Unions for video game development employees

[Specter Von Baren]

So with news about companies like Rockstar and Telltale where workers at the companies have had to go through horrible crunch time and or been fired with little fanfare or notice, is it now time for unionization to come into the game design space?

How would this go about? How would this change what kinds of games will be made if crunch time is no longer something done? How does it change games that are single player vs multiplayer? How would a union for these people get created?

 

[Chewster]

I mean, when did EA Spouse come out again? What has changed since? These are problems we've known for ages, I dunno why everyone is acting shocked all of a sudden. The time for unionization was decades ago.

I don't have much hope unless actual employees start striking because I very much doubt gamers are going to boycott anything in any large quantities because God forbid anything get between us and our toys. This industry is geared toward burnout and high turnover so unless that changes, what incentive do workers have to unionize?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

How ironic that something so enjoyable to play can be so brutal to make. I think it?s sad in our society that unions even need to be a thing.

 

[Majestic Manatee_v1legacy]

I mean, when did EA Spouse come out again? What has changed since? These are problems we've known for ages, I dunno why everyone is acting shocked all of a sudden. The time for unionization was decades ago.

I don't have much hope unless actual employees start striking because I very much doubt gamers are going to boycott anything in any large quantities because God forbid anything get between us and our toys. This industry is geared toward burnout and high turnover so unless that changes, what incentive do workers have to unionize?

Boycotting does nothing to hurt those responsible, usually only passing all negative effects down to the individual hardworking employees already under stress from threat of high expendability. There is no "too much time has passed" here. People do not suddenly lose power of union without specific laws enacted against unionisation. Change needs to happen in the political sphere as well as within the workforce, especially in the US. People need to vote in their actual best interests for one thing, not for business-sycophant capitalists.

 

[CaitSeith]

It probably has been time for unionization since 1979, when Atari denied to their developers to any credit for their games.

 

[Kerg3927]

How would a union for these people get created?

The workers would have to get together and form one, or join an already existing one. If they haven't, it's probably evidence that things aren't bad enough for the workers to want to do that.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

How ironic that something so enjoyable to play can be so brutal to make. I think it?s sad in our society that unions even need to be a thing.

From an economic point of view it makes sense. Business are not here to be moral, they're trying to make money, and a huge business expense is employee salaries and health insurance. Why would they voluntarily pay that if they don't have to? And who can really blame them? We all shop around or use coupons to get a cheaper price. they're just looking for cheaper employees. And the Unions are there to balance them out.

 

[Kerg3927]

How would a union for these people get created?

The workers would have to get together and form one, or join an already existing one. If they haven't, it's probably evidence that things aren't bad enough for the workers to want to do that.

Or it's bad enough they don't feel safe doing it. The thing about unions is that they have to be big enough and include enough people for them to work.

If everyone is too afraid of losing their jobs to join one, so only 20 people form a union in a 200 person company, it's easy enough for the company to replace those 20 workers.

It's going to have to be an all or nothing thing, and as long as consumers go to bat for corporations in this it will never happen.

In the U.S., there are federal laws that protect employees. For example...

National Labor Relations Board [https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/your-rights-during-union-organizing]

 

[CaitSeith]

How ironic that something so enjoyable to play can be so brutal to make. I think it?s sad in our society that unions even need to be a thing.

From an economic point of view it makes sense. Business are not here to be moral, they're trying to make money, and a huge business expense is employee salaries and health insurance. Why would they voluntarily pay that if they don't have to? And who can really blame them? We all shop around or use coupons to get a cheaper price. they're just looking for cheaper employees. And the Unions are there to balance them out.

As well as safety regulations, labor and employment laws are there to protect employees and balance things out. It's like perceiving people purely as economic factors eventualy dehumanizes them if left unchecked.

 

[Meximagician]

How would this go about? How would this change what kinds of games will be made if crunch time is no longer something done? How does it change games that are single player vs multiplayer? How would a union for these people get created?

Well, the skilled labor has to organize first. Arguably there will be plenty of scabs at QA, but I doubt you can push programmers and animators around as much. Next the scripters, writers, and QA people need to start joining those unions and the union has to hold together during strike periods. Unfortunately many of the other jobs (static models, 2d art, even some music) will get outsourced, if they haven't been already.

Initially there will be push back. If any of the workers' contracts have a corporate arbitration clause (go look that up if you feel like getting very depressed) it could be a long time before it all gets sorted out. In the meantime, you can expect the AAA equivalent of asset flips, and hardly any multiplayer as that is difficult enough to do with programmers and crunch, let alone without either.

