Considering that pretty much everything in there is old news, that I knew about before deciding that game development is the career for me, it''s not really affected how I feel. But some of the new kids out there might get spooked off by it. So, I''m wondering if anyone else has read the Quality of Life whitepaper (I''m not linking you suckers; let some karma whore do that). And if you have, what think thee of it? Christopher S. ''coldacid'' Charabaruk <chrisc''at''meldstar''dot''com> [personal site]
Meldstar Entertainment -- Creation, cubed.

Please help spread SIDS - Sudden Idiot Death Syndrome (this line shamelessly stolen)

It's scared me for a while... You really have to love what you do to quit a 80k/year job with benefits and job security to go into video games... I still haven't made the leap of faith completely.

[edited by - mbrown211 on May 3, 2004 10:38:32 AM]

After reading various things (not just that paper, but it definitely contributed), I think I have determined that I won''t be getting into the industry any time soon. My life could take too many different paths for me to commit myself that much just yet. Even if I did get into the industry, I''d try to make it clear that I''m going to be the guy that works 40-45 hours a week almost all weeks of the year. If an employer doesn''t like the amount/quality of work I do, then tough cookies for him, I can move on. If employers don''t respect my life, then I don''t feel very inclined to respect their project. Obviously, this makes it a bit more difficult to get into the industry. I''ll see what the future brings, though.

Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false.

-Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays, "Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind"

If they don''t like the quality, they''ll can you, possibly. If they don''t like the time you put in... As long as you haven''t signed away for the maximum allowable time by law (if such exists in your area; here in Ontario it''s 66 hours (max. 11h/day, max 6d/wk), they can''t make you work more than the max. to overtime (usually 40 to 44 hours).

Or at least, I hope you Americans get treated that way. If not, call a general strike and move up here. We actually treat people fairly and have whistleblower protection that isn''t a farce.

I didn''t read the whole 90 page paper, but I did skim over the important facts that they pulled out of it. It turned me off to making games a bit. People that put that much work into a project should get compensated equally for it, and it doesn''t sound like most are. I''ve changed my direction on what I want to do, leaning towards robotics or other embedded systems programming now. This isn''t to say though that I won''t make games, the shareware route looks like it can payoff rather well if you know what you''re doing.

Keep in mind that the white paper is merely a snapshot of the industry as it is. If the survey and white paper become an annual tradition for IGDA members, it''s possible that alone might cause a move towards a better industry for all of us.

Remember, running away doesn''t solve the problem. Facing it down might not, either, but at least it makes an effort to do so. Don''t avoid commercial game development, get involved and make for changes!

I believe that the industry will grow saner in time. Allot of people are passionate for anything imagionable, but once the needs of the industry grows, passionate people alone can''t support it. I''d give examples from other industries but I''m too lazy to research. Just take my word for it!

Why not link us?

http://www.igda.org/qol/whitepaper.php

There, I won't provide a clickable link (but if you have firefox you can just double click it anyway).

Anyway, from what I've read so far, this paper has ENCOURAGED me. It sounds to me like a hardworking, intelligent fanatic such as myself won't have any trouble finding or keeping a job.

I don't care if I work 80 hours a week during crunch time and crunch time lasts 6 months as long as I'm not a tester anyway (in particular a bottom of the barrel tester).

What matters to me is that I'm not working on some stupid database application all day.

[edited by - DavidST on May 4, 2004 4:47:40 AM]

quote: DavidST
What matters to me is that I''m not working on some stupid database application all day.

I agree.

The QoL is not awesome, however it will probably get better

In any case, I''d rather be pushed to the limit, than to be dulled-out at no where near the limit.

Well, I´m not in the Industry and I just don´t get how is it possible that big companies earn lots of money selling videogames and the people who actually developed them got a minimum part of the money.

It seems like game developing world is a very sad one :''(