big show in the 1950s to show they weren't commies.

@grundergesellscahftmkii6196

5 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/eox7lpZwe7Syp8o.html

@namedidii

5 жыл бұрын

The United States is a terrible place to live and work

@QberryShortcake

5 жыл бұрын

When I was doing it, at a smaller, now defunct studio, it was: - woke up around 8 - drag myself across my bedroom to my computer, work for a couple hours - around 10, head to studio - try not to get into a shouting match with CEO (yes, this was a concern, he never fired _anyone_) - try to ignore "leadership's" screaming matches - work until bare minimum 8pm (usually 10) - come home, sit back down at desk, continue until thoughts stop making sense (usually between 1 and 2) It ranged from 80-100 hours, but in three months, I logged over 1000 hours. I was paid salary, naturally. At one point, I got acid reflux so bad it felt like I was going to have a heart attack. I gained like 20 pounds. Developed anxiety. Only reason the game even shipped (in early access) was because two of us were pulling those hours. Given that the studio collapsed within months of the release, it 100% was not worth it.

Actual games journalism, about something that's incredible topical and important. I continue to be so impressed by George's "content" (I don't even know if I should call it that, it's too professional for that denomination). Journalistic feats like this give me some faint hope that things can and will change. No game is worth human suffering. Period. And this stuff needs to get out there, people need to know. George is one of the people informing us, eloquently as always. And for that, I salute you mr. Bunnyhop. Keep up the great work!

@renaigh

3 жыл бұрын

you make it a denomination by associating it with low quality guff

I've heard of christmas specials, buy may day specials are a new one, lol I could get used to this

@sidtandy4333

5 жыл бұрын

Merry ChristMarx!

@tsunamie1015

5 жыл бұрын

> video contains Night in the Woods devs > May Day > made me chuckle-fish

@alexanderthemagnifcent2573

5 жыл бұрын

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

@amber_toiletbowlfingers

3 жыл бұрын

hmmm... I think you could make a religion out of this.

This is EXCELLENT journalism George. Glad that the sudden closures without severance and mistreatments of workers are getting the spotlight they deserve this year. Seeing the discussion trickle into GDC is hugely encouraging.

@kutless45

5 жыл бұрын

0 Out Of 10 it’s not really excellent journalism. It’s propaganda. There is a notable absence of voices that speak out against unionization or an honest look at the downsides of unionization. The issue is presented as some kind of magic bullet that will solve the problems of the software industry when it would not be.

@Potionem

5 жыл бұрын

@@kutless45 yeah broh this doc really needed some neoliberal corporate ideologue stooge to cry about how many less millions of dollars CEOs and investors would make if the industry unionizes.

@kutless45

5 жыл бұрын

@@Potionem Actually, I was referring to stuff like in this article where the head of the IGDA was interviewed: www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-28-igda-head-on-the-problem-with-unions But thanks for showing everyone where the real sentiment behind the call for unionization really comes from. Covetousness.

@Potionem

5 жыл бұрын

@@kutless45 Covetousness?? Holy shit, we're talking about people being able to afford to live, peoples wellbeing, and their physical and mental health. You know what is driven by "Covetousness"? the Execs and CEOs, those who by looking for higher profit margins, look to prey on those who cannot protect themselves, searching and forcing the global south to do cheap labor because they have next to none labour and job security (and your article has the gall to shift the blame of that greed from the Execs to the unions), who get mindboggling bonuses doing mostly jackshit while their employees are having mental and emotinal breakdowns in the studio bathroom at 3AM because they must do crunch hours to be able to live paycheck to paycheck. But thanks for showing everyone where the real sentiment behind the call for not-unionization really comes from. Covetousness and disdain for those who look after a (not even decent) liveable life. Fuck off bootlicker.

@Potionem

5 жыл бұрын

@BrokenMikrofone fucking duh, tons of independet journalist and organizers crowdfund because corporations arent gonna finance someone who goes against their interest and do you even fucking know what a union is supposed to do? of course she doesnt have any pull by her own thats why she wants to form unions! Not by having people finance her to go talk to CEO but by spreading information and awereness about the benefits and strategies to unionization (MAKING people more like minded in their own interest as employees), by doing strikes and other forms of direct actions as groups of organized labour, not by having a single representative. "Like the waste of time she is"... Fuck off

Wow this was genuinely a fantastic video / documentary George. The guy who made that paper shredding game/exhibit is pretty inspiring. I know I tend to look at video games as pretty soul-less currently, it's refreshing to see that much creativity and honest care put into something new.

How do you tell the difference between a chemist and a plumber? You ask them to pronounce "unionized"

@xmlthegreat

5 жыл бұрын

Ah that's clever. I had to think for a second.

@Internetzspacezshipz

5 жыл бұрын

I totally read it as ionisation until someone said 'union' in the video haha.

@hombreg1

5 жыл бұрын

It took me a few minutes to realize this wasn’t a video about charged particles...and gaming

@nolanmartin4813

5 жыл бұрын

Very nice joke

@Tumoxa89

5 жыл бұрын

noice

I think VFX unionization (or lack thereof) is an interesting and maybe crucial element when comparing the film industry's organized labor history with videogames.There are large similarities to game development, in how globalized many parts of that workforce can be, and in the propensity for crunch, unpaid OT and dissipating benefits.

@AgsmaJustAgsma

5 жыл бұрын

With the controversy surrounding Life of Pi and Rhythm & Hues' shutdown, years ago, I'm surprised that the VFX industry doesn't have unionizations, already.

@gracefool

5 жыл бұрын

@@AgsmaJustAgsma They don't for the same reason: supply of workers is higher than demand for them. So long as that's true, conditions will go downhill.

@archieames1968

5 жыл бұрын

Don't forget Catmull and Jobs wagefixing

@aolson1111

5 жыл бұрын

@@gracefool It has nothing to do with supply of workers. Practically half of LA is comprised of aspiring actors, yet actors have a union. The real problem is a mix of apathy and the developers with the most power not supporting unionization. All of the biggest actors support their union, and studios aren't just going to stop hiring Ton Cruise and Scarlett Johansson, so the union stays strong.

