Direct Contacts
The following reporters spoke with us either in person, on the phone, or via email, and so are included here at the top.
New York Times: "When a Video Game Stops Being Fun", by Randall Stross :
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/yourmoney/21digi.html?ex=1258693200&en=40a60cc6d7971ab2&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland Los Angeles Times: "Working Too Hard in an Industry of Fun and Games", by Alex Pham :
http://www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/career/la-fi-sweat17nov17,0,336030.story?coll=la-class-employ-career Salon.com: "Santa's Sweatshop", by Katharine Mieszkowski
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/12/02/no_fun_and_games/index_np.htmland follow-up, "A change of heart for Scrooge?":
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/12/06/more_santa_sweatshop/index_np.html CNet News: "For developers, it's not all fun and games" :
http://news.com.com/For+developers%2C+its+not+all+fun+and+games/2100-1022_3-5457274.html National Public Radio: "Stressed-Out Game Designers Sue Software Maker", by Laura Sydell :
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4206253 Editor's note: For the following I have to extend a personal apology. Rick Healey from NetJak was one of the first to contact me via email regarding the ea_spouse story. We exchanged a few emails and he sent me a list of interview questions. In the following email deluge, I mistook someone else's questions for his, and answered them, but did not get to Rick's until he sent me a reminder email much later. Visit his site, and help me atone for being a flake. =)
Netjak.com: "A Call for Solidarity" (editorial) :
http://www.netjak.com/review.php/759 Netjak.com: "Interview with EA_Spouse" :
http://www.netjak.com/review.php/768 While our contact was limited to the blog, I do need to mention Paul from snarkyspot.blogspot.com here, who faithfully reported on happenings in the blog and surrounding it for quite a long time. His post provides a neat cross-section of events as they occurred as far as press is concerned, and a number of the non-obvious links (NYT, LAT, WSJ, etc) listed here came from his site:
http://snarkyspot.blogspot.com/2004/11/ea-spouse-speaks-out-against-game.html Other Features
Wall Street Journal: "Workers at EA Claim They Are Owed Overtime" :
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/274.html?thread=719890#t719890 CNN.com: "Gaming's growing pains" :
http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/15/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm San Francisco Examiner: "Long hours spur online rant" :
http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/111204n_ea Lockergnome.com: "When A Video Game Stops Being Fun" :
http://channels.lockergnome.com/news/archives/20041121_when_a_video_game_stops_being_fun.phtml Prior to its extended article, and after, CNet released a few others:
http://news.com.com/2061-1043-5449296.html?tag=rsspr.5449339http://news.com.com/Electronic+Arts+faces+overtime+lawsuit/2100-1043_3-5450316.html?part=rss&tag=5450316&subj=news.1043.20http://news.com.com/5208-1043-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=3181&messageID=17528&start=-195http://news.com.com/Electronic+Arts+promises+workplace+change/2100-1022_3-5476714.html InsertCredit.com: "News: EA: The Human Story" :
http://www.insertcredit.com/archives/000019.html Kotaku: "Fear and loathing at Electronic Arts" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/industry-news/fear-and-loathing-at-electronic-arts-025405.php BluesNews: "Op Ed" (with comments) :
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=52772 Gamasutra News: "'EA Spouse' Weblog Raises Issues On Game Development Quality of Life" :
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=4543 Enginesofmischief.com (Evan Robinson): "It's Not Just Abusive. It's Stupid." :
http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/11/643 GameStar.de: "Krasse Arbeitsbedingungen in den USA" :
http://www.gamestar.de/news/branchen/21547/ Heise.de: "Kein Spaß bei Electronic Arts" :
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/53216 WorldAccess.nl: "Slavenarbeid bij EA?" :
http://www.worldaccess.nl/planet/show/id=75057/contentid=524009/sc=77221f ForeverGeek.com: "EA Employees Unhappy, Attempt Class Action Lawsuit" (with comments) :
http://forevergeek.com/games/ea_employees_unhappy_attempt_class_action_lawsuit.php Pagtech.com: "EA Work Conditions" :
http://www.pagtech.com/News/EAWorkConditions.html Homelanfed.com: "A Spouse's Look At Electronic Arts" :
http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?mode=mail&id=27444 FiringSquad.com: "Corporate culture problem at EA?" (with comments) :
http://firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=7349 Cinescape.com: "Electronic Arts: Innocent or Guilty?" :
http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Games&action=page&obj_id=42967&type_id=270331&cat_id=270444&sub_id=272439 Joystiq.com: "'EA spouse' speaks out!" :
