In what’s generally known as a “bold move,” Alex St. John has stated that he believes game development employees are actually “wage-slaves” rather than properly payed individuals.
An opinion piece published on VentureBeat started the conversation. The former head of WildTangent discusses how developers should stop whining over fair wages and long hours of constant work. Rather, they should just get down and dirty doing what they love, since they’re just “pushing a mouse around for a paycheck,” which apparently isn’t too hard of a job.
The piece is hard to disseminate. At some points, he seems to be rooting for the little guy working the long hours, telling them to tear off their shackles and create some games on their own. At other times he seems to want to perpetuate the culture of long work ours and minimalistic pay. Below are some quotes from the article:
“I can’t begin to imagine how sheltered the lives of modern technology employees must be to think that any amount of hours they spend pushing a mouse around for a paycheck is really demanding strenuous work.”
“Don’t be in the game industry if you can’t love all 80 hours a week of it.”
“Any time I hear this stuff, I tell these people; quit, go make great games on your own, pursue your passion, you’re better equipped to succeed than any of the dozens and dozens of amateur kids I’ve seen retire early while you were still “trapped” in a job you hated and trying to rationalize mailing in a 40-hour work week making video games.”
What do you think of the article? Does he follow a similar logical flow as you, or do you see his comments as hurting how people view the gaming industry?