VoiceGate: Videogame voice actors considering a strike, want to unionize

[Higher Animal]

Plenty of work being outsourced to thirdworldia thanks to unions. :^)

And now that the jobs are in thirdworldia, the only thing stopping those people from organizing is state violence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marikana_killings

Rock of Ages, Zeno Clash and Abyss Odyssey were made by a small indie team based in my country. Not AAA games, mind you, but better than most of the crap that passes as "indie gaming" in the Northern Hemisphere.
At least they manage to be entertaining, creative and interesting.

Aesthetically interesting and mechanically derivative art is a feature of Latin American culture, not Neoliberal policy.

Here's what a socialist country produced:

Spoiler

But yeah, neoliberalism kinda fucked up our country, but beware: the USA is using us as a little experiment for all the measures they're expecting to implement in the future, and let me tell you, you're not as fucked as you think you are.

Chile is a pretty shitty country, all things told. Absolutely beautiful and historio-natural rich, but a shit country that needs to be de-fucked from decades of enslaving its population to US business interests.

We've had plenty of neoliberals ruining America. One of the recent batch who managed to single-handedly impede an entire state's economic development was running for president until he quit due to unpopularity and fear of his record being exposed on a national stage.

My usual take on strikes is to fire all the people who go on strike, and give their jobs to people who want to work.

 

[Hirato]

Say what you will about unions are good/bad but consider three things:

1. Any RPG fan worth his salt knows that VA causes a logistical bottleneck in game development even more so if the VA is actually a famous movie star that's phoning his lines in.
2. Everyone who isn't in marketing or in a excutive postion is underpaid, and in the line of people who deserve to get paid more VAs are right next to the fucking brain dead 'Q&A' team.
3. This was voiced by Ashly Burch who supports the unionization, seriously fuck the Burch siblings.
   

I listened and thought the voice sounded eerily familiar.
Lo' behold, it's not her first time doing VA work for Atlus, or on a Persona spin off.

 

[Mr. Pink]

welp there goes the last of my sympathy for these commie fucks

 

[AArmanFV]

Chile is a pretty shitty country, all things told. Absolutely beautiful and historio-natural rich, but a shit country that needs to be de-fucked from decades of enslaving its population to US business interests.

Are you chilean too?

 

[Athelas]

welp there goes the last of my sympathy for these commie fucks

There is a good reason why letting company employees (or their relatives/friends) do the voice acting themselves should not ever be allowed. Case in point:

 

[taxalot]

This would have sounded ridiculous with ANY voice actor. Some dialogs should stay in text form (or be cut altogether)

 

[Average Manatee]

There is a good reason why letting company employees (or their relatives/friends) do the voice acting themselves should not ever be allowed. Case in point:

It's unclear whether it refers to companies using their already hired employees to do VA, or hiring *any* VAs outside of the union at all (i.e. forced union membership). Usually it means the latter, because it gives the union tremendous power. Companies already know not to do the former because its just dumb.

 

[bylam]

Ah this is one of my areas of expertise as I have been working with VA's for years on The Secret World and recently The Park (funnily enough I see Fryda is already linked in this thread).
There is an absolute crap-ton of bad voice actors, including a lot of professional voice actors. Good voice actors can walk into the studio, hammer out their lines, get it right the first time and walk away. Shit voice actors you spend hours massaging into a decent performance - and usually then you'd prefer to redo it with a better VA. I keep a list of the good ones that I've met over the years so that I don't have to waste time and money on auditions.

Triple scale actors are usually worth it, and to make it clear, triple scale just means you pay in advance for three times the time of a regular actor. If you keep a triple scale actor for 3 hrs, then you pay them the same as you would pay any shitty actor anyway. But they usually just nail it and get out, which works for everybody.

Amateur voice actors are awful, and any manager/producer who says "Can't we just get some drama students in?" needs to be slapped so hard that their eyes fucking spin.
Anyway, Fryda summarizes the entire thing better than I ever could http://frydawolff.com/2015/09/23/sag-aftra-interactive-media-agreement-aka-the-games-contract/
The demands aren't unreasonable (except residuals), but the packaging makes several assumptions about how the industry works without actually knowing how the industry works.

 

[Neckbeard Shitlord]

welp there goes the last of my sympathy for these commie fucks

https://i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/why-amanda-seyfrieds-salary-isnt-okay

Since Patricia Arquette rocked the Oscar podium with a rousingly feminist acceptance speech earlier this year, fellow leading ladies including Carey Mulligan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rose McGowan and Kristen Stewart have all spoken out about their experiences of sexism and wage inequality in Hollywood -- the latter fact made embarrassingly plain in leaked Sony exec emails that revealed Jennifer Lawrence scooped $7 mill to her American Hustle male counterparts' 9. Recently, Amanda Seyfried followed suit, opening up to the Sunday Times about her unequal pay on an undisclosed project.

