Writers Guild strike might help video game industry
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Dec 29th 2007 at 12:35PM }
Has the Writers Guild of America strike got you down? Are you despondent when watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother? Depressed about the short season of Heroes? Well turn around, bright eyes -- at least the WGA strike hasn't slowed the production of video games; in fact, the strike might be helping the industry, according to the Hollywood Reporter.The few video game writers who are members of the WGA aren't affected by the current strike (aside from possibly getting some competition from their fellow striking writers). However, the Hollywood Reporter says that the gaming industry is improving due to the lack of original television programming, which has inspired more people to play video games in their spare time. Personally, we've used our time away from our TiVos to work on our cross-stitching. Have you been playing more games due to the the deluge of reruns?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bryan @ Dec 29th 2007 12:42PM
Personally, I'm not a big t.v. watcher, so most of my free time is spent doing what I always do. *hint hint*
roxxxo @ Dec 29th 2007 12:54PM
masturbating?
hvnlysoldr @ Dec 29th 2007 12:58PM
masturbating to virtual women?
Bryan @ Dec 29th 2007 1:02PM
wow, I guess I set myself up for that one.
Oreo @ Dec 29th 2007 2:52PM
"Have you been playing more games due to the the deluge of reruns?"
No.
Bluebrake @ Dec 29th 2007 5:59PM
Is there even any other way this could have been interpreted?
tyetheczar @ Dec 30th 2007 9:19PM
Surfing and posting on 4CHAN, oy?
CubeGuy @ Dec 29th 2007 1:00PM
I would have, but my TV tubes went out on me. Bioshock in black and white just isn't the same.
Rock Band fills the void a bit, I guess.
Knoxximus @ Dec 29th 2007 1:05PM
I'm sure I speak for a lot pf us when I say that if you're a gamer, then you've probably made the choice to sacrifice TV time for game time a looooong time ago.
It's funny because my girl will give me crap for playing games for hours on end, but then she'll go and watch hours of Flavor of Love, Tila Tequilla, TMZ and all that other crap. I tell her at least my entertainment is interactive, and that I don't give her shit for wasting her life watching VH1.
Bluebrake @ Dec 29th 2007 1:12PM
TMZ? Get away from her while you still can.
Fernando Rocker @ Dec 29th 2007 1:13PM
I use my TV mostly to play videogames...
And to watch TV, just 1 hour a day... the only thing that I see on Tv is Seinfeld and Scrubs. And thats it.
You have to sacrifice one thing... games or TV. I prefer games, since I was 6.
NiGhTmArE @ Dec 29th 2007 2:16PM
Wow, you've been a gamer for a whole year?!
wickedpheonix @ Dec 29th 2007 1:17PM
I actually saw an article on this subject previously, but not on how people are going to buy more video games - rather, that writers who are part of the WGA would go to various developers and write for them to supplement their strike salary, which of course gets us some well-written games potentially.
But I do think that I would rather have Heroes every Monday instead... =(
Judd @ Dec 29th 2007 1:20PM
Cube Guy: I don't know, Bioshock seems like a cool game in black & white. Even though a lot of the art style would be gone, I feel like it would a new style. It seems to me like it would fit with the whole 1950's motif.
Knoxximus: I know exactly what you mean. If you want to tell me that I should sit on the couch all day and get outside I understand. But don't think that television is any better. I feel like I'm actually doing work when I'm playing a game. It's fun work(except now when I'm getting stressed out beating the last song in Rock Band on Expert guitar), but I'm still completing a task. Television is so much more lackadaisical in comparison. You are just sitting there having no control over the pace or direction of the storyline. Fucking double standard.
Will @ Dec 29th 2007 1:24PM
+1 for the word lackadaisical and the Lemmiwinks avatar
SGT Grumbles @ Dec 29th 2007 1:21PM
There's a writers strike?
*goes back to playing TF2*
Korova @ Dec 29th 2007 7:52PM
Yeah, I guess the strike made me read more joystiq, cause I didnt realize the strike is still going on. If it improves video game writing, I am all for it.
Are there video games based on novels, true life stories etc. Except for James Bond?
