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Good. I'm absolutely amazed how the biggest entertainment industry on earth is able to pay it's staff so little, as well as shit on them in benefits.
The answer is as simple as it is horrible: It's because for every burned-out, overworked and underpaid game dev, there are two starry-eyed kids who want to realize their dream and create games - and the C-suite knows this.They will replace any veteran dev with someone right out of college as soon as it is convenient
Mind, I am not blaming young people who want to create games. They lack the experience to know they are getting exploited. It's all the cynicism of managers who know no loyalty and only want profits.
And if anyone wonders why every new game somehow manages to be a buggy mess that needs fixing, you have the answer right there too: Because the devs who fixed it the last time got fired and replaced with rookies.
Yep, there's a reason they don't teach actual labor history or the idea of collective bargaining in school (at least in the US, I know this is in regards to a Polish company, but I suspect it is similar). They want compliant workers who are just smart enough to run the machines, but not smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and realize how badly they've been getting fucked for seventy years (To paraphrase George Carlin). They make sure this kind of material isn't taught so there is always a steady supply of starry eyed youths who don't know any better.
We get taught it in the US, but its usually in the vein of company towns and pinkertons, not the modern mundane stuff.
Pinkerton are sadly still modern day stuff.
Mind, I am not blaming young people who want to create games. They lack the experience to know they are getting exploited. It’s all the cynicism of managers who know no loyalty and only want profits.
I blame them at least a little. CS professors give students ample warnings and the industry's bad reputation isn't a secret. There a variety of outcomes....
- listen and steer clear entirely
- listen but decide to do it anyway. They do research on potential employers, their work culture etc. and they have standards.
- Ignore the warnings or be willing to do game dev no matter the cost
The second group will be fine and knows when/if they need to call it quits or look elsewhere. The real problem is the third group.
You still shouldn't blame inexperienced young people for being exploited.
Sure, but there's no need to infantilize young tech workers either. Most of them knowingly decided to work in the most competitive industry, despite having a skillset that would earn them a better wage with comfortable work-life balance anywhere else. They can quit at any time and get a job that's better in literally every way except that the end product won't be shiny.
The real victims aren't software developers, but people in creative positions: writers, graphists, designers, modelers, etc. who don't necessarily have a skillset necessarily highly valued outside of the entertainment industry.
Tbf they sometimes dont have much choice in employer, and are too deep in to change careers, or convinced that they are.
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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