The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development
This article examines two blogs written by the spouses of game developers about extreme and exploitative working conditions in the video game industry and the associated reader comments. The wives of these video game developers and members of the game community decry these working conditions and cha...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
The International Society for Organization Development
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8864 |
| _version_ | 1848745783132684288 |
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| author | Peticca-Harris, A. Weststar, J. McKenna, Stephen |
| author_facet | Peticca-Harris, A. Weststar, J. McKenna, Stephen |
| author_sort | Peticca-Harris, A. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article examines two blogs written by the spouses of game developers about extreme and exploitative working conditions in the video game industry and the associated reader comments. The wives of these video game developers and members of the game community decry these working conditions and challenge dominant ideologies about making games. This article contributes to the work intensification literature by challenging the belief that long hours are necessary and inevitable to make successful games, discussing the negative toll of extreme work on workers and their families, and by highlighting that the project-based structure of game development both creates extreme work conditions and inhibits resistance. It considers how extreme work practices are legitimized through neo-normative control mechanisms made possible through project-based work structures and the perceived imperative of a race or ‘crunch’ to meet project deadlines. The findings show that neo-normative control mechanisms create an insularity within project teams and can make it difficult for workers to resist their own extreme working conditions, and at times to even understand them as extreme. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:22:50Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-8864 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:22:50Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | The International Society for Organization Development |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-88642018-03-29T09:05:39Z The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development Peticca-Harris, A. Weststar, J. McKenna, Stephen This article examines two blogs written by the spouses of game developers about extreme and exploitative working conditions in the video game industry and the associated reader comments. The wives of these video game developers and members of the game community decry these working conditions and challenge dominant ideologies about making games. This article contributes to the work intensification literature by challenging the belief that long hours are necessary and inevitable to make successful games, discussing the negative toll of extreme work on workers and their families, and by highlighting that the project-based structure of game development both creates extreme work conditions and inhibits resistance. It considers how extreme work practices are legitimized through neo-normative control mechanisms made possible through project-based work structures and the perceived imperative of a race or ‘crunch’ to meet project deadlines. The findings show that neo-normative control mechanisms create an insularity within project teams and can make it difficult for workers to resist their own extreme working conditions, and at times to even understand them as extreme. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8864 10.1177/1350508415572509 The International Society for Organization Development restricted |
| spellingShingle | Peticca-Harris, A. Weststar, J. McKenna, Stephen The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| title | The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| title_full | The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| title_fullStr | The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| title_full_unstemmed | The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| title_short | The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| title_sort | perils of project-based work: attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8864 |