While understanding managements practices in terms of overtime is essential, the general passivity of affected personnel in response is also worthy of examination. Game developers have yet to start pushing back in any significant way. A few exceptions are worth noting, such as high profile cases, the work of the IGDA, and a few companies who’ve adopted fair management practices, realizing that work/life balance is key to the long term development of the company (BioWare, High Moon Studios, etc).

Still – employees themselves, victims of these unfair practices – remain largely silent, and apparently unwilling to assert themselves more forcefully and collectively within the industry. They work all sort of hours, grumble and complain to their co-workers. Some will talk of leaving, and others of speaking to their managers, but nothing changes. The very few who have the nerve to actually take a stand must be recognized for their courage, in an industry that abuses its workers and stifles efficient organizing.

The reasons for this are generic to any large, geographically dispersed industry, with a culture of individual independence and creative freedom.

Lack of Unity within Companies

Lacking the proper structures to do so, employees don’t stand together. During crunch, employees complain bitterly among themselves, a few to management, rarely, if ever, taking a united stand.

1. The Generational Gap

Older developers, jaded or not, in the industry long enough to have experienced multiple crunch cycles, have accepted the process as an inevitable aspect of the games industry. To them, overtime is a permanent fixture of the job, impossible to alter. Having themselves internalized the practice as unfortunate but necessary, some become its enforcers as they gain seniority.

Older employees often advance that working conditions “have improved” somewhat – compared to what they could or used to be in their time. The unspoken difference, of course, is that in earlier days, creating games was more about the passion of the developers than the bottom line. It is unworthy of such a corporate, profit driven industry to continue to blatantly take advantage of this passion instead without fairly compensating employees.

Other employees cynically see crunch as a rite of passage for the younger crowd. “You have to earn it”. While it is appropriate to expect newcomers to show dedication and skill, as well as be willing to learn and grow in a job – extreme abuse of their time and energy is not a constructive part of that process.

Older developer and management staff, who bought into the practice after silently suffering through it, also work long hours, making it difficult for more junior staff to complain. Furthermore, their often expressed notion that the “sacrifice” is worth the satisfaction of seeing your game on the shelves, blinds them to the effect on their employees, who therefore find themselves without recourse or support from their supervisors.

2. Job Uncertainty

The above attitude leads to a great deal of job insecurity, and fear of being ostracized among employees, should they complain too loud. Employees don’t even have to fear losing their jobs in order to be kept quiet. If an employee complains too loudly during the arduous periods of the project, they are less likely to be promoted or accommodated in their work requests during the less stressful periods of development. They’ll be labeled as an agitator or troublemaker.

This is a valid concern, especially in certain regions with few game companies, ie anywhere outside California. When you have limited alternate choices in the region, or don’t want to relocate your family (because you own a home, your children are in school, etc), you’re more likely to bend to your company’s practices. One rationalizes the decision to stay quiet: other companies are the same; the grass isn’t any greener on the other side; it’ll be over in 6 weeks; etc. Again, older employees are more prone to this understandable line of thinking.

Still, they should speak up more. While it’s the youth in the industry that brings in fresh ideas, change is more likely to be effectuated by people at the top, senior people, the ones with experience. They are likely to be listened to by management.

Of course, there are different ways to make your voice heard, some more diplomatic than others, and some unity would help, but it is difficult to create change without rocking the boat.

Organizing

We don’t stand up together because game developers are fiercely independent, and any mention of anything that might resemble “union” will send most employees running the other way. This doesn’t only apply to the game industry. Most programmers and developers display the same independent streak, and unions seem to be anathema to the IT industry.

In our view, this fear of unions is unfounded and based on the stereotypical portrayal of the typical union: an aggressive, powerful lobby which will standardize wages, stifle creativity and mostly hamper employees rather than help them. Of course, this view is misleading. Unions are whatever its constituency makes of them. Should employees of the games industry organize and form a union, they could focus on limiting unpaid overtime, and encourage better management practices. Of course, this would call for substantial mobilization and unity, which will happen unless conditions change radically.

The IGDA sidestepped the issue by explicitly stating that they are not an union. We don’t fault the IGDA for doing this. They have accomplished a lot more for developers in their current form than they would have as a union. Plus, they still provide an avenue for interested members to discuss and potentially form a union if they so choose.

We believe that organizing will remain a hot issue as long as pervasive unpaid overtime plagues the industry. It remains a regular topic of discussion within industry-only forums. We will further explore the idea of a union in future articles.

Employment Laws

Meanwhile, can employees turn to employment laws (and their local governments) for redress? In North America, existing legislation remains very favorable to employers, who can fire staff a moment’s notice with little to no compensation. California is probably the most progressive state, employees having managed to successfully bring their cases to the courts. However, developers have already learned to sidestep these issues, and most employees in California are now exempt from the paid overtime consideration.

In Europe, there exists a working time directive specifying a maximum of 48 hours a week. Specifically, over a 16 week period, an employee cannot average more than 48 hours a week. Some member countries have added laws allowing employees the choice to opt out from this directive. Readers may wonder why an employee would ever want to opt out. It should be clear that this opt out is only there to assist companies who want to squeeze more hours out of their employees. In the UK (which has a sizeable development community), this opt out form is presented to all employees, either in standalone, or embedded in a contract. Of course, this is just another form of pressure. Few employees will challenge clauses in their contracts, and contesting (or not signing) the opt-out form will immediately label you as a potential troublemaker.

Still, in and of themselves, the laws are not to blame. Even in France, a very worker-friendly society where the 35 hour-week is the norm, developers at game companies still routinely suffer long hours of unpaid overtime. Even with laws in place to support them, the issue remains, reflecting the unique nature of the games industry. Developers just don’t stand up for themselves.

The reality is, we operate in a free market. Employees are free to leave companies that mistreats them for those that show respect and appreciation. If enough of this happened, bad companies would have to either adapt or die off. Of course, there is also the large influx of young blood to account for, but we believe that no company can be truly successful by resorting exclusively to recent graduates. A business can only grow by balancing experience and young talent. Good companies will develop and invest in their talent; bad ones will churn through graduate after graduate burning them out and replacing them.

So, who is to blame? Companies are guilty of using shady moral tactics to squeeze as much work from employees, but at the end of the day, employees are effectively responsible for their own wellbeing, and the hours they choose to work.

We welcome any feedback or stories of experiences (both good and bad) trying to improve our industry. We also applaud any company that actually treats their employees fairly, and hope for their continued success. There are not enough of you out there. Finally, we urge employees to stand up and just say no to unpaid overtime. Refuse to give in to the pressure, and help improve working conditions for yourself and everyone else.

Posted by Raoul on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 4:51 pm.