Michael Capps Replies To Greg Costikyan's Accusations Of Overworking Employees

[Dark Pulse]

Greg Costikyan, a longtime veteran of the games industry (as well as one of the creators of one of my favorite Pen-and-Paper RPGs, Paranoia) has not taken too kindly to Michael Capps, calling him, quote, "a management dickhead" over comments Capps made at a IGDA panel in 2008, and accusing him of overworking employees. Now, Capps has responded to these accusations:

Joystiq: That said, do you guys have stats for the number, average number of hours worked, let's say on a project, on a single project, for an Epic employee?

Michael Capps: I don't think we track average stats. We require 40 hours a week here. We've got three rules on any given day: You have to work eight hours in the office. You have to be here between 1:30pm and 5pm since that's when we have all our meetings. Some folks crawl in at 1:15 and some folks come in at 7 am and are out by 5. Kind of depends on personality. And then you have to be out of here by 2am. We don't let people work too late because it starts causing problems where they'll roll their hours over to the next day, that sort of thing. Honestly, the rule I have the most trouble here with these guys is kicking them out at 2. That's the one that pisses folks off. It's not the 8 hours a day, it's the 2am and I'm still working and I'm on a "I've got a bug by the tail and I want to finish it." And we'll have someone going around banging on doors, kicking everybody out because they need to go home. During crunch time we definitely pick it up. I don't think we have stats but I know we were on 12 hour days, five days a week for Gears 2 for, I don't know, maybe six weeks. Something like that.

 

[Angel_Mapper]

It just shows that they're probably not passionate about what they do.

Whew, I think I'm dizzy from all that spin. Forgive people for not wanting to sell their life to a company, no matter how much they love the work.

 

[elmuerte]

The idea is of course to avoid needing crunch time.

What disturbs me the most from that interview is the usage of a 12 hour clock.

 

[Hyrage]

Overtime itself (not paid at all) doesn't bother me.

Overtime; when the Company does pay you the extreme minimum salary, doesn't really consider Junior, Intermediary & Senior, a job in which you do way more than what your job title means, doesn't recognize your studies when every other Game Companies around do, tries to make you do as much overtime as possible and much more... - that sucks .

 

[IronMonkey]

<elmuerte> you shouldn't do all-nighters, it's a waste of time and effort
<TNSe> nono
<TNSe> its always funny to find code a week later you dont even remember writing
<Pfhoenix> what's worse is when you have a Star Wars moment
<Pfhoenix> "Luke! I am your code!" "No! Impossible! It can't be!"

I assume that is the reason for the 2am rule.

The idea is of course to avoid needing crunch time.

Indeed.

Whilst it quite likely can never be totally avoided, it did rather sound as though it was a stock part of the schedule rather than a reaction to an unanticipated or temporary schedule problem.

If the quoted staff turnover figures give a true picture* then it is hard to argue that the staff are other than willing participants. 1-2% per annum is a very low staff turnover rate.




*I noticed that the word "voluntary" appeared somewhere in the quoted statistics. "voluntary" staff turnover could be a different number from "total" staff turnover.

 

[[GU]elmur_fud]

The idea is of course to avoid needing crunch time.

What disturbs me the most from that interview is the usage of a 12 hour clock.

What is so odd about that? Probably around 90% of america uses standard time instead of a 24 hour military time scheme. I am a army brat so I can easily tell time by either but for most of america 14:00 doesn't mean 2:00 PM.

I would rock 12 hour days for the oppertunity to work at Epic. Hell I often work them now. Doing physical labor sitting on my arse for 12 hours doing creative work work would be friggen awesome.

 

[ambershee]

Did anyone point out to him that 9-5 is a normal day for a 40 hour week, not 7-5....

 

[weisso]

Did anyone point out to him that 9-5 is a normal day for a 40 hour week, not 7-5....

A lot of states don't count lunch as part of the 8 hour work day, so 9-6 would be a more typical 8 hour day, but ya he was an hour off I guess.

 

[[GU]elmur_fud]

Perhaps not though, some places offer 2 hour lunch breaks and/or they only do half days on fridays.

 

[Darkdrium]

Remember they are devs too, sitting at the computer all day isn't good so they've probably got some form of exercise program going for about an hour.