@gracefool

5 жыл бұрын

@@aolson1111 Sure but that's because celebrity actors aren't like other workers. They have power because they are a unique supply and are highly visible in the final product. Developers don't have either of those things.

I've never understood the appeal of California to games industry people. It makes sense for movies, but game developers aren't the type of people to require nice weather to be able to work or demand to live in close proximity to a beach.

@deckleberry

5 жыл бұрын

It's just where the big money is.

@athrundead1

5 жыл бұрын

silicon valley is there

@ByBy001

5 жыл бұрын

It's a double edged sword. Talented people and industry people are there. You can have funding, you can network. The investors think good on you if you're there. But it costs so much to live there that most of the game devs (especially the artists) life paycheck to paycheck.

@gab_gallard

5 жыл бұрын

You have Silicon Valley, many major studios and important schools there.

@KataokaTV

5 жыл бұрын

I'd imagine that since a lot of those kids probably graduated from Berkeley/Stanford/SJSU etc., they just happened to be in/wanted to work within Silicon Valley to begin with.

"French strikers kidnap their boss" Good praxis.

@think2positive

5 жыл бұрын

NO - this is just as bad as studios throwing tear-gas at strikers. It is the path to anarchy and nothing else. i'll end with one of my favorite quotes: "people protect the law not the other way around"

@ss10baby

5 жыл бұрын

​@@think2positive "It is the path to anarchy and nothing else." Good praxis!

@think2positive

5 жыл бұрын

@@ss10baby good luck with that, good luck in a country without laws, good luck with city's with roads in disrepair or none at all, good luck occupying your property instead of owning it. you reap what you sow

@think2positive

5 жыл бұрын

@Louise Cyphre when you don't have actual arguments to add, the other party has to look from them? sorry sunshine, that's just not how that works.

@wug6175

5 жыл бұрын

@@think2positive search up what anarchism is. I think you'll be surprised (in a good way).

I Hope everything goes well for the workers, there is no industry without them.

@Zayindjejfj

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah. It's kind of sucks whenever I hear about developers get mocked or threatened for what is effectively not their fault for what they are expected to do and put out.

@iwiffitthitotonacc4673

5 жыл бұрын

Workers are the backbone of the economy, until automation is widespread, then the problem becomes "Why is nobody buying products?" Capitalism has a lot of internal contradictions, and the biggest one is the wage/profit dilemma. If every company lowers wages in order to earn higher profits, then workers ain't earning enough to buy products, halting the economy. Unions are essential for a good economy, no matter what libertarians and bootlickers say.

@ronnieDaking

5 жыл бұрын

@@iwiffitthitotonacc4673 i find when someone say bootlickers they tend to be white.

@xmm-cf5eg

5 жыл бұрын

The issue with Unions here in america is when a Union's leaders suck up to the company in question and give away everyone's rights for minor kickbacks. The reason I don't trust most American Unions at all is that most unions I've ever worked under, that my parents have ever worked under, would shit on union members to keep kickbacks only Union leaders and asskissers to a company would get. "Broke your leg on the job because the equipment you use isn't up to code? And we've refused to spend the money to replace it? Too bad, we're gonna have to let you go because that injury prevents you from working" "They shitcanned you? That's horrible, the Union will get a lawyer on the line for you, we'll do what we can." "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. So and So, we can't help you, this is out of your hands, better luck next time, thanks for your service, Here's the door, goodbye." Companies now are un-honoring benefit packages people worked hard for 20-30 years ago because they don't want to pay back what those workers payed in, and workers now, with or without unions, effectively have NO rights in a lot of areas of the country now. The "modern" union is a shit buzzword that makes people THINK they have rights. Unions would be awesome, and I'd be all for them, if they fucking worked, and the sad state of affairs is that they don't 80% of the time anymore.

@Zephyrs009

5 жыл бұрын

@@iwiffitthitotonacc4673 as a Libertarian Socialist, I can say almost every real Libertarian likes unionizing

I just watched Scotts talk at GDC 2018 about NitW. This is a perfect follow up to what he said back then. Unionization is really important for all industries. In germany we even managed to get unionisation at Amazon so never be dissuaded from it by thinking the corporations are too big. If you get enough people on your side you can fight back against exploitative work conditions. Unions are in general more accepted here but still Amazon tried the "if you unionise you get fired" bs. I will never understand why corporations think you will do good work if you know you will be worked to the bone and then thrown out like trash.

@DarkKnightCuron

5 жыл бұрын

Just so long as it is not mandatory to join a union to work a job. I want a choice in the matter, not trading one careless overlord for another.

@aolson1111

5 жыл бұрын

@@DarkKnightCuron Then choose a non-unionized workplace, if you prefer working longer hours for less pay.

@DarkKnightCuron

5 жыл бұрын

@@aolson1111 Except where I work, a Union would be unable to raise our wages enough to cover the union dues. I work for the government, man--sometimes, it's not universal that Unions will fix everything. In some cases, they might make things worse. That's all I'm asking of people here--use your head and think about the situation before deciding to use Unions like a weapon and pointing it at studios. The publishers may just decide it's not worth their time and money to hire a studio if its union.

@donbeverage8359

5 жыл бұрын

@@DarkKnightCuron If most of the big studios got unionized they wouldn't have a choice. I mean, who isn't gonna hire Netherrealms to make another Mortal Kombat or Capcom R&D 1 to make another RE? The strength is in the worker's numbers. You can't fire everyone ever.

@DarkKnightCuron

5 жыл бұрын

@@donbeverage8359 Then you are going to scare away a lot of investors, at least in the short term. It doesn't seem feasible for the whole industry to unionize all at once, and even if it did, there will be a lot of bumpy roads ahead. I want better worker treatment as well, but it's going to cause a lot of issues if you dont approach it responsibly

That Activision story is particularly interesting. The studio lays off 800 people, immediately after handing one executive a _bonus_ worth at least 300 average yearly wages. All that guy had to do to save at least 300 people for a year was to just forego a bonus.

