Interesting Read About What its Like to Work for EA

[Griking]

Link

I'm sure its a bit biased but its interesting none the less.

I used to love their games back in the 80s but God I hate what EA has become.

[calthaer]

That blog-esque journal entry thing was awesome, and is alone reason to boycott the tyrants.

[TRM]

Yes, that was a very interesting read to say the least. When I started taking programming classes in college, I went through Hell, having to pull late nights to try to get simple programs up and running. 75% of our class would be busting code down at the lab, for hour upon hour, skipping meals and everything else. And my experiences are only college experiences, stuff that many programmers probably experience. I can hardly imagine what those poor folks are going through, and I feel very bad for them.

I don't like the games that EA has been putting out as of late, so it doesn't bother me to quit buying their goods.

[DaBargainHunta]

Pretty good stuff, but aren't those the basic realities of pretty much every video game company? I've always heard that people in the industry should expect brutally long hours as par for the course.

The lack of overtime benefits, etc. is kind of disturbing though. Surely EA can afford to treat its workers a little bit better than that.

[evilmess]

I read that today too.

Hopefully that link will make the rounds and get EA's attention so that they can address those issues and hopefully create a better working enviroment for the employees.

Somebody /. that page!

[tholly]

wow....that is really shitty treatment of employees....but its not that big of a surprise

[Anexanhume]

To TRM,
in the professional world, all algorithms and techniques are resolved in the design phase. You merely need to implement the code in the coding phase, so it's not quite as tough as the coding we encounter in college life.

[MegaDrive20XX]

This makes me hate EA more now then i already do

[Joelius]

My allegiance to all ESPN sports games has now vastly improved more...but im sorry, i still have to play The Sims 2

[Ruffie]

That's an interesting read. I cannot really say what it is like to work for EA or if those conditions are prevalent in every part of their company. The folks I know of on the Ultima Online team have never reported such misgivings publically, but I do know they work long hours, and they do so seemingly with eagerness. They also get most weekends off, except on occasions where an internet-related crisis calls their attention, and often in those situations they manage things from home.

All I can do is tell you what I saw for myself when I visited the EA offices in Redwood, California, back in September for the Ultima Online Community Day event. They flew about 25 of us UO community members out there, put us up in a luxurious hotel for 4 days/3 nights, and gave us a tour of the place.

They have several buildings with lush green areas to relax. Their cafeteria has a chef and an amazing array of food to choose from, including a pasta station. In the same building as the 2-level cafeteria is a workout area with machines, ping-pong tables, arcade machines, mountain bike rentals, a huge indoor basketball court, plus rooms for yoga or tie bo or whatever.

Another building had an inner courtyard (fully covered with a roof) that had a chess/checkers area, a small shop where employees can rent (free) any game (not just EA because they need to keep an eye on the competition), more arcade areas and pool tables, and some of their own games hooked up to these huge comfy chairs.

They employees I saw, other than the UO ones, were dining, relaxing, and enjoying all these things and didn't seem stressed out.

Again, this is what I saw out there, and what I've been told by the EA employees of the UO team, most former OSI employees who moved out from Austin Texas earlier this year when EA fully assimilated that studio. I'm not debating the validity of that report, just offering another viewpoint. If those conditions are true, I probably wouldn't work there either.

Ruffie

[GunPanther]

I actually believe that.

I've run into a few people within the past few years who happened to have worked at Electronic Arts at some point.

I tell you, NONE of them ever had good things to say about working at EA, aside from the fact that they were either working on yet another Madden title or one of the numerous Sims spinoffs. Sure, they were proud of their contribution to such a lucrative franchise like Madden, but they never spoke highly of working at EA in general.


It's funny though. Each and every Madden game is NEVER worth anything 1 year after it's release. Last I heard, Madden 2002 had a going buyback price of $0.67 from EB Games. Then again, EB Games is another tyrant like business, but I won't get into that. There's room for that in another post.







GunPanther

[Half Japanese]

[zmweasel]

Pretty good stuff, but aren't those the basic realities of pretty much every video game company? I've always heard that people in the industry should expect brutally long hours as par for the course.

They are, and they should. 90-hour work weeks have existed in the game industry almost since the beginning. Howard Scott Warshaw didn't create E.T. in 40-hour work weeks.

Game companies have no need to change their policies, because there's an endless supply of talented young men willing to work for peanuts just to be part of the game industry. It would take the unionization of the game industry to force change, but that will never happen.

If one needs an excuse to justify one's misplaced hatred of EA, this isn't it.

-- Z.

