Actor Strike Avoided

[bapenguin]

The Actor strike against video games has been avoided as a deal has been reached. (http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=8425)The actors were concerned that they did not receive residual fees for work on vidoegames, that is royalties for every copy sold. In the movie and TV world, actors get repeat fees. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) were in negotiation to get a better deal for their members.

However the groups haven't quite achieved their goal. Although a deal has been struck, the SAG and AFTRA said they did so reluctantly. Actors will receive a rise in 36 percent in their fee, but there will be no residuals. The proposed strike has been averted though.

All is well, now the poor movie tie ins won't have poor voice acting.

[KamaItachi]

You know, I really hope this doesn't mean we're gonna see an increase in bigscreen actors doing voices for games.

While it can be good to know there's people with talent doing the dialogue, I can't help but feel this is going to become a crutch for poor software to just spend a few extra dollars getting Will Smith or Robert DeNiro to do voice overs than put in some effort to make the game good/fun because they know that'll help the game sell.

[dr_qwandry]

DEAR GOD NO
Not David Duchovny's (sp?) voice in another game, *shudder*.

[Klade]

Since this whole thing was only between a small portion of game developers I somehow doubt its going to affect anything. Movie games will continue to be bad but now they will be paying too much.

[diggable]

whenever there's a cutscene I just press [ESC], i could care less about voice acting.

[Mason]

These actors demanding residuals for an afternoon of work, when the designers, programmers, artists, and level designers don't get residuals for their years of slavish work, was completely pathetic.

The game industry should treat its employees better. Virtually no one spends more than a decade in the game industry, just because it burns people out so badly, and that loss of talent is a constant drain on the industry's future. It's like if being a doctor in America was so rough that nobody did it more than a few years before going to law school. Not only would medical care suffer, but the lack of experienced doctors would make working in a hospital even worse, such that even people who wanted to stick with it longer would get discouraged.

These things can spiral badly. An industry full of inexperienced developers makes uncreative and unprofessional games, which don't sell well, which puts further financial strain on the industry and makes it work its developers harder, resulting in more talent fleeing from the workforce.

Something has to reverse this trend, because you can't keep humping WW2 shooters and Zelda rehashes forever. Creative, talented people established these genres and game series (and I'm not just talking about the big-name designers), and if they aren't replaced by equally skilled individuals you end up with, well, our current situation.

[Wonka]

When I read that voice workers are now getting paid even more exhorbitantly for an afternoons work, I think about all the coders and artists who were pissed about that situation BEFORE this raise and I truly feel badly for them. Those guys work 60 hour weeks for years on end doing the harder work for less pay. I think that with the rising cost of games, this was one of the least useful places to be forced into spending more money... Hourly break periods? What a waste.

[Redline]

Yep, I can tell you from experience - there's much better ways to make a buck than to be working in the games industry. I don't ever intend on going back myself, not when I know I'll get paid 5,000+ more in the business sector for easier work, less hours and more holidays.

That and I can program at home whenever the hell I like.

[Grimgrock]

Most times, voice talent is taken from Hollywood for the wrong reason. For example, EQ2 used Christopher Lee for no reason what-so-ever other than marketing. It didn't enhance the character he was doing the voice work for. Voice work is best when you can't identify the voice right away and then something sparks and you say "I've heard that voice before." That happened to me in Jade Empire. There are apparently several actors that did work for that game but the only one I recognized was Armin Shimerman (Quark from DS9).

[Vorphalack]

Voice actors are such babies. They think just because screen actors get everyone around them to lick their balls, they should get a little bit of that too. Excuse me, but no. Film is WAY different......you can't have a movie without actors. You *can* have a game without voice actors.

The real "celebrities" of video games are the artists, programmers, audio engineers, and producers.....certainly not some voice actor. Don't get me wrong, VA's play a part, too....but definitely not such a part where they deserve ANYTHING more than any of the people listed above.

-V

[ÜberJumper]

Robert Patrick, Ron Perlman and TC Carson are to be in Relic's "The Outfit" as Voice Actors.

[ZMoe]

These actors demanding residuals for an afternoon of work, when the designers, programmers, artists, and level designers don't get residuals for their years of slavish work, was completely pathetic.

The game industry should treat its employees better. Virtually no one spends more than a decade in the game industry, just because it burns people out so badly, and that loss of talent is a constant drain on the industry's future. It's like if being a doctor in America was so rough that nobody did it more than a few years before going to law school. Not only would medical care suffer, but the lack of experienced doctors would make working in a hospital even worse, such that even people who wanted to stick with it longer would get discouraged.

These things can spiral badly. An industry full of inexperienced developers makes uncreative and unprofessional games, which don't sell well, which puts further financial strain on the industry and makes it work its developers harder, resulting in more talent fleeing from the workforce.

Something has to reverse this trend, because you can't keep humping WW2 shooters and Zelda rehashes forever. Creative, talented people established these genres and game series (and I'm not just talking about the big-name designers), and if they aren't replaced by equally skilled individuals you end up with, well, our current situation.

My thoughts exactly. I need to memorize this for future use. lol

[Racknahm]

You guys don't understand that voice actors work for an afternoon and they get paid that amount and that's all they'll have for maybe a month or so.

[mister_slim]

These actors demanding residuals for an afternoon of work, when the designers, programmers, artists, and level designers don't get residuals for their years of slavish work, was completely pathetic.
And this is the fault of the voice actors how? Maybe the developers should grow some balls? Form a union, maybe?
Voice actors are such babies. They think just because screen actors get everyone around them to lick their balls, they should get a little bit of that too. Excuse me, but no. Film is WAY different......you can't have a movie without actors. You *can* have a game without voice actors.
And there are many games without voice actors. And many with very poorly directed voice actors. And even more with amateur voice actors. I don't see why a group, which formed to set an acceptable price for their services, should not be able to do as they wish. No one is forced to employ them.