@panterxbeats

5 жыл бұрын

Capitalism in a nutshell. Profit over the average hard working person. Profit and privatization over people.

@urishima

5 жыл бұрын

This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of why you hire people. You hire them because you have work that needs doing. You don't keep people around to sit on their butt all day just to feel good. This is absolutely unconnected from any bonuses the exec in question received, which he doesn't give himself btw., he is awarded that bonus based on the contract he signed with the directors of the company, by said directors. So if you need to have some beef over this with anybody, take it up with them. Like I said, these two things are not connected. The layoffs would have happened regardless of whether or not the guy got his bonus. Conversely, had these employees not been laid off, he still would have received that bonus. Hell, the bonus would probably have been higher because keeping people means that there should be more work for them and more work = more money to be made. If you are asking the guy to give his bonus as charity, then that is completely up to him.

@aolson1111

5 жыл бұрын

@@relo999 As we've seen before, executives continue to get bonuses even when the company goes down in flames.

@greenredblue

5 жыл бұрын

@@urishima It's very difficult to interpret your comment charitably... Seems to me you may have some misunderstandings yourself, specifically about why you hire *technically skilled* people. No less than Steve Jobs said "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." Translation: if your company's focus is to produce a quality product, then that's simple: aggressively fight to hire and retain skilled and talented people, point them vaguely in the direction you want to go, and get out of the way. But let's say your company's goal is not about producing innovation or quality or even a product, it's solely about _value extraction._ I.E. that inevitable, difficult phase in a company's life cycle when the market is saturated and technological progress becomes rarer; when a healthy company _should_ shift from growth to sustainability. Thing is, investors don't like to hear that. They've got no special love of games, and are keeping an eye on other industries which haven't exhausted their growth curves and have higher immediate returns potential. So what's a huge megacorp to do, but _anything_ it can to make it seem like the industry is still in growth? Get any money you can, anywhere. Invest in unreliable and dubiously legal get-rich-quick schemes. Instantly copy anything that looks even vaguely successful. Pay your workers as little as possible. (Gosh what a shame it's illegal to pay in store credit!) Don't even bother hiring the top talent anyway, and throw your cattle out the instant they're not making you money. (Yes, we know we'll need them in a month, but we can make 3% more profit by offloading market cycles and instability onto whatever workers are least able to fight back.) Cut quality control, and manage the blowback with ad buys and PR. Manipulate your audience and the market; it's expensive and difficult to sell a quality product, and comparably easy to orchestrate at least a minority public opinion. Any of that sound familiar? Long story short, capitalism is like body building. There's a way to do it to get the most impressive results quickly... and there's a way to do it and not die of heart failure at the age of 24. And laying off 800 people at the exact moment you prove you could've instead had them making a comfortable bevy of small, quick, interesting, experimental games to see where the market's going... Well, that's a sign that the people in the C-suites aren't actually very good at this anymore, and are leaning a little too hard on juice.

@tomhill3248

4 жыл бұрын

@@urishima It is completely up to him...for now

These days George you’re less of a KZreadr and more of a real journalist

@Splitboltxful

5 жыл бұрын

And I love it

@GrayderFox

5 жыл бұрын

Isn't this basically what journalism is, now? :P

@tomhill3248

4 жыл бұрын

Is there a difference?

I wholeheartedly support full unionization in any industrial, services-providing or creative enterprises; in this age of failing neoliberal policies, which are responsible for levels of inequality never seen before, it is of utmost importance for workers to unite and make their voices heard. Labour rights should be at the centre of any discussion, even when it comes to such "unconventional" industries like game development, to guarantee that capital exploitation is kept to a minimum and creators can focus on delivering excellent, curated and inspired content to the consumers. Unionization, on the long run, benefits both workers and consumers, and society as a whole. At any rate, George, thank you for your contribution on the discussion with this fantastic piece of journalism!

@tomhill3248

4 жыл бұрын

@@relo999 Well it keeps violent insurrection at bay. It's either unions to force owners to not be greedy dicks or a Pinkerton detectives situation. Warbands or unions Relo. Unless you have another idea I suggest you pick one.

Thank you for bringing this subject to a bigger light. I'm 21 and did a diploma in Games Development when I left highschool, once my foot was through the door to see how the industry worked I knew it wasnt for me, paycheck to paycheck is just one of a myriad of issues plaguing this wonderful industry of hard working people. Unions are a essential part of our society and are the lobbyists for the people who work hardest.

@todomachii

5 жыл бұрын

So why only 10% of the workers are unionized?

@lettuceprime4922

5 жыл бұрын

@@todomachii - Corporate crackdowns on employees trying to organize. Corporate manipulation of the government shrinking union powers. Corporate ownership of influence that conflates unions with Soviet sentiment in an attempt to muddy the conversation. Actually a lot of problems irl can be somed up with the word 'corporate' lol. Even more can be done with 'money' - especially pursuit of it.

@MrStronglime

5 жыл бұрын

@SourPls What about the unions all over europe that actually give benefits to workers since the mid '800s or so?

@todomachii

5 жыл бұрын

@@lettuceprime4922 But that's the thing, the ultimate goal (or consequences) of a union is to gather enough power to become a corporation itself and to serve only its leaders interests like we can see in France. And I'm still not convinced that the unpopularity of unions is only the results of conspiracies. People follow their short term interest and unions aren't it (like socialism, etc...).

You are what the new standard for journalism should be

It's incredible to see Super Bunnyhop mature into such a strong, possibly unique journalistic voice for issues in the games industry like this. I'm not aware of anyone else producing long form video content this insightful, that is both specific, even to an individual level, on the issues it covers, and able to place those issues analytically in their much broader historical context. That context is sorely needed, but the urgency and humanity of the issue is maintained throughout the piece. This is phenomenal.

It’s pretty frustrating to see people talk about Hollywood unionisation as such a great thing all the time when the vfx workers still don’t have unions, work terrible hours and are constantly taken advantage of to make these massive films happen.

@LimeyLassen

5 жыл бұрын

And mocked for it at awards ceremonies, don't forget that.

