What does a better gaming industry look like? What would you change?
What do we want? A better gaming industry. What does a better gaming industry look like?
This week's question: If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change about the gaming industry? In other words, what would a better gaming industry look like?
Catie: For me, I think there should be weekly meetings at all gaming companies to discuss the current news and any concerns around harassment in your office. It should replace those cold automatic "harassment trainings" with actors. What I see at companies is Teams or Slack channels that are supposed to be for the women of the company, but that don't really talk about much. Sometimes, the most you have is a quick commentary about recent events, but it's not integrated into the entire studio meetings. It's kind of like the current events are separated /isolated into certain small groups, and aren't made into an important part of the whole studio's discussion. I think this is the problem that encourages silence, and allows people who don't want to talk about issues to just sideline the conversation. I also think that pretending to be sympathetic about it just can't stand. It's far too easy to write an official statement of "we support you," without spending much time on it.
There should be a place to report salaries that the company provides for employees, and you can be anonymous or named, if you choose. There should be a culture of openness around that information, so that it can be discussed. I think salary ranges should be required on all job listings, and must be within a $10,000 range for annual salaries.
I think there should be a reporting hotline or app dedicated to reporting harassment, provided by each company. There's really not a dedicated way to report harassment at any company I've worked at.
There should also be just a representative available to discuss the details, and this person should not be employed by the company itself, but just be available to discuss issues of harassment in the workplace.
And if unions can actually create this kind of thing then I think they're a great idea.
I would like to see more higher ups / management roles put more effort in understanding what your people may be going through and show that they are at least listening to concerns and doing something about it. There should be some work put in to building a comfortable environment where if something goes wrong within the studio or team there would be no fear of retaliation against those who speak up.
Transparency about pay and bonuses.
More reasonable scoping for projects and better management. I've seen it when people in higher positions over promise without even knowing if they have the resources available from the teams. Hopefully this can help reduce crunch and burnout.
I hope to see a more curated selection process of leads/management. I've seen people who get lead/management tittles just because they have been there a long time but they have no social skills. I would propose proper training before getting the tittle to see If they are capable of doing it and keeping an eye on how this person interacts with everyone in the studio. We also need more accountability in this area when it comes to reviewing what managers are doing to make their entire team succeed in every aspect.
Andi: At my old job, in addition to the standard training, the DEI organization had interactive (though optional) classes you could take. What was nice about them is that it assembled the people who cared and left us feeling empowered and better equipped to handle toxicity in our home teams. It was still corporatized of course and so a little bit sterile but still so much better than the training videos of old. They also played for us some YouTube videos (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFcjfqmVah8) which helped introduce some concepts in a non-threatening way and without shaming. YouTube does have some higher-quality DEI content that is palatable to corps, and would probably be an improvement on the in-house or licensed materials some use to check boxes. (And stands a better chance of not being dismissed through jokes/parody)
Another thing I learned from asking around at teams who had successfully implemented DEI goals, was that DEI should be like any other top-tier organizational project. And one important thing is to (convince leadership to) define achievable goals with metrics. The bar can be low to start, like have 20% of people in the org take supplementary DEI classes, etc. Even just asking leaders "what are your DEI goals?" can be a useful exercise to measure an organization in terms of its awareness and commitment level.
Everything that has been already said I wholeheartedly agree with! So from me I'll just add, as a pacifist and vegan, I wish the game industry had more alternatives to games centered around violence. I checked... and about 75% of the top-50 grossing games from last year incorporated some kind of violence or battle mechanics. I feel this ties into workers rights and harassment issues in that when the industry is built on monetizing the devaluation of life in all its forms, it's easier to devalue each other in the process. Can we create that battle royale or FPS with an inclusive, diverse team that does not tolerate harassment when the goal is to produce a game that is about enacting violence on people not like you, asserting dominance over someone, colonizing a place that's not yours, etc... And if you've done the work to build a team like that, there are sooooo many other types of games we could create that would reach a broader audience.
Leslee: The biggest thing I would like to see changed is leadership taking a bigger, louder stance against harassment and poor working conditions. I firmly believe the behavior has to come from the top. They determine the studio culture!
