I make AAA video games, my industry does not add anything to society.
I used to make eCommerce websites, what does that add to society? Easier access to consumerism? Most of the eCommerce sites were selling "bullshit goods" like toys, kitsch gifts or pranks.
Very few among us do something substantial that actually improves or saves lives.
Fewer still will be reading this comment.
The culture of society is what we live for! Many games are art and bring joy and purpose to many people. It's tough having a job abstracted away from the people you affect, but you can bring a lot of joy to many people after a stressful day.
How can you say that with a straight face? You literally create art for the enjoyment and pleasure of people, literally the point of life after food, shelter, exercise and employment needs have been fulfilled.
tens of millions of us work in pharma, constructions, aviation, infrastructure, logistics, healthcare, transportation and contribute to society. Just because half of SF is just siphoning VC money doesn't mean most of society isnt
The real bullshit jobs are the jobs that are doing things that don’t need to be done even given the products - like people filing compliance reports for useless metrics.
And decoupling from PayPal a few years back looked like it forced a ton of re-engineering on the backend.
Also, FWIW, I've accessed eBay multiple times per day since 2004 and I can't remember downtime.
A good game developer provides entertainment at least. Contrasted to Twitter who under Dorsey&co shipped NFTs and 1 redesign in 10+ years. They had thousands of engineers sitting doing nothing. Imagine firing 90% of a school staff or 90% of a McDonalds staff.
Not to say that moving forward with development constantly is worthwhile either. Zuckaberg spent billions on a Metaverse which is somehow objectively much worse and buggier than VRChat.