"A few years ago, on one of my big-budget films, I found I was being paid 10 percent of what my male co-star was getting. And we were pretty even in status," the actor told the paper without naming the actor or film (although other sources have speculated it's her fellow Les Miserables revolutionary Eddie Redmayne.) "I think people think that just because I'm easy-going and game to do things I'll just take as little as they offer," the former Mean Girl continued. "It's not about how much you get; it's about how fair it is."

Although it can be a little difficult to sympathize with anyone bringing home multi million dollar checks for their screen time, Seyfried's sentiments echo the plight of working women across America, many of whom are still paid 78 cents to every man's dollar. Seyfried called for others in the industry to continue the fight to close the gap, and if they face discrimination on a project, be "willing to walk away."

This will be the next hollywood BSing. How dare they pay the male lead for a movie more than the female?!?!

 

[deuxhero]

David Hayter is a bit shit so it's funny seeing that tweet back to him. Hayter is ok in some games, as long as he's not doing the Snake voice (Sanctuaraaaaaaaay).

The way his Snake performance aged I doubt could do Bernie's voice anymore.

There is a good reason why letting company employees (or their relatives/friends) do the voice acting themselves should not ever be allowed. Case in point:

But the union demand also means you can't do things like this

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

If developers and/or programmers think that they are underpaid/overworked they should form a fucking union and strike themselves. Fighting union efforts by VAs is just cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

 

[pakoito]

If developers and/or programmers think that they are underpaid/overworked they should form a fucking union and strike themselves.

That's basically impossible. If any kind of software developer union came, the whole industry would go crash. The US government would carpet bomb the whole country before allowing most IT to get any paid overtime.

Wish I was joking.

 

[Neckbeard Shitlord]

Fuck striking, I'd settle for just ending h1b program. Having a special program to replace you personally is a hell no one should have to go through.

 

[Excidium II]

If developers and/or programmers think that they are underpaid/overworked they should form a fucking union and strike themselves. Fighting union efforts by VAs is just cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

Fucking commies. One of the things I like about this field is that it doesn't have that kind of shit.

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

That's basically impossible. If any kind of software developer union came, the whole industry would go crash. The US government would carpet bomb the whole country before allowing most IT to get any paid overtime.

Wish I was joking.

No I think that's plausible. The unionization efforts of the 19th and early 20th century were consistently met with violent suppression by the state and capital after all.

 

[Excidium II]

If programmers are unhappy with their pay they should start their own business. Plenty of incentives, investors looking for good ideas and incubators.

 

[pakoito]

If programmers are unhappy with their pay they should start their own business. Plenty of incentives, investors looking for good ideas and incubators.

Rolled my eyes to the back of my skull so hard my neck couldn't support the centrifugal force and now I'm dead.

 

[Excidium II]

Rolled my eyes to the back of my skull so hard my neck couldn't support the centrifugal force and now I'm dead.

Drones get drone pay. :shrug:

 

[pakoito]

Drones get drone pay. :shrug:

We wish we were 9-5 office drones, that's the point. We're not treated as such, hence the request to either descale overtime or scale the salary.

 

[Excidium II]

Then start freelancing and set your hours.

 

[pakoito]

Then start freelancing and set your hours.

At this point I know you're trolling, but I have nothing better to do.

That solution is not scalable, not everyone can be a freelance, and there's need for drones, not drones, overtime, and not overtime. Regulation of the worst cases is what would be desirable, and let the offshoring companies be the ones not billing overtime.

If you're billing overtime or making revenue from those extra hours but not repaying it to your employees, that's the case to be covered.

 

[Excidium II]

Good thing it ain't happening.

 

[pakoito]

The gaming industry is a great case I have had first hand contact with, and I can tell you they work twice as hard for half the pay, just because "videogames". There are true gurus and geniuses that would exceed on their fields and be top of the professional chain that just won't because they went videogames.

 

[pakoito]

Good thing it ain't happening.

Already said.

That's basically impossible. If any kind of software developer union came, the whole industry would go crash. The US government would carpet bomb the whole country before allowing most IT to get any paid overtime.

Wish I was joking.

 

[Higher Animal]

The gaming industry is a great case I have had first hand contact with, and I can tell you they work twice as hard for half the pay, just because "videogames". There are true gurus and geniuses that would exceed on their fields and be top of the professional chain that just won't because they went videogames.

Protip: The solution begins with "Ham" and ends with "ickel"