Mind, I am not blaming young people who want to create games. They lack the experience to know they are getting exploited. It’s all the cynicism of managers who know no loyalty and only want profits.
I blame them at least a little. CS professors give students ample warnings and the industry’s bad reputation isn’t a secret. There a variety of outcomes…
listen and steer clear entirely
listen but decide to do it anyway. They do research on potential employers, their work culture etc. and they have standards.
Ignore the warnings or be willing to do game dev no matter the cost
The second group will be fine and knows when/if they need to call it quits or look elsewhere. The real problem is the third group.
Sure, but there’s no need to infantilize young tech workers either. Most of them knowingly decided to work in the most competitive industry, despite having a skillset that would earn them a better wage with comfortable work-life balance anywhere else. They can quit at any time and get a job that’s better in literally every way except that the end product won’t be shiny.
The real victims aren’t software developers, but people in creative positions: writers, graphists, designers, modelers, etc. who don’t necessarily have a skillset necessarily highly valued outside of the entertainment industry.
I blame them at least a little. CS professors give students ample warnings and the industry’s bad reputation isn’t a secret. There a variety of outcomes…
The second group will be fine and knows when/if they need to call it quits or look elsewhere. The real problem is the third group.
You still shouldn’t blame inexperienced young people for being exploited.
Sure, but there’s no need to infantilize young tech workers either. Most of them knowingly decided to work in the most competitive industry, despite having a skillset that would earn them a better wage with comfortable work-life balance anywhere else. They can quit at any time and get a job that’s better in literally every way except that the end product won’t be shiny.
The real victims aren’t software developers, but people in creative positions: writers, graphists, designers, modelers, etc. who don’t necessarily have a skillset necessarily highly valued outside of the entertainment industry.
Tbf they sometimes dont have much choice in employer, and are too deep in to change careers, or convinced that they are.