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Former BioWare Emloyee Review of company sheds distuburing light on MEA's development
- Thread starter MasterMenace
- Start date
reading some stuff in here it sounds like a clash between european worker rights and US worker rights..how anyone can find this acceptable is beyond me.
Glad I am not the only one!
Soul of the Beast
Member
johancruijff
Banned
reading some stuff in here it sounds like a clash between european worker rights and US worker rights..
definitely
if my boss ever tells me to not stop for lunch i'll laugh my ass off
US worker rights in this country are definitely fucked. And if this thread is any indication, many are willing to put up with it because they have to make ends meet. Because the system got them by the balls, because that's "life."reading some stuff in here it sounds like a clash between european worker rights and US worker rights..
If that's "life" then I'd rather be fucking dead. Which is exactly how I felt inside working long ass hours with shit benefits at the biggest data center provider in the world for a good number of years. The system is so fucked here.
Ragnar Blackmane
Member
Alter_Fridge
Member
As a fan this hurts, a lot.
Why EA
Why did they use pre rendered footage and let us think it was in game?
Jaguar Victory
Member
reading some stuff in here it sounds like a clash between european worker rights and US worker rights..
Canada US now?
Corporate structure and art creation is a tenuous mix for sure. It is pretty clear there were some communication issues between the two sites. As a manager in corporate America myself the Performance Improvement Plan piece struck me as sour grapes. What some people don't realize is how useless some of their co-workers are. They don't see the extent of it until they have to manage a team themselves.
thepenguin55
Member
I get what you're saying but there's technically two negative reviews. One from 2015 from a current Edmonton employee who says the same kind of stuff about Edmonton's higher ups the other review did. It also mentions how they're hemorrhaging talent. I get that this stuff should be taken with a grain of salt but it's hard to shake the feeling that something stinks over at BioWare.
so what are you doing for work? Living off the fat of the land?
LordBaztion
Member
will this affect directly Dragon Age 4's development or are separate teams?
thepenguin55
Member
I think Edmonton is working on a new IP though I guess Montreal could eventually work on a new Dragon Age.
Ivory Samoan
Gold Member
Great post Jason - and I agree with a lot of the people saying 30 minute lunch breaks aren't a big deal: I've had plenty of jobs where that's a fine amount of time for lunch.
Here in New Zealand, 30 mins is the norm for non-corporate high scale jobs, we work too much down here too though...so there's that :/
Veritigo_X
Member
You work too much, only get 30 minute breaks, and you're okay with that?
:/ indeed
Edmonton has usually had two teams.
Dragon Age still apparently has its executive producer, creative director, head writer etc in Edmonton. Though a while back it seemed like the bulk of the writing team had moved off to other projects so I don't know if they're in full production of the next one yet.
I work in the highly unionised UK public sector and we only get 30 min lunch break. It's fine. I'd rather have a shorter break than sit around bored for an hour and go home half an hour later. (7.5 hour days)
You and me both.
Trogdor1123
Gold Member
This is very true, there are lots of bad employees. Not saying it happened here but there are loads of people that have deluded themselves into thinking they are doing great when they really aren't. When you are in a position to really judge peoples work it becomes clear fairly fast too.
Samurai G0SU
Member
This gets me sad
calavera_jo
Neo Member
Every time we talk about game industry overtime. This pos article pops in my mind http://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/game-developers-must-avoid-the-wage-slave-attitude/
VincentMatts
Member
I didnt read that article, but i can tell you that when i worked in the industry, overtime was often and when you didnt do it all the time, people tend to look down on you. Its kind of an unwritten rule that youre expected to do it and it sucks. Especially if youre on a salary.
i dont mind 'crunch times' but when its all the time, theres problems. And in video games, it was way too often for my liking.
Alpha Phoenix
Member
Edmonton is currently working the new IP and an unannounced project which is most certainly DA4.
calavera_jo
Neo Member
I know. I'm in the industry right now.
