#game devs

[reasonsforhope]

Federal regulators on Tuesday [April 23, 2024] enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from switching jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days [So, the ban starts in early September, 2024!]. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

[That's right: if you're currently under a noncompete agreement, it's completely invalid as of September 2024! You're free!!]

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. 

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress...

Why it matters

The new rule could impact tens of millions of workers, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

"For nonunion workers, the only leverage they have is their ability to quit their job," Shierholz told CBS MoneyWatch. "Noncompetes don't just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business."

Since proposing the new rule, the FTC has received more than 26,000 public comments on the regulations. The final rule adopted "would generally prevent most employers from using noncompete clauses," the FTC said in a statement.

The agency's action comes more than two years after President Biden directed the agency to "curtail the unfair use" of noncompetes, under which employees effectively sign away future work opportunities in their industry as a condition of keeping their current job. The president's executive order urged the FTC to target such labor restrictions and others that improperly constrain employees from seeking work.

"The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy," Khan said in a statement making the case for axing noncompetes. "Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand."

Real-life consequences

In laying out its rationale for banishing noncompetes from the labor landscape, the FTC offered real-life examples of how the agreements can hurt workers.

In one case, a single father earned about $11 an hour as a security guard for a Florida firm, but resigned a few weeks after taking the job when his child care fell through. Months later, he took a job as a security guard at a bank, making nearly $15 an hour. But the bank terminated his employment after receiving a letter from the man's prior employer stating he had signed a two-year noncompete.

In another example, a factory manager at a textile company saw his paycheck dry up after the 2008 financial crisis. A rival textile company offered him a better job and a big raise, but his noncompete blocked him from taking it, according to the FTC. A subsequent legal battle took three years, wiping out his savings. 

-via CBS Moneywatch, April 24, 2024

--

Note:

A lot of people think that noncompete agreements are only a white-collar issue, but they absolutely affect blue-collar workers too, as you can see from the security guard anecdote.

In fact, one in six food and service workers are bound by noncompete agreements. That's right - one in six food workers can't leave Burger King to work for Wendy's [hypothetical example], in the name of "trade secrets." (x, x, x)

Noncompete agreements also restrict workers in industries from tech and video games to neighborhood yoga studios. "The White House estimates that tens of millions of workers are subject to noncompete agreements, even in states like California where they're banned." (x, x, x)

The FTC estimates that the ban will lead to "the creation of 8,500 new businesses annually, an average annual pay increase of $524 for workers, lower health care costs, and as many as 29,000 more patents each year for the next decade." (x)

Clearer explanation of noncompete agreements below the cut.

Noncompete agreements can restrict workers from leaving for a better job or starting their own business.

Noncompetes often effectively coerce workers into staying in jobs they want to leave, and even force them to leave a profession or relocate.

Noncompetes can prevent workers from accepting higher-paying jobs, and even curtail the pay of workers not subject to them directly.

Of the more than 26,000 comments received by the FTC, more than 25,000 supported banning noncompetes. 

[yakityyaku]

As someone whose degree was borderline digital marketing, it baffles me every single time companies like Unity pull this kind of shit.

First of all, it doesn't make sense. I don't know who conceived this moronic fee plan, but it's absolutely absurd. There's a lot of ways to get more money - not that I find any of them particularly favorable, but at least a price increase, sub tiers, etc are somewhat sensible in a functional way.

Beyond that, they don't have any common sense to see how this shit ALWAYS fails. One of two things are going to happen. Either everyone is going to jump ship from Unity (already seeing game devs reporting they'll be pulling their games) and their competitors will overtake them, or they'll have to backpedal.

Obviously, losing most of their business is bad and understandably unwanted for them, but I'm baffled by how few recognize the power of the second consequence.

Even if they reverse the decision, this is a HUGE smear to their reputation. Unity will lose business regardless, but even worse will be the loss of confidence in the company.

Consumers and devs alike are not going to forget this. They will not let it go. Other companies will use this as a talking point for their engines and their assets being superior because they at least respect game devs and gamers. They never tried to charge bullshit fees. They never got shamed back into being user friendly.

Reputation matters. Especially in today's market. Consumers largely do not fuck around anymore with companies who do this, especially when they've been dependable in the past.

It's foolish. It's embarrassing. It's greedy and out of touch. I don't envy their PR team right now.

[boxsocialgames]

This game is a culmination of years of trial and error with making a drinking game to play with not only huge nerd-dorks such as myself, but casual observers as well. I wanted a pick-up-and-play version of King's Cup where you don't need to spend 10 minutes deciding the rules before you start, and that allows great variation and chance between each game. Also, I wanted to get rid of waterfall.