Unfortunately I don’t know how to change it immediately. I would like to think current leaders recognize that happier employees result in better games and would quickly enact change, but this would result in a lot of sudden cultural shifts at places and I don’t think a lot of them are comfortable with that idea for one reason or another.
More third party assistance to employees could push this along - either unaffiliated agencies to check in on studios (so not studio HR) or programs to provide legal aid to people.
With that in mind, I’d say the best experience (IMO) would be: pay transparency, better pay in general, accessible jobs (remote work, disability considerations), sympathetic and empathetic leaders, and, yeah — stability There are a bunch of other things, too — opportunities to grow at any studio, supportive managers, etc, but that list can go on all day 🙂
Another thing I learned from asking around at teams who had successfully implemented DEI goals, was that DEI should be like any other top-tier organizational project. And one important thing is to (convince leadership to) define achievable goals with metrics. The bar can be low to start, like have 20% of people in the org take supplementary DEI classes, etc. Even just asking leaders "what are your DEI goals?" can be a useful exercise to measure an organization in terms of its awareness and commitment level.
Everything that has been already said I wholeheartedly agree with! So from me I'll just add, as a pacifist and vegan, I wish the game industry had more alternatives to games centered around violence. I checked... and about 75% of the top-50 grossing games from last year incorporated some kind of violence or battle mechanics. I feel this ties into workers rights and harassment issues in that when the industry is built on monetizing the devaluation of life in all its forms, it's easier to devalue each other in the process. Can we create that battle royale or FPS with an inclusive, diverse team that does not tolerate harassment when the goal is to produce a game that is about enacting violence on people not like you, asserting dominance over someone, colonizing a place that's not yours, etc... And if you've done the work to build a team like that, there are sooooo many other types of games we could create that would reach a broader audience.
Leslee: The biggest thing I would like to see changed is leadership taking a bigger, louder stance against harassment and poor working conditions. I firmly believe the behavior has to come from the top. They determine the studio culture!
Unfortunately I don’t know how to change it immediately. I would like to think current leaders recognize that happier employees result in better games and would quickly enact change, but this would result in a lot of sudden cultural shifts at places and I don’t think a lot of them are comfortable with that idea for one reason or another.
More third party assistance to employees could push this along - either unaffiliated agencies to check in on studios (so not studio HR) or programs to provide legal aid to people.
With that in mind, I’d say the best experience (IMO) would be: pay transparency, better pay in general, accessible jobs (remote work, disability considerations), sympathetic and empathetic leaders, and, yeah — stability There are a bunch of other things, too — opportunities to grow at any studio, supportive managers, etc, but that list can go on all day 🙂
Jes N.: If I could wave a magic wand, there is SO MUCH I'd like to see, but here's some of it: I'd want to see clearly defined paths to promotion, based on measurable goals, as a standard for all roles. I'd like to see companies first focus inward when hiring to develop internal talent. Leadership should be held to the same standards as everyone else and should face the same repercussions for bad behavior. There shouldn't be anyone making 3+ times more than anyone else when all roles are necessary to develop and publish games -- and if all roles aren't necessary, that's an admin failure, not the employees'. People in games expected to come into office to work should be able to live reasonably closely to the office and should be paid enough to enable this. People should be paid for their commutes -- that's time out of our days for the company that isn't compensated.
Anna: If I could wave a magic wand, I would want the game industry to become a place where a person's gender, race/ethnicity, ability status, sexual orientation, etc, would not be any reason, either consciously or unconsciously, to prevent someone to enter, remain in, and be promoted within the industry. There would be fair and ethical labor practices (decent and transparent compensation, available healthcare, hybrid/accessible work structures, transparency between execs/publishers and devs, no crunch, etc), hopefully all backed up by a collective organization like a union. Bad actors (both corporate entities and individual) within the industry would actually face consequences for their actions. More juniors would be hired and retained, allowing them to become mid-levels and eventually seniors. The industry could be more spread out spatially, rather than concentrating in some of the most expensive cities in the United States, preventing accessibility. ...I could go on, and I know listing all of these things may appear overwhelming or that I'd be asking for the moon, but I do feel there are very real and tangible steps that the industry can make to at least get us heading in the right direction.