http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/

This journal got put into the mill yesterday. The one below is from an ex-coworker of mine. I didn’t know him too well, but I did interact with him periodically, and I believe every single thing in it is absolutely true.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/368.html?view=6000#t6000

How do I feel about the two of these things? Mixed, for sure. Why? Because my *personal* experience hasn’t been nearly as terrible as either of these two journals would suggest. My crunch time was relatively limited, I generally feel like the people above me are looking out for me (until it gets to the project lead, whose priorities and treatment of his team members is abhorrent). But I’m insulated from that by the two layers of bosses I’ve got between him and me, so I don’t feel it nearly as much as I would otherwise.

I’ve had a reasonably good year at EA. I’ve learned a lot about the process of making games, I’ve got a game on the shelf, and I didn’t have to totally sacrifice my life to do it. I had to learn to say, “no,” to a lot of things, and it’ll probably hurt my upward mobility in the company. But as long as I’m learning, I’m ok with that. When resistance to life-sacrificing stops my ability to learn/grow/be challenged, it’ll be time to move on.

The problem is that my job doesn’t exist in a vacuum. As much as I’d like to say I work for Maxis, which I still hold in high esteem, the simple fact of the matter is that I work for Electronic Arts. And though my personal experience hasn’t been bad, clearly Joe’s was, and easpouse’s spouse’s was awful. Awful beyond reason. And the issue is that I work for the company that supports those practices.

So, what does a person do? The game industry is hard to get into. EA exploits that fact, knowing that demand for game industry jobs is high enough to support tremendous turnover. If I leave, will I be able to get a job anywhere else? Will it be better? EA’s way more organized than Sega, for instance, and I prefer working here to working there. I’m at least paid closer to what I’m worth. But then again, I’m also disposable, in the company’s eyes, where at Sega at least I felt some notion of honor and/or loyalty. I know others felt differently.

Again, though – I suppose I feel like a Log Cabin Republican. Maybe my personal lot in life isn’t awful, but the organization I support supports making the lives of people like me awful. Can I work for a company like that and retain a sense of honor and integrity? It’s hard to see because I work with a bunch of really bright, fun, talented individuals, who are a blast to work with. It makes it hard to see the ugly corporate entity we support, in effect.