"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal."- Aristotle.
Hi, I am kind of new to this place, so here I go, the above phrase can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but the way the author most probably meant for it to be interpreted, is that people should be treated equitable and ethically, taking into account their individual needs and circumstances, so that the differences between people should be recognized and valued, not diminished.
Now, why do I, a weird Resetera user, is bringing up all this philosophy when speaking about discussions about videogame company's practices?
Because, consumers, videogame companies and game developers are not the same thing, each is a different class with different circumstances, but even if they are different classes each has to interact with the other for their own benefit, wants or goals.
Consumer: a person who purchases goods and services for personal use.
Videogame Company: a commercial business that provides goods and services.
Game Developer: a person who does a specified type of game development work for an employer or client.
So, if each class is different, what has the world in general done to bring equality to those three classes taking into account their different circumstances?
It depends on the country, its better on some places than others, so let me introduce:
1.- Consumer Rights
What are Consumer Rights?
The right to be protected against any unfair practices of trade, including the right to have information about the quality, potency, quantity, purity, price and standard of goods or services (the specifics can change depending on the country).
How do Consumer Rights impact videogames?
Remember when EA had a pricing error publishing Biomutant at 3 dollars and Resetera had a thread about Biobandits stealing from EA? Guess what they weren´t stealing anything, because it's a consumer right to have information of the price of a good, so even if EA made an error, it would be an unfair practice to be able to change the price affecting consumers who already bought the good at the original published price.
This is just an example; there are more types of consumer rights.
Does that mean that consumers are entitled to have everything for free?
No, EA as a video game company has the right to change the price, but it has to honor the purchases made before that change (how strict this is depends on the country).
Does it mean that when a videogame company releases a controversial ending to a videogame, the consumer is entitled to get a different ending?
No, it's ok to discuss about why that hypothetical ending is bad or good depending on the person, but normally the artistic content of a videogame is at the entire discretion of the company.
2.- Worker Rights
What are Worker Rights?
Rights, relating to labor relations between workers and employers, including protections in favor of workers against abusive employer practices (Specifics can change depending on country).
How do Worker Rights impact videogames?
Right now there is a general problem in the videogame industry with crunch (insane 12+ hour work days) , which also impacts the quality of videogames, worker rights should protect game developers against this abusive practices, but the problem is that the worker class is arguably the most vulnerable of the three classes referred at the beginning.
This is only an example; there are more types of worker rights.
What does it mean that the worker class is a vulnerable class?
It means that it has a clear disadvantage in their relationship with their employers, being that the live hood of a worker depends on their employer, because of this, unless worker rights are effective, it will be very rare for a worker to speak against their employer, since they could be fired and lose their main source of income.
But, doesn´t videogame companies money cover the extra hours game devs have to crunch?
While money may be the end goal of a videogame company, there are limits to how much a human can work without becoming unhealthy, there is a normally agreed upon standard of 8 hours a day, five times a week, being the acceptable range to not cause overwork (though studies are showing that even less hours may be better).
Why would a Union help in the current situation that Game Developers have?
For a company a single worker is expendable, but in a collective the workers can leverage their position to negotiate better benefits.
What benefits is a Union able to negotiate?
Something normal that happens in a company without a Union are "vague" aggressive rules in general, either abusive requirements to get bonuses or no instructions on how to do basic work.
When an Union comes in, the negotiations can range from specific basic work to benefits, examples: "At what hour does a worker has to turn off their computer" "What are the responsibilities of each job" "How many extra hours is a worker able to work" "How much should a salary increase year on year" "how many vacation days is a worker entitled to per year", etc.
What happens is that work becomes really optimized, resulting in better working hours, health and more happy workers, what also happens is that a company loses the ability to do whatever they want with their workers, since they will have to negotiate with the Union now.
But, doesn´t the law prevent abusive employer practices?
