Mental health is a problem in the games industry

kruis

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.


I thought that tweet was a hoax, but unfortunately I was wrong. This really happened....

www.ign.com

At the Game Developers Conference, the Games Industry Really Needed a Good Scream - IGN

Today, over 50 game developers met in a park across the street from Moscone Center where the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) was taking place. They had one objective: to scream as loud as possible.
www.ign.com www.ign.com

Today, over 50 game developers met in a park across the street from Moscone Center where the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) was taking place. They had one objective: to scream as loud as possible.

The event, known as "GDScream," took place in an open area in the middle of Yerba Buena Gardens, where event organizers assembled the crowd by holding up pieces of paper with "SCREAM" scribbled on them. One of the organizers wore a shirt printed with Munch's The Scream; another participant wore a shirt printed with an ice cream cone. At exactly noon, the cluster of individuals from all corners of game development let loose a loud scream that lasted for several seconds. As it trailed off, the group broke into relieved laughter and applauded before slowly dispersing.

The scream was organized by Scott Jon Siegal and Caryl Shaw in response to growing discontent among game developers in the face of ongoing industry mass layoffs, as well as coordinated harassment campaigns against marginalized individuals and overall fears of worsening industry conditions..
Click to expand...

I asked Siegal why they, personally, were screaming. Siegal replied, noting that while they had had a "very blessed" 16-year career in games, they were struggling to recommend aspiring game developers to even enter the industry due to the current conditions, which they said was "tragic."

"I'm always slightly screaming inside for a lot of personal reasons, but this is an industry that is built on passion," they said. "I entered the games industry in my early 20s because I loved games so much and I found that I had this passion for building them and building experiences that brought delight to other people. It's an industry that really feeds on that passion and takes advantage of that passion, and that's broken my heart over and over again...and I just wanted to scream about it."
Click to expand...

Dara Insixiengmay, 3D artist at Tender Claws, added, "The state of the industry has been at such, such a low point. And screaming out our frustrations, our anger, but also channeling that into something where we together, working together, as a community, we can empower ourselves to fight back and to stand up for our rights, our jobs, our livelihoods."

As the crowd dispersed, I asked Siegal if the scream had helped them at all.

"Aside from how my throat will feel tomorrow, it helped me," they replied. "Not enough opportunities in life to scream."
Click to expand...
 
kyussman said:
For balance,I'm self employed,very happy and have nothing to scream about,lol.
Click to expand...

Keep out of this, poor person. You don't understand our pain.

Will Forte No GIF by The Lonely Island
 
Last edited:
Cringe, but also true. Have more than a few friends working in the industry, which already had a pedigree of churning out talent, but the industry got even worse in recent years:

Mandatory design structures, difficult work conditions, higher-ups interference constantly without direct involvement in the day-to-day, companies focusing more on buybacks then fairly distribution between talent or investing in R&D, praying on younger inexperienced developers straight out of school rather than veterans because of cost reasons, etc.

It seems like a very cynical industry to work in right now.
 
Last edited:
The patriarchy lmao. You mean one of the biggest reasons we aren't in caves running away from large predators anymore?
 
Who takes these things seriously?

If you want something to change, take drastic measures yourself, don't scream in the void and expect someone to fix it for you.
 
Wicked… Just shows how changes to be visible take some time. Remember all the push for diversity and stuff in gaming a decade or more ago. This is what we got because of it. Bunch of manchildren and games that take forever to be made.
 
Reminds me to people in the independence day movie, who screams at alien openingg their door. Only the door is actually a cannon hatch. And boom...
 
All the studios appear to be different and operate on their own accord. The big ones might come off as having these big benefit packages and so forth, but they're also the ones cutting people and canceling their projects because of budgets. The smaller studios close their doors or get shutdown. What they want is something that doesn't exist. What I think they want is a union to fight for them and support them. It sounds like a big gamble to be in the games industry. The big CEO's in gaming make more than a lot of other CEO's out there, but their employees are a dime a dozen.
 
Welp

That explains why games are so shit these days in a nutshell.

Remember when developers focused on making great games and these conferences were about sharing game making ideas instead of political bullshit virtue signaling?

Ah those were the golden days of gaming when you didn't have to wade through a sea of shit games to find one gem
 
Act like a baby, get treated like a baby. Social media complaining, leaking confidential memo and game info to Reddit/YT, publicly badmouthing bosses, bringing their politics to work, lots of buggy games lately.

And the industry employees wonder why management treats them like kids who need to be watched. No other industry is like this. Even the avg McDonalds assistant manager probably trusts their burger flippers more.
 
So the woke media attacking us for boycotting the likes of SBI as manbabies?

