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IRISH GAME WORKERS feel that the government should provide greater investment in the gaming industry, a survey has indicated.
Irish game workers have recently joined the Financial Services Union to lobby for their workers’ rights. This part of the international Game Workers Unite group, which includes artists, designers, testers and production workers.
Issues that game workers are concerned about include low pay, unpaid overtime, and uncertain work.
A survey is currently being carried out among gamers – preliminary results indicate that survey respondents feel low pay is an issue in the sector (64%), and that the government should be lobbied to provide greater investment in the game industry (67%).
“All that game workers want is to work in a sustainable industry where they are not taken advantage of,” game workers representative Ellen Cunningham told TheJournal.ie.
They want to be paid for any work they do for a company past their expected work hours and they want those hours to be capped to avoid mental and physical illness.
“They want increased funding in the sector relative to the funding of flourishing game industries seen in other countries such as England or Canada.”
About the Irish gaming industry
The Irish games industry employs around 2,000 people.
Despite being an emerging industry, the Irish game industry has hit the headlines a few times, including the valuation of Keywords at over €1 billion and LA-based Scopely acquiring Dublin based game development company Digit.
Some of the more popular and anticipated Irish games include the indie hit Guild of Dungeoneering; the popular narrative game Darkside Detective; the upcoming Empire of Sin from Romero Games; and If Found by Dreamfeel.
There are also many notable Irish developers who have emigrated and found success in other countries such as Brendan Greene (designer of Player Unknown’s Battleground), or Terry Cavanagh (developer of indie hits VVVVVV and Super Hexagon).
Ellen Cunningham, the Game Workers Unite Ireland coordinator says that there are a number of workplace issues that gaming workers experience.
She says that some of the most reported issues include:
Cunningham says: “The game industry sits at an intersection between tech and art and almost all of the workers I have talked to are incredibly passionate about their work.”
They feel prepared to sacrifice in order to do what they love and this has lead them to be taken advantage of and has resulted in, what is slowly being revealed to be, an unsustainable industry to work in.
State investment
So why should the State invest in the gaming industry?
“This could be used as an argument to withdraw all state investment from all cultural industries indefinitely,” Cunningham replies.
“The Irish State has a lot to gain and very little to lose in increasing funding in cultural industries, particularity games which is estimated by experts to be work at around €177 billion globally.”
I think it’s about time that Ireland raise its ambitions and assist its highly qualified Irish trained game workers, large and small Irish based companies and foreign game companies wishing to build new offices and hire in Ireland to acquire some of that global value and create a flourishing and sustainable industry.
The survey has been shared by members with their colleagues, and list their roles within the sector, as well as their employer, while remaining confidential and anonymous.
On 16 November, Game Workers Unite Ireland members officially launched the branch.
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A referendum would put this issue to bed but this government knows they would lose. Irish people should vote on these issues in future not who fixed the potholes.
@Burn Turf: I’d say there a quite a few that notice what’s going on and think we probably should be aligned with others. If Norway and Sweden are dropping neutrality (and they were is a good position to defend their neutrality) then what chance have we if someone wants to use our fair green Isle as an aircraft carrier. Switzerland can defend its neutrality, but no one will touch them thanks to their banks! Let’s not kid ourselves and be blinded by our green tinted glasses. If someone wants us, they will this strategic land of ours.
@Paul Furey: It’s Finland, not Norway. Norway has been in NATO since the beginning, and Finland just joined. But otherwise I’m with you on everything else.
@Burn Turf: Hasn’t it been clearly stated that the governors have no intention atm to join N.A.T.O.?
You are right of course. Daft mistake to make. Thanks
Endless NATO articles….nothing else happening in the world? Seems the journal does not deem young international sporting tragedies as newsworthy.
Yesterday Robbie Keanes old strike partner, Cedric Rousell of Belgium, Coventry and Wolves, heart attack 45.
Today 20 yr old British Ice Hockey prodigy, Alex Graham, represented GB at u18 and U20
@p m: Vaxx. Sssshhhh…..
This begs the question of why was this forum set up in the first place if it was not to promote NATO…we know a commission was set up last year at the Defence Forces all that was disgust at a forum…last year’s commission on DF mentioned many of the recommendations on this forum
@Paul Maguire: Maybe they just lost their bottle.
Just another box the Irish government want to tick to make them the perfect boys in Europe.
Less protesters and more focused communication on cyber security hopefully happens tomorrow. It’s not all NATO, plenty to discuss to protect our country and neutrality.
Common defence is common sense
@Roj Blake: Has been true since the dawn of man!
@Roj Blake: Not necessarily. Can also drag us into conflicts not of our concern.
Softening us up to accept a decision already made to join in future NATO military adventures.
@Tony Murphy: your source?
The Tankies in the Journal comments gutted that with just one day left, we haven’t joined NATO yet.
Keep your hopes up folks, the head Tankie will get the floor tomorrow, He’s bound to bring it up.
@goldiefish72: “Tankie is a pejorative label for communists, particularly Stalinists, who support the authoritarian tendencies of Marxism–Leninism or, more generally, authoritarian states associated with Marxism–Leninism, whether contemporary or historical.” Wikipedia. So we have Stalinists posting here…..must be those Orwell Road bots.
No one wants to be involved in war, but when you have Hitler invading countries for fun or Putin threatening the stability of Europe, of which we are a part of an reliant on, why do we think we can just sit on the fence and say nah, we’re not helping out at all, when we are clearly aligned with one side?
It’s a weak stance in my opinion, especially when we’re allowing US air force to refuel and stop here which makes it make even less sense.
The usual big mouths are out in force. If it can to defending this country, they’d be hiding under the bed
“In order to work, neutrality has to be universally agreed upon” and as with the likes of Sweden, Finland and Switzerland….they are/were in a position to defend their neutrality. As for us……
Let the people decide with a vote
this sounds like a cut price way for Ireland to outsource its defence considering in the context of a Naval force a bunch of fishing boats is all we have. In an air context well there will still be the RAF. Im guessing when we join NATO there’ll be bases set up on the west coast to close the back door into europe. To be fair its a good bit of business. we dont have the money for tanks and leftie cranks on here will blather on about money that should be spent on more worthwhile projects like their dole bonuses, so if we outsource it while formally trading in our sovereignty for a few quid then there’ll be a hullabaloo and then hopefully someone will stage a coup somewhere else and it’ll all die down.
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