
Alex St. John: Game developers must avoid the ‘wage-slave’ attitude - empressplay
http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/game-developers-must-avoid-the-wage-slave-attitude/
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timmytokyo
Alex St. John says, "Don’t be in the game industry if you can’t love all 80
hours/week of it — you’re taking a job from somebody who would really value
it."

Sadly, this mentality is pervasive in the games industry. It's why game
developers are treated so poorly (in terms of compensation, perks, and overall
mental well-being) compared to their counterparts in other software
development spheres.

As much as I want to say that Alex St. John is an asshole, at least he's being
honest about his disgusting opinions. Most of the higher-ups in gamedev just
lie or pretend that things aren't as bad as they are.

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cjcenizal
This almost reads like a troll. "Making games is not a job"? If someone's
getting paid to produce something, it's a job. No amount of doublespeak can
change that. Stop whining about "80 hour weeks"? Everyone has a right to
agitate for improved work conditions. This is essential for the capital-labor
relationship to benefit society.

The author seems to be contradicting himself -- wage slaves are those who must
_accept_ an oppressive workplace to survive. Shutting up and accepting poor
conditions, like the author suggests, is how you become one.

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lee_s
This is pretty hugely sexist. Next time someone asks what obstacles women face
in software development I'm going to point to this.

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atomical
Why is it sexist?

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tiredwired
I worked for major game companies for 18 years. They were all terrible at
managing technology and projects. Every team in the studio reinvents
everything. They have to because the company laid off their experienced
engineers the previous year so the executives could get a bonus.

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Kristine1975
TL;DR: Asshole explains why game developers should continue to be overworked.

Because apparently creating a small piece of the n-th sequel in some multi-
million gaming franchise is creating "art", and artists have no need for a
work-life-balance.

Edit: Reply by indie developer: [http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/indie-
developer-rami-ismai...](http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/indie-developer-
rami-ismail-responds-to-critic-of-work-life-balance-in-game-industry/)

Edit 2: Apparently the author himself burned out while working at Microsoft:
[http://www.informationtechnologyleaders.com/stvid.html](http://www.informationtechnologyleaders.com/stvid.html)

 _He would pass out at his keyboard and straggle into morning meetings with
key marks on his face. Worked sucked everything out of him; his marriage
disintegrated. In 1997, he succeeded in getting himself fired, as he tells it,
"and walked out of Microsoft feeling 100 lbs. lighter."_

