The current strike, and how it affects gamers
Some of you may already know that members of the SAG-AFTRA voice actor's union is on strike. It's been on since Oct 21. I'm not sure if it only covers video game voice actors or if it extends to other media industries.
Ars Technica's article covers the main points nicely:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/1...
Here is Wil Wheaton's blog post on the topic.
http://wilwheaton.net/2015/09/this-i...
So, I sympathize with the actors. Losing your voice sounds pretty horrible. If working at my job resulted in regular bodily harm, I'd want something to change too. But most games these days are made by huge teams, and there are other families affected as well.
I don't have much of an opinion or knowledge about modern unions in general. I know a little more about the division of responsibilities between Developer, Publisher, Distributor in games. Enter my completely self-centered question.
I'm interested in Telltale Batman. I almost pulled the trigger on a Black Friday deal on Season 1, but then I thought about the strike, and whether that would delay the game or possibly result in a harmed product.
WB Games is listed as the distributor, but Telltale is the publisher. Does this mean the game is affected by the strike?
If I withhold from Telltale/WB a sale on an incomplete product, am I helping the actors, but hurting everyone else (coders, artists, writers, designers, etc)?
There are several TV shows I've enjoyed that took a mid-series nosedive due to the 2007 Writers Guild strike. For me personally, it was Battlestar Galactica and Lost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect...
Steam Id: Yoyoson | Amoebic: after climbing up BurningManCraft's leg, I was a little too close to the subject matter and I lost my sense of scale. I didn't realize the thing was bigger than his arm.
And actually, to answer my very specific question (sort of): Wikipedia says Episode 5 of the game delivers in January. So in this particular instance, I can imagine all the voice work on the game is already done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman...
Steam Id: Yoyoson | Amoebic: after climbing up BurningManCraft's leg, I was a little too close to the subject matter and I lost my sense of scale. I didn't realize the thing was bigger than his arm.
The ars article already answers it: "performers that already started work under the old contract are legally prohibited from striking until their current project is finished." If the voice actors have already signed on, they have to finish the work. They can refuse to do any additional work not already agreed to though.
The reported schism between voice actors and developers sounds really petty and shortsighted to me. If the developers think it's unfair that voice actors will get royalties when they don't, maybe they should unionize and strike for them themselves instead of trying to prevent voice actors from getting them, I'm sure the SAG-AFTRA union would fully support their efforts.
The Konami Code taught me everything I need to know about sex.