@aolson1111

5 жыл бұрын

Hollywood unions aren't preventing them from unionizing.

@ingusmant

5 жыл бұрын

That explains why movies are 99% CGI now

@pwnmeisterage

5 жыл бұрын

Unions are job protection for non-competitive workers or non-competitive industries. Necessary to fight the exploitation of evil land barons in past centuries. But today they're just bloat and baggage which assure bad workers can demand good pay. Just my opinion. But my experience is that people without unions tend to have more _merit_ at their jobs while people with unions tend to have more _seniority_ at their jobs ... non-unions can always hire better workers and had better reward the ones worth keeping ... while unions usually end up promoting deadweights who hide behind consistent paperwork, delegation, and scapegoats.

@jacquelinelove8481

5 жыл бұрын

@@pwnmeisterage non-union workplaces can always hire better workers, for demonstrably lower pay and then lay them off when they're burnout from 80 hour weeks.

Job security = less stress = better workers. Better workers = better games = more sales. More sales = more games for consumers. If you love video games, support the creators.

@TimmacTR

5 жыл бұрын

Less risk = less reward = long term seppukku

@premiumfruits3528

5 жыл бұрын

When people are guaranteed employment, it reduces the quality of their work. This has been proven time and time again over the decades. This industry does not needs unions. It needs to start making products for its real consumers again and stop pandering to a part of society that doesn't even play video games.

@DioBrando-mr5xs

5 жыл бұрын

This does not work. Less stress doesn't mean you don't suck anymore.

@julhabulha

5 жыл бұрын

Premium Fruits "this has been proven time and time again" [CITATION NEEDED]

@maskedbugman

5 жыл бұрын

@@premiumfruits3528 How does targeting "real consumers" stop the employees working 80+ work week to meet deadlines? Having employees deal wondering if they're gonna be laid off once the game hits the store shelves. Having companies be forced by publishers to make changes to their games that ultimately piss of the community which dissolves the goodwill the company had.

"Every age it seems, is tainted by the greed of men" - Unbreakable Patches

@calmstorm5632

5 жыл бұрын

Every age will be tainted by sin until the end. If it's not greed it'll be something else. We need Christ.

@bm1747

5 жыл бұрын

@@calmstorm5632 I mean, Christs lessons do all come down to resisting greed, right? Here's paradise, don't eat that apple. (I want that apple). Lucifer had heaven and the favor of God but wanted more. Am I my brother's keeper? Six of the seven deadly sins are just greed with more steps. Capitalism on the steps of the church results in an enraged Jesus flipping tables &coming at you with a whip. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Greed is favoring your own personal interest over that of another. Love is caring for another as much as you do yourself. If God is good, and God is love, and love is the opposite of greed, then greed is evil & the opposite of divinity.

@calmstorm5632

5 жыл бұрын

@@bm1747 yes, I agree with what your saying. The thought process works in reverse too, like everything being lust(I desire this regardless of consequence to myself and others) with extra steps; Pride(I'm the master of my destiny. I've decided on this action regardless of God's outline of conduct because I feel like I know bee better) too. It doesn't exactly work with wrath but, I understand exactly what you mean. Your thought process seems clear and good.

@tomhill3248

4 жыл бұрын

Why can't we just put decent folk in charge.....we're bad at this...

I love how timely this video was released when you consider how many crunch-time shitfests came to light over the last weeks.

@cyanplaza5153

5 жыл бұрын

It was also published on May Day

Ah, George it's been a whi-- ...42 minutes, eh?

@havocbringer2100

5 жыл бұрын

Kep you waiting huh?

You have successfully managed to blow all other journalistic reports on this topic ive seen completely out of the water. This comes off more like a mini-documentary than a youtube video. Ive had a lot of hesitation recently with wanting to pursue my passion and attempt to go into the games industry because of all of the reports in the news about the terrible working conditions, but seeing these people who have been involved in the industry talk about it gives me hope that maybe I'll have a chance after all. Thank you.

As a student wanting to get into game development it's scary hearing about this stuff. I don't like how these events will most likely decide if my dream job is worth pursuing.

@Zayindjejfj

5 жыл бұрын

That horrible moment when you realize that many "career" type dreams are all like this.

@DefinitelyBolt

5 жыл бұрын

Imagine if your dream job was being a fucking teacher or something. You are on the top of the food chain, what does that tell us?

@saltyjustice4444

5 жыл бұрын

Work indie. Find some artists/coders/whatever and start your own studio as a cooperative. Work a day job, get your expenses as low as they can go, get some cred and build an audience. It takes years. It's worth it.

@xbb1024

5 жыл бұрын

If you want to get into game development then sure, go for it. However maybe also pick subjects that can also apply to other IT jobs too.

@djjimmaster8261

5 жыл бұрын

about to finish my games degree, software is suddenly looking a lot more appealing XD

can i just say, emma kinema is adorable and also the way she speaks basically demands my attention, she seems super well-spoken and informed about what she's talking about (which obviously she's informed about it but a lot of people come across as unprepared despite being informed whereas she seems to have her information in order and able to call upon it at a moment's notice)

"They're concerned none of this profit is trickling down to those who need it" so what you're saying is that the system is working as intended?

@GnanaPrakash86AP

5 жыл бұрын

Oh it's working as intended alright but just not how ppl on this side of the fence intended is all.

@Mariodash23

5 жыл бұрын

To quote Titan of philosophy and drug deal Trevor Philips, “And that is why Trickle Down economics is a load of shit!”

@36:00 (or around there) The reason workers need unions is because governments/courts are often too slow to solve the problem. It's the difference between being reactive and pro-active. Unions are pro-active in that they want to solve the issue at its core before it even happens. In addition to that, unions are a constant check on power. Having a court case every single time something bad happens is only fixing that one issue... maybe. You may see results or you may not, and if you wait until something bad happens... well then you have to suffer consequences before you can even hope to rectify them. Emotional damage can be permanent and lead to physical damage. And courts can't fix that. Unions preventing corporations and small businesses from hurting people and their families BEFORE they can do it, on the other hand, is great. It solves the problem before the harm can be done.

