8 replies to this topic

[Luke]

Both my wife and I are blessed enough to work* in what I consider to be the best possible industry - the video gaming industry. My last project was Volition's Saints Row: The Third on which I was an Assistant Writer. My wife is a Visual Effects Artists and worked on the G.I Joe game, the newest Front Mission title, and is currently making awesome effects for the Elder Scrolls MMO recently announced and in development by ZeniMax Online Studios.

Recently, as you may have heard, the game development company founded by Curt Schilling essentially died. 38 Studios (in Rhode Island), and its wholly owned sister studio Big Huge Games (in Baltimore) laid off their entire staff yesterday. The staff have not been paid since the end of April, and they lost their benefits packages last night.

http://arstechnica.c...f-entire-staff/

That's nearly 400 people who thought they were securely employed (at least by gaming industry standards) two weeks ago and who are now out of work.

That sucks.

What doesn't suck is the response of the rest of the industry. Within hours the gaming industry globally had taken to Twitter and started broadcasting open jobs in the gaming industry under the hashtag #38jobs. By the close of business on the East Coast, #38jobs was one of the most popular trends nationally.

To get an idea of the scope of this thing, take a look at this document:
https://docs.google....-cUI/edit?pli=1

People (or at least one guy) are still working through the deluge of Twitter, pulling out the jobs mentioned, and compiling them into a document that is onto its fifth page and still growing.

We may never know how many people find new jobs more quickly than they otherwise would have thanks to this online community uprising, but some will. I know of at least one local studio (local to me in Baltimore, that is) who has scheduled interviews with some 38 Studios refugees, and I expect there will be more of those coming. I also expect that is the trend nationally.

So why am I writing all this? Mainly to brag on my industry.

We in the gaming industry are generally under paid. We often work excess amounts of overtime (it's called crunch, and, sadly, is seen as normal). We have little to no job security. We generally have to move so frequently that buying a home is viewed as a bad idea. When politicians and media people can't find anything better to do, they come and blame us for all that is wrong with America and American youth. Many people see our occupation as juvenile and wonder why we aren't working to end world hunger or something else more worthwhile. Looking at it from the outside, I imagine a lot of people wonder why anyone would ever want to work in the gaming industry.

Well, there's the answer, right there on Twitter.

There is a strong and diverse community that permeates the industry. We have our assholes and idiots (likely in higher concentrations) just like any other job, but we also tend to have each others' back. We know its a tough field to work in, but it is a great bunch of people to work with. What happened on Twitter after 38 Studios collapsed was impressive... but not surprising. By and large, the people you work with really are just that awesome.

Community counts for a lot, and I'm lucky enough to work* in an industry that has a great one, just like I'm lucky enough to write for a website that has a great one.

In a nutshell, what we witnessed on Twitter yesterday afternoon is exactly why I love the gaming industry.



* Ok, so technically I've been out of work for about a year now. Details, details...

[Brett]

Great share, Luke.

[fromthemitten]

yeah, I've heard enough horror stories from former Electronic Arts employees to the point where I don't purchase their games anymore. It's good to hear a story like this one.

[MichiganGoat]

Geez I wish us Teachers could do something like that... and I'd have to argue with you about who has is in the worst "industry." Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, regularly attacked, unreasonable expectations, a complete unbalance of budget and expectations.

[Spencer]

Geez I wish us Teachers could do something like that... and I'd have to argue with you about who has is in the worst "industry." Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, regularly attacked, unreasonable expectations, a complete unbalance of budget and expectations.

I second this wholeheartedly.

But this was a pretty cool story, Luke.

[Luke]

Geez I wish us Teachers could do something like that... and I'd have to argue with you about who has is in the worst "industry." Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, regularly attacked, unreasonable expectations, a complete unbalance of budget and expectations.

I've done both. I taught middle and high school for a time in Florida and at a Community College in Illinois. No one... and I mean no one... appreciates teachers half as much as they should.

[SirCub]

Geez I wish us Teachers could do something like that... and I'd have to argue with you about who has is in the worst "industry." Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, regularly attacked, unreasonable expectations, a complete unbalance of budget and expectations.

I've done both. I taught middle and high school for a time in Florida and at a Community College in Illinois. No one... and I mean no one... appreciates teachers half as much as they should.

No one? Well I brought in fresh baked cookies on teacher appreciation day, so ha!

[MichiganGoat]

Geez I wish us Teachers could do something like that... and I'd have to argue with you about who has is in the worst "industry." Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, regularly attacked, unreasonable expectations, a complete unbalance of budget and expectations.

I've done both. I taught middle and high school for a time in Florida and at a Community College in Illinois. No one... and I mean no one... appreciates teachers half as much as they should.

No one? Well I brought in fresh baked cookies on teacher appreciation day, so ha!

And those cookies sucked, as they always do. Trust me Cash is all we want cause we sure as fuck don't get paid shit.

[Luke]

Geez I wish us Teachers could do something like that... and I'd have to argue with you about who has is in the worst "industry." Teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, regularly attacked, unreasonable expectations, a complete unbalance of budget and expectations.

I've done both. I taught middle and high school for a time in Florida and at a Community College in Illinois. No one... and I mean no one... appreciates teachers half as much as they should.

No one? Well I brought in fresh baked cookies on teacher appreciation day, so ha!

And those cookies sucked, as they always do. Trust me Cash is all we want cause we sure as fuck don't get paid shit.

Speak for yourself!

Personally, I'd have been fine with real estate, bullion, valuable stocks, the originals of famous artworks, monopolies on valuable commodities, yachts, private jets, or other similarly lucrative considerations.