Theoretically, whether they get paid enough or not, is not the customer’s problem. There should be labor laws.

Aw, this all happened long before DLC, and I can’t go back now... I’m too torn up from the experience.

*country.

Tipping is a service industry con, where the responsibility for paying the workers a fair rate for their labor is shifted from their employers to their customers. It’s total insanity that a lot of food industry workers depend on ETIQUETTE and not labor laws to receive a livable wage. 

The sad irony is you could have fixed that by serving jailtime. He would have been waiting for you outside after your sentence was up. It’s back-asswards from real life lol

Agreed. It’s a travesty that America (and pretty much uniquely America) evolved to the point where customers are expected to pay the worker’s wages since employers are legally allowed to underpay them. It’s not a tip if it’s required. Why don’t you up your prices and just pay your employees a living wage directly?

It’s telling that a review about Fortnite spends so much time not on the game itself, but the culture that surrounds Fortnite.

I almost want to mention that there’s a command which lets you teleport any NPC directly to you, but

So what you are saying is that this is a complex set of problems that encompasses multiple issues with no single easy fix?

That’s called a muddler. Alas, I’m not sure how much more muddled that particular melon can get.

Always go with unknowingly. The man is an idiot. He's your president but really mostly because he's very rich. You too can become very rich when you cheat, lie and fuck people over.

“Of course it is possible for children, even those who are not immunocompromised, to die from complications of the measles. But not that many.”

I think you are right on point with your thoughts here. It can be extremely difficult in today’s climate to express concerns about a game that one likes without being labeled a hater. Because of this, if one likes a game, they almost always have to rush to its defense, even if they have issues that need to be…

I’m trying to find the original article, but it’s been years; should’ve saved it. Closest I found was a post on MMORPG.com, which I’d take with a grain of salt, but does coincide with what I remember. I did find an article on the self-payment bit though.

“I backed and pre-ordered Pantheon, come at me”
Ok, well, you may want to rethink holding them up as an example given that it might be one of the few objectively worse places to work according to multiple reports.

Not only has McQuaid been accused of embelzing tens of thousands worth of backer money in order to…

Vision is important but I wouldn’t discredit “throwing” away assets/man-hours/etc. Creative processes (and most any development) requires iteration. That includes enhancing, morphing, restarting from scratch. Just cause an asset wasn’t used doesn’t mean it didn’t provide value.

Feedback has to be required as well. Not buying a game doesn’t provide enough information to a developer. You have to reach out and tell them why you are or aren’t purchasing it.

This reporting could impose a massive shift in industry culture. This is huge. Thank you for covering this.

Schreier, I will always appreciate your deep-dives into the less glamorous sides of this hobby and the industry that supports it. While most of Kotaku’s articles are (and probably should be) focused on the games themselves, it’s incredibly important that we never lose sight of the human cost incurred in the production…

...you’re reaching a bit. My reading of the article was that the direction for the game, aside from standard check-ins by upper management and those fucking stupid Frostbite and Live Service requirements, largely game from within Bioware.