George I'm straight chubbin' in my george socks with that 43 minute video my dude. In all seriousness excellent video, very in depth, super insightful. If this is what patreon is getting me holy shit this is worth every dollar.

I just posted a comment on Jim Sterling's video about game developers unionizing earlier today. Now this. I love you guys. For the sake of these hard working people that we- as a gaming community- owe so much to, they deserve better. But it won't be easy.. Not at all. But seeing this video gives me hope that one day it will be possible to have a job like this and live a healthy life. Because it's not a career. My definition of a career is to have an occupation that you love doing and there's no fear of losing it, and getting paid enough to support yourself and family. A job, in most cases, are only temporary til you have something considered a career.

The thing that always worries me about unions is that they need the members to be proactive and involved. This is the same problem with democracy, as well. The founders and the first batch of inductees to the union will support the cause and move things forward. Over time, people will come to expect that these things will be there and they do not know the hardship that brought the union about. In short, apathy will grow and corruption will start to take root. Unionization will probably be good, for now. At this current point in my life, I have very little to no dedication to the work I do (Full Stack Developer). I will refuse to work more than 40 hours a week without double wage for overtime. For those who actually have passion for what they do, unionization will probably work, but I'm part of the very problem I described above, which is why I won't push for unions and instead just leave and do something else.

Stories like this is why I could never work in the game industry.

@TheCivildecay

5 жыл бұрын

Same I love making game as hobby dev, but seeing my kids grow up, family life, having a healthy work/life balance and spending time with my wife is more important than working myself to dead on someone else's game

@Jadfisk

5 жыл бұрын

de132 It’s a HUGE blocker for me too

@Tacom4ster

5 жыл бұрын

It's stuff like this, that made me an anarchist

@gibusgaming

5 жыл бұрын

@@Tacom4ster Anarchy: works for one hour before everything dissolves into power struggle between warlords and dictators.

@TeknoSquirrel

5 жыл бұрын

@@gibusgaming galaxy brain take alert

Something tells me Jim Sterling's gonna give another video shout-out in the near future.

It's about time the industry unionised. The crunch time cycles are absolutely insane, I just hope it makes publishers ease off a bit with enforcing ridiculous deadlines. I don't mind waiting longer for a game to come out if it means people aren't treated like slaves or machines to be discarded after they broke down under the intense pressure.

Actual game journalism on KZread 😱 Nice work bunnyhop

No wonder we haven't gotten an upload in a while. Worth the wait!

Nerd culture really screw up game creators. Most of them see those industry opressions as "normal"

@onimaxblade8988

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah. I could sincerely get along with slower dev times in return for better products and/or happier workers. Especially if it by coincedence lets things like FFXV not come out in a bit of a shamble as well.

@kutless45

5 жыл бұрын

They are though. Crunch time has been present in the industry from the beginning and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

@onimaxblade8988

5 жыл бұрын

@@kutless45 As the video said, crunch was normally a thing that happened back in the day to more to mistakes of one form another. They were not baked into mandated work. Though, yes, it has been around for forever, basically.

@ineednochannelyoutube5384

5 жыл бұрын

As long as there are people who are willing to exploit themselves, this shit will happen. This is why central.legislation is needed to stop this shit from happenening. Market forces cant.

@jmitterii2

4 жыл бұрын

Nerds are often antisocial. So I would suspect them being various sociopaths and psychopaths. Since they're mostly anti-social nerds, I don't know them well. They hide. SO I can't say from experience if that's true about them being sociopaths/psychopaths but it sounds plausible. And I don't work in the computer programming or gaming industry. Just a consumer of some of the stuff... and lately it's been incomplete garbage.

Our dad's been busy. Great job George. This topic is incredibly necessary right now.

Happy labour day everyone! Thank you thank you thank you for this documentary! I'm not in this business but I've been in "the creative" industry for my whole carreer (dozen years now) and this is just the same everywhere I turn my eye to.

Hey George, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you putting videos like this out there. I can't imagine they get nearly as many views as some of your other ones and yet you still make them. Videos like this are an invaluable resource to, and I can tell that you're very passionate about them. Thank you

@APaleDot

5 жыл бұрын

He should have put a clickbait title on it: "What game companies don't want you know!"

I really hope the video game industry winds up unionizing but there is one thing I really don't understand about indie studios that are started by people leaving the triple A space. That is why don't they start worker cooperatives? If you're coming from the triple A space and hate a lot of the corporate bullshit and severe crunch then it would make sense to form your studio as a worker coop. I wonder if it's because they don't realize that is even an option or they don't think it's viable. I think a worker coop structure can get rid of a lot of the bullshit that devs have to go through. I hope Motion Twin serves as an inspiration for indie startups.

@projab

5 жыл бұрын

because people will always be greedy and act against their principles if they get a chance

Anywhere workers are being exploited, unionization is the logical first step toward righting past and future wrongs.

@ineednochannelyoutube5384

5 жыл бұрын

The problem is, unions themselves become engines of exploitation in short order. I suppose they are still somewhat better than nothing.

@mohammedsarker5756

5 жыл бұрын

I need no channel youtube! Unions are democratically run institutions. They’re as good as long as members can interact and be involved and have their say. Is corrupt unions, an issue? Yeah but that’s gone down with the less importance of the mob and union corruption trials of the 60s as well as greater diversity measures

Being a game dev, especially in the larger departments, seems like a living hell of deadlines and rushes. Kudos to anyone that still joins up

@getschwifty5537

5 жыл бұрын

Kudos or condolences

This comment section is so American, it's mindblowing to read some of the deepthroating corporate apologia here. The necessity of a radical and militant labour movement to emerge in the US once again couldn't be higher. And the signs seem to be quite promising.