These very same people are literally do it out in the open for all to see!
 
kruis said:


I thought that tweet was a hoax, but unfortunately I was wrong. This really happened....

www.ign.com

At the Game Developers Conference, the Games Industry Really Needed a Good Scream - IGN

Today, over 50 game developers met in a park across the street from Moscone Center where the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) was taking place. They had one objective: to scream as loud as possible.
www.ign.com www.ign.com
Click to expand...

i want a list of every "developer" (lets be honest most of them are the art and writing staff so no i wouldn't call them developers) in this video so i can actively not buy their games.
 
Last edited:
But really, all i want is only to playing good games, i dont need their views or agenda or anything thats not game related. I play game just to escape from real life, not facing same world problems...
 
Fuck me I bet that showed them. Fucking hell get back to work like the rest of us, good working conditions are a myth for most of us but we got bills to pay, mouths to feed sp we just get on with it. If they dont like it change job, become a shitty lorry driver like me and see how they cope. Glad i dont spend much on games anymore as its going to pricks like this.
 
M1chl said:
Gamergate, I am sure its not
Click to expand...
It's in the article and the OP though:
The scream was organized [...] in response to [...] as well as coordinated harassment campaigns against marginalized individuals...
Click to expand...

How about this gem:
"Because we talked about diversity in games and we were all marginalized people, and we're all looking at each other going 'Yeah it sucks, for some reason we have to do this, and we cannot not do this and I don't know how to deal with the obligation of having to do this just because I'm the person that I am.'"
Click to expand...
What does it even mean? It's like I'm listening to a toddler. Rather than mental health, maybe it's emotional maturity that these people have a problem with.
 
Imagine having to work with some of those people. Every day a new drama, more whining and screaming.
Nightmares are made of this.
 
Last edited:
Considering developers for games are mostly these kinds of folks, I'm not really sure who they are screeching at? They do this to themselves and then scream about this patriarchy they say exists that hold them down, while they make women ugly, insert ridiculous DEI into games unnaturally, etc, and complain they are being held down.

Make it make sense, folks. They are just screaming at themselves.
 
As someone who did a very short stint +15 years ago. Absolutely it was so unstable compared to anything else back then, I know the "gig" economy is more common these days, but it wasn't back then. I went into repairs for more money and predictable hours, it really was draining for no benefit.

Some people loved it though, came across as passionate and creative. I guess I was more for the pay cheque and it just was not worth it. Left very quickly after a big publisher bought the studio.
 
Last edited:
Guilty_AI said:
Working with such people would certainly worsen my mental health
Click to expand...
Its a gradual process. One day you show up at work with a soy free, gluten distilled pumpkin spice mocha latte, purple hair and a HUGE victim complex.

It's only at this point that you know you've been infected and there is no way back.....
 
Last edited:
Let's see. They work in an industry where - over the last few years - an unprecedented number of studios have been shut down, entire teams laid off, thousands of developers laid off, incredible uncertainty. Everyone's one poorly reviewed game away from trying to find a job in an industry that is in the process of cutting jobs. Yeah, people are upset and want to protest.

That's not a sign of mental health. Their method may be weird, and uncomfortable to watch. But they have every right to protest, no matter how ineffective it may appear to be.

Let these people live their lives.
 
It's not a problem exclusive to gaming, mind you. It's just that in gaming, journalists/people go all over for drama and brownie points. Looks how much Skill Up drama over this...it's one of reasons I stopped watching his videos.
You don't see that drama on any other type of entertaiment or work. If a person is sick, that person should seek help(unless people find people screeching normal). Simple as that. It's just that modern days give them a spotlight and applaud whatever they do or say.
 
Last edited:
What's wrong with ign? they should stick to video games journalism and try to build a community to future and current games.
 
InterMusketeer said:
It's in the article and the OP though:


How about this gem:

What does it even mean? It's like I'm listening to a toddler. Rather than mental health, maybe it's emotional maturity that these people have a problem with.
Click to expand...
Yeah but I am sure that layoffs is much much bigger deal for each individual, given that you loose something like a medial insurance in states... Granted its useless either way
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Balatro creator details the mental health crisis brought on by his solo-dev masterpiece: "I was in super crunch mode"
Game Dev  2 3
112
6K
SirKicksalot replied
Video games may level up your mental health
39
2K
ToadMan replied
Laura Fryer - The Games Industry Elephant
Business  2
50
5K
Madflavor replied
  • Locked
Game Developer Experience with DEI and the gaming industry.
17
1K
HogIsland replied
  • Poll
Is Japan the big winner from America’s industry “crash”
2 3
112
5K
RetroGamingUK replied
Top Bottom