 

[ambershee]

Dunno, I always used to work through my lunchbreak. I'd get bored trying to find something to do for an hour. Might as well not waste it doing nothing, and get paid for it.

 

[MonsOlympus]

Okay so I think there should be some tracking of average stats and Dr Capps should know this, micromanaging 80 people would be hard enough let alone expanding that to 120 so as things go on they might need those numbers. Maybe thats what he's referring to is the management skill not personality, who knows, I dont see why he's try to debate someones opinion of him *shrugs*

Games like Gears, you know, it's one of the best reviewed games of all time on the platform.

This is the bit that got me, either this is poorly written or Dr Capps is well off his game this year. Seriously THE PLATFORM you sir are fired! Now go wash your mouth out!! For a man who is apparently a grammar/spelling nazi etc and studied at a high level there is no excuse for slip ups like that I dont care if theres wine involved or not. He knows full well the responsibilities he took on, so maybe he should double check his own average hours to make sure he's not burnt out.


I actually like the thought of unionization, Ive been exploited many times doing sub-contract because what I do isnt considered a trade when in my eyes it should be! I should be able to get those benefits and be protected, I should be able to get insurance incase I break a finger by slaming a mouse button to hard (dental wont cover that). Okay so thats an extreme example but it is possible that there are problems that will occur from being plonked infront of a PC from 0700-1700. Personally my week starts Sunday that gives me plenty of chance to get ahead of the curve for the upcoming monday across the world.

Sub-Contracting certainly has its benefits but honestly, Id rather be part of a union and doing temp work, even if that means I just come in as a specialist during crunch. I can work 50hrs before the 3rd day of the week, I dont think thats a bad thing and I certainly dont do it all year round, we all know the games industry moves in a cycle. I dont think it is and ever will be a true 9-2-5

 

[nfleming]

Thought it was a good interview.

Doesn't all software related work, and probably lots of other fields, include a certain amount of crunch time? I have certainly spent the long nights squashing bugs right before release. For many it is a pride thing to get it right before it goes out. You just know you can make it perfect, or get in that last brilliant idea.

I do what I do because I love it. Luckily I get paid for it. If you don't at least enjoy what you do, or where you do it, move on.

Doing what you love with a great group of people can make a world of difference in how your body and psyche react to crunch times. Teamwork and idea 'feeding frenzies' abound.

 

[drakon]

You guys have no passion!

 

[Kharnellius]

Whew, I think I'm dizzy from all that spin. Forgive people for not wanting to sell their life to a company, no matter how much they love the work.

I think the point he was making was they practically had to ask people to leave and not pull "all-nighters". That's the kind of people you want working for your company (software or any industry); people who care about the quality of their work and a desire to make it even just a little bit better, right up to release.

I don't think I've ever heard a manager say, "I hope to hire people who have no passion for their job. I just hate it when they care about their work."

It's not a requirement to work there, but I'd put money on them hiring a passionate person over a "getpaidandgetout" person.

When you run your own business, you can hire however you want, but I really doubt you'd be tripping over yourself to hire the guy who says I will do the minimum required to get my paycheck and not a penny more.

 

[Angel_Mapper]

You're saying that as if it's either or.

 

[Wail of Suicide]

Caring about the quality of your work is one thing, advertising a job as a 40hr a week salaried position for which you're expected to work an additional 50% unpaid overtime constantly is another thing entirely.

Not to point too many fingers at Epic, from all accounts the whole industry needs to shape up on its labor practices.

 

[Sjosz]

This is the bit that got me, either this is poorly written or Dr Capps is well off his game this year. Seriously THE PLATFORM you sir are fired! Now go wash your mouth out!! For a man who is apparently a grammar/spelling nazi etc and studied at a high level there is no excuse for slip ups like that I dont care if theres wine involved or not. He knows full well the responsibilities he took on, so maybe he should double check his own average hours to make sure he's not burnt out.

Please indulge me and show me how that is poorly written. I don't get it.

 

[dinwitty]

I have heard of overnites in prior work sessions, the workaday is different than other companies, but then you need to keep some kind of sensibility. Basement gamemmaking maybe you were hot on something and you just werent aware of your surroundings and DUH, you went all night...

 

[TheSpoonDog]

sitting on my arse for 12 hours doing creative work work would be friggen awesome.

It is... for a while.