Great work, George. It's awesome to see more discussion about unionisation and workers rights, as well as the all the talk about crunch I've been seeing of late. Unions are commonplace here in Australia, so it's kind of confusing to see the backlash over trying establishing one for game devs. Unions exist to negotiate with employers on behalf of workers to achieve a better outcome for them, and to protect their rights and standard of living. Collective bargaining is really powerful that people are overlooking for some reason. Their whole purpose is to ensure that you're not exploited by your employers, which is exactly what we're seeing in the game industry. So I'm not sure why some people are freaking out over unions. We had a royal commission (a big publicly funded investigation) into supposed union 'corruption' between February 2014 and late December 2015. As of March 2016, only a single person was charged out of the whole union movement. So from my perspective, it really does my head in trying to understand where people get the notion that unions = corrupt. Australia has also suffered a decline in union membership over the last four decades or so, and the effects are starting to become more obvious. While unions membership is still fairly strong in my profession (teaching), it's fallen to about 1 in 10 for most occupations. As a result, workers' rights have been chipped away at and wage growth has started to stagnate (the lowest growth since World War 2). On top of that, the workforce has become more casualised which has impacted on job security and stability, and in turn, impacts upon rates of pay and the benefits workers are entitled to. The cost of living has also been on the rise and it's becoming harder for people to makes end meet, especially those in lower socio-economic situations. And this is why unions exist, to stop people from being screwed by their bosses. I feel it's a rather fair expectation that people are given a reasonable wage to live on and that they have reasonable work hours (especially in the case of game devs, as crunch has been a big talking point of late). Sorry if that was a little long-winded. figured it was relevant due to the people I hear/see decrying unions in comments on KZread and in real life. I've spent a while looking into this stuff so I figured I'd just share my perspective. (I also spent some time studying politics at uni if that wasn't obvious already.)

@peelsreklaw

5 жыл бұрын

Lots of anti-union propaganda in the US for decades.

@ronnieDaking

5 жыл бұрын

@@peelsreklaw There a reason for that

Fan-freaking-tastic, this was awesome it kind of hit home a little to, graduated college worked as an un-paid intern at a game company for a number of years, got screwed over, then went and learned a trade skill, then ended up back in the 3D industry making materials and interior designs. The game world is just too volatile in it's current state.

Finally I can watch the noodle clip again

@javierarmenta944

5 жыл бұрын

I have bad news for both of you...

@jakejutras5420

5 жыл бұрын

The meme is dead, let it rest.

@onimaxblade8988

5 жыл бұрын

Hey. The Plaid Button-Up was there.

@toa9329

5 жыл бұрын

@Tri-Shake-Atops aahh muh CRINGE

Amazing video George, thank you so much for what you do. Important conversations will be had thanks to what you do. And now, even though I have no gamedev experience, I REALLY want to make some kind of game that could be shown at that "alt.control" showfloor. I didn't even know games like that were a thing.

@LordDagmord

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you George!

Thank you for making this George. As a consumer who only ever gets an inside view of game dev from news stories and podcasts, this was both quite informative and infuriating. Thank you to all those who have gone through these struggles to make the products i love playing everyday after work.

Very informative, George. You always manage to capture the zeitgest issues of the modern game industry, impeccably. One of the few game journalist actually worth his salt. You put in the effort man, and it really shows.

George you should modify the voice of the anonymous dude!

That's one nice desk, but why is it in focus and not you lol

@Mantis42

5 жыл бұрын

in old hollywood it was common to have slightly out of focus shots for the lead actress, hiding their blemishes and softening the skin. clearly mr. bunnyhop is paying homage to this tradition when highlighting his own beauty

@ChrisTweten

5 жыл бұрын

@@Mantis42 so you're saying he's got bad skin?

@VashdaCrash

5 жыл бұрын

@@ChrisTweten Yes, and also it's a joke. Mantis is probably making up that story knowing that it isn't true from a good guess. Sorry for explaining the joke.

@cjucag589

5 жыл бұрын

@@VashdaCrash it is true, though. They would also apply softening filters when a female's face was the primary object in the shot. This is most obvious in shows like Star Trek but can be seen in other shows.

@VashdaCrash

5 жыл бұрын

@@cjucag589 oh yeah, that part is true. I was referring to the "George doing that on purpose" part.

I hope they are able to unionize and inspire workers of other industries to do as well

@ZontarDow

5 жыл бұрын

Lets just hope they don't go the way of construction or teachers unions, don't want them being another example of an entire industry that's an argument against the concept.

@c.jarmstrong3111

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZontarDow in Canada, the provincial teachers unions are the primary reason why teaching is one of the best jobs in the country, with excellent benefits

@ZontarDow

5 жыл бұрын

@@c.jarmstrong3111 Yes, and they're also the reason why unions have a horrendous reputation, since industries where saying "no" to a union is an option will often find themselves given the catch 22 situation of "close the place down" or "operate at a loss" due to new unions not realising that teachers unions only work because the state at the end of the day can't really say no to them. Teachers unions are, in fact, so bad, that my own union makes no secret of our disdain for them. They're comparable to construction unions in terms of how bad they are for the public image of unions.

@namedidii

5 жыл бұрын

@@ZontarDow schools aren't meant to make a profit what is your point

@ZontarDow

5 жыл бұрын

@@namedidii My point is teachers unions are terrible for the entirety of society who are not members of them and that they are one of two groups of unions (the other being construction unions) who have tared the concept of unions as a whole as a result of the problems they cause. Schools aren't meant to make a profit, but they also aren't meant to be a money pit where more money is constantly poured into them yet the results stay the same. Lower education in Canada is at least twice as much of a burden on the state as it needs to be if we plugged up the holes, but guess who cry bloody murder if you propose fixing the problem of wasteful spending in the education system?

An important video for an important time. As movie studios worm their way back into vertical integration (Disney streaming service anyone?) the issues raised here will affect a wide variety of industries, and gaming might yet be able to lead that way forward, instead of linger far back. It seems far fetched, but if the 30s and 40s could make it happen without Superbunnyhop, maybe we've still got a shot with him.

Just want to say that since 2014 you've been my favorite games journalist and I really love that you're covering this stuff

I deeply appreciate this sort of journalism. Any fan of the arts - whether it is paintings or movies or videogames - should also have an interest in the wellbeing of the art creators. For that matter, any employed person should be invested in seeing working conditions and norms improve.

