Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

gtaforums.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 383 posts

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#291

Post by exabrial »

hn_acc1 wrote: post #218
exabrial wrote: post #99

Every union I've been a part of has been more of a pain than its worth, or has tried to keep individuals from become any more successful that others. I don't understand the obsession with them on HN.

Which unions have you been part of? I used to work at a university that was NON-union, but basically ensured our benefits/raises were always at LEAST as good as the unionized university across town negotiated. THAT's a way to avoid unionizing efforts. I have a teacher in the family - it's been an unequivocal necessity for them - otherwise the city / schoolboard would run roughshod over them - like 1% raises over 5 ye…

I worked for Chance Coach and I don't remember the exact Union they were all a member of. I was worked as a contract employee for Volt Technical Services. I was told I was required to pay dues even though I wasn't a permanent employee, which was an absolute fabrication of a lie told to me by union leaders on the job site I later learned (I was swindled out of a few hundred bucks, but as a teenager I didn't really know any better).

They had several (4 I think?) union-mandated breaks during the day, which I got in trouble for not taking several times. The reason given was if I didn't take my breaks than they could disappear for everyone. I also was willing to do any job given to me, and given that I had some shop and machining experience, was happy to help with any task given, which made me an asset to management as they cold put me in anywhere as needed to help production along, but angered old crotchety employees that didn't want me in their space and were happy doing the absolute minimum to collect their wage.

So yeah, my experience with Unions is they breed mediocracy and pull everyone down that wants to set themselves apart to management. Wages were standardized rather than based on individual accomplishments so there was no incentive to excel.

I'm certainly not "anti-union" but my original comment is that HN thinks Unions are this utopia and in a sober reality they often aren't.

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#292

Post by pseudalopex »

ElevenLathe wrote: post #250
annexrichmond wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you aware of any resources for how to combat colleagues aiming to start a union? I am personally opposed to being part of a union.

Just don't join. Closed shops are already illegal in the US so nobody can make you.

I inferred they didn't want to be represented by a union. US law requires a union to represent non members.

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#293

Post by keyringlight »

bak3y wrote: post #30
monospacegames wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Financially Valve exists in an incomparably different space compared to companies like Take Two that actually have to make games to make money.

And they were able to get there because they made good games.

Going back further, the thing that enabled them to release their first game "when it's done" and set the ball rolling was being founded by two ex-Microsoft with piles of money, most studios don't have that luxury.

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#294

Post by worldfoodgood »

thereisnospork wrote: post #232
worldfoodgood wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You are not entitled to any item in your list of demands. Can you point to the word entitled in my posts? Or are you putting words in my mouth? Can you point to any demands? Or are you arguing against something I didn't say?

You seem to be misunderstanding how language works? Can you please explain why you think the literal word entitled had to be said by you here? You listed a bunch of things which should be, an opinion, he says your not entitled to those things, a probable fact relevant to the likelihood of attaining your professed desires, and he then offers a solution if you are unhappy with not having the things you professed 'shoul…

I don't think you understand how discourse works?

I made no demands and I made no assertions about entitlements. That reply to me was a strawman.

I made two statements: 1) I suggested people have multiple criteria for selecting a workplace, not just culture. 2) I suggested people should have the ability to voice their input over their work. (Note, that's a weaker claim than "people should have input over their work". Just that they should feel like they are able to voice their input.)

Neither of those two things are demands nor entitlements, and the latter I would assume would be pretty non-controversial unless you believe that bosses should have absolute and complete control over every facet of a worker's job. (I guess I work in tech, where it's pretty widely accepted that people have autonomy to make some decisions on their own about how and what work is achieved.)

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#295

Post by _DeadFred_ »

saubeidl wrote: post #28
wahnfrieden wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Businesses desire growth, not conservation or charity. And that desire is frequently achieved through illegal means. Wage theft for instance is a far greater sum than the total of robbery in the US. The criminality is rampant! Meta is also in the news today for making 10% of its revenue from scams, as well as for having codified policy that scammers representing at least 0.15% of their revenue must be protected from…

It's almost as if capitalism was a deeply messed up system that brings out and celebrates the very worst in humanity.