Emceay @ Dec 29th 2007 1:26PM
Meh, television was starting to suck anyway. I basically just learned what a podcast is during the strike. The WGA kind of shot themselves in the foot with this stunt because when they get back to writing, I won't be interested in watching TV at all anymore. I gave up my DVR, so now real time TV is rather annoying without the ability to skip or rewind. They want money from internet sales, which is a shame because in the absence of good television it's just turned me to downloading more, but nothing they'll see a red cent from.
sheppy2.0 @ Dec 29th 2007 2:55PM
Actually, if it was JUST about the downloaded format royalties, I could see the complaint about the strike being unjustified. But it's not. That's the main catalyst. Let's put it this way...
Writers are not paid alot. Period. In fact, they are paid very little and sometimes, even less that unionized workers. Where writers make their money is in a simple idea. What if they write the next big thing. Period.
Now, when a show enters sindication, writers receive a cut just as actors. A very small cut. But a cut nonetheless. However, long ago, a newfangled market cropped up. Called VHS and Beta. Under their current negotiations, writers did not receive a cut of this despite money being made off of their work. The studios response was naturally, "We have no clue how big a market this will be and so we don't know how to cut up this pie." Sound familiar? I hope so, because pay attention, sweetheart.
After a long strike which severely damaged Hollywood and the entertainment industry as a whole, the studios conceeded that writers deserve a fair percentage of the home video sales, which would later translate to DVDs as well. And so they agreed to allow this market to thrive for another two years and seeing what to expect before decided how to divide the profits fairly. In two years, they would renegotiate the terms of writers cuts on home media. Except this happened, two years came and went and despite the money being made on DVD and even hi def formats, those terms were never renegotiated. Why? Writers felt if they went on strike too soon, they ran the risk of crippling the entertainment industry beyond repair. And so they sucked it up and watched their cuts of DVD sales be essentially nothing compared to the cuts of other peoples. Let's juyst put it this way, getting your show on Adult Swim is more profitable for the writers than getting your show on DVD.
Now flash forward to the current era. Suddenly iTunes is making movies off the shows hand over fists. Digital Distribution is rocking the world, and writers have an even smaller cut of that than DVDs. So what are the studios saying? "This media is too new. We don't know what it will make so we don't know how to divide the pie."
So essentially the writers are lashing out not only at the digital distribution negligence, but mainly on the home media market which they were fucked out of before in the past but took it all in stride because they didn't want to damage their market. In other words, this strike is 15+ years late.
These aren't people who are just bitching because they want more money. These are people who are trying to get their fair cut of the millions being made. After all, cost of living in LA is 60K a year, most writers make 45K a year in that area.
jovin6 @ Dec 29th 2007 3:27PM
Way to pull number out of your ass, sheppy. What does it even mean for the cost of living to be 60K? Because I live in LA, and I can tell you a person definitely doesn't have to make 60K just to survive here.
Korova @ Dec 29th 2007 8:01PM
Thanks, Sheppy. I had not idea. It seems reasonable that writers get a cut of the new media format profits.
TV is going the way of radio very soon, so they need to get internet right.
sheppy2.0 @ Dec 30th 2007 1:11AM
jovin, you live on your own or with roommates/parents? I wonder these things because, you see, I'm a fairly solitary individual. And when I was looking into LA on whether or not I would accept a job modeling actors in 3D, I did a little research on the cost of living up to my living standards, of course. The job, at the time, would have paid $45K, whereas living in the area I wanted with the lifestyle I desired, would run roughly $60K a year. This is of course not counting the downright astronomical value of owning a home there. So I turned that particular job down and stayed in my area instead. Granted, I currently get paid ~$30K a year but I get to enjoy my lifestyle in a cheap area to live at. That, and I don't get my shit robbed all the time.
aristokrat @ Dec 29th 2007 1:35PM
I don't really even watch new normal TV, only premium shows. Weeds, Entourage, etc. with a little Football and Simpsons reruns in the mix for good measure. I couldn't be caring less about the strike, especially in the midst of this deluge of games to play. Especially now that my girlfriend got me Assassin's Creed for Christmas and wants me to play it, but I was in the middle of the Orange-Box and slogging through H3 on legendary. I can only have so many storylines going on at once; that'd be like reading three books at the same time.
