Who wants a protracted people's war tactics RPG?

On this day, Indigenous people and allies confront the settler-colonial narratives of “Thanksgiving,” observing it instead as a National Day of Mourning.

Mockup for a tactics RPG I'm working on with some friends #pixelart

I hope this person is really fucking proud of themselves.

100% - said this before. gamergaters were and are the unpaid "enforcers" of management of the game industry. no reason to ever meaningfully try to do anything about these right winger harassment waves when they're the ones out there acting out what most of the management class actually believes

Shoutout to this low-poly mockup I did for an unreleased management sim a few years ago. You were a real one 🥲

And folks this is why even if you choose not to be in a union--for whatever reason--you still owe your co-workers solidarity. The discussions were, seemingly,bcomparing salaries and talking about a company policy change to their slack server. Someone went to management and got 34 people fired.

my partner and i can no longer buy a home together because they were fired by Rockstar, without warning, *checks notes* for talking about working conditions with their colleagues in a private union discord server. 🙂

A takeaway here, as someone who was in a union, is how even though game dev is a field in need of increased worker protections, there's many people (nominally curious about unions!) who still may flutter to management with "concerns" about organizing groups. They should be brought into things LAST.

evergreen

join @videogameworkers.bsky.social and meet other videogame workers, learn more about organizing, share stories and resources, and generally cause trouble with us. coming together to strategize is how we start to change this fucked up industry!

Our statement in solidarity with our fellow workers' ongoing protest against @rockstargames.com's gross union busting!

Sharing the video of this because it’s such a ghoulish thing to say that I’m honestly in disbelief that I even heard her properly

I'm creating a thread to share the readings I assigned to students for this week on labour organizing in the games industry. Click to expand! (1/7)

twitter has been deserted for good so i suppose i will post here too: i am currently open for work! hit me up if you know of openings that i'd be a good fit for 🫡 i updated my hireme page with a sample of the stuff i can do - videogame graphics, VFX, 2D art and so on polclarissou.com/hireme/

This afternoon, IWGB Game Workers joined together with unions from all over Europe, including @stjv.fr and @csvi-cgt.bsky.social to protest against Rockstar's union busting in Paris - on est là!

hey remember how that one big tech ceo was on a panel in like 2021/22 where someone asked him about how remote work gave a lot more power to the workers and he chuckled and said “yeah well a little recession will take care of that” I think about that often.

As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX

If you are thinking "it isn't fair that they have a 4 day work week and I don't" you are right! Fix that problem by forming a union and bargaining for what you need.

WE WON! After 42 days of striking we have a tentative agreement in hand that protects our existing 4 day work week, establishes a minimum salary, and adds protections against AI replacing jobs at our workplace!

Great article from the CBC on Rockstar’s union busting in the UK and Canada, with quotes from CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth and from Game Workers Unite Montreal. Great to see this story still making waves and the Rockstar workers getting support from everywhere ❤️ www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...

POSSESSOR(S) is launching today. I have been the producer on this project for three years, & the last few weeks have been difficult. Most of the team isn't around anymore to celebrate the launch, so I wrote many words about these incredible people to celebrate them. 🖤 shorturl.at/MpMra

The Rockstar union case made its way into UK Parliament earlier today

Getting 200 signatures in such a short time from employees who just witnessed intense union busting is no small feat! Rockstar employees are fired up!

Re-reading GWU Montréal's guide to identifying union-busting tactics, as next week I'm teaching a class on labour in the games industry: medium.com/@gwumlit/ide... Been thinking about this slide in particular recently:

We won't let Rockstar break our union and we won't be intimidated - support our campaign here: actionnetwork.org/fundraising/...

You can hear how angry and hurt these devs are. It's in their shaky voices and the way they talk about their work. It's an awful situation, for those who were forced out and those who remain

I went to meet the 'Rockstar 31', the developers who were suddenly fired from their work on GTA 6 for what the studio has described as gross misconduct. That's not what the workers call it though. They have another couple of words they prefer to use: union busting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9nO...

Guys just thought of this: what if we wrest power away from the capitalist ruling class and create a society not based on the exploitation of a laboring class

“Rockstar continue to deflect from the real reason for these dismissals: they are afraid of hard working staff privately discussing exercising their rights for a fairer workplace and a collective voice.”

Three of the union-busted Rockstar employees were in Canada. If anyone knows them could you please put me in contact? Fellow union organizer (at Bethesda in my case) would love to chat and pick their brains and offer support. #rockstar #union #gtavi

For folks who think Rockstar firing 30+ workers in the union isn't union busting - what do you think union busting would look like? Do you think they'd come right out and be like "Yep, we're union busting"? Is that what you'd need to hear before you believed that's what they were doing?

Rockstar: tries to bust unions🦹‍♀️ Us: Hold my controller 🎮🔥🔥 We're fighting back 💥💥 IWGB organized a protest in front of the @rockstargames.com parent company Take-Two Interactive in London today We'll make sure the credits are rolling on their corporate greed ❌️ @gameworkers.co.uk

I just ate about half a kilo of fresh longan and I have never been happier

i hope this election cycle empowers everyone the next time a centrist liberal says to drop pro-trans and pro-immigrant rhetoric to enthusiastically tell them to shut the fuck up

Just to be 100% clear: do not *trust* your employers - that's super silly. The relationship is economical, not based in loyalty, trust, or kindness. There's no judgement in forming a union, just understanding that capitalism requires a risk of financial loss to get companies to do the right thing.

SAG-AFTRA stands in solidarity with the IWGB Game Workers Union exercising their right to organize following reports of union-busting at Rockstar. Our members’ union performances on Rockstar games are an integral part of the success and legacy of games like Grand Theft Auto.

At the workplace we unionized it made an equal seat at the table a mandatory benefit for workers, from workload to severance. You cannot believe how fast things can change when you stand together, wall to wall, department to department. When the workers say no, when your lawyers say no, it's a no.

This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity. We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.

Unfortunately I suspect as union activity gains momentum and popular support in this broken industry we will continue to see studios ramp up their union busting efforts. Be smart: practice good infosec, read up on typical union-busting tactics, and most importantly: don’t let them scare you.

It's only through creating real business consequences for union-busting bosses that impunity around this kind of practice will end.

Employers will break the law like this and bet on the fact that they can demoralize, out-lawyer, and outlast the workers until they give up on obtaining justice, or just be fine with taking the financial hit from a settlement or fine.

Exciting news!! Game workers have united to form the first game workers union in Brazil, @sindjogos.bsky.social! ✊

Highly recommend getting involved in the labour movement if you want a much-needed antidote to this. It's not easy work, but it does bring out the absolute best in people and will rekindle your hope in humanity.

China remains one of the smartest countries in the world

There are no examples of genocidaires willingly ending a genocide and Israel is no exception. Unless Israel is turned into a pariah state and diplomatic and trade relations severed, the genocide will continue.

There is no version of capitalism where poor working class people aren't getting exploited. No version. To do capitalism is to exploit the working class, to reward greed, and to promote hate and bigotry. There's no "good" capitalism, same way there's no "ethical" multimillionaire or billionaire.

If this is based on voting stats, it’s worth recalling that lots of Americans don’t vote, and many aren’t eligible. Only about 22% of the US population voted for Trump in ‘24. These people are the minority.

You know me, I never doompost, but: things are about to get really nasty. Do what you can. Look out for each other.

When I was a kid the Black Panther Party sustained me with kindness and free bag lunches over one dismal, hungry summer. I'm white. I was almost as nervous as I was hungry the first time I stood in line. I'll never forget that gentle man's smile or his friendly "See you tomorrow". 😭