Game developers must avoid the ‘wage-slave’ attitude
[翻譯] 遊戲開發者不該有領死薪水的心態
縮網址：http://wp.me/pBAPd-vd
Alex St. John April 16, 2016 12:00 PM
[譯按：我（NDark）必須事先聲明，本篇文章是翻譯文章，並非代表我的個人立場，一直
以來我都很關心在遊戲產業中管理的議題，我一直希望透過國內外的案例，正反方的論述
，讓大家能聚焦在這個議題上，試圖共同解決勞工，老闆，及工頭的三角議題。本篇文章
在IGDA生產力同好會的訂閱信中也引發討論，顯然這並非東方文化單有的問題，值得我們
追蹤。陸續還會有幾篇翻譯完成，敬請期待。一系列加班相關文章整理請見：
http://wp.me/PBAPd-uT ]
[備註：Wage-Slave直譯是薪水奴隸，台灣比較適合的翻譯是領死薪水的員工，這裡講的
是只被薪水所驅動，而非為了實現所驅動工作的員工。]
I read this article by Dean Takahashi the other day, and my jaw nearly hit
the floor.
有一天我看到了 Dean Takahashi 的文章，眼鏡差點摔破。
Many modern game developers have embraced a culture of victimology and a bad
attitude toward their chosen vocations. They complain that the long hours and
personal sacrifices great games require are a consequence of poor management.
They want to pretend that they can turn an inherently entrepreneurial
endeavor like game development into a 9-to-5 job. Somehow, these people have
managed to adopt a wage-slave attitude toward one of the most remarkable and
privileged careers in the world.
很多現代的遊戲開發者習慣認為自己生活在受害者情節下，同時對他們自選的職業抱持負
面態度。他們抱怨長時間工作及犧牲了自我，是導因於一連串的低能管理。他們把天生就
有創業精神的事業（遊戲創作）當作朝九晚五的工作。不知何故，即使面對這世界上最具
挑戰及恩典（與生俱來的創作能力）的職業，這些人竟認為自己應該是領死薪水的雇員。
I’ve been working at technology startups since I was in my early 20s and
later founding and running them. I’m fortunate for the career I’ve had, and
I’ve always been grateful for the incredible opportunities that the
technology industry has afforded me, especially when you consider that I grew
up in a log cabin in Alaska with no electricity, plumbing, heating, or cable
TV. I grew up largely home-schooled; I never did get that high school
diploma. None of those educational shortcomings seems to matter in the
high-tech world. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with a
lot of truly amazing and hyperaccomplished people, many with backgrounds just
as unorthodox as my own. It was my job at Microsoft and later at WildTangent
to develop relationships with every leading game developer on Earth.
我自從二十歲就在科技創業，然後投資並營運。我很幸運有這樣的職業，我也總是感謝這
些科技產業賦予給我的機會。特別是你若知道我是從沒有水電，暖氣及電視的阿拉斯加樹
屋長大。我都是在家自學，從未取得高中的學歷。在高科技的世界，這些教育的劣勢其實
一點也不重要。這些年我擁有與這些驚人且高成就的人一起工作的恩典。他們很多都是跟
我一樣不是正統出身。這是我先前在微軟，WildTangent 遊戲的工作內容，它讓我能與世
界上其他知名遊戲開發者建立關係。
I know I’m going to offend a lot of people by saying this, but I do so with
the hope that a few will wake up and shake off their mental shackles. I’ll
grant that it’s been 23 years since I used an outhouse or had to hunt for
dinner, but I’m still thrilled by the incredibly decadent luxury of
porcelain toilets and fast food. I can’t begin to imagine how sheltered the
lives of modern technology employees must be to think that any amount of
hours they spend pushing a mouse around for a paycheck is really demanding
strenuous work. I’ve hired thousands of people over the years and can’t
help but notice the increasing frequency with which I encounter people with a
wage-slave attitude toward making video games.