Sigh, so many great games, so little time. I can't wait for when the hardcore spring and summer doldrums hit, because they're going to be sloowwww with everyone having already blown their load before Christmas. Oh well, at least there'll be that Iron Man movie!
Knoxximus @ Dec 29th 2007 1:40PM
My GF FINALLY wised up and got me some giftcards. This is the 1st Christmas she didn't get her butt hurt because I didn't like/already have/never did want what she got me.
It seems the message finally got through: Don't try to buy a geek/tech head ANYTHING that requires electricity to operate...it will ALWAYS end in sorrow.
aristokrat @ Dec 29th 2007 1:51PM
Ha, that's exactly what my girlfriend complains about: I'm too ahead of the curve, as in I'll have been anticipating things before they come out and then get them soon after, so she can never think of things to get me as gifts. Fortunately, I was interested in AC (there's something so satisfying about walking up behind someone and silently stabbing them, while imagining myself saying "there, there, it'll be alright" - almost as satisfying as the Demon Arm in the Darkness), but some past game gifts have indeed been clunkers. I'm trying to get here into gaming related things, like the fun H3 beta tester t-shirt that she got me, because she much more likely to know that I really enjoyed a game that I already played as opposed to ones that are potentially just over-hyped.
Jeff @ Dec 29th 2007 2:25PM
Man, you guys need to get new girlfriends. Mine got me UT3 collector's edition for my birthday and Tabula Rasa for X-mas.
Abscissa @ Dec 29th 2007 4:43PM
"Fortunately, I was interested in AC"
I thought you were talking about air conditioning until you got to the part about stabbing.
Korova @ Dec 29th 2007 8:04PM
"get her butt hurt"?
That is either a turn of speech I dont know or is very disturbing.
Christmas NiGHTS @ Dec 29th 2007 1:40PM
Until the writer's strike cuts off my supply of Naruto, One Piece, and DeathNote, i won't really care
I can live without new episodes of The Office, Desperate Housewives, the Simpsons, and Family Guy, but not those animes.
Video game time has always been 7:30 to 9 on weekdays, 6:30 to 8:00 on weekends, and all night on fridays
Knoxximus @ Dec 29th 2007 1:42PM
Yeah, 2nd that...I'm a sucker for anime. Currently loving Shippudden and almost done with Genshiken haha....it's like "Friends", but for otakus lol!
RyanLN @ Dec 29th 2007 1:42PM
You bet your ass I have. The dearth of quality television has lead to a serious spike in my gaming habits and movie rentals, not to mention archaic forms of entertainment such as "playing with my children" and "talking to my wife". I'm actually enjoying this reprieve, as I have a serious backlog of games to get to that I would barely even be able to scratch the surface of if my TIVO was full. A blessing in disguise, if you ask me.
aristokrat @ Dec 29th 2007 1:55PM
How about "board games" as another form of archaic entertainment? To appease the girlfriend who is not longer distracted by new shows, we've been breaking out various board games (an industry which appears to be having a renaissance, with so many cool games out lately), and they are pretty fun. Though I do kind of wish we could play more board games on XBLA, as it is nice to have computer moderation/maintenance of the rules, game pieces, etc. I've been loving it in Carcassone and Catan.
Jeff @ Dec 29th 2007 1:46PM
Honestly, not a fan of TV. That's probably why I got into PC gaming.
I'd love for the videogames industry to steal some talented writers, though.
Lucky @ Dec 29th 2007 1:52PM
Wait? It's still going on? I never noticed, I never watched most TV and movies to start with.
=D
Dustin @ Dec 29th 2007 1:52PM
Although I'm definitely missing The Office, and yes - still sore about Heroes... I am actually a little grateful for the strike. This was the first year I got hooked on so many TV shows, and it cut deeply into my game time. The last couple of months I've gotten a lot more gaming in and am finally finishing some of the triple A titles of this year. It's been a blessing in disguise!
tc @ Dec 29th 2007 1:57PM
bleh, could all be coincidental. Inappropriate assertion of correlation FTL!
