kotaku.com— Two former Insomniac developers have decided to open up shop in China because they couldn't take the brutal hours in the U.S.
Feb 19, 2007View in Crawl 4
"It's better and not bland."Spoken like someone who hasn't actually been to China. Chinese food is generally better in the western world, mainly because the ingredients are better. Anyone who has spent a signifigant amount of time living in China will tell you this.
This one hits home for me. My boyfriend (yes, I'm on of the few girls on digg) works for a certain game studio owned by a very large game company, working on a certain highly anticipated movie game which will be coming out in a few months, and recently his hours went to s**t. The company didn't hire enough people and things weren't done right early on in the process, so now their answer is to have everyone work 7 day weeks, working well over 10 hours a day. And being salaried, he doesn't get overtime, so its just more work and no extra pay. I think they must think that everyone is some total dork and don't have relationships and families, or they all must live in mom's basement and don't need to cook, clean, do laundry, etc. He's not home very much now. When he is home it's to eat and sleep. When I go to visit him at work, everyone just seems so down. I think a lot of them are very unhappy at how things are being handled. They are having (really crappy) catering brought in for dinner, and sometimes lunch on the weekends, and they did hire a massuse last weekend to come in for a while, but this studio is not like the ones you hear glorified with dry cleaning and pet sitting and happy sunshine floating around and all that BS, and I don't think a lot of game studios are like that. It just pretty much sucks right now for him and for me. All the long hours put a strain on our relationship, and I can't imagine how the other girlfriends and wives are feeling. I'm sure they aren't thrilled.So something like this makes a lot of sense to me, not that I want to move to China, or move out of the area where we live at all, but in theory it's brilliant. Who cares if China's government isn't ideal. Is ours here in the US all that great? Not so much. And China is a beautiful place, with so much more culture than you find in upstate New York. Maybe this will get some attention, and maybe some higher-ups at the game companies will take notice. Their workers aren't slaves, (even though they work the hours and don't get much more pay than one would) and no one is happy about being treated this way, and no job, no matter how awesome it is, should get between employees and their families and their lives. Everyone thinks working in the game industry is so awesome, and it is, at times, but this is crap. And I'm tired of it, and so are a lot of other people, and something has to change at some point. I'm just hoping its sooner, and not later.
@superkathoidPeople act like the gaming industry is the only one in this country that requires you to work long hours. My father works 16-20 hour days sometimes, and he's not affiliated (in the least) with the gaming industry. He owns his own business. My mother, who works at a hospital, is also there from 12-14 hours at least 5 days a week. Both of my parents got ahead in life - and they've done well for themselves because they worked hard. I'm in the media industry, and my wife knew what she was getting herself into when we got married. I sat her down and explained to her, "I'm going to work long hours, very long hours. I'm going to work the weekends, I'm going to work when I'm at home, I'm going to work when I'm on vacation." Her response? "Tell me where and how I can help." Her support has assisted me in going far in my life - and being in this industry (because I have done work on several games) - I can tell you that anytime I walked into a studio that was unorganized and under-developed, I walked out. I need work, yes - but I'm not going to suffer because of a studio's inability to hire a decent Art Director.Game Dev's are an interesting group - because they seem to think they are the only ones who work hard in this country. In order to get ahead, it's what you have to do - and if you don't want to do the work, quit, go find another career. This is a society that's instant gratification - and there's a reason why a good portion of popular video games are made in the United States - because our Dev's make one helluva a product.Sounds to me like when your boyfriend went to college, he had no idea what the industry would be like, and now he's starting to deal with his inability to research the requirements for most gaming jobs.As per, I wish these guys in Insomnia the best of luck - but don't be surprised when a game distributor looks to someone who can get the job done in 18 months as opposed to 24-30 months.
"He soon learned that China has laws in place that make such work conditions as he was enduring at home illegal. Work days there can be no longer than 11 hours, and employees are only legally allowed to work 36 hours of overtime a month."China's human rights record is appalling. Let's f_ck all their women & kill all their men, just like in the movies. YES!
