Thu 1 Nov 2007
While most of the free world is rampaging against (mind you, Dr. Phil was way more measured this time out) the release of Manhunt2 and the various hacks - in turn helping it to sell - there’s perhaps a more serious issue at play for developers…
While the specter of censorship floats over the game industry at large, a developer not getting fair/accurate credit for their contribution to a project could cause serious/direct damage.
Ex-Rockstar Vienna producer Jurie Horneman posted the unpublished credits for the Vienna team members that worked on Manhunt2 for over two years (ie, before Take-2 shut down the studio and moved development to their London studio.) Kudos to Jurie for giving his teammates their deserved props, and for bringing the issue to light.
Why is this important? Accurate, complete, and fair credits are essential to ongoing employment, professional development, and artistic fulfillment for all developers. Further, having accurate credits also helps employers make informed hiring decisions.
In that regard, the work that the IGDA’s Credit Standards Committee is of particular significance…
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:48 am
I previously worked at a company named Moto1. We worked on a game for over two years… the tech behind it even longer. The company went under and one of the investors ended up with the code base. He then hired back a hand full of the team and shipped the game.
The game of course only included credits for the 4-5 people that were there when it shipped and not the 12 or so more that actually created it.
This isn’t new.
Why didn’t my former co-workers *demand* that the other people who spent years of their lives on the project be credited in some form or another? To me this is the real issue here.
People in the industry as individuals need to realize the importance of accreditation and take a stand in cases like these.
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:03 am
How about a Better Business Bureau for entertainment products? Credit standards problems are not inherent to this industry. They happen in film and television, too.
The BBB could start catering to workers in addition to consumers and businesses. I don’t know how open they would be to that, but I think the BBB or a BBB-like organization that looks out for workers would be ideal.