Link Below:

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1656565414/the-demons-head-a-drinking-game

[fippydarkpaw]

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

[impulsivelycontentious]

Non compete clauses are out for the vast majority of game devs (everyone except people in policy-making positions who make over $151,164 per year)! This is fantastic news! It means that a lot more devs can start their own companies or go to work for indy companies ^_^ this should spawn more indy games by like, a lot.

Now they they need is a union.

^_^

[elderscrollsconceptart]

20 posts in 40 minutes 🥳

Hope you enjoyed today's theme!

---

Thanks to the research I had to do today I was able to discover that the artist for Oblivion's iconic character class images was Natalia Smirnova.

[Natalia Smirnova] - image sourced from an interview she gave to ElderScrolls.net

Natalia designed all artistic portions of Oblivion's UI interface. She made: "everything from the style creation to the very last tiny button."

She also did a lot of Illustrations on paper and worked on some promotional artwork for the game.

[yusuke-of-valla]

Oh my fucking god, in most cases a demo counts as a download too what the fuck

[rpfshippingpolls]

⚠️ DON’T START DISCOURSE ABOUT RPF IN THE NOTES!! YOU WILL BE BLOCKED IF YOU DO SO ⚠️

Do you ship it?

Reason:

“Constantly flirt with eachother it's almost stupid,, dave also called jeff my love on a recent stream

Submitted by @madrabbitness

[cartoonico]

Finally got around to posting a new Town Post drawing to replace my Grand Festival one. What do you guys think? 😆

[torto-isemusings]

Ok, guys...what is this?!

Take-aways:

Paul eats owls, says Trans Rights still, has a python skin bracelet(what?!), dislikes funny jokes(irony), and thinks dolphins can sting

Romain has a teddy bear, likes amusement parks, and eats straight butter

And Allan...

I can see it!

[necrokittens-fun-pit]

When Outlast 2 came out, we took some photos about it.

Also, Red Barrels is from Montreal and I love them. If you've never checked out the Outlast series (and currently The Outlast Trials) it's wonderful. If you're sensitive to gore though, maybe don't.

[woeandgrow]

The 9th annual Game Devs of Color Expo event is happening rn from September 18th-21st! Experience the future of the games at this virtual-first, multi-day celebration of diverse voices. 

Online conference with talks, panels, and interviews with industry experts

Networking Day, Grant Award Ceremony, live chat, digital booths, meetings, job board, and more!

Game Devs of Color Expo Steam Sale

The GDoCExpo Direct

As well as in-person watch parties in WA, LA & NYC if anyone is visiting!

Everything is pre-recorded and there's even chat replay so if you get a ticket, you get full access to watch the event at your leisure! Use the code gdoc10 for 10% off!

View the full schedule here!

GET TICKETS

↓ Some additional FAQs under the cut! ↓

I'm not a person of color. Can I attend? This event is professional game devs or anyone wishing to be professional game dev! This includes artists, composers, writers, programmers, etc. who make things for games! This event includes and centers developers of color and their work, but anyone is welcome to attend!

Is this game virtual or in-person? The event is virtual first with all talks, panels, interviews as well as networking events, live chat, job boards, etc. being available virtually through Swapcard and Gather. However, there are in-person watch parties in WA, LA & NYC where folks can meet others and watch these talks together as well as enjoy light refreshments and potential raffles.

Do I need to be in the games industry to attend? No! We welcome people from outside the industry. Whether you're a fan of games or just curious, you'll have a blast at our event.

What if I can't make it for the live event or am only available part of the time? Even if you can't attend in-person or only have limited availability for the run of the event, your ticket will give you full access to the entire virtual event. This means every talk, panel, interview, etc. can be watched back later at your leisure, including live chat replay so feel free to pop in for what you're available for! The only parts that will be live only are the community connections meetups and dev/speaker mixer hosted virtually on Gather. See the full schedule here!

[hollowmoor-game]

Winter is (suddenly) here! ⛄

Hey friends, we've been working on our NPCs' movements recently, here's one of the many (MANY) little bugs we encounter while doing some important grocery shopping... 💜 Hollowmoor is our indie game in development, you can wishlist it on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2026730/Hollowmoor/ 💜

[museofpvd]

It's time to smash the stretch goals! At the intersection of ballet and eldritch horror lies pain and madness. TTRPG lovers, help support "Pirouette"!