Game news “Toxicity against video game creators remains a problem”, developers harassed by some players!
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Working in a development studio is not easy. If we already knew it, the recent report from the GDC reminds us of it once again and addresses in particular the questions of harassment from dissatisfied players.
2300 developers talk about the state of the video game industry
In anticipation of the next GDC (from March 20 to 24 in San Francisco), the organizers have decided to take stock with the developers. It must be said that the industry has changed enormously in recent years, especially with the pandemic, the arrival of new consoles and the emergence of new obsessions such as the famous metaverse. Add to that the many scandals that have erupted within the giants of the video game world and you understand the desire of the organizers of the GDC (literally the conference of game developers) to take stock of the state of the industry. And that’s why, no less than 2,300 developers answered questions about their work and the world of video games in general. And the least we can say is that this initiative has proven to be particularly instructive.
PC players will, for example, be happy to learn that the PC is still the machine on which those questioned most want to develop their game. We then find the PS5, the Nintendo Switch and only then the Xbox Series. Small notable anomaly: the interest in the Nintendo Switch doesn’t show up in games that are in development or coming soon. If 35% of respondents said that the Nintendo Switch was the platform that interested them the most, only 18% are currently working on an upcoming game on the hybrid console. From a technological point of view, we feel a certain skepticism concerning the metaverse. “People trying to sell it don’t even know what it is, and the same goes for consumers” advances one of the developers interviewed. Same observation for NFTs. 75% of respondents say they are not interested in it and 56% are even opposed to it. But in the current context, it is above all the working conditions that arouse reactions. And the least we can say is that the situation is far from rosy.
If there is better inclusion and equity, working in a video game studio is still not easy. 63% of respondents said they worked more than 46 hours a week during the year. Among them, there are still more than a hundred people who say they have already worked more than 80 hours in a single week. In general, we feel that the developers interviewed are more sensitive to their working conditions than before. When they think about changing companies, the salary and working conditions within the company come before the potential projects on which they could work. More than half of those polled also say they are in favor of the unionization of developers, even if they admit that they do not discuss it too much with their colleagues. It must be said that the biggest source of stress seems to come from elsewhere…
Developers and Gamers, I Love You Neither
If you follow a bit of video game news, you know that developers are regularly harassed on social networks. Recently, the developer of AetherSX2, a PS2 emulator for Android, gave in to numerous death threats and decided to stop the development of its program. Unsurprisingly, we find this problem in the GDC report: “Toxicity against video game creators remains an issue” he tells us. 78% of respondents said that player toxicity and harassment were a problem or even a very serious problem. Note all the same that only 40% say they are victims or direct witnesses. Among them, we find mostly women or people from the LGBTQIA+ community. When we see that they are in the minority among those interviewed, this raises questions.
To come back to the questions of harassment by the players, everyone has their own little solution. For some, it’s important to publicly set boundaries and then rely on your community to point fingers and calm down the most toxic elements. Others advocate repression (with the possibility of suspending the account of a player who is too vehement), training (including CMs) and awareness. It’s hard to find the perfect answer, but the fact remains that developers are not alone in the face of this scourge. Two-thirds of respondents said their company was taking the situation very seriously.
You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it. Unfortunately too many of the messages I’ve been getting are vile, hateful, & violent. Here are just a handful of them (feel it’s important to expose.) Trigger Warning: transphobic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, etc. pic.twitter.com/uR9vpGgYQa
—Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) July 5, 2020
If you are curious about the many other topics covered in the report (accessibility, inclusiveness, sustainable development…), you can access it here.
