Rockstar Spouse
EA Spouse, who was later revealed to be Erin Hoffman, was a reaction to the poor working conditions under which many employees were not being duly compensated for their overtime. Moving from a LiveJournal post to publishing with Gamasutra, however, we now have an example of Rockstar Spouse:
To whomever it may concern,In response to the unfortunate circumstances, some wives of Rockstar San Diego employees have collected themselves to assert their concerns and announce a necessary rejoinder, in the form of an immediate action to ameliorate conditions of employees.
While a common complaint is the wording and grammar of the letter (it isn't that difficult to follow) the point that comes across is clear: Rockstar San Diego is slowly disintegrating all goodwill its employees and their families may have toward the studio. There are often whispers of such treatment in the games industry, and to have it spelled out so clearly illustrates an example of relatively extreme working conditions for people whose stress levels are probably already acutely high.
As the comments at Gamasutra attest, this is a problem threading its way through a lot of the gaming industry, and while there seem to be many suggestions as to what amelioration could occur, it is something that seems to need more public light, as these spouses are showing.
VorpalBunny
Posted to Miscellany on 11 January 2010
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