Crunch and Greed In The Gaming Industry

Greed Is Good, Crunch Is Bad

The gaming industry has thrived and grown for decades now, but has it all been off the backs of the unfortunate few? Lets first look at the gaming industry from they eyes of your average consumer. To us, those who work in gaming have a dream job, and have earned this job through acquiring envious skills. They get to boast about their involvement in AAA games, and even get to play the game before anyone else. In short, the ability to say your job is to play and create video games is unreal to some.

Now lets take a slightly closer look at our favorite franchises. The ones that already have a release date up to a year before their release, and the ones that release every year, always topping the game before it. It's this constant flow of content that has helped the industry thrive, and the producers' greed for providing the 'best' game for their consumers. And we as consumers can't help but love it as our gaming needs get pampered with variety and quality. But has this made us blind to those who are making this magic happen?

Okay, lets take a look in the metaphorical kitchen of our favorite restaurant. Be warned however, you know what they say, never go into the kitchen of your favorite restaurant, and why is that? Well, the truth is, we don't want to know how it's made we just want it as soon and as good as possible. Unfortunately this greed may have helped the industry grow rapidly, but it has done so at a cost, and that cost has been boiled down to one word:

Crunch

Crunch is a highly overlooked issue in the world of game development. Crunch isn't something you'll see in a college brochure, advertising their prestigious graphic design courses. And crunch has somehow found itself in a legal grey area, where it is simply immoral, but not illegal to do to your associates. But what is crunch?

It's a term that sums up game development when it is nearing its release date. A process that involves your coders, testers, designers, and other associates, all working unpaid overtime as they rush to finish the product. Complex issues that deserve weeks or even months are resolved in days or even hours as these associates have reported being locked away until they finish.

We began this article by discussing the glamour of game development, when viewed by the average consumer, but with one word that all goes away. What was once glamorous, devolves into torture because why? Because the consumers want to play a video game sooner? Is the mental and physical harm done to these associates worth the earlier release date? The fact is, these games aren't released annually or with so many features because of magic. No, they are done so off the backs of people like you and me, being locked away in a room with nothing but a computer screen and snacks to power through the development cycle.

But this isn't new, so why bring it up now. Well, it needs to be talked about as much as possible, but also we need to call-out those who may try to glamorize it, and point out their flawed logic to keep from poisoning the minds of others.

Polygon has recently released an opinion piece on why crunch is good. I respect the fact that this is purely opinion, but that is where my respect ends in terms of this article. The fact is, although these thoughts all derive from opinion, they are damaging to those who have been spreading awareness of this issue in the industry. It would be like going to an A.A. meeting to tell people why you love alcohol and encouraging them to try your favorite drinks.

It should be presumed that as a writer your words will carry weight, and no matter your opinion, you should not write what may cause harm. In the future, if crunch ever gets policed or even fought against, this opinion article can now be quoted by the producers, and used against someone who has already been mentally and physically abused by this. 

In the article he compares crunch to riding the high of a drug or even getting into a fight. A fight against tech that you can only win through the abuse of your own mind and body. To some this may even seem attractive, and so we now brain-wash those who may otherwise be oppose this act. And no I'm not saying this article is brain-washing people, but it does cause some to take a second look at the act of crunch. That in itself is irreversible damage to the movement of providing fair labor laws to those in the gaming industry. So, although this is pure opinion, it could have been discussed at a water cooler, not in an article on Polygon.

What do you think? Should Polygon have released this opinion piece, and have you read it?