我知道我接下來說的東西將冒犯很多人，但我這樣做是希望他們之中的一些人會清醒過來
，擺脫思路的糾結。我承認雖然我在野外自力更生二十三年，我對奢持品，陶瓷馬桶及速
食仍感到興奮。我無法想像這些受到現代科技庇護的員工認為動動滑鼠就能營生是艱難的
工作。我曾長期雇用過數千名員工，無法不注意到這些把遊戲製作當作是領死薪水雇員的
趨勢。
A wage-slave attitude exhibits itself in several tragic ways. I’ve known a
lot of stupid self-made millionaires — really, hundreds of them — and they’
re usually young as well. I’m talking about kids who made some of the worst
games you can imagine and got rich accidentally, working in their parent’s
basement in the Florida Everglades. They make their first game, get rich, and
they’re gone, never having attended a single networking event at the Game
Developers Conference, done. Contrast the dozens and dozens of these kids
with the many game industry veterans I know that have long storied resumes
listing dozens of triple-A console titles they have “labored” on, who decry
the long working hours they are expected to invest in the games they are
employed to work on. These people are smarter, more experienced, more
talented, better trained to produce amazing games and they’re still working
for paychecks and whining about avoiding long crunch hours to finish big
titles or about not being paid fairly by some big employer. Listening to them
complain about it, you would they think that they are trapped in some
disenfranchised third-world country forced to dig for blood diamonds to feed
their families.
領死薪水的雇員的態度顯露幾個悲慘的方向。我認識很多個白手起家的百萬富翁，真的，
數以百計，他們通常也都很年輕。我也跟幾個做了糞遊戲卻突然變有錢的小夥子談過，他
們住在佛羅里達的地下室。他們都是作了一個遊戲，賺大錢，然後就離開，從未參加過
GDC。相反地很多我認識的遊戲產業老手們，他們的履歷中寫著做了多少三Ａ級的遊戲，
卻抱怨那些被雇用的長時間工時。這些人很聰明，有經驗，才能，可以做出驚人的遊戲。
但他們仍為了薪水，而對加班發牢騷，或是抱怨工資不平等。聽他們抱怨，你會感覺你聽
到的是沒人權第三世界國家挖血鑽石試圖養活家人的工人在說話。
I’ve never been able to mentally reconcile these conflicting experiences.
Any time I hear this stuff, I tell these people; quit, go make great games on
your own, pursue your passion, you’re better equipped to succeed than any of
the dozens and dozens of amateur kids I’ve seen retire early while you were
still “trapped” in a job you hated and trying to rationalize mailing in a
40-hour work week making video games. To my great shock and disappointment,
they never respond to this feedback with any sort of enlightenment or
gratitude for my generous attempt at setting them free — usually, I just get
rage. Being a victim of their employers has somehow managed to become a
deeply cherished part of their core identities and any suggestion that they
are far better equipped to rekindle their sheer passion for making games, do
a Kickstarter startup with their other talented friends and crank out an
original hit game, than a bunch of amateur kids working in Flash, is greeted
with a lot of anger. They rant about the value of “work-life-balance”, how
hit games can be delivered on a schedule with “proper management” and how
they can’t produce their best work when their creative energies are tapped
after a long forty-hour work week … sitting … at a desk…. Apparently
people can even “burn out” working too hard to make … video games….
我從未試著去調適這些衝突的經驗。每次我聽到這些東西，我就會告訴這些人，趕快離開
，去自己做個好遊戲，跟隨自己的熱情，你具備比其他未成年人更能夠成功的能力。快點
從這令人憎恨的工作陷阱中逃出，而不要試圖在遊戲製作中找到一周四十小時的合身套裝
（mail）。令我震驚且難過地，這些人從未用任何的感激來回應我試圖解開他們心結的舉
動。通常我只收到憤怒。作為一個老闆的奴隸似乎是他們生命定位的重要價值，任何想要
使他們重燃作自己遊戲的建議，跟他有才能的朋友一起群眾募資，只招來盛怒，特別是他
們比起那些未成年人作Flash遊戲更有優勢。這些人針對生活平衡的價值做出咆哮，試圖
說明優秀的遊戲應該在適當的管理下能夠在預定期限上市，在超時工作下創意的能源是如
何的不能正常運作，當然，超時地"坐在位置上"。這個年頭顯然人們現在連作遊戲都能夠
"過勞"了。
Having worked with many of the game industry’s most legendary game
developers and also many of the game industry’s least known early retirees,
I can’t help noticing a clear and distinct difference between the people who
really make it huge in gaming and the people who just have long résumes. It’
s the attitude. Every legendary game developer I’ve ever known pursued
gaming as a vocation out of sheer passion. Most could have made more money,
had more security, lived more “balanced lives” in other tech jobs, but they
wanted to make games and they pursued it 110 percent all the time. Not a
single person I have ever known who went on to greatness in the gaming
industry has ever exhibited a shred of wage-slavishness.
