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I agree, I dislike the use of "exploit" in this context because it sounds like enthusiastic people are mindlessly accepting these poor paying jobs. I like to be
by lewdev 3y ago
I agree, I dislike the use of "exploit" in this context because it sounds like enthusiastic people are mindlessly accepting these poor paying jobs. I like to believe that they know exactly what they're getting into, why it pays less, and they are taking the job for other reasons such as the ones you've named: prestige and glamour.
- spondylosaurus 3y agoI meant no offense by the use of the word—rather that I think game devs should be able to enjoy the prestige and good pay/working conditions ;) If anything it's a jab at the companies who make record profits and still don't compensate their employees fairly, not the workers who take those jobs.
- bloppe 3y agoUnless there are significant anticompetitive forces in your industry, unfair compensation is simply not a stable state. Since the gaming industry is very large and many upstarts seem to find success, how can the prevailing wages be considered unfair? Everybody would have a profit motive to quit their employer and become a greedy exec themselves.
- ido 3y agoProbably a lot fewer upstarts find success than you imagine - it may seem like "a lot" but the rate of success is abysmal. It's hard to get accurate statistics because it's not obvious what to count, but from the attempts I've read it's somewhat over 90% of games that do not breakeven and has been this way since the early 90s at least (probably earlier but it's even harder to find data the further back you go). The vast majority of startup game studios go bankrupt within a couple years of founding and the vast majority of solo indie devs only release one game. There is no international industry-wide wage-suppression conspiracy, the supply-demand equilibrium is simply at a lower wage level than non-games tech. It can be "unfair" in an intuitive and specific case while still being the result of market forces (is it fair that I'm paying rent to my former landlord's son? he did nothing to earn it except inherit this building) EDIT: I realize you were not claiming it was a conspiracy, I just wanted to correct a common perspective by industry outsiders that see a lot of success stories and think "how hard can it be?" - the world is big and the "many cases" you are seeing a tiny % of the whole, which are overwhelmingly unsuccessful.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoWell in that case is it also unfair if someone, highly interested in exotic sports cars, can't afford a Ferrari on their salary?
- ido 3y agoI don’t know what point you think I was trying to make, but I don’t think it is the same one I was thinking of.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago> It can be "unfair" in an intuitive and specific case while still being the result of market forces (is it fair that I'm paying rent to my former landlord's son? he did nothing to earn it except inherit this building) It's the same market forces.
- ido 3y agoThat's why I gave it as an example. It feels unfair but that doesn't mean it's evidence of collusion/conspiracy.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoSo then your question > (is it fair that I'm paying rent to my former landlord's son? he did nothing to earn it except inherit this building) has a clear answer.
- ido 3y agoI don’t want to sound snarky but did you miss that this was a rhetorical question meant to illustrate my actual point as part of a much longer post?
- MichaelZuo 3y ago