@the_nubster: i dont think you understand what's going on, they are not speaking up for developers these are freelancers that want a bigger cut for their voice work. I mean i know it feels good to pump your fist and rally, but this has nothing to do with poor working conditions in game development.

@oursin_360: I know exactly what's going on, thank you. Do not belittle me.

@the_nubster: you obviously dont know and nobody is "belittling" you its nothing personal. And if we aren't going to keep the discussion civil and on topic lets just end it here, obviously we aren't getting anywhere.

@oursin_360: I was done discussing with you as soon as you misrepresented my argument entirely and then decided I just must not quite get what's happening. Telling someone they "obviously dont' know" is a personal attack and has nothing to do with the topic at hand. I have the exact same sources on the situation as you do, so why do you assume your knowledge on the topic is somehow greater than mine, or more correct?

This is a short three episode prequel meant to sate the appetite for more later. Ashley went into this not wanting to be a cross the union's strike line - I respect that. Yet she also was pragmatic enough to know video games do not have union workers except as voice and motion capture actors. She's an advisors on the project and that tells me where she cares about the project.

It is a little 'appetizer' project. I wanted more game and story, and I'm getting more - Life Is Good.

@the_nubster: Sorry to offend, but just reading your argument and reasoning brought me to that conclusion honestly. Having the same source of information doesn't equal the same understanding. You made it out like this was about workers rights when it's not, it's about what they(sag-aftra) feel their contribution is worth and i disagree with what they think that is. Voice actors make something like 300$ an hour on average and probably more depending on the contract, caving to this strike would give them all royalties as well which would be worth however many millions that would entail(depending on what that % is). I say this should be on a case by case basis since most if not all games do not sell because of the actors involved(unlike say going to see a movie because will smith is in it). Meanwhile, everybody else is making 40-80k a year working 60+ hour work weeks with no royalties and no representation or job security. And i believe all those millions going to voice acting will be taken from the already tough working environment for the employees who actually make the games. And as others have said it would be very very hard to form a union in the game industry since they will just fire everybody and hire college grads or ship overseas, and would probably still get a lot of people because of the competition and mystique around games.

Honestly i would want to know how many of the actual main stay game voice actors wanted this strike vs the higher paid movie/tv actors, seems like it's cutting into their ability to work for the last 7 months.

@oursin_360: This isn't a strike about video game working conditions as a whole, at least not directly. This is a specific group of people who feel that their contributions aren't recognized and that they are not treated fairly in the workforce. Have you ever worked with a manager or had a boss who constantly ignored and undercut the work you've done? Chances are that boss does it to everyone else, too. That doesn't mean their shitty attitude is justified when it's directed at people whose job isn't so demanding, it just means that it's easier for the ones who don't have it as bad to be kept in line. What VAs want is about the industry as a whole insomuch as the industry as a whole treats its workers like trash across the board.

To carry on with the workplace metaphor, take a fast food place like McDonald's. They're a huge company with lots of hiring opportunities and they constantly burn through workers (I haven't worked in a McD's specifically but I've had runs at other fast food places and they're all the same). With 20 or 30 people, it's easy enough to float a restaurant when a couple of them quit at a time. Since there are so many hired available, there's no shortage of candidates to clean shit and heroin needles from a public bathroom when they need. However, if their entire workforce quit on the same day, they'd have a hard time not shutting that location down regardless of how many hires they had waiting in line. It would be days if not weeks on shut-down, followed by months and months of terrible service from trainees with no one to guide them, and then an immeasurable amount of damage to the goodwill of that store.

So if you want to make this about developers, sure. If they all quit it's true that they can just outsource or hire eager college kids. But who is going to train them and direct them? How is communication going to be? What if none of them are up to snuff and you need to keep churning to find good ones, and what happens to all of the progress made up to that point and the shared vision of the team? We see time and time again teams that have that experience struggling to put together a product. It's not just as simple as slotting new people into old roles. You can't just hand a bunch of inexperienced newcomers the tools and expect the same level of quality and consistency. That idea undercuts their work even more than VAs wanting better hours and royalties. Companies are making money hand over fist with games, and the terms that the strike is negotiating are not going to even make a dent in those numbers, especially not enough for it to blow back on devs and other boots-on-the-ground workers. The problem is the culture of the wokrplace, and saying that a strike would immediately be silenced is giving power to that culture.

I understand life is not as simple as just going on strike and fixing it, but the defeatist attitude that so many people seem to hold on this situation is more harmful than what you're saying the SAG-AFTA strike is trying to accomplish. I'll say it again: the people seeking better working condition should not be attacked. Publishers should be attacked. Developing houses should be attacked. Corporate culture and the growing prevalence of burnout should be attacked. Workplace toxicity and being shamed over having a family and wanting a life outside of work should be attacked. There is so much else here to take umbrage with and none of them are the people trying to make their lives better and more bearable.

@the_nubster: I can agree they shouldn't be attacked, and i'm not really trying to but at the same time when you got folks in the trenches not getting anything it just kinda irks me a little. I hope VA's get compensated what they are worth, and i also hope it doesn't completely fuck over everybody else. I hope i'm wrong and this helps the industry in the end as whole.

and to the union thing, i think they would keep on the top guys and most vetted but to your point the turn over rate in games development is already high just look at how many studios get shelved after a game releases (sometimes even when it is a success.) They already fire off people and higher new grads for less pay. It's a lot harder than it looks to give up a job with no secondary income in a market place where you don't know when you will get shelved or find a new job, especially with family. I have worked in a non union (60-100+ hrs a week) job so i can emphasis with them quite a bit. Not seeing family for months and (literally) sleeping on job sites for weeks etc

@oursin_360: I understand the risk that comes with striking, and I totally acknowledge that it's incredibly hard for a developer to just give up their job and hope things get better. When you're busting your ass to make a living, especially in an industry that so many people romanticize and try and break into, letting go of your income is terrifying. Nothing is ever going to change, though, if the attitude they see when they look out at the landscape is one of indifference to their existence. It's cool that people enjoy games and it's cool that people are concerned about the game dev jobs, but imagine how incredibly disheartening it must be to have a generally well-informed audience shrug their shoulders and say, "whatever, they'll just hire other ones."

My viewpoint is a naive and I want the best for everyone, but I can't get behind the idea that everyone is just a worker bee that can be replaced. That's just oppressive and unfair to the people in the trenches, you know?