For better or worse the law is slow, authorities are too, so since there are an almost countless number of companies around the world its insane to leave all of this to authorities, since most of the time they don´t really get to know abusive employer practices until a worker sues (which is also a slow process), public outrage (rare) or when its already too late.
A Union brings immediate accountability to a company.
What is an example of an abusive practice right now that wouldn´t exist with a Union?
EA published their requirements for a game developer to get a bonus for working on a videogame which are:
EA Document Source.
As you can see, it's really easy for EA´s management to deny a worker the bonus, it even denies the bonus if a worker sues, other examples: "hey you worked for the game for 2 years? Too bad you weren´t there when it released, no bonus" "Hey you worked on the entire development of the game, too bad you worn clothing prohibited by the Code of Conduct, no bonus" (hypothetical examples).
But, doesn´t the workers have to pay a fee to be on a Union?
Believe it or not, working in a Union is also work, which needs to be compensated, though it also has it benefits, Unions are able to bring extra benefits to their members like:
I bring all of this up to bring perspective, it has been way too common to see users here saying dismissive stuff like "at the end of the day money is all that matters" "it´s good business sense", etc., sorry but money is not everything, even in a capitalist society.
I hope this will help to bring more nuanced discussion in general, it´s fine to like a company, it´s fine to speak positively about companies, but let´s look at the context before posting dismissive comments.
One of the reasons I have started to speak on the Internet is because I started to notice that a defeatist tone is becoming more and more prevalent "nothing changes" "talking about it doesn´t matter" "I don´t matter", etc.
Well I am here to say that YOUR VOICE AND SPEAKING ABOUT VIDEOGAME PRACTICES ISSUES MATTERS, CHANGE IS POSSIBLE.
The videogames industry is in growing steps still, I mean look at Hollywood unions there seem kinda good, but guess when the first movie was made? 133 years ago in 1888, in comparison the first videogame was made in 1958, 63 years ago.
Let´s discuss this, what do you think about it? How can it improve?
Hi, I am kind of new to this place, so here I go, the above phrase can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but the way the author most probably meant for it to be interpreted, is that people should be treated equitable and ethically, taking into account their individual needs and circumstances, so that the differences between people should be recognized and valued, not diminished.
Now, why do I, a weird Resetera user, is bringing up all this philosophy when speaking about discussions about videogame company's practices?
Because, consumers, videogame companies and game developers are not the same thing, each is a different class with different circumstances, but even if they are different classes each has to interact with the other for their own benefit, wants or goals.
Consumer: a person who purchases goods and services for personal use.
Videogame Company: a commercial business that provides goods and services.
Game Developer: a person who does a specified type of game development work for an employer or client.
So, if each class is different, what has the world in general done to bring equality to those three classes taking into account their different circumstances?
It depends on the country, its better on some places than others, so let me introduce:
1.- Consumer Rights
What are Consumer Rights?
The right to be protected against any unfair practices of trade, including the right to have information about the quality, potency, quantity, purity, price and standard of goods or services (the specifics can change depending on the country).
How do Consumer Rights impact videogames?
Remember when EA had a pricing error publishing Biomutant at 3 dollars and Resetera had a thread about Biobandits stealing from EA? Guess what they weren´t stealing anything, because it's a consumer right to have information of the price of a good, so even if EA made an error, it would be an unfair practice to be able to change the price affecting consumers who already bought the good at the original published price.
This is just an example; there are more types of consumer rights.
Does that mean that consumers are entitled to have everything for free?
No, EA as a video game company has the right to change the price, but it has to honor the purchases made before that change (how strict this is depends on the country).
Does it mean that when a videogame company releases a controversial ending to a videogame, the consumer is entitled to get a different ending?
No, it's ok to discuss about why that hypothetical ending is bad or good depending on the person, but normally the artistic content of a videogame is at the entire discretion of the company.
2.- Worker Rights
What are Worker Rights?
Rights, relating to labor relations between workers and employers, including protections in favor of workers against abusive employer practices (Specifics can change depending on country).