[YoshiM]

Doh! I didn't see this topic when I posted mine. To keep with continuity, here's a link to another live journal from a person who was canned by EA "for doing his job":

http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/368.html

[Ed Oscuro]

To TRM,
in the professional world, all algorithms and techniques are resolved in the design phase. You merely need to implement the code in the coding phase, so it's not quite as tough as the coding we encounter in college life.

But keeping the eyes open and the fingers moving...

[Anexanhume]

To TRM,
in the professional world, all algorithms and techniques are resolved in the design phase. You merely need to implement the code in the coding phase, so it's not quite as tough as the coding we encounter in college life.

But keeping the eyes open and the fingers moving...

Yeah, it's definitely the quantity

[zmweasel]

They are, and they should. 90-hour work weeks have existed in the game industry almost since the beginning. Howard Scott Warshaw didn't create E.T. in 40-hour work weeks.

The difference back then was the programmers *wanted* to work that much, b/c they loved their jobs that much. Same with HSW and E.T. - he volunteered to do it, and being paid a vast sum of money was the movitation for working basically around the clock for 5 weeks. Now, programmers don't have a choice, and they're not paid vasts sums of money. I think the only motivation is that it looks good on your resume, especially if you're just starting out. I'm sure most EA employees don't plan on being there long-term, and regard EA as 'programmer initiation', and not much else.

Most younger folks in the modern industry are just as enthusiastic about their jobs, and just as willing to work insane hours, as the folks of the Golden Age. You only need to attend Game Developers Conference or read an issue of Game Developer to feel their energy.

The EA dude's "problem," as he admitted, is that he was an older fella who put his wife and children ahead of his job. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but game development isn't the career for someone who desires 40-hour work weeks and quality time with family and friends.

Also, programmers are among the highest-paid personnel in the game industry. The EA dude, for example, mentioned his six-figure salary. That puts him at the top of the game-industry pay scale, and makes it hard for me to feel any sympathy for his situation. (It's not the kind of loot a first-rate Golden Age programmer pulled down, but then, it takes a village to produce a modern game.)

-- Z.

[Ed Oscuro]

OLOL I FOUNDED TEH PICTUAR POST BUTTAN

Is a picture worth a thousand words?

Is it really? Is a cliched and really not even relevant dumb picture post worth the two seconds it takes to find the URL in that text file you've probably got stored away? Heh.

Back on topic...I understand your point, Zach, and I think that's fine, but all the same - this sort of attitude towards development is making workers perform at less than optimal levels. I tend to agree with the "spouse" in the article above (who seems to know far too much about the industry...) in that failing to give a cut of the profits for overtime or giving adequate recovery time after the crunch is not a viable road for the industry to take. Sure, I suppose EA views these as fat times, and they're simply squeezing the labor market for all they can.

I must be biased from all those 3DRealms Camera Captioning contests or something +P

[zmweasel]

OLOL I FOUNDED TEH PICTUAR POST BUTTAN

Is a picture worth a thousand words?

Is it really? Is a cliched and really not even relevant dumb picture post worth the two seconds it takes to find the URL in that text file you've probably got stored away? Heh.

Back on topic...I understand your point, Zach, and I think that's fine, but all the same - this sort of attitude towards development is making workers perform at less than optimal levels. I tend to agree with the "spouse" in the article above (who seems to know far too much about the industry...) in that failing to give a cut of the profits for overtime or giving adequate recovery time after the crunch is not a viable road for the industry to take. Sure, I suppose EA views these as fat times, and they're simply squeezing the labor market for all they can.

I must be biased from all those 3DRealms Camera Captioning contests or something +P

But it's not just EA squeezing its employees. It's par for the game-industry course. I bailed on my Working Designs gig for the same reason the EA dude was fired from his gig; the psychotic work weeks were killing me. I don't see anything in his story that's out of the ordinary, or that makes EA any worse than any other publisher or developer.

Without a union, it will always be easier for game companies to let go of unenthusiastic or unhappy employees and replace them with doe-eyed, lower-salaried programmers, artists, and testers. I'm not saying that's right, but that's the way it is, and it will take an extraordinary turn of events for it to change. Game Developer recently ran an article comparing the game industry to the movie "Logan's Run," if that gives you an idea of the extent of the problem.

Jason Rubin, formerly of Naughty Dog, has hinted at trying to form a union, and I'd love to see him make a run at it.

And I agree with you that the "spouse" is unusually knowledgable about the biz.

-- Z.

[punkoffgirl]

Nothing wrong with that, of course, but game development isn't the career for someone who desires 40-hour work weeks and quality time with family and friends.

Why isn't it? Why does game development HAVE to entail weeks and weeks of insane hours?