For those in the comment sections Unions are not far/ extreme left wing.

@mohammedsarker5756

5 жыл бұрын

panddda boi around 40% of Union members (total aggregate and this numbers a guesstimate) are Republicans so yeah

@Kiyosuki

5 жыл бұрын

And yet it still seems to be a fact that some people need to be reminded of, bewilderingly.

@kloa4219

5 жыл бұрын

My friend works in a union for a trade and he makes a lot of money despite being openly white nationalist. That would get you fired from corporate jobs that exploit workers nowadays. Those leftists are going to be in for a rude awakening when they notice that unions value people for their labor instead of politics.

@Kiyosuki

5 жыл бұрын

@@kloa4219You're...really okay with him being a white nationalist huh?

@kloa4219

5 жыл бұрын

@@Kiyosuki Unions have the best type of job security out there. You can't be fired by an activist emailing your employer if they try to fire you for your views. You're valued for your labor instead of your views.

Unions are good. We need to talk about it more. All spaces do better when there's a standard of living.

Thanks for putting a spotlight on this. Also, Emma Kinema is a very good spokes person. A+, good work.

@CybFrog

5 жыл бұрын

I don't trust anyone who wants to work full time as an "organizer".

@MrStronglime

5 жыл бұрын

@@CybFrog You mean, like politicians?

@henrikmunkmadsen3190

5 жыл бұрын

@@CybFrog I know it's been said by two different people already, but since I made the post originally, I would also like to know: What do you mean and why? I would love to hear an elaboration :)

I've been working as a developer for about 15 years, never in games, but I can tell you that crunch happens all the time when you have a lot of non-technical staff (upper management, designers, project/account managers) taking part in the project's decision making with disregard for the actual work that is involved in building the thing itself. Games are obviously hugely affected by this as you have so many different teams involved in putting together the final package. Its almost always caused by poor scope/requirements due to negligence on the part of the project designers and management, which obviously manifests into massive scope creep and overtime for the devs and QA. Its the same old story at every dev shop I've worked at. Can't tell you how many late nights I've worked due to scope creep, just to have the person responsible for it leave the office at 5pm saying something like "Hey, let me know if you need anything! I'll be available tonight." . This ALWAYS turned out much better when a senior dev/analyst (such as myself) was involved from the get-go to help flesh out the requirements/scope docs. Now every shop works "agile" (plan for change), which is often abused by lazy project planners/managers.

A fascinating conversation, if not somewhat one-sided. It is difficult to argue, though, that things like publisher excesses, abuse of developers, crunch time, etc NEED to stop, and unions are certainly a means of making that happen.

Btw I really love this video! This is REAL gaming journalism, instead of the "OMG can't believe what studio X did now!!" that most youtuber sell as journalism/

@TheCivildecay

5 жыл бұрын

@jo mo mo you should see the quartering, that's Yongyea times 10.

The eternal war between the makers and the managers, Sadly human history is a cycle we just need to remember that, we can win again and again but the battle price must be paid off. Lets hope the devs find the middle ground and at least a way to give his family a decent life

20:07 - And the video is forever cursed due to when it was made. 5 years down the line, people will look at it and think "Oh yeah. That thing with Sonic and his... teeth."

This is awesome! Real topics to talk about. Kudos, George!

Yeah. I feel like I can never get enough of your videos George

I am 11 minutes in... is it intentional that everyone is wearing black and red tartan?

@TheHandsomeCow_

5 жыл бұрын

it's CA thing

@gunnerkobra

5 жыл бұрын

People waving red colors and asking for better work conditions. Seems familiar...

@coralinekozun7325

5 жыл бұрын

gatman66 fuck yeah!

Hope this gets a Jim Sterling shout out, he's been talking a good bit about this topic lately. Definitely deserves it with how much effort you put in

Mistreatment of gamedev's with the excuse of "you are doing a job that others can only dream about" should stop ASAP... Also it's quite sad that people that stand up for their rights in the game industry have to stay anonymous

@ineednochannelyoutube5384

5 жыл бұрын

The problem with that is that the excuse ia true. Devs are a cheap commodity.

This is hard hitting real journalism about such an important industry to many of us. I love how much you put into your work it really shows. Thank you for highlighting issues we need to be seeing.

@deckleberry

5 жыл бұрын

Lmfao "hard hitting"

i really hope they manage unity around one thing in there unionization efforts. that being pixel pushers is a way better union name. also thanks for bringing this up George ill be supporting these unions as well as any boycotts or strikes they announce.

@rolfs2165

5 жыл бұрын

"Game Workers" includes everyone working on games, though, even those who don't push pixels around. Like sound designers, server admins, ...

@babygorilla4233

5 жыл бұрын

@@rolfs2165 and I'm not part of the LGBT community. I'm in the LGBTTQQIAAP community.

As a student wanting to get into the industry rigth now through courses and jobs this is really great insight, thanks a lot George. This really completes a french documentary that was released two months ago by Game Spectrum, and you guys really made me think about my future and the need for social rights in the video game world ; I don't really know what to do right now tho hahaha

What a coincidence that the same day this documentary came out, that I just got approved for membership in the games workers union in my local chapter! While I'm not yet in the industry yet, I just thought I would still join because I am serious about making games, and I want to be a part of something that makes positive changes in the industry. I don't want me and other people to be subjected to crunch, unexpected layoffs, and other abusive work practices. While I may have shot myself in the foot for being part of a union, and workplaces might not hire me because I'm part of a union, at least I don't have to be subjected to crunch or have to deal with scrambling to find a job after an unexpected layoff. Also, unionization at this point is inevitable because you can only poke the Hornets nest for so long.

What's the situation like outside of the USA? I'm from Sweden and here unions are still common, are game workers not unionised here either? If they are, is there any collaboration between GWU and the unions in other countries? What about Ubisoft that has a Massive (couldn't help myself) studio in Malmö, is that unionised? How is crunch handled there? What about other Ubisoft studios? Same thing with Dice and EA. I think it's a shame that there is never any real acknowledgement that there are studios outside of the US.

