Enizr: "New Union is an upcoming third-person role-playing game set in alternate historical reality in Russia, being developed for the PC. Scheduled for release in 2013, the title is set in an open world free for you to explore. You play as a Soviet officer traversing through a post-nuclear Russia while attempting to survive anomalies, mutants and other diverse enemies."
Game Workers Unite UK will take aim at unpaid overtime, racism and sexism in sector
That's not entirely true. Infact, when my job went union, we were bumped up in pay. It all depends on the conditions that are being negotiated when signing up for a union.
A lot of people unreported their hours because you have to note how long it took you to complete each individual task on, for example, JIRA. You don't want to say that it took you a long time to complete a task.
@LucasRuinedChildhood:
And? What good does that do anyone including the supervisor who wants something normally done in ten hours finished in under four? Who then expects a dozen similar projects also be done that day? Its that kind of detachment from reality, stockholder demanding exponential profits within a set time, that's created an only worsening all around situation.
@LucasRuinedChildhood
In an instance like that, I'd say that the employee is the sucker, unfortunately. A hard worker whos being taken advantage of by a go-getter manager.
That's not strictly true. There are a lot of factors that can go into it but to give an example the union for my first job at a supermarket was optional and had a £2.20 per month fee and they frequently negotiated better pay and provided legal support when needed. Hardley a drain on my pay when it saved my neck and many others on numerous occasions against a few members of upper management who thought they could overstep boundaries.
Racism and sexism? How appalling. Who would join an industry that promotes such things in the first place? Why subject yourself to such medieval misery? Please administrative state, save us from ourselves with your arbitrary quotas.
Good stuff. Crunch time over a long period of time is completely unacceptable. When Bobby Kotick's yearly bonus alone is over $30 million, why shouldn't workers stand up for themselves and ensure that they are working reasonable hours? Their work is what makes these companies billions of dollars.
Unions are demonized in America by the right but anyone with common sense will understand that workers standing together is the most effective way to fight against crunch and advocate for better conditions. "That's communism, bro!!!"
Unacceptable by whom? Why not let workers decide what is acceptable to them on an individual basis, instead of trying to decide for everyone?
Let's examine what you just said. You're actually deliberating whether being unpaid for hundreds of hours of overtime is acceptable and you're doing so with a straight face. Why are you defending such a terrible practice? I think that we can reasonably assume that workers would like to be paid for their work.
Collective bargaining is a pretty basic concept. Given the fact that crunch is endemic in the games industry, its obvious that the individual has no effective power against a multi-billion dollar corporation like Activision or EA. The premise of your argument doesn't make sense. Individuals simply have to accept whatever these companies deem acceptable, not what they deem acceptable. If a programmer really wants to work at a studio where crunch is minimal or not present, he/she will have limited options. Workers can only get better conditions if they lobby for them. Corporations employ lobbyists because lobbying works. Workers would be dumb not to use an effective strategy.
Never understood the mentality of defending abusive and exploitative employment practices in gaming. More than often it doesn't result in better games, and really, consumers showing such blind loyalty has only lead to consumer abuse and exploitation.
Well done, this is a much needed move.
People are easily exploited out there and a union will be their logical voice of reason in this industry.
I have worked in the creative industry and crunch time is something inevitable. No matter how hard you work at the beginning, it is inevitable that you will work to the last second before submitting. It's good to know that people get payed for the overtime they do and only people who have been through this predicament will understand.
Enizr: "Today we have some artwork of New Union - a STALKER meets Fallout RPG third-person shooter being developed by Best Way on its GEM Engine, which show us some interesting and diverse locales. Their upcoming game is set in an alternative future where the Cold War and Cuban missile crisis actually ended in a nuclear faceoff, resulting in the demise of most of the world's population, while nearly all territory has become uninhabitable due to radioactive contamination"
Enizr: "The first trailer for New Union - a STALKER meets Fallout RPG/third-person shooter - has been released, and we got dibs. Being developed by Best Way on its GEM Engine, the clip gives us our first look at life in post-apocalyptic Russia, and shows how residents now dwell in underground structures, as mutants and anomalies roam the ground above."
Metro 2033 took its cue from Stalker, which shouldn't come as a surprise as 4A games was set up by people who worked on Stalker.
No prob. It's one of the reasons I love Metro 2033, it shares some of the survival horror aspects of Stalker.
Just been reading up a bit more on this and it's looking very much like Stalker, which means it's on my watch list of upcoming games.
sounds promising!
GSC's death creates another stalker off shoot. I'm honestly more interested in cryzone now it's gone full indie. The third person part immediately shoots this in the head for me - still I hope it works out.
Another shooter.....post apocalyptic.....jesus