For what it's worth, I found work-life balance increased steadily during my tenure at EA. The whole ea_spouse thing brought a lot of attention to problems. It still wasn't great, but it was better than when I started.
When I left EA, I was working 40 hours a week reliably. This was in large part, though, because that was a high priority for me and I moved off game teams and onto shared tech stuff because it was less high-pressure, even though that wasn't ideal for my career.
> And Kickstarter is democratizing the music industry as well!
I'm really excited about Kickstarter too. However, even when it works well, I don't think you get much more than a living wage. I think that's OK, but it's worth keeping in mind that it isn't a golden ticket.
I also worry that the social structures around Kickstarter have not settled down yet. Right now, I think a lot of money coming in is based on novelty or optimism. As Kickstarter matures (and more projects fail) I think both of those will wear off. It can still work, and I hope it does, but it won't be as easy as it is right now.
> The biggest problem in games/music/movies is typically that you have to make them before you can sell them.
Yes, it's inevitable in any product where the initial cost is very high and the marginal cost is effectively zero. Digital content like games and movies one example. Drugs are another, I think. I wonder if oil drilling is similar?
It seems like in all of these cases, a consequence is conservatism in investment leading to missed opportunities.
> I moved off game teams and onto shared tech stuff because it was less high-pressure, even though that wasn't ideal for my career.
By shared tech I assume you mean tools and engines? And that's worse for your career? That sad.
It's a common trend I notice that companies don't often spot and reward tool makers (policy drivers, etc), which often boost productivity for large portions of employees, instead of just themselves.
> By shared tech I assume you mean tools and engines?
I was doing tools, but not engines. UI toolkit stuff, asset pipelines, a bunch of metrics gathering. At the EA studio I was at, being on a game team was a better career path if you want to get more clout.
The industry launched her album, 25K bought it and it was a failure, on Kickstartet she raised 1.5millon dollars with almost exactly 25k backers. The irony, there are a lot of people and a lot of people like music, and even if its not the everyone, it's big enough that they can make a good wage.
>When I left EA, I was working 40 hours a week reliably.
My last gig had me working 30-35 hours a week reliably. And I made way more than EA was offering.
>This was in large part, though, because that was a high priority for me and I moved off game teams and onto shared tech stuff because it was less high-pressure, even though that wasn't ideal for my career.
The one time I worked for a big company (well, a studio owned by Activision -- the studio itself wasn't that big) I did tools as well, similarly to avoid working in the critical path of a game Gold Master release.
That was the worst fit for me of any job I've ever had. Not because it was tools, but for more complex reasons...mostly, I guess, because the tasks they assigned me didn't play to my strengths.
For what it's worth, I found work-life balance increased steadily during my tenure at EA. The whole ea_spouse thing brought a lot of attention to problems. It still wasn't great, but it was better than when I started.
When I left EA, I was working 40 hours a week reliably. This was in large part, though, because that was a high priority for me and I moved off game teams and onto shared tech stuff because it was less high-pressure, even though that wasn't ideal for my career.
> And Kickstarter is democratizing the music industry as well!
I'm really excited about Kickstarter too. However, even when it works well, I don't think you get much more than a living wage. I think that's OK, but it's worth keeping in mind that it isn't a golden ticket.
I also worry that the social structures around Kickstarter have not settled down yet. Right now, I think a lot of money coming in is based on novelty or optimism. As Kickstarter matures (and more projects fail) I think both of those will wear off. It can still work, and I hope it does, but it won't be as easy as it is right now.
> The biggest problem in games/music/movies is typically that you have to make them before you can sell them.
Yes, it's inevitable in any product where the initial cost is very high and the marginal cost is effectively zero. Digital content like games and movies one example. Drugs are another, I think. I wonder if oil drilling is similar?
It seems like in all of these cases, a consequence is conservatism in investment leading to missed opportunities.