They got me thinking, are Gaming companies nice places to work?
My only experiences in the games industry are limited to a couple of stints of work experience at Games Workshop's Design Studio in the late 1980s. That was a time of immense change in the organisation, and employee morale was pretty low (one of my friends also ran one of their stores around that time and often recalls how dreadfully the retail staff were treated too). I'll have to write up my experiences there sometime as I got to work in a lot of different departments there.
Incidentally, if anyone is looking for a job as a photographer, Games Workshop are recruiting:
White Dwarf Photographer Vacancy
The following text from the ad makes me think it's still not the nicest place to work:
"If the way you behave and the attitudes you display fit with Games Workshop's ideals, it is highly likely you will be successful, well rewarded and happy. However, it is only fair to say that people who don't fit with our culture, or who play at fitting, will be unhappy and consequently unsuccessful."
Right that's enough on Games Workshop for a while - I don't want to sound bitter.
"I'll have to write up my experiences there sometime as I got to work in a lot of different departments there."
ReplyDeleteYou should most definitely. I guess from what I have gathered from most anyone I know who has worked in the industry, for the most part these jobs really aren't worth aspiring to as a life-goal.
What are Games Workshop's 'ideals'. Do they set these ideals out somewhere, perhaps in some kind of manifesto, so that an applicant can see if he or she shares these values? And, more, so that workers can behave according to these ideals, perhaps even as management betrays?
ReplyDeleteOr is this talk of 'ideals' just the same bull* as the Chief Executive of a big supermarket describing shelf stackers as 'colleagues'?
*Bull used to build commitment in a far cheaper manner than improving pay and conditions, and far less threatening than introducing a degree of worker control.
@ckutalik: I keep a note of any recollections I have from back then. Eventually, I'll have enough to put together a light-hearted diary.
ReplyDelete@DrBargle: Well said. I think any new recruits starting at Games Workshop should be viewed as 0-level humans wandering into the local megadungeon.
Wow, I can honestly say that I've never seen a job ad before which seemed to contain a thinly veiled threat. Presumably this was signed off by their HR department. Nice.
ReplyDelete