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/2500628063884828 Totalgaming.net: "EA Spouse talks about life as a PC game developer" :
http://totalgaming.stardock.com/forums.asp?MID=5&CMID=5&AID=34709 TechReview.com: "Gamer Overtime" :
http://www.techreview.com/blog/blog.asp?blogID=1651 Auxiliary Stories
Kotaku: "Former EA employee speaks out under real name" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/industry-news/former-ea-employee-speaks-out-under-real-name-025556.php Kotaku: "EA promises changes in leaked internal memo" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//ea-promises-changes-in-leaked-internal-memo-026800.php Kotaku: "Exclusive: EA confirms memo is real" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//exclusive-ea-confrms-memo-is-real-026895.php Kotaku: "EA suit could change the face of the gaming industry" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/legal/ea-suit-could-change-the-face-of-the-gaming-industry-025586.php Kotaku: "EA keeps the promises coming" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//ea-keeps-the-promises-coming-027156.php GameDaily.biz: "EA Feeling Pressure, May Reclassify Overtime" :
http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=8464§ion=feature&email= Mercury News.com: "EA to reconsider OT-eligible jobs" :
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/business/technology/10359549.htm BluesNews: "EA Class Action Suit Coming?" (with comments) :
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=52808 Salon.com: "Raking muck in 'The Sims Online'" :
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/12/12/sims_online_newspaper/index.html Gamespot.com: "Employees readying class-action lawsuit against EA" :
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/11/news_6112998.html 1up.com: "EA Faces Class-Action Overtime Suit" :
http://cgw.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3136538 Wargamer.com: "EA Facing Lawsuit Over Worker Pay" :
http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=1451 Lunabean.com: "EA Not One of the 100 Best Places to Work?" :
http://www.lunabean.com/news/000795.php TheSimsZone.co.uk: "EA Employees sue Company" :
http://news.thesimszone.co.uk/archive.php?ID=1847 GamesIndustry.biz: "Developer working conditions hide a cancer in the games industry" :
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=dev&aid=3721 Gamespot.com: "Neil Young heads to EALA" :
http://www.gamespot.com/news/productionupdates/archive/2004/12/14/index.html Gamepro.com: "Top Gaming Lows of 2004" :
http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/features/40850.shtml Penny Arcade news items:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-11-12http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-11-15http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-12-15 Slashdot
Slashdot has covered a couple of different facets of the story (likely they were responsible for more than one of the original boosts in hits), and they have a few thousand comments on the story collectively as well, so I figured they deserved their own section:
"EA Games: The Human Story" :
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/11/0031259&tid=98&tid=10 "Electronic Arts Facing Possible Class Action Lawsuit" :
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/12/0537234&tid=123&tid=156&tid=10 "Quality of Life Issues Holding Back Game Industry" :
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/11/0031259&tid=98&tid=10 "NYT on EA Games" :
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/21/1746257&from=rss "EA_Spouse Forum Becoming Thriving Community" :
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/09/159247&tid=187 "EA Spouse Posts Plans for Watchdog [Organization]" :
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/15/1645240&tid=8 "A College Guide to EA" :
http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/11/13/208253.shtml?tid=146&tid=187&tid=10 In a poll: "I Give Thanks For" (one answer: "A day off from my job at EA Games")
http://slashdot.org/pollBooth.pl?qid=1216 IGDA
The IGDA produced a Quality of Life White Paper in 2003, first bringing up some of these issues; they broke the ice, but then the discussion dwindled. This year there will be an entire Summit at the Game Developers Conference to address these issues. Jason Della Roca, IGDA Program Director, has mentioned a possible negotiation with CMP to arrange for an inexpensive Summit-only pass as an attachment to the Classic Pass -- here's hoping they come through, I'd like to be there. (For non-GDC-goers, the main part of the GDC is Wednesday through Friday; Monday and Tuesday are tutorial days, covered by a separate pass or a larger comprehensive "GigaPass", which is correspondingly significantly more expensive.)
The IGDA Quality of Life website:
http://www.igda.org/qol/ The White Paper:
http://www.igda.org/qol/whitepaper.php The QoL discussion forum:
http://www.igda.org/Forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=168 Discussion Boards
While not precisely press, here are some links to other forums where the story has appeared.
