Alex St. John: Game developers must avoid the ‘wage-slave’ attitude

Alex St. John says, "Don’t be in the game industry if you can’t love all 80 hours/week of it — you’re taking a job from somebody who would really value it."

Sadly, this mentality is pervasive in the games industry. It's why game developers are treated so poorly (in terms of compensation, perks, and overall mental well-being) compared to their counterparts in other software development spheres.

As much as I want to say that Alex St. John is an asshole, at least he's being honest about his disgusting opinions. Most of the higher-ups in gamedev just lie or pretend that things aren't as bad as they are.

This almost reads like a troll. "Making games is not a job"? If someone's getting paid to produce something, it's a job. No amount of doublespeak can change that. Stop whining about "80 hour weeks"? Everyone has a right to agitate for improved work conditions. This is essential for the capital-labor relationship to benefit society.

The author seems to be contradicting himself -- wage slaves are those who must accept an oppressive workplace to survive. Shutting up and accepting poor conditions, like the author suggests, is how you become one.

This is pretty hugely sexist. Next time someone asks what obstacles women face in software development I'm going to point to this.

I worked for major game companies for 18 years. They were all terrible at managing technology and projects. Every team in the studio reinvents everything. They have to because the company laid off their experienced engineers the previous year so the executives could get a bonus.

TL;DR: Asshole explains why game developers should continue to be overworked.

Because apparently creating a small piece of the n-th sequel in some multi-million gaming franchise is creating "art", and artists have no need for a work-life-balance.

Edit: Reply by indie developer: http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/indie-developer-rami-ismai...

Edit 2: Apparently the author himself burned out while working at Microsoft: http://www.informationtechnologyleaders.com/stvid.html

He would pass out at his keyboard and straggle into morning meetings with key marks on his face. Worked sucked everything out of him; his marriage disintegrated. In 1997, he succeeded in getting himself fired, as he tells it, "and walked out of Microsoft feeling 100 lbs. lighter."