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Do you wish you worked in the game industry?
- Thread starter BAD
- Start date
Approaching my 13th year in the industry and I agree with this wholeheartedly :)
It's a maybe. I would like to, but seems there are too many studios with work conditions, or work cultures, that I would absolutely not put up with. My current job is killing me, so I may go into an easier, more stable, field instead. Maybe just take up game dev as a hobby.
Hmmm. Tough call. The worst days, and the best days. Hard job, satisfying job. Dreamy and nightmare-ish sometimes. The most amazing people. Rife with opportunities, endlessly interesting, and frustrating to no end. I admit I'm enjoying this carefree PT role break away from being the conductor, though. But I do hope to return to full time soon in a proper development capacity. It just hurts so good.
EDIT to add: 10+ year-er here
EDIT to add: 10+ year-er here
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For the last like 15 years I wanted to be a gaming journalist, but for the past few months I'm more content on continuing my career in IT. I still maintain a small gaming blog and stream on Twitch, but I'm not waiting for my big break like I had been doing. Plus the games journalist group is such a tight knit group of people that it's hard to break into.
I wouldn't be able to handle the stress and sitting at a desk most of the time. But the creative part really appeals to me.
A friend of mine got into the animation business after college and hearing his stories 15 years ago was enough to make me think I made a better career choice.
Like sometimes he has good stories, but most of the time it just seems like he is stressed about deadlines and working long hours (Not crazy long, but like 10 hours or more sometimes).
I think his joy at making video games has decreased since those days after we got out of school.
Like sometimes he has good stories, but most of the time it just seems like he is stressed about deadlines and working long hours (Not crazy long, but like 10 hours or more sometimes).
I think his joy at making video games has decreased since those days after we got out of school.
I never thought I would, but it's been a bit more than 12 years that I'm in QA and I still happy to go to work every morning.
I'm more interested in working a job that doesn't squeeze me, lets me have time for my own enjoyment, lets me earn enough so that I can support my hobbies and also travel a few times a year with friends or family. If that kind of job ended up being one related to games, I wouldn't mind.
Fuck no. I currently have a really nice salary where I'm at now with very strict 40 hour weeks, good benefits, and a low stress environment. A job in the game industry would likely pay me half of what I currently make while also expecting me to work overtime and crunch time with no work-life balance (a dealbreaker for me).
Also, more and more reports are coming out these days detailing the toxic work cultures, low morale, piss-poor management and organization, and rampant sexual harassment of many of these companies.
Not to mention if I was one of the poor souls expected to deal with and respond to the wrath of gamers and their disgusting comments via social media.
Also, more and more reports are coming out these days detailing the toxic work cultures, low morale, piss-poor management and organization, and rampant sexual harassment of many of these companies.
Not to mention if I was one of the poor souls expected to deal with and respond to the wrath of gamers and their disgusting comments via social media.
I use to think I wanted to work on big games at some of my favorite companies. Then I got a chance to do that, worked my way up from QA to Artist. Had a bit of a breakdown at some point and left the industry with a whole bunch of health issues. After I got my life back together I tried to stay away from the game industry, but I love games too much so I ended up forming a game company with a friend of mine and I am much happier this way. These days I get to make what I want when I want and create my own deadlines. I am no longer tied down to any major publisher and I feel much better.
I would've liked to before I learned about what the industry culture is like. With everything I've learned about crunch, work-life balance, and mass layoffs... nah.
Games journalism though? Yeah.
Games journalism though? Yeah.
Nope. I enjoy making games here and there as personal experiments or in game jams, but making it my professional career sounds like torture.
No. I've read too many horror stories about that industry. When I was a kid I wanted to but once I realized its nothing that I figured I shelved that idea.
Provided I could make a decent living, i'd love to go into indie development. I have a project i've been working on for a few years, but it's not easy making it on my own and sometimes I lose motivation. I'd like to think that if I made a decent amount on my first project i'd be motivated to do it full time and quit my job, but that's a pipe dream within a pipe dream.
I'd be cool with working in games journalism but I'm not the best writer so I'm not sure I'd be able to cut it :(
I work in software development, but a completely different field. The technical problem of implementing a video game isn't that appealing to me, and I lack all the skillset for design work which I'd find more interesting. I have done a few simple games in hackathons and making something small scale as a hobby can be super fun, but I will leave it at that.
At some asset farm or in a position at a AAA studio in anything less than a writing/directing role no thank you. Crunch from even basic QA work was enough for me to not to want to pursue a dev role at a large studio.
I'd love the experience of working at a smaller indie studio though, somewhere that isn't as suffocating as having to work under the constraints of a publisher constantly breathing down your neck to meet certain milestones.
I'd love the experience of working at a smaller indie studio though, somewhere that isn't as suffocating as having to work under the constraints of a publisher constantly breathing down your neck to meet certain milestones.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a game tester.
After learning about the hell they and everyone else in the game industry go through, I'm ok.
Thinking about it, a Twitch Streamer/Youtuber wouldn't necessarily be far off from what I wanted to be growing up though. It was mostly so I could play video games as a job.
After learning about the hell they and everyone else in the game industry go through, I'm ok.
Thinking about it, a Twitch Streamer/Youtuber wouldn't necessarily be far off from what I wanted to be growing up though. It was mostly so I could play video games as a job.
Approaching my seven years in industry, having come into it after a fair amount of success at a number of dot com gigs.
Most days, it's pretty great. Still lots of things to improve within the industry, and always things that can be done to improve the game experience, be it product or publishing level. Seeing players fall in love with a thing you helped build is absurdly intrinsically rewarding. Listening to other people in-house and at other places talk about what they are working on is still one of my favorite things about the gig.
I honestly don't discount or disagree with anyone who has a negative opinion it, be it personally experienced or heard anecdotally. There is some real horseshit that goes on sometimes, but I take a fair amount of satisfaction in trying to make it better firsthand than finding something else.
Most days, it's pretty great. Still lots of things to improve within the industry, and always things that can be done to improve the game experience, be it product or publishing level. Seeing players fall in love with a thing you helped build is absurdly intrinsically rewarding. Listening to other people in-house and at other places talk about what they are working on is still one of my favorite things about the gig.
I honestly don't discount or disagree with anyone who has a negative opinion it, be it personally experienced or heard anecdotally. There is some real horseshit that goes on sometimes, but I take a fair amount of satisfaction in trying to make it better firsthand than finding something else.
I'd like to make video games but not at a studio with poor working conditions. Also I'm terrible with computers and have no creative abilities so... It's not really my place anyway.
I wish I could make games without being involved in that shitty industry. The only other option is being a solo dev, but making a game that's actually worth playing as a solo dev requires a superhuman level of determination that I just don't have.
I wanted to, once upon a time, but I've since learned it's a nightmare without end, so now I work in tech instead.
Which is... slightly better.
Which is... slightly better.
To have my employer and team members get dragged through the dirt because someone doesn't understand the business aspect of my job? I'll pass.
Do you mean relative to the marketability of their skills? Because a lot of people are underpaid, but it's a matter of needing work to pay the bills.
The most I'd do is work on a small game myself. I wouldn't be interested in working in the industry or on someone else's game
I'm working in the game industry currently, and I love my job. It's not easy, and I'm working my ass off, but honestly - I can't imagine working in anything else at this point. I will say that in my job I have excellent conditions, and your mileage will vary quite a bit on that in the industry.