Ultimately whether it works or not comes down to who breaks first, the union or the investors. Of course, that's supposed to be part of why modern unions take in union dues, so that they can act as potential investors.

 

[Something Amyss]

In the U.S., there are federal laws that protect employees. For example...

National Labor Relations Board [https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/your-rights-during-union-organizing]

There are laws against murder, too. Tell me how that's been eliminated in the US.

 

[Kerg3927]

In the U.S., there are federal laws that protect employees. For example...

National Labor Relations Board [https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/your-rights-during-union-organizing]

There are laws against murder, too. Tell me how that's been eliminated in the US.

It hasn't. But it is a deterrent.

 

[Something Amyss]

In the U.S., there are federal laws that protect employees. For example...

National Labor Relations Board [https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/your-rights-during-union-organizing]

There are laws against murder, too. Tell me how that's been eliminated in the US.

It hasn't. But it is a deterrent.

Apparently not, given the level of recidivism in the US population. Increasing penalties has also failed to reduce recidivism among the population.

Why would union busting be different?

 

[Silent Protagonist]

Part of the problem is that the nature of this industry makes it very difficult to monopolize the labor force. A union needs to be able to effectively monopolize the labor force to have any leverage, otherwise companies have no reason to hire union workers as opposed to any other qualified individual. The video game industry doesn't have any of the usual choke points a union could exploit to gain this monopoly such as government licensing or skill sets that are niche enough to be able to control all the training/education.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

How ironic that something so enjoyable to play can be so brutal to make. I think it?s sad in our society that unions even need to be a thing.

From an economic point of view it makes sense. Business are not here to be moral, they're trying to make money, and a huge business expense is employee salaries and health insurance. Why would they voluntarily pay that if they don't have to? And who can really blame them? We all shop around or use coupons to get a cheaper price. they're just looking for cheaper employees. And the Unions are there to balance them out.

Businesses ethics should still come into play here though. There are many small businesses that practice them, and it shouldn't be any different for game development studios with hundreds of employees. They aren't even approaching a Microsoft or GM level of complexity to need such checks and balances. Good management should be able to take care of that itself. If anything there should be checks against how much influence shareholders have on the day-to-day operations.

 

[Meximagician]

Part of the problem is that the nature of this industry makes it very difficult to monopolize the labor force. A union needs to be able to effectively monopolize the labor force to have any leverage, otherwise companies have no reason to hire union workers as opposed to any other qualified individual. The video game industry doesn't have any of the usual choke points a union could exploit to gain this monopoly such as government licensing or skill sets that are niche enough to be able to control all the training/education.

Which is why I mentioned programmers and animators before. Though to be more specific, the real-time animators probably can't be pushed around, since they have to closely work with the designers and programmers and possess niche skills. Pre-rendered animations, like those in the Bink Video format are probably already outsourced to South Korea or elsewhere.

 

[Kerg3927]

In the U.S., there are federal laws that protect employees. For example...

National Labor Relations Board [https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/whats-law/employees/i-am-not-represented-union/your-rights-during-union-organizing]

There are laws against murder, too. Tell me how that's been eliminated in the US.

It hasn't. But it is a deterrent.

Apparently not, given the level of recidivism in the US population. Increasing penalties has also failed to reduce recidivism among the population.

Why would union busting be different?

So let me get this straight. You think that if murder was perfectly legal, murder rates wouldn't go up? There would be bodies littering the streets. People would just kill others and take whatever they want. I mean, why the hell not?

Of course laws are not going to stop everyone. There will always be a certain percentage of people who don't give a fuck about the consequences or who just can't control their aggression. But that doesn't mean that the laws are not a deterrent overall.

 

[Kerg3927]

Part of the problem is that the nature of this industry makes it very difficult to monopolize the labor force. A union needs to be able to effectively monopolize the labor force to have any leverage, otherwise companies have no reason to hire union workers as opposed to any other qualified individual. The video game industry doesn't have any of the usual choke points a union could exploit to gain this monopoly such as government licensing or skill sets that are niche enough to be able to control all the training/education.

Which is why I mentioned programmers and animators before. Though to be more specific, the real-time animators probably can't be pushed around, since they have to closely work with the designers and programmers and possess niche skills. Pre-rendered animations, like those in the Bink Video format are probably already outsourced to South Korea or elsewhere.

And there's also the fact that if unions or the threat of unions get to be too much a headache, the company could just decide to "outsource" the whole damn company, and pack it up and move it to another country where they don't have to deal with that. Globalization has greatly weakened most unions.