Workers in the game industry are not only devs. There are also artists, testers, IT techs, marketers. I'm not sure the biggest issue is about the salary, but the (unpaid) overtime, precarity, sudden lay-offs, etc.
The compensation for game workers sucks compared to their counterparts in other software fields. This is probably because it is sexier to be a game dev than, say, working at Salesforce.
It is a good idea for game industry workers to form a union or guild.
it is sexier to be a game dev than, say, working at Salesforce.
Yes, we can educate others who want to enter the industry, but when you're graduating out of university with a fat debt, you'll accept the poor working conditions for long enough and the cycle will continue to perpetuate.
The best protection against predation is for the prey to act together. Predators will always divide and conquer and go after the weak, and so the weak must be protected. The other way is increased competition - but our environment is becoming more and more anti-competitive.
is highly lucrative on the backs of overworked labor
but when you're graduating out of university with a fat debt
Low pay. Low prestige. Long hours.
I mean, give me two of those and maybe I'll consider the sexiness.
Don't you think it's that a lot of young future-Salesforce-developers think that making games will be a lot more like playing games than it really is?
(PSA: Making games usually is not at all like playing games, unless you're really into grindfests.)
My only guess is that gamers think games are way sexier than the way Salseforcers think about Salesforcing, and so maybe game devs get a little more hero status than Salesforce devs? Something like that?
Do most actual game developers think, "whoa, this work I'm doing is so sexy"? I don't know that they don't. I've just never heard it.
I'm sorry to all the sexy game devs I've slighted by these opinions. It is not at all my intention. Keep on with your sexiness.