@dryker: Looks like this one is free on the site as well, so my guess is they thought a lot of people would be interested in this topic and opened it up for everyone.
As a contract worker at Microsoft (not in games) the scuttlebutt was that the policy around 18 on 6 off was to protect Microsoft from complaints of contract workers or something? It's vague and seems like it could be changed.
There are also managed service contracts that are not beholden to that policy, but I don't know if they are utilized on the gaming side.
slax's comments