I think I've counted 20 or so ex-employees now that has had nothing positive to say about the Funcom management.. If that is not an indication of something then I don't know.

I hope they switch the management and rename the company, their employees deserve better.

Originally posted by talismen351

Shouldn't this be posted in the AoC forums as well? I would love to see how the AoC rabid fans spin this into a good thing.

Did anyone try? I bet it's gonna be removed in a heartbeat by the moderators..

Originally posted by Kyleran

Foolish article actually.  People in the gaming industry have worked under these conditions since it started, with long hours and lots of pressure.  Its true everywhere in the world, and not just in the gaming industry I might add, in the financial world we routinely work 60+ hours a week, with no paid overtime. (and our colleges  in Asia tend to work even more)

If you don't like it, you can always quit.  They don't tie you to your desk and I cry shenanigans that people are collapsing at their desks and their health is permanently ruined.  (gold farmers in China spend 16 hours a day sometimes).

Its not like working on a computer can be equated to life on the chain gang or 10 years in the salt mines.

In general, many Europeans are protected from working a lot of OT and have far more vacation than the rest of the world.  As such, I think articles such as this are an exaggeration and taken way out of proportion.

 

 

 

If one thing is bad, why should we ignore another thing that is bad? I think the article is very good and it might shed some more light on an allready dodgy business. It won't get any better if we just ignore it.

Anyways this article is not just about overtime, it's about harassment and lots of other stuff. Is harassment also something we should just ignore since it is happening all over the world?

Nah, sorry, but if anything is a bit foolish here it is you.

For those of you interested in what's going on behind the scenes in certain game companies, check this out:

Main case: (in norwegian)

www.dagbladet.no/2008/12/11/kultur/funcom/spill/conan/arbeidsmiljo/4003653/#comments_container

Follow-up case where an instance of the government ("Arbeidstilsynet", not sure how to translate that.)plans to check up on Funcom and if they are following Norwegian law or not: (in norwegian)

www.dagbladet.no/2008/12/11/kultur/spill/arbeidstilsynet/funcom/4010531/#comments_container

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE MAIN ARTICLE:

boards.polycount.net/showthread.php

I'm Norwegian and can understand what people are saying in the comments beneath the articles in Dagbladet. There is a lot of ex-employees giving comments there, and they are mainly very negative and undiscovering lots of other stuff aswell.

Sounds like Funcom has not only been lying to their customers, but to their employees aswell.

Lets hope the management will be switched, because there is indeed a lot of talent amongst the employees and I only wish the best for them, people deserve better!

Keridwan...

Not everybody is like you, caring only for news about the games themselves. Guys like me love to know the people behind games, who they are, how they got into the gaming industry and what kind of persons they are. IMO there should be a lot more interviews like this! I actually got more interested in AoC after seeing that there are hardcore gamers amongst the devs. And showing a dev wich seemingly only tries to be himself I think strenghtens the credability to AoC`s dev team.

I also think that getting to know a dev personally can tell us more or atleast just as much about a game than the revealing of a new feature could do.

Keep it up MMORPG.com! :)