I think it's likely that this guy is sincere about his own personal reasons for setting up in China, but is also ignorant about the real economic reasons as to why he can setup in China in the first place. Not all businessmen actually understand economics that well, believe it or not. Most, like any consumer, merely buy and sell at prices they find optimal, and have no idea why such conditions exist or don't exist. Nor do they really care to find out.
there's about as much "culture" in China as there is safe drinking water. this place is the most empty soulless country i've ever been to (and I'm from America, so that's saying something) - but at least it's easy living and the people are friendly if devoid of anything resembling expression.holla from Tianjin.
chompyFeb 20, 2007
"It's better and not bland."Spoken like someone who hasn't actually been to China. Chinese food is generally better in the western world, mainly because the ingredients are better. Anyone who has spent a signifigant amount of time living in China will tell you this.
superkathoidFeb 20, 2007
This one hits home for me. My boyfriend (yes, I'm on of the few girls on digg) works for a certain game studio owned by a very large game company, working on a certain highly anticipated movie game which will be coming out in a few months, and recently his hours went to s**t. The company didn't hire enough people and things weren't done right early on in the process, so now their answer is to have everyone work 7 day weeks, working well over 10 hours a day. And being salaried, he doesn't get overtime, so its just more work and no extra pay. I think they must think that everyone is some total dork and don't have relationships and families, or they all must live in mom's basement and don't need to cook, clean, do laundry, etc. He's not home very much now. When he is home it's to eat and sleep. When I go to visit him at work, everyone just seems so down. I think a lot of them are very unhappy at how things are being handled. They are having (really crappy) catering brought in for dinner, and sometimes lunch on the weekends, and they did hire a massuse last weekend to come in for a while, but this studio is not like the ones you hear glorified with dry cleaning and pet sitting and happy sunshine floating around and all that BS, and I don't think a lot of game studios are like that. It just pretty much sucks right now for him and for me. All the long hours put a strain on our relationship, and I can't imagine how the other girlfriends and wives are feeling. I'm sure they aren't thrilled.So something like this makes a lot of sense to me, not that I want to move to China, or move out of the area where we live at all, but in theory it's brilliant. Who cares if China's government isn't ideal. Is ours here in the US all that great? Not so much. And China is a beautiful place, with so much more culture than you find in upstate New York. Maybe this will get some attention, and maybe some higher-ups at the game companies will take notice. Their workers aren't slaves, (even though they work the hours and don't get much more pay than one would) and no one is happy about being treated this way, and no job, no matter how awesome it is, should get between employees and their families and their lives. Everyone thinks working in the game industry is so awesome, and it is, at times, but this is crap. And I'm tired of it, and so are a lot of other people, and something has to change at some point. I'm just hoping its sooner, and not later.
Closed AccountFeb 20, 2007
@superkathoidPeople act like the gaming industry is the only one in this country that requires you to work long hours. My father works 16-20 hour days sometimes, and he's not affiliated (in the least) with the gaming industry. He owns his own business. My mother, who works at a hospital, is also there from 12-14 hours at least 5 days a week. Both of my parents got ahead in life - and they've done well for themselves because they worked hard. I'm in the media industry, and my wife knew what she was getting herself into when we got married. I sat her down and explained to her, "I'm going to work long hours, very long hours. I'm going to work the weekends, I'm going to work when I'm at home, I'm going to work when I'm on vacation." Her response? "Tell me where and how I can help." Her support has assisted me in going far in my life - and being in this industry (because I have done work on several games) - I can tell you that anytime I walked into a studio that was unorganized and under-developed, I walked out. I need work, yes - but I'm not going to suffer because of a studio's inability to hire a decent Art Director.Game Dev's are an interesting group - because they seem to think they are the only ones who work hard in this country. In order to get ahead, it's what you have to do - and if you don't want to do the work, quit, go find another career. This is a society that's instant gratification - and there's a reason why a good portion of popular video games are made in the United States - because our Dev's make one helluva a product.Sounds to me like when your boyfriend went to college, he had no idea what the industry would be like, and now he's starting to deal with his inability to research the requirements for most gaming jobs.As per, I wish these guys in Insomnia the best of luck - but don't be surprised when a game distributor looks to someone who can get the job done in 18 months as opposed to 24-30 months.
lojackFeb 21, 2007
"He soon learned that China has laws in place that make such work conditions as he was enduring at home illegal. Work days there can be no longer than 11 hours, and employees are only legally allowed to work 36 hours of overtime a month."China's human rights record is appalling. Let's f_ck all their women & kill all their men, just like in the movies. YES!
shihku7Feb 21, 2007
I think it's likely that this guy is sincere about his own personal reasons for setting up in China, but is also ignorant about the real economic reasons as to why he can setup in China in the first place. Not all businessmen actually understand economics that well, believe it or not. Most, like any consumer, merely buy and sell at prices they find optimal, and have no idea why such conditions exist or don't exist. Nor do they really care to find out.
gnillyMay 24, 2007
Great article!
chemlockMar 5, 2008
there's about as much "culture" in China as there is safe drinking water. this place is the most empty soulless country i've ever been to (and I'm from America, so that's saying something) - but at least it's easy living and the people are friendly if devoid of anything resembling expression.holla from Tianjin.