The games industry is broken. Burn it down and rebuild it
The games industry has outstanding problems with sexual harassment, racism, and abuse that need to end. Ana Valens shares her manifesto for change.
www.dailydot.com
I have worked in games for nearly a decade. The industry is, and always has been, fundamentally broken. It burns through developers, it underpays writers, it feeds off abusive work conditions, and it’s filled with abusive people in positions of power who manipulate the less fortunate at their own discretion. Whether they’re a Twitch streamer or studio executive doesn’t matter. I should not have so many examples in just one paragraph.
I have experienced this problem first-hand multiple times. I’ve worked through crunch as a game developer and seen its effects. I’ve seen the effects of persistent sexual harassment in the workplace and how it drives women and nonbinary people out of games. And I’ve watched struggling queer creators remain ignored while white men working cushy jobs at major development studios get critical acclaim for doing the bare minimum.
And yes, I must sadly admit: Me, too. I have been taken advantage of sexually and discriminated against based on my gender and sexuality. I have seen what happens first-hand to trans women who work in games, and it has only worsened my post-traumatic stress disorder. To date, I’ve only seen two incidents where this led to some sort of permanent change, and in both cases, it was not institutional change. It was merely the responsible party leaving the industry while everyone else patted themselves on the back.
I do not believe this industry can be fixed. I do not believe it can be reformed. I believe the only way to change it is to tear it all down and recreate it. Consider this a manifesto on how those of us who are part of the gaming community—from players to developers—can create change by someone who knows how bad it can be.
Your money is an asset. Use it
By this point, a lot of gamers know the problems at hand. They’re aware of Blizzard’s retaliatory actionstoward esports players and employees who speak out against it. They know about Riot Games’ severely misogynistic culture. They’ve seen the stories about obscene work hours at Rockstar Games and Naughty Dog. But the games industry has a “yes, but” problem. Every time one of these stories comes out, it’s shortly followed by: Yes, but, have you played The Last of Us Part II? Yes, but are you going to pick up Overwatch 2?
We need to stop enabling this in the games industry. It creates a culture where work conditions are separated from the end product sold to consumers—which is impossible (we live in a capitalist society, baby). It also diverts money away from independent and marginalized developers while giving it to the very people causing the problems.
The broke queer on your block developing cyberpunk lesbian sex games needs more support than Sony or Activision or Ubisoft, no matter how many awards their games get for realistic military propaganda. And radical, marginalized members of the games community hold themselves accountable in seeking justice. After Skullgirls lead design director Mike “Mike Z” Zaimonthas was outed for sexual harassment, queer nonbinary competitive fighting game player Dominique “SonicFox” McLean used their connection with the game to stress “you gotta pay the price, Mike.”
“His actions don’t speak on behalf of the Skullgirlscommunity as a whole. Nobody likes what he did here. His actions do not reflect the integrity of the Skullgirls community at all and we will be sure consequences are carried out appropriately,” SonicFox tweeted. “I really did look up to him as a close friend and a mentor and even someone that pretty much saved my life? But even with all that help, I have to protect my community, even if it’s from people like him.”
Boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) movement is a three-part approach to fighting back against international support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The movement argues that by pulling purchases from Israeli businesses, urging organizations to divest their funds from Israel, and pressuring government entities to pull their support for Israeli businesses and state interests, BDS can radically alter political support for Israel on an international stage. And it turns out that BDS works.
“In an era of corporate social responsibility, BDS has given bad publicity to major businesses tied up in Israel’s occupation (Airbnb, Re/Max, HP) and helped push other large firms out of the West Bank,” the Guardian notes. “It has disrupted film festivals, concerts and exhibitions around the world. It has riled academic and sports organizations by politicizing them, demanding that they take a stand on the highly divisive conflict. It has angered Palestinian performers and artists who work with Israeli institutions, accusing them of giving Palestinian cover for Israel’s human rights violations.”
Consumers need to take a page from the BDS book. If you truly feel sickened by the stories emerging around Naughty Dog, Ubisoft, and Cyberpunk 2077developer CD Projekt Red, then don’t buy their games. Stop watching their press releases, and ignore news coverage on their products. Pressure games industry organizations to ban these companies from their trade shows. Fund marginalized creators who actively cultivate healthy game development environments, and encourage your friends to purchase their games. If you’re a games journalist who is financially able to do so, stop covering studios notorious for crunch culture and abusive treatment toward marginalized developers.
Tut-tutting the state of the industry will do nothing, which is exactly what these companies want. But if we collectively say “no more,” then the industry will be forced to bend to our demands.
Direct action to the fullest extent
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