I absolutely loathe when you're expected to do OT
because that's the way our fathers did before us
because it's the way it is today
because it's the way it will always be
Amen ™
Some people are too zealous about this shit
fabricated backlash
Member
The best dungeon masters are coworkers, who enforce a culture of exploitation.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
This trash feels like it comes straight out of the "By Your Own Bootstraps, Vol. 1" collection. Did you write it to the Star Spangled Banner, or America the Beautiful?
The fight for the eight hour work day was won years ago, and not only did we apparently lose it again, people are fighting to keep it gone and call you childish or weak for wanting it back. Ugh. I hope corporate apologists at least get a pat on the back for reinforcing all this shit.
Lunarwhale
Member
a lot of you are weirdly proud of working for really shitty companies with no concept of workers' rights or proper project management
Yeah same here. And this was my favourite franchise 2010-2012.
The graphics legitimately look worse than the OT. This is one of the worst downgrades I've ever seen.
VincentMatts
Member
Theres nothing worse than seeing your favorite franchise change for the worse and be helpless to do anything about it. Fucking sucks.
KingParappa
Neo Member
Then he talked about people in the hospitals who do long shifts. He knows they get days at a time off?
Saucycarpdog
Member
Question. Do workers get overtime pay for crunch periods?
Diablohead
Member
I don't think it was fully pre rendered, at some point the game probably looked like that, a good example is what happened to sonic boom on wii u it went from a lush looking game to something extremely basic and bland.
Veritigo_X
Member
Typically they are salaried, so no.
Lunarwhale
Member
Good companies will compensate employees with vacation time or bonus pay, even if they are salaried, but it's not a guarantee and seems uncommon in the game industry.
JaseMath
Member
Yeah I was trying to address the change in lighting. Everything just ends up looking flat:
Literally thought the right shot was test footage. That's in-game? What?
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
I'd like higher ups that are able to set realistic goals for their workers and not burn them out to where they never want to work in the industry again. Sorry, it's the biggest reason I was turned off to game development.
I get always overtime pay. It is dictated by law in my country. Also I can have extra vacation time. So i really don't mind overtime work.
Typically no.
The most common thing I've seen (if anything is given at all) is being given compensation time off for overtime. The idea is that for the hours you worked overtime, you can take that time off some other time.
That sounds okay, but that's just the idea. In practice, it usually doesn't work in the worker's favor. The employer sometimes weasels out of this agreement by giving you so much work that you can't take time off without falling behind anyway. Another way for the employer to weasel out of this is by being deliberately vague to you by saying something like "okay, feel free to take whatever time off you need for doing this." That passive-aggressively pressures you to take less time than you worked for fear of looking lazy or overstepping your bounds.
Not to mention that an hour working whenever-the-fuck-your-employer-asks-regardless-of-what-you-were-doing should be compensated for more than working a regular hour at work. So you're pretty much just fucked either way.
reading some stuff in here it sounds like a clash between european worker rights and US worker rights..
🤔
Muscle Wizard
Banned
Didn't Gawker have a class-action suit filed against them for not paying a large amount of interns? Why did you think this is a germane example?
Gawker won that case tho...
EDIT: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/gawker-beats-lawsuit-unpaid-internships-879285
Muscle Wizard
Banned
Winning a case doesn't mean they were in the right, something I know Gawker also feels.
In like 2010? Dunno how that's relevant at all. It was before my time and has nothing to do with Glassdoor/workplace treatment. Besides, all media companies used to do unpaid internships. (I did several in college.) Not that it's a justifiable practice, but interns went into it knowing they weren't getting paid.
SplitYourInfinities
Member
Is the OP using a disgruntled employee review in glassdoor to make assumptions about MEA development?
I thought it was only David Gaider who left the team?
Raging Spaniard
If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
This sounds bad and is bad, but honestly its probably not the key reason why the game is deficient. RDR 2 is going to be incredible and I know for a fact that the working conditions are similar to this.
Hell, most AAA console studios are full of horror stories that rival this. Its a known thing in the industry and it sucks (why do you think so many flocked to mobile or indie development?)
Hell, most AAA console studios are full of horror stories that rival this. Its a known thing in the industry and it sucks (why do you think so many flocked to mobile or indie development?)