GDC - A GAME DEVELOPER’S TAKE: WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

So another year has passed and another GDC has come and gone. For me, this was the third time I traveled to California to spend a weekend going to lectures, talking to other developers, eating bad food, and hearing about new semi-important changes being made in the industry (the really important stuff is almost always held back for E3). The only real difference this year for me is that I’ve been “professionally” programming games for the last year. Before that I worked for about four years in independent games while simultaneously working on my bachelor’s degree in computer science. I gave developing independent games a conservative try, viewing it more as an opportunity to develop as a programmer than as a career path. I’m not so different from a lot of programmers out there. I released six independent games so I feel like I gave it more of a chance than many do, and I had one of the top ten student projects in the world in the 2004 IGF.

I’ve had a little more exposure to the game community as a whole than many of my colleagues. But what really makes me stand out in my small 70 person studio full of talented, content-creating programmers, artists, and designers? I actually went to the GDC. This is not unusual. Many studios simply don‘t send their workforce to the GDC. In an industry that grows almost exponentially in size every time a “next generation” is reached, the GDC appears wildly under attended by the actual laborers in the industry.

This may appear weird at first glance. The games industry is an industry led by technology. We’re constantly changing, constantly evolving; more so than most industries. What are hard limits and standard expectations today, become weird myths and ancient stories tomorrow. You would think the largest skill improvement conference in the world for guys like me would be mandatory. So why isn’t that the case?

There are several possible reasons. One might be the expense. I spent several hundred to attend; it’s easy to spend thousands if you want to have an illustrious conference pass that gets you into everything. This may be seen as unnecessary and expensive, especially to smaller studios that are struggling to survive. But in an industry where budgets for triple A titles will soon be eight digits, several thousand sounds like a drop in the bucket.

Time is another possible reason. In this overworked industry, taking a week off means just that many more hours that have to be made up the next week. While it would sound weird to most other industries, taking a week off to improve one’s skills is simply something that game companies don’t tend to budget for (vacation time usually isn’t even budgeted!). Of course if you look at from a standard management point of view, you would think it’s a no-brainer; you want better employees so you have them to improve their skills because skills training equals more efficient workers and saved resources in the long run. So this leads to what I see as the real problem, the games industry is turning into an assembly line industry.

Now let me explain what I mean by this: the skilled laborers in the game industry have been viewed as replaceable cogs for sometime. EA Spouse is widely known as the case and point demonstrating this idea, and has brought to the forefront a longstanding problem. Companies have taken advantage of their employees’ passion for games. This is not completely a standard practice, there are many people that enjoy a healthy quality of life working in the game industry; but the majority of the industry seems overworked and uninspired. As development teams become hundreds, employees performing repetitive tasks will become more and more the standard.

So what does this assembly line problem have to do with GDC attendance? Well, let’s look at the facts. A recent IGDA poll estimated just over 50% of the games industry workforce will leave the industry within the next 10 years. In the past, jumps to “Next Gen” hardware netted an estimated 35% loss of employees; they simply don’t make the jump with the rest of us. A lot of the industry simply will not be around for long, so from a number crunching perspective, it makes little sense to invest thousands to improve your employees’ skills.

Of course there are other ways to reap the benefits of the GDC. The lectures can all be purchased (though for some pretty hefty prices), so you don’t have to actually go to the conference to receive this skills training. But then again, when you don’t have enough time to complete your current project (never mind any sort of social life), when exactly are you going to fit in listening to these lectures?

I’m happy to see that changes are starting to be made. Unfortunately it took some lawsuits to get the ball rolling. Changes will be made eventually, there’s no way around it. I find speculation for what the future will bring very interesting, especially since it‘s my future. Are we going to follow Hollywood’s example and form a bunch of unions and guilds to force the employers to treat us fairly? Are those on the top of the food chain going to up and make the changes that cost them thousands but make work better for all? Is outsourcing the answer, eliminating the labor force and the problem? No one knows what the future will bring, but it’s up to all of us to start making changes today. And my nomination as the first change that needs to be made? Take your skilled employees to the GDC!

Even if they don’t learn anything (which I don’t think is possible), they will gain a sense of community and vision. The GDC is great for improving morale as well. Bad morale and burnout are seen as among the major reasons for people leaving the industry. I would love to see the attendance for the GDC grow exponentially following suit with the labor force. I doubt that will ever happen, but in the meantime, every March you’ll find me at the GDC.