IGDA:
http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?s=71ef8c1d3b2e5065e7dcf1566b6de36b&threadid=13068ShackNews:
http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=8965013InsertCredit.com:
http://forums.insertcredit.com/viewtopic.php?t=2251Tokyopia.com:
http://tokyopia.com/tk/forum/index.php?showtopic=1523&st=0Penny-arcade.com:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5&topicdays=0&start=50The-nexlevel.com:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/archive/index.php/t-32954.htmlGameDev.net:
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=281984RottenTomatoes.com:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=376274ems-quarters.com:
http://ems-quarters.com/teamxk/index.php?board=7;action=display;threadid=130Fark.com:
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1213869&backwards=yes&ok=truePocketPCThoughts.com:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=300774&sid=7362a15a35d678a0f7133249d12468a3AnimationNation:
http://www.animationnation.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=009435;p=CGChar:
http://cgchar.toonstruck.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=10&t=2903&s=2a13eb07d48427fcacc38ff4f1c7b569Sherman3D:
http://www.sherman3d.net/Sherman3D/forum_viewtopic.php?15.132NeoSeeker:
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.php?fn=view_thread&t=461884Fatwallet.com:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=55&threadid=395573&newest=1Igromania.ru:
http://www.igromania.ru/forums/index.php?showtopic=24916&st=450entry777416 Blogs
If you would like your blog listed here, email me and I'll add a link.
Joe Straitiff, ex-EA:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/368.htmlAnother_EA_Spouse:
http://workingweek.blogspot.com/Jason Della Rocca:
http://www.igda.org/blogs/realitypanic/archives/000233.htmlSnarkySpot, also listed above:
http://snarkyspot.blogspot.com/2004/11/ea-spouse-speaks-out-against-game.htmlEvan Robinson:
http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/10/640John Dvorak:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/index.php?p=748Code Monkey:
http://thepixelmine.blogspot.com/Tossed.org:
http://www.tossed.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7Charles Miller:
http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2004/11/12/the_floggings_will_continue_until_morale_improvesSamus:
http://samoose.blogspot.com/2004/11/nuthin-doin.htmlMalevolent.com:
http://www.malevolent.com/weblog/archive/2004/11/17/suffering-arts/Inordinate.net:
http://inordinate.net/wordpress/index.php?p=241Darren Barefoot:
http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/001357.htmlAdeliedreams:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/adeliedreams/80750.htmlGameGirlAdvance:
http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2004/11/10/close_to_home.htmlCGAnimation:
http://cganimation.blogspot.com/2004/11/electronic-arts-overworked-artists.htmlThealguy:
http://thealguy.blogspot.com/2004/11/this-just-sucks.htmlSuberfantacularizzle:
http://suberfantacularizzle.blogspot.com/2004/11/dont-work-for-ea.htmlSkor Grimm:
http://skorgrimm.blogspot.com/2004/11/boycott-ea-games.htmlPingz.com:
http://www.pingz.com/2004/11/when-spouses-attack.phpRoom101:
http://www.drakkos.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/2004/11/ea-spouse.htmlOnyxorison:
http://onyxorison.blogspot.com/2004/11/easpouse-or-hell-no-im-not-working-for.htmlInterestingdrug:
http://interestingdrug.blogspot.com/2004/11/ea-is-programming-sweatshop.htmlMark Raimondi:
http://mraimondi.blogspot.com/2004/11/another-company-that-needs-good-ass.htmlHarold "AlphaTwo Vaughan":
http://alphatwo.blogspot.com/2004/11/when-it-rains-it-pours.htmlBlog247.blogspot:
http://blog247.blogspot.com/2004/11/power-of-blogs.htmlLimshengming.com:
http://www.limshengming.com/index.php?p=204Longklaw.com:
http://www.longklaw.com/archives/2004/11/challenge_every.htmlNo Status Quo:
http://www.nosq.com/leaderhsip/2004/11/ea-spouse-story/Keith Soltys:
http://www.soltys.ca/coredump/2004/11/permanent-crunch-time-at-ea.htmlBruce (bigkid.com.au):
http://www.bigkid.com.au/2004/11/12/ea_spouse_protests_exploitation/Guilesworld.com:
http://www.guilesworld.com/blog/_archives/2004/11/12/181569.htmlStuart Moulder:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/stuart_moulder/88892.htmlGenoism:
http://flashmade.com/genoism/forums/ Webcomics
UserFriendly.org ran two comics featuring the EA story:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20041114and
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20041205VGCats:
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=132