@spacejunk2186

5 жыл бұрын

Germany has unions but its also the biggest low wage sector in Europe, so there is that.

All the power of the workers reside on their ability to stop production. If you don't unionize, you are surrendering to the whims of bosses. An organized class is a powerful, healthy class.

George, I love that you made this and I'm going to share it everywhere.

We should give Boby Kotik and Andrew Wilson two weeks, just two weeks as normal workers and see how they endure the crunch under the guise of "passion"

18:05 you said that 37% received compensation but it's written that they have NOT received compensation

Just looking at the name I know this is going to be straight heat🔥🔥 Thanks Bunnyhop!

The fact that it's illegal for movie studios to own theaters with their exclusive movies due to anti-monopoly laws, but it's perfectly fine for online stores for movies & games to have exclusives is ridiculous. Hope a gaming union doesn't lead to a situation like with the voice actor union where people can't do a few one-off gigs for cheap here and there that would not make sense at a higher price, because the union will sue the company for hiring you. Oftentimes a minority of the people in a particular field are hurt by the union "fighting for the workers." It becomes more about preserving the clique within the union, rather than the actual people they're supposed to be protecting.

18:05 Minor mistake there. 37% received NO additional compensation. So 63% of them did, not the other way around. But only 18% were actually paid overtime.

Super Bunnyhop has done it again.

"This isn't an event for fans..." Nah dude I love watching GDC talks. In fact I'd say that GDC is my most looked forward to event each year.

@ronnieDaking

5 жыл бұрын

Same

@user-ke5uh9wz2l

5 жыл бұрын

Sure but you arent the target audience

Bunnyhop is the perfection of gaming journalism

Shared to my other game dev friends. After seeing what happened at Riot games two days ago- I really hope the round-table takes off at GDC next year as I plan on going myself. It's literally only a networking event for students, and it doesn't help that colleges actually PUSH us to crunch on our own projects while training for AAA.

This is exactly why I went into tech and not games, despite games being my main focus in college. I'm really glad you made this video, and I'm really hopeful that unionization will make games a possible option for me in the future.

Wow, for once it's a video talking about the politics of gaming that actually MATTER to gaming.

@ThePuretide

5 жыл бұрын

That's obviously a spiked reply about certain subjects. But have you seen any of Jim Sterling's videos of late?

@TechniqueSan

5 жыл бұрын

@@ThePuretide A morbidly obese person who makes like 15k a month to scream at videogames, shilling for Socialism. He's absolutely pathetic and seems to lack any self-awareness.

@evanwestendorf9667

5 жыл бұрын

@@TechniqueSan His weight has nothing to do with anything. The beautiful thing about capitalism, is that even a "socialist" *rolls eyes* like Jim Sterling can make whatever money they want because they put a product into market that people like and want to support monetarily, to allow him to continue to do what he does. I guess capitalism is great, unless it's working for people you don't agree with?

@TechniqueSan

5 жыл бұрын

@@evanwestendorf9667 But it does, I wasn't throwing ad hominem around. It's crystal clear he more than enjoys a life of comfort and safety that only capitalism can bring you, yet he publicly goes against the system that feeds him. Communism for you, capitalism for me, am I right? I don't care if he makes a million a month, the point is don't be a hypocrite virtue signalling subhuman. Capitalism is the only correct way of life, the current problems with the world are mostly due to who's at the top of the chain, generating endless conflict like this very discussion we're having. Divide and conquer, that's how they're gonna win. Capitalism and meritocracy work as intended, the problem is not putting back the money you earn into the economy.

@Dirtyblue929

5 жыл бұрын

@@TechniqueSan >unironically refers to people he doesn't like as "subhuman" lol yeah okay bud

Damn, What a great write up and video.... this is an important subject and I am once again glad that you are here to tackle these things, George

Having worked in a couple of jobs now that had this “dream job” quality to them I’ll tell you this aspect of them turning out to be slave labour is sadly very common. I worked in video game retail for quite a while and ironically it was the worst of the retail jobs I had in terms of how the company viewed their employees, I’ve worked in retail for quite a number of years. I still had a passion for the people I worked with and the industry but burned out in the job. There was a clear feeling within the company that the job itself should be motivation enough to perform above regular expectations. Clearly selling video games and pop culture merchandise must be a blast, especially with a chill work environment, so of course we don’t need to pay you properly and we can ask for unrealistic sales targets and crank up stress levels on those. This led to a lot of shady practises, terrible internal commutation and much else.

They missed out on naming themselves as GPU- Gaming production Union. Or something along the line.

Is this the famous ethics in video games journalism I've been hearing about

With the topic of the unions in the games industry on everyone's' mind recently, I thought I would share what I have noticed with unions in the manufacturing industry. For some background I am a CNC machinist, I've been in the industry for about 10 years. I have worked for small companies that have 10 employees, and large nation wide companies that employed thousands. Most of the big shops (I don't want to name specific places but think big government contractors) have some form of union in their machine shops. The union makes working in the shop both great and highly annoying. The good side: decent pay, great benefits, a ceiling on hours worked per week, and really good job security. Some shops even have a limit on the number of parts a single person can make in a a day. Some of the bad is that, if you want to get literally anything done, you need to get "the guy". Need to saw some material? You need the saw guy to do that. Need to move a piece of equipment? You need the fork truck operator. Need to call a vendor to verify what you ordered is correct? The sales guy needs to do that. Every task you can think of has "a guy" and that person is the only one allowed to do that job. The red tape can slow things down quite a bit. However, since you are following procedure, you can never be yelled at for working too slowly. This leads to the bigger companies farming out the majority of work to smaller shops, while still keeping enough work in house to satisfy the union. The smaller non union shops can often do the work for less money and faster than the bigger shops. Nothing is stopping the smaller shops from working 30 hours of overtime per week. In fact this type of work is what kept all the small shops I've worked for in business. I say let the big companies unionize and let the smaller places profit from it.

@urishima

5 жыл бұрын

Oh, there you are.

Awesome, real videogame journalism here. A human view of the industry that was so badly needed, thank you!