GOG Helps Preserve Gaming's Legacy (July 23, 2018)
- Thread starter ChrisReid
- Start date
AD
Finder of things, Doer of stuff
There are some good employers out there, but this just isn't the norm. Theoretically it *should* work that way, especially in places like Canada where I live where there are rules that dictate a bare minimal level of fairness. But the reality is far removed from this. This isn't just a problem with game dev, it's a problem in many if not the majority of big companies.
Especially when you work for bigger businesses (larger than 30 employees... maybe less) there's a shift towards a focus on goal/production based employment. Companies set goals for their employees and to actually make your full pay (disguised as a "bonus") you must meet whatever targets head office sets for you. For a software company this might be meeting a development goal or meeting a release date. If you perform exceedingly well, the company then sets your already unrealistic targets even higher for your next review period. To meet your target you must work all of the overtime they allow you to work, and you are technically not allowed to go over. You will be basically punished for not meeting your target. The only option to actually meet your target is to take your work home with you or work "overtime" for free. The longer you work at a given place of employment the more pressure there will be to basically work yourself to death. If you don't meet your goals or refuse to do more overtime than you are actually payed for you're under constant threat of being fired. Often they won't even fire you. They'll put you into a new position where you're on call but they never give you enough hours to make a living... keeping you below the threshold where you qualify for certain benefits. Or they'll find some other way to make staying there so unpleasant that you will quit on your own so that they don't owe you any severance.
Here's an example from the construction field: My boss tells me I have to get a certain task finished before the end of the day. That task should take 6 hours, but he only tells me to do it after I've worked 4 hours already. Not finishing this task will hold up other trades who need to come in and do their work in the morning. There could be serious financial repercussions to not having it done, and that is communicated directly to me... that basically it will be my fault and even if there shouldn't be repercussions, it's hinted that they'll find some way to punish me. The job can technically be done in about 4.5 hours in a perfect world, but I'm not actually authorized to work any overtime, So I'm already behind before I even get started. Oh yeah, taking on this task also means I have to drop my other tasks and that will put me behind schedule on those other jobs... but back to the job at hand, I can hustle my butt and be almost done by my normal time. When all is said and done, and you include the end of the day cleanup, I'll have worked an extra hour. Since there's not that much left to do at my normal end of work time, I should just finish that task. I will feel obligated to do actually because of the pressure put on my by the supervisor. But because I'm not authorized or told outright to actually work any overtime from the supervisor, they will refuse to pay it because I decided on my own to work past the end of my work day. I could fight them in court over it, but it's not worth my time and any amount I would win wouldn't even cover the lawyers fees. and it would take over a year... maybe two before there's any kind of settlement. Some companies do authorize overtime but only for four hours or some other arbitrary amount. It might even be a cumulative cap... If you work more than that you're on your own again, so it's the same story just with a longer work day. With a cumulative cap you might be pressured to work 6-8 hour days, but after 2/3 of the year you can't get paid for any overtime, but they constantly book you with enough work for 12-16 hrs a day.
The next trick in their book is to then replace these workers with "contractors" who are really just employees in reality. Some of the employees mentioned above might get suckered into being a contractor. The contractor has to meet a quota or goal basically and it doesn't matter how long they are there since on the books, they are technically self employed. They are also stressed because there's the constant threat that without any kind of warning the employer will just terminate their contract. When you work for yourself, there's no such thing as overtime. Some governments have been cracking down on this and there's been lawsuits over it since they really are employees and the courts have decided they're entitled to all the other benefits and protections of full employees
A long time ago it was pretty standard to have very minimal safety standards in factories and mines. Eployers didn't value human life at all. They didn't have to phyisically hurt employees themselves to be ablusive. That's why people banded together to form unions . The fact that the kind of garbage going on in software and game dev studios the globe over is considered "normal" doesn't make it acceptable, or mean that the people that won't put up with it are some how cowards. Whether or not CDPR is worse than the average studio is irrelevant to the problems created by the competitive culture of the gaming industry. Just because they all do it doesn't mean that things shouldn't change. But it's not so simple. A lot of big studios just outsource to third world countries where labor is cheap and fire their own employees. They send the message to their employees that if they want to keep their job, they have to play their game. Unions aren't the answer to the problem either but a change in culture is definitely needed.
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@AD: You don't have to explain to me how things work. For last 20 years I experienced a lot of bad things on my own skin but there is always a choice. My life would be much easier if I kept my mouth shut but I choose not to. There is always a solution and it might not be ideal one but that's life.
Pedro
Admiral
Firstly I don't consider lack of overtime pay in its self to be a "bad" thing, most professional jobs in their contract stipulate that you are required to work the hours necessary to complete your work. The people working the longest aren't necessarily the most productive (often the reverse), it can up rewarding idleness rather than productivity. It's only a problem when companies take advantage of this and overtime becomes the norm.
Secondly that's a bit defeatist. The reason things like EA spouse matter is to prevent people from going through them in the first place, companies have more power - and often you don't have the experience to know what will be a good company in advance; leaving won't look great on the CV. Pointing out bad working practices, and not being tolerant of them is the only way to balance that power dynamic.
You don't want to head to the extreme of just accepting exploitative working environments as part of life, when these things come to light they deserve respect not dismissal (because it does take pretty extreme circumstances for them to come to light mostly).
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Pedro
Admiral
I'm not sure where you got that from, I assume its your obsession with this notion of every problem being your own doing and screw everyone else. I have zero complaints about my current workplace; it's actually a superb place to work and I couldn't recommend highly it enough.
Early in my career however I didn't know the warning signs well enough not to avoid bad working environments, and not being a jackass I wouldn't wish those experiences on those who don't know any better.
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
Sigh. Well, I did say presenting evidence would be pointless, as you'd simply dismiss it. I'm done with this discussion, thanks.
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
Ok, I will respond to this one more time, just to correct this nonsense - and not for your sake (you've made it clear you will refuse to accept anyone's views but your own), but for the sake of the other people reading this discussion. I do think, or at least hope, anyone who will look through the discussion above will be able to see that this "personal grudge against CDPR" comes down to me telling you that it's not the best company in the world, because of the various experiences their employees report. I have never suggested any personal conflict between me and CDPR, and I have made it clear that I've never worked for them, so I have not experienced any such thing firsthand. It's you who keeps trying to interpret everything I say as somehow being personal, even to the point of telling me that I am a coward because I didn't just quit... which I couldn't very well do, as you can't quit from a job you don't hold.
No, this was never personal. All I wanted to do was to correct what I saw as a silly misconception on your part. That's not going to happen, so I'm shutting up now.
@Quarto: I'm sorry but to me it looked very personal. Since you are from Poland and you are also a developer that means that you probably tried to find some work at CDPR. You wanted to be a part of company that is making history and I can understand that. But for some reason they didn't accept you and now you are spreading lies about them.
AD
Finder of things, Doer of stuff
Are you for real? Seriously, have another vacation.