Wow, this is heart breaking. I really enjoyed The Walking Dead Season 1 and was looking forward to purchasing Season 2 and Tales From The Borderlands. Now I'm conflicted. They should have been...
Wow, this is heart breaking. I really enjoyed The Walking Dead Season 1 and was looking forward to purchasing Season 2 and Tales From The Borderlands. Now I'm conflicted.
They should have been given far more warning that they were going to be dropped, especially since they're not getting any severance at all. I'm in a bit of a bad spot between jobs myself, but at least I can support myself until December. Many of these people don't even have that.
Events like these make unionization more and more necessary. I wonder if we'll ever see that happen in our professional lifetimes.
This is pure, utter, unadulterated horseshit. There is a critically important difference between something being legal and something being just that MUST be a part of how we view the actions of...
It sucks for the employees a TON but there's this narrative that they've been "unjustly sacked" going around on Twitter and stuff and it's not really the case.
This is pure, utter, unadulterated horseshit. There is a critically important difference between something being legal and something being just that MUST be a part of how we view the actions of people and organisations if anything bad is ever going to be made less bad.
So there's a law that says if your company runs out of money you get to burn your employees. Fantastic - shit law, but a law all the same. That doesn't make it just to burn your employees and pointing at the law does nothing to change this. Why not make a law that companies must have bankruptcy payroll insurance, so this doesn't happen? Why not get it anyway whether you're legally mandated to not fuck your employees or not?
Pretty much guaranteed those at the top of Telltale aren't going to lose their homes or go without food or (yay america?) medical needs as a result of this...
As a corporation, the owners involved are already individually protected from the bankruptcy of their company so that's not really at issue. What is at issue is the execs running the company into...
As a corporation, the owners involved are already individually protected from the bankruptcy of their company so that's not really at issue. What is at issue is the execs running the company into the ground without planning for the inevitable failure - as a CFO you don't just walk into work one day, look at the numbers and say, " well shit guys, we've got to close down everything today!"
Like most insurance, the larger, more varied your pot of risk is, the cheaper it is to insure. That's why many European countries realize it's way more efficient to have companies pay taxes, then...
Like most insurance, the larger, more varied your pot of risk is, the cheaper it is to insure.
That's why many European countries realize it's way more efficient to have companies pay taxes, then earmarking part of that tax to pay employees what they're owed when companies go bankrupt.
And similarly, state-run out-of-work payments for people actively job searching for a period of time after being fired (this only works when workers' rights not to be randomly fired are legally protected)
Though it is unfortunately common practice when a company declares bankruptcy, I honestly don't agree with it. Employees are near the bottom of the list often when it comes to their final paycheck...
Though it is unfortunately common practice when a company declares bankruptcy, I honestly don't agree with it. Employees are near the bottom of the list often when it comes to their final paycheck and pensions and companies know well in advance that's happening. This info is always purposefully hidden from the employees, and greatly limits their options. Legal or not, it's unfair.
For sure. And I wasn't clear in my comment, but I do agree with you that "unjustly sacked" narrative is misleading. Still definitely can't help but feel bad for them. Hopefully at least some of...
For sure. And I wasn't clear in my comment, but I do agree with you that "unjustly sacked" narrative is misleading. Still definitely can't help but feel bad for them. Hopefully at least some of them had an idea and already had their resumes out.
As has been the case for a long time, unionization isn't likely to happen. Both the visual effects industry and game development have the same issue as walmart. The employees are easily...
As has been the case for a long time, unionization isn't likely to happen. Both the visual effects industry and game development have the same issue as walmart. The employees are easily replaceable and so unionization is difficult. The second problem with VFX and gaming is that the people doing it are usually very passionate about their work and people buy into the whole "suffering for your art" thing which allows them to be exploited even further.
Unions have always represented "replaceable" workers. That's kind of the point. They started with factory workers working unskilled labor. Regarding your second point, that's an attitude we have...
Unions have always represented "replaceable" workers. That's kind of the point. They started with factory workers working unskilled labor.
Regarding your second point, that's an attitude we have to work to break. Working long hours all the time will burn you out and severely damage your mental and physical health. It's at its very core exploitative if the work you're doing is not for yourself, but for someone else encouraging you to do it.
