Another question about the video game industry (please help)

[JoshK]

This is for school research.

I figure I should put the questions on the first post.

Do you find enough time to spend with your family/friends during regular work hours? What about during a busy schedule?

When do people usually retire from the industry? What is the primary reason?

Which do you think has a better working environment? Film or video games?


Thank you and sorry for so many questions....

[Justin.]

It really depends.. alot of in-studio positions are 5 days a week during pre-production, like any other job, but once it moves into production and ever closer to the deadline, people stay later or come in on Weekends (or so I hear).

[Robert.B]

If im doing overtime then its 7

[JoshK]

thank you for your responses...I have a few more questions if thats ok.

Do you find enough time to spend with your family/friends during regular work hours? What about during a busy schedule?

When do people usually retire from the industry? What is the primary reason?

Which do you think has a better working environment? Film or video games?


Thanks and sorry for so many questions.

[Justin.]

I'm not qualified to answer any of those, sorry! So I'll defer point to the big guys..

[Craig D]

Do you find enough time to spend with your family/friends during regular work hours?

Josh
Usually if you are getting lots of time in visiting with family and friends during regular work hours you get fired. In any Industry.

[egerie]

> Do you find enough time to spend with your family/friends during regular work hours? What about during a busy schedule?
During regular work hours = grounds to get fired as Craig D pointed out. You mean during a period where you get an average load of work hours? (i.e.: during a smooth production time?)
If so, no. Never enough time for friends and family :)

> When do people usually retire from the industry? What is the primary reason?
There was a white paper about Quality of Life that the IGDA did a few years ago. I was on the local chapter for the round tables and I think it was mentioned the average age was around 30. Which has been a problem in the industry but is now starting to freak out a lot of HR departments (finally!). This study might be a good resource for your own work.

> Which do you think has a better working environment? Film or video games?
I don’t know film personally but from the dictions I have with friends, it seem to be demanding in both industries. The main difference being shorter bursts of crunch time in the film industry. There is nothing scientific about these conclusions, though.

Good luck!

[Jack the R]

I was on the local chapter for the round tables and I think it was mentioned the average age was around 30.

Good grief, where are they all going to?

I thought workload situation had changed after the EA spouse debacle. Are people at least getting paid for their overtime now?

[Jabo]

"paid for their overtime"...

Haha, hahaahahjahasd ad !!!!"1111one

[Seedling]

HI Josh. I’ve been in the games industry for seven years now. I don’t know how things go at every company out there, but this is my impression of the situation:

As often as possible, work hours are eight hour days, five days a week. Occasionally more time is required to meet deadlines (also knows as “crunch”). Crunch can occur by extending the hours on those five days, working weekends, or both. Generally the less stable a company is, the more crunch there is, because sometimes it comes down to “either we all need to work more or the company is going to fall apart”.

Whether employees are compensated for crunch time depends on the company. Employees paid by the hour will likely get paid overtime. Salaried employees aren’t likely to be paid extra, but may be compensated with time off later in the schedule, or with other perks.

This industry is young, meaning it hasn’t been around for very long. This industry is also largely populated by folks who grew up playing games, which is why the average age is still so low. Older generations had already established their careers by the time this industry came into being. And there are still attitudes among older generations about games being “for kids”, which I’m sure has prevented many older folks from considering games as a second career.

New game companies typically look like this: a risky business plan, inexperienced managers, and lots of young employees (typically male) straight out of college. The result: the college kids haven’t yet learned that the office environment out of necessity needs to run at a slower pace than college. They are happy to pull extra hours; and the poor management ensures that those extra hours are necessary. If these new companies don’t fail within the first few years, they tend to grow out of these habits. The employees get older, they get friends and spouses outside of the company, have kids, and start requiring a stable work-day.

A few companies do try to retain the work ethic of these college kids, and as a result have high “churn” – that is, their employees leave after a few years to seek out a better work environment. Some leave very burned-out indeed; some leave the industry entirely.

I don’t know of anyone who has retired from this industry yet. It’s still too new for that.

I know of a few folks who used to work in film but who switched to the games industry in order to get more stability and kinder work-hours in their career. I know one fellow switched from the toy industry to the games industry for this reason.

I have stayed with one company over the past seven years (Turbine Inc.) and so I have been able to watch it grow up. There is still a long ways for it to go, but it’s certainly heading in the right direction.



For anybody wanting more games industry info, follow the link in my sig. . .