我跟很多遊戲產業傳奇的開發者一起共事，他們之中的很多人都提早退休，我不禁注意到
一個清楚且決定性的差異，在那些真正做大遊戲的人及只有那些精彩履歷的人之間的差異
。那是一種態度。每個我認識的傳奇開發者都把遊戲製作視為天職。他們都能在其他科技
工作賺更多錢，更安穩，過更平衡的生活，但他們想要付出百分之一百一十的力量全時追
尋遊戲之路。沒有一位追尋遊戲極致的開發者險露出一絲的領死薪水氣息。
Making games is not a job — it’s an art.
遊戲製作並非只是工作，而是一門藝術。
You can’t “make fun” on a schedule, under budget, on time with a bunch of
people who are all grumbling about what a miserable time they are having
finishing a game together. That’s not to say that there aren’t good
organized ways to produce games, but it will always still come down to the
same thing. Great games are exclusively made by giving them everything you’
ve got and more, and then hoping it’s enough. There’s no amount of money
that anybody can pay people with a wage-slave attitude to let it go and put
themselves completely into a great game. There’s nothing that can compensate
people “fairly” for the sacrifices that great art requires. It’s art. You
need to get an actual job producing productivity software if you want to be
paid “fairly” and go home at 5 p.m. Anybody good enough to get hired to
write games can get paid more to work on something else. If working on a game
for 80 hours a week for months at a time seems “strenuous” to you …
practice more until you’re better at it. Making games is not a job, pushing
a mouse is not a hardship, it’s the most amazing opportunity you can
possibly get paid to pursue … start believing it, and you’ll discover that
you are even better at it.
你不能在時程，預算，以及在一群試圖把遊戲作完卻抱怨悲慘過程的人之間試圖找到樂趣
。這並非說沒有使用適當的方法來製作遊戲，而仍是指同一件事：偉大的遊戲無外地必須
奉獻全部的自己，甚至燃燒更多還不夠。這些把自己全心全意熱情轉化為遊戲的態度不能
用薪水來計算或支付。對製作這門藝術的需要的犧牲無法公平地反饋。這是藝術，如果想
要拿取公平的報酬，五點下班，你該去找一份有產值的軟體開發工作。能在遊戲產業把事
情做好的人都能在其他地方拿到更好的工作。如果一周工作八十小時很艱苦，那麼你該更
認真的磨練。作遊戲不是工作，動動滑鼠一點也不難，那是你該值得追尋的美妙機會，試
著相信這件事，你會發現你可以做得更好。
Don’t be in the game industry if you can’t love all 80 hours/week of it —
you’re taking a job from somebody who would really value it.
假如你不對一周八十小時充滿熱愛，你不應該在這個產業內，你的這份工作其他人很想要
。
Alex St. John is the co-creator of the DirectX family of API’s at Microsoft
and founder of WildTangent Inc., one of the world’s earliest and largest
downloadable game publishers. He has over 20 patents related to online game
publishing and is a speaker and technology columnist on GPGPU programming
today.
Alex St. John 是微軟 DirectX 函式庫的共同創始人，WildTangent Inc 的創立者，世
界上最早且最大的下載遊戲發布人之一。他有二十篇關於線上遊戲的專利，同時是一名講
者，及 GPGPU 程式設計技術社群的一員。