No, I’m with you. If all you’re doing is wanting to have fun and play with all the characters, I don’t fully understand why gating them behind an artificial barrier is necessary. There’s no meaningful gameplay reason why you can’t play as, say, Wario from the start, especially if you’re just playing with friends. How…

See, I agree with you that offering cheat codes seems like a “good enough” solution, but why are you so invested in the idea that people who don’t feel like unlocking characters via arbitrary challenges are somehow lesser than you?

I realize that’s how the game currently exists. The point is that it’s bullshit.

[long sigh] Yeah. Okay, great. Obama did nothing, guys. He wasn’t perfect, so he didn’t improve anybody’s life in any way as the economy was spiraling into depression era chaos and people were denied health coverage for the crime of being in bad health.

Right sure it’s not mandatory. Just like it isn’t mandatory they give you a fair evaluation, not mandatory they give you any sort of raise, and definitely not mandatory they don’t leap upon your first fireable offense to trade you for someone who just loves “optional” overtime. 

“I have it bad so I don’t care if other people have it bad” is not a productive attitude.

hey asshat, how about no one should burn themselves out to work in any part of the tech industry? this isn’t the goddamn burnout olympics; if it’s true that 75 hour work weeks are normal in the IT industry then they need to get their fucking shit together the same as the gaming industry.

This seems to be about the right read.

“You don’t have to do this, but you’re more or less fucking your career here if you don’t.”

I don’t work in the games industry—never have—but from the outside looking in, I’m interpreting this whole kerfuffle as being similar to the Greek life system in college.

You don’t have to…

Not to mention “Expect to be the first chucked out on the rubbish heap when the inevitable post-release downsizing happens”

Not mandatory but don’t expect to climb any corporate ladders if you don’t. Which is fine if you’re just in it for a paycheck for sure.

Dozens of people have approached me anonymously, actually. (Check out the last graf of this story.)

Totally.  Normally, if you’re unable to do your job, you’re fired.  If you’re unable to do your job in a way that adversely affects someone else’s health, you should be fired quickly, and possibly exposed to legal action.

“Passion” is right up there with “exposure” for the title of the shittiest buzz word used to convince creatives to break themselves.

I feel very strongly about something: Any workplace that isn’t telling employees to GO THE FUCK HOME AND RELAX after someone hits 80 hours in one week, 140 in two, or 180 in three needs to seriously re-evaluate a lot of things. ESPECIALLY where their team managers are screwing up. My very first week at one job I hit…

This is bullshit though. “We’re just the most powerful and influential people at the company. The fact that we work excessive, damaging amounts of overtime in no way filters down to our direct reports, who we are mentoring and who want to impress us. Despite the fact that OF COURSE IT DOES, are you joking.”

Is this person over 30 and/or has a family? Because I can assure you, there’s a pretty hard stop on when you want to tolerate those hours and that was mine. 

You know, this is a horseshit comment, and while your intentions are no doubt good, you appear to have forgotten where you’re aiming. This is Kotaku. We have our faults, but pulling punches ain’t one of them.

Fuck games and fuck gamers. It’s absolutely not worth it.

If I took a shot every time I read the word “passion” when people hem and haw avoiding admitting the crunch they had to do I’d need a new liver.

If you can’t give your workers a living wage or sane hours, you don’t get to have a company.