Capitalism is based on/grew out of the Norman feudalism, where lords were foreign conquerors who cared nothing about the locals, local land, local societal norms. They only cared about rent extraction for themselves (todays C suit class) and to pay the nobles above them (the market). They simply removed themselves one step, created corporations to remove all personal liability, and ramped up the profit extraction to a global scale. Just look at the first large scale joint stock company, the East India Company. Could corporatism have had a worse/more evil progenitor?

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#296

Post by travisjungroth »

dmitrygr wrote: post #262
ElevenLathe wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just don't join. Closed shops are already illegal in the US so nobody can make you.

> Closed shops are already illegal in the US I do wonder what country American Airlines operates in then… https://viewfromthewing.com/american-airlines-fired-two-flig...

I don’t know about this case specifically, but airlines frequently have different labor laws. They’ll be the exception to all sorts of unqualified statements.

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#297

Post by [deleted] »

pseudalopex wrote: post #287
pixelpoet wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to get downvoted into a massive smoking hole in the ground for daring to state this opinion, but, as a lifelong enjoyer of the English language: native speakers butcher it the most.

Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.[1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[deleted]

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#298

Post by keyringlight »

gruez wrote: post #151
skotobaza wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2025 I expect an online store to have at least some cataloging option (like Steam's tags) and some user feedback (like Steam reviews or Steam community discussions). Yes, most of Steam's features are half-baked, and Valve doesn't really want to improve them (curators, user tags, guides etc.), but it's baffling that no other store gives at least the same amount of those features to you. Even though they could.

>In 2025 I expect an online store to have at least some cataloging option (like Steam's tags) To be fair most online storefronts don't have that. Amazon/walmart at best have "categories", which epic also has. Even online content portals like spotify don't have tags, preferring something like "more like this". > but it's baffling that no other store gives at least the same amount of those features to you. Even though…

> The better question is why storefronts don't directly compete on price.

The way I see it, it depends how you see who is who's customer. Is the gamer the customer of the store, or are they the customer of the developer/publisher who put out the game, and in turn is the developer/publisher the customer of the store. The store cut is the price to buy their services, and they can shop around to find different offerings at different prices, just as gamers might be able to shop around and decide what (platform features) matters to them with the options available.

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#299

Post by klipklop »

worldfoodgood wrote: post #67
umvi wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm happier to pay Valve's 30% than Apple's. With Valve you could always switch to Itch or something if you didn't want to pay, but with Apple you have no alternative. Valve gives you access to a huge player base and lots of useful marketing tools and such.

Ok! Happier is a fine place to be. They are both still too high. Not everything has to be binary -- I can think Valve is offering some utility and also think that Valve is charging too much for that utility. The fact that Gabe has a billion dollars worth of yachts probably suggests that maybe, just maaaaaybe, that 30% could be lower and Steam could still provide you the same level of marketing support and player base…

Gabe made his initial fortune working at Microsoft. He almost lost it all putting it into Valve/Steam. At one point they were close to not even being able to make payroll. He bet everything on the company.

You are welcome to start your own progressive game market place for PC. Go undercut him and charge 5% fees. You literally just need to dump game files on a CDN right? How hard can it be? /s

I do find it odd that this account is new and the type of posts it leaves. Seems almost like an LLM...

Re: Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts

#300

Post by kwanbix »

throwuxiytayq wrote: post #261
kwanbix wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shop on Epic Store and GOG and it is a breeze also. I never had issues with GOG or Epic (where I buy less to be honest), but that might be me. But Steam has the network effect. They launched first. Of were the first that successfully did it.

I’m going to assume that while shopping on Epic you alt-tab to Steam to read reviews and to find out what the game is actually like.

No, I just look for video reviews.

Actually, something I always complain about Steam is that the videos of the games are not about the gameplay.

They are most of the time about the trailer, like if it was a movie. I want to see the game playing!

Post reply on HN