Anticrawl @ Dec 29th 2007 2:00PM
Only TV I ever watched were the only good shows that use to be on fox (that were canceled).. i.e. Family Guy and Futurama. I also watch a bit of other adult swim programs. But typically if the TV is on and my girlfriend doesn't insist on watching shitty VH1 shows or Law & Order I'm playing video games on it.
baby sea tuna @ Dec 29th 2007 2:02PM
Man, you had to pick the one picture of Tina Fey where she looks like she's 60?!
PS. Fuck the haters, TV is awesome these days (much more well-written than video games) and this strike is a huge blow to the entertainment industry.
Christmas NiGHTS @ Dec 29th 2007 2:50PM
I love TV too, it's just that i can live without new TV
backlogs of 400 Episodes of the Simpsons, 100 each of Seinfeld and Family Guy, 173 episodes of Star Trek Voyager (which consumes weekday afternoons while doing homework)
Now new movies, those i could do without entirely
Abscissa @ Dec 29th 2007 4:46PM
"TV is awesome these days (much more well-written than video games)"
But, to their credit, videogames don't actually need good writing - or any writing at all, for that matter.
BigD145 @ Dec 29th 2007 7:39PM
Um, no. "Reality" Tv Shows. I rest my case.
ThornedVenom @ Dec 29th 2007 2:01PM
Internet killed the TV store.
epsilon343 @ Dec 29th 2007 2:08PM
I was in shell shock this Fall season because I no longer had a DVR to record all the shows I watched. So I basically had to pick and choose what shows to watch, eventually it got to the point where I was only watching House and NBC's Thursday night comedy block. So I had already increased my gaming time, the fact that most of the shows stopped being new just added to my free time.
Anthony @ Dec 29th 2007 2:10PM
http://digg.com/comedy/What_to_do_when_your_girlfriend_cheats_on_you
LegendarySyko @ Dec 29th 2007 4:10PM
epic lulz
Dragod @ Dec 29th 2007 2:17PM
I play Video Games more than ever before... It seems like in the past few years every show I loved has gone down hill or died. That '70s Show ended, Arrested Development is done, Grounded for life is done, Family Guy is going downhill, Futurama is gone (but coming back!), American Dad hasn't been new in a while, Fullmetal Alchemist is done, and Scrubs is on its last season.
What am I going to watch when Scrubs is done?
Anticrawl @ Dec 29th 2007 2:25PM
House is a pretty good show (saw it for the first time when my girlfriend was watching Law & Order one night). But uhh unless you like crime type shows I guess you'll have to fill the void with Adult Swim reruns and video games. Unless you torrent sub'ed anime then there is always that.
Dragod @ Dec 29th 2007 2:31PM
I already do...
I torrent Naruto weekly, but just this Thursday Dattebayo stopped subbingg until people stop uploading to YouTube. So, right now it's basically Video Games, Adult Swim reruns and Scubs on Thursday nights.
What ever happened to The Riches?
Phi Nguyen @ Dec 29th 2007 3:33PM
Dude, Dragod. YHBT= You have been trolled. Dattebayo pulls this crap every once in a while for shits and giggles. It's there really immature style of humor and I wish that they would stop lying like that. They aren't really quitting their subbing of Naruto due to youtube uploads. In actuality, there was no new episode for Naruto in Japan this past Thursday, hence Dattebayo didn't have an episode to work on. Dattebayo lies to upset the noobs. If you watch the last episode that aired, it states that the new episode won't be out until after the New Year, January 10th to be specific. I usually check this site for details. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Naruto:_Shipp%C5%ABden_episodes
Hope this helps you out in the future,
Phi ^_^
Dragod @ Dec 30th 2007 3:24AM
I checked for YHBT, but I didn't see it.. I normally see it after the post has been exposed as YHBT... I'm only on episode 140, but I add to my collection every week as I watch little by little, so I haven't seen the new one yet.
What's up with the site being down for the past few days?