Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by text0404 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

text0404

the article is about the game industry. it's kind of well known for its toxicity and poor working conditions.

- https://uniglobalunion.org/news/video-game-workers-crushed/

- https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/588cai/why_do_we_a...

- https://www.ns-businesshub.com/business/working-conditions-i...

- https://slate.com/technology/2023/07/video-game-industry-lab...

> Working remotely is not a right.

it is if your work drives the company's profits and you can organize with your fellow workers and demand it!

> I prefer remote work and I'd only work for a full remote company, but in no way do I feel like it's my right to force a company to allow me be remote.

good for you, some of us see the employer beholden to the people who actually drive the company. try not to police your fellow workers while we advocate for better lives.

View on HN

> the article is about the game industry. it's kind of well known for its toxicity and poor working conditions.

Ah yes it's about the gaming industry, not a specific topic like company shifting to office work during the last period of development and workers not wanting to go in to the office.

Makes it easy to shift that goal post when it's just about the industry, but you're also arguing that remote work is a right, so I'm not sure you even fell for that.

Is Rockstar demanding 7 days? No. What you said is false and irrelevant.

Don't try to conflate things that are irrelevant to this particular discussion.

Either you view remote work as a right or not. I don't.

the article is about employees angry that they're being forced back into the office when they already deal with poor working conditions.

rockstar doesn't demand it, it's already a part of the culture of the industry. hence, why they're so upset.

the first pull quote is literally "After so many broken promises we now fear management may even be paving the way for a return to toxic ‘crunch’ practices."

please read the article before shitting all over people who are trying to better their working conditions.

> Don't try to conflate things that are irrelevant to this particular discussion.

it's not my fault you have poor reading comprehension and disdain for your fellow workers.

Okay I'll bite, highlight the existing "poor working conditions" please.

The author did write they fear and are worried about "heightened risk of overwork (crunch)" but that doesn't mean it will happen.

Being worried about something happening and something happening are two different things in case I need to point that out.

It seems you're the one that needs to beef up your reading comprehension.

Hint: keywords are "risk", "worried", "fear".

> And I'm not upset sooo you must suck at mind reading or can't realize you're projecting I guess.

i didn't say you were upset. i said _they_ were upset. there's that poor reading comprehension again.

edit: oh, you deleted that line? is it because you just post without reading anything, like the article? quoted:

> For years, Rockstar had a notorious reputation within the video game industry for brutal crunch in the making of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead games. However, following the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018 and the shocking stories about the human cost of its development, media reports suggested changes were made to the company’s culture to avoid the same thing happening during the development of GTA 6.

> Austin Kelmore, IWGB Game Workers Chair also hit out at Rockstar: “The workers in the IWGB Game Workers Union at Rockstar are pushing for transparency over pay and promotions, a healthy and inclusive workplace culture, and work life balance centred around what each worker needs. It is unacceptable that Rockstar leadership have gone back on their word time and time again and have ignored the workers' requests for basic working conditions.

read the article, dude. rockstar (ESPECIALLY rockstar) has a history of this behavior. we call that "evidence," so when people have "fear" it's because it's well-founded based on historical fact.

That's nice they corrected course, but you couldn't point out ONE EXISTING "poor working condition" that you claim exists?

Reply if you do have one, otherwise don't bother.

> they already deal with poor working conditions.

Incase you need to be reminded what you said.

i already did that, but again, you _did not read_: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39557215

"The human cost of Red Dead Redemption 2 According to the people who made it" - https://www.eurogamer.net/the-human-cost-of-red-dead-redempt...

"Dark side of working in the video game industry: 100-hour weeks and on-the-spot sackings" - https://www.ns-businesshub.com/business/working-conditions-i...

"This crunch culture is deeply intertwined with the lack of work-life balance at Rockstar Games. Many employees reported feeling pressured to prioritise work over personal life, leading to burnout and mental health issues. The expectation of long hours and constant availability fosters an environment where employees struggle to maintain a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives.

A former employee stated that they had “worked 80 hour weeks at Rockstar until [they] had a breakdown. If I hadn’t, my contract would have been terminated.”

"Rockstar's broken work ethics: Former employees detail mandatory long hours, unpaid overtime, and a culture of fear at studios behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption" - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/rockstars-broken-work-ethics

"poor working conditions" includes promising to support remote work and then reneging on that promise and forcing workers back into the office after they've moved away, an allegation _which is in the article that we are currently discussing_: "The IWGB also alleges Rockstar had insisted flexible work options would remain available in an employee-wide email that said: “This isn’t our first step to five days a week. No one wants to go back to the old way of working.” The IWGB went on to claim Rockstar management has so-far refused to engage with workers on the issue, and will “pull the plug” on remote access to technology on April 15."

i'm not going to quote the entire articles here. enjoy!

An EXISTING one as I emphasized many times.

Everyone knows they changed their policy of crunch development after RD2

Currently they are not overworked and they aren't complaining about being overworked, the article just eluded to their fear of returning to it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com