It's baffling how Telltale managed to run itself into the ground. People have been speculating whether they stretch themselves too thin taking up so many new projects and it turns out that –...
It's baffling how Telltale managed to run itself into the ground. People have been speculating whether they stretch themselves too thin taking up so many new projects and it turns out that – surprise! – they did. Them treating their employees horrible fits the pattern.
With a lot of the news coming out about Telltale it seems they were an especially poorly run company. But that's only part of the problem, which is the consistently bad practices of gaming...
With a lot of the news coming out about Telltale it seems they were an especially poorly run company. But that's only part of the problem, which is the consistently bad practices of gaming companies towards their employees.
I think game developers should seriously consider unionizing when the end result of years of hard work is... this.
Wow, this is heart breaking. I really enjoyed The Walking Dead Season 1 and was looking forward to purchasing Season 2 and Tales From The Borderlands. Now I'm conflicted.
They should have been given far more warning that they were going to be dropped, especially since they're not getting any severance at all. I'm in a bit of a bad spot between jobs myself, but at least I can support myself until December. Many of these people don't even have that.
Events like these make unionization more and more necessary. I wonder if we'll ever see that happen in our professional lifetimes.
This is pure, utter, unadulterated horseshit. There is a critically important difference between something being legal and something being just that MUST be a part of how we view the actions of people and organisations if anything bad is ever going to be made less bad.
So there's a law that says if your company runs out of money you get to burn your employees. Fantastic - shit law, but a law all the same. That doesn't make it just to burn your employees and pointing at the law does nothing to change this. Why not make a law that companies must have bankruptcy payroll insurance, so this doesn't happen? Why not get it anyway whether you're legally mandated to not fuck your employees or not?
Pretty much guaranteed those at the top of Telltale aren't going to lose their homes or go without food or (yay america?) medical needs as a result of this...
As a corporation, the owners involved are already individually protected from the bankruptcy of their company so that's not really at issue. What is at issue is the execs running the company into the ground without planning for the inevitable failure - as a CFO you don't just walk into work one day, look at the numbers and say, " well shit guys, we've got to close down everything today!"
Like most insurance, the larger, more varied your pot of risk is, the cheaper it is to insure.
That's why many European countries realize it's way more efficient to have companies pay taxes, then earmarking part of that tax to pay employees what they're owed when companies go bankrupt.
And similarly, state-run out-of-work payments for people actively job searching for a period of time after being fired (this only works when workers' rights not to be randomly fired are legally protected)
Though it is unfortunately common practice when a company declares bankruptcy, I honestly don't agree with it. Employees are near the bottom of the list often when it comes to their final paycheck and pensions and companies know well in advance that's happening. This info is always purposefully hidden from the employees, and greatly limits their options. Legal or not, it's unfair.
For sure. And I wasn't clear in my comment, but I do agree with you that "unjustly sacked" narrative is misleading. Still definitely can't help but feel bad for them. Hopefully at least some of them had an idea and already had their resumes out.
As has been the case for a long time, unionization isn't likely to happen. Both the visual effects industry and game development have the same issue as walmart. The employees are easily replaceable and so unionization is difficult. The second problem with VFX and gaming is that the people doing it are usually very passionate about their work and people buy into the whole "suffering for your art" thing which allows them to be exploited even further.
Unions have always represented "replaceable" workers. That's kind of the point. They started with factory workers working unskilled labor.
Regarding your second point, that's an attitude we have to work to break. Working long hours all the time will burn you out and severely damage your mental and physical health. It's at its very core exploitative if the work you're doing is not for yourself, but for someone else encouraging you to do it.
It's baffling how Telltale managed to run itself into the ground. People have been speculating whether they stretch themselves too thin taking up so many new projects and it turns out that – surprise! – they did. Them treating their employees horrible fits the pattern.
With a lot of the news coming out about Telltale it seems they were an especially poorly run company. But that's only part of the problem, which is the consistently bad practices of gaming companies towards their employees.
I think game developers should seriously consider unionizing when the end result of years of hard work is... this.