How do Worker Rights impact videogames?
Right now there is a general problem in the videogame industry with crunch (insane 12+ hour work days) , which also impacts the quality of videogames, worker rights should protect game developers against this abusive practices, but the problem is that the worker class is arguably the most vulnerable of the three classes referred at the beginning.
This is only an example; there are more types of worker rights.
What does it mean that the worker class is a vulnerable class?
It means that it has a clear disadvantage in their relationship with their employers, being that the live hood of a worker depends on their employer, because of this, unless worker rights are effective, it will be very rare for a worker to speak against their employer, since they could be fired and lose their main source of income.
But, doesn´t videogame companies money cover the extra hours game devs have to crunch?
While money may be the end goal of a videogame company, there are limits to how much a human can work without becoming unhealthy, there is a normally agreed upon standard of 8 hours a day, five times a week, being the acceptable range to not cause overwork (though studies are showing that even less hours may be better).
Why would a Union help in the current situation that Game Developers have?
For a company a single worker is expendable, but in a collective the workers can leverage their position to negotiate better benefits.
What benefits is a Union able to negotiate?
Something normal that happens in a company without a Union are "vague" aggressive rules in general, either abusive requirements to get bonuses or no instructions on how to do basic work.
When an Union comes in, the negotiations can range from specific basic work to benefits, examples: "At what hour does a worker has to turn off their computer" "What are the responsibilities of each job" "How many extra hours is a worker able to work" "How much should a salary increase year on year" "how many vacation days is a worker entitled to per year", etc.
What happens is that work becomes really optimized, resulting in better working hours, health and more happy workers, what also happens is that a company loses the ability to do whatever they want with their workers, since they will have to negotiate with the Union now.
But, doesn´t the law prevent abusive employer practices?
For better or worse the law is slow, authorities are too, so since there are an almost countless number of companies around the world its insane to leave all of this to authorities, since most of the time they don´t really get to know abusive employer practices until a worker sues (which is also a slow process), public outrage (rare) or when its already too late.
A Union brings immediate accountability to a company.
What is an example of an abusive practice right now that wouldn´t exist with a Union?
EA published their requirements for a game developer to get a bonus for working on a videogame which are:
EA Document Source.
As you can see, it's really easy for EA´s management to deny a worker the bonus, it even denies the bonus if a worker sues, other examples: "hey you worked for the game for 2 years? Too bad you weren´t there when it released, no bonus" "Hey you worked on the entire development of the game, too bad you worn clothing prohibited by the Code of Conduct, no bonus" (hypothetical examples).
But, doesn´t the workers have to pay a fee to be on a Union?
Believe it or not, working in a Union is also work, which needs to be compensated, though it also has it benefits, Unions are able to bring extra benefits to their members like:
- Free dental procedures.
- Free scholarships.
- Discounts on stores, etc.
- Work security.
- Etc.
I bring all of this up to bring perspective, it has been way too common to see users here saying dismissive stuff like "at the end of the day money is all that matters" "it´s good business sense", etc., sorry but money is not everything, even in a capitalist society.
I hope this will help to bring more nuanced discussion in general, it´s fine to like a company, it´s fine to speak positively about companies, but let´s look at the context before posting dismissive comments.
One of the reasons I have started to speak on the Internet is because I started to notice that a defeatist tone is becoming more and more prevalent "nothing changes" "talking about it doesn´t matter" "I don´t matter", etc.
Well I am here to say that YOUR VOICE AND SPEAKING ABOUT VIDEOGAME PRACTICES ISSUES MATTERS, CHANGE IS POSSIBLE.
The videogames industry is in growing steps still, I mean look at Hollywood unions there seem kinda good, but guess when the first movie was made? 133 years ago in 1888, in comparison the first videogame was made in 1958, 63 years ago.
Let´s discuss this, what do you think about it? How can it improve?
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