Income and my art
Working in a creative industry is tough. We work long hours, we struggle, the ideas pool sometimes runs empty and we don’t have anyone else to blame. But none of those are the toughest. The toughest thing about these industries is getting paid. Landing a stable job with a salary isn’t easy, and even if you do, there’s no guarantee that it’ll stay that way. There are many routes to take for a games designer to achieve the dream of income and they each have their own pros and cons.
A games designer could choose to be an employee of a studio. Simple, elegant and somewhat stable. Depending on the studio in question this could either be a dream job or a dead end. Because games design is such a vast and non-specific field, this could spell disaster. You may end up making hubcaps for the latest crime simulator for 17$ an hour. Not exactly rolling in creative freedom and artistic expression, but at least you have an hourly rate.
Alternatively you could start or work for an independant (indie) team. This has it’s benefits, of course. You have more creative freedom in your work, as the teams are smaller, meaning that instead of making hubcaps, you would be making EVERY SINGLE 3D ASSET in the game. Instead of painting wood textures, you could be painting everything etc. However, this is a treacherous path, as you may not necessarily be paid until the game is released… and the game may not be released… and if it is, your pay depends on how many people buy it… which means you need marketing… which costs money… which you are low on, having spent a lot on making the damn game to begin with. This option can be a little hit and miss.
Okay, so what about freelancing? You’re a competent artist, an okay designer and pretty good at modelling. Surely some team out there could use your skills, right? Freelancing has its own set of perils, of course. I myself was once a freelance session drummer. Thankfully, at the time I was still living at home, so no rent or food was coming out of my earnings. Pure profit. The hourly rate of a freelancer is great, but those hours can be a little inconsistent at the best of times. I would cash a large cheque, or receive a decent direct deposit and be pretty damn proud of myself. Now, I’m not great at budgetary management, so this often left me desperate for the next pay day. The problem with this set up is you never know when the next one will be.
On top of all that, there was the constant self-marketing, self-promotion, self-management and self-pity. Setting my own fee was a constant struggle, as to secure the client, you had to make sure you were the best deal, and session drummers often get hired without an audition, meaning that the only thing that would set me apart from everyone else was how much I cost. I had to undercharge to secure a client, I then had to adjust who I was depending on who I was working with. Freelancing works for some people, but I didn’t have it in me. All the greasy tactics of a used-car salesman, without any of the product to show them, because the product was me. Gaining employment with a large(ish) studio would be ideal for me. The experience I would get and the security of a fortnightly pay of whatever amount means that I get to worry less about whether I’m going to find a client, and more about whether my work is good enough to keep the job. Without any time spent on promoting myself, I could actually work. I swear, I spent more time telling people how great I was than I did actually playing drums. Add to that the knowledge I would get and actually getting the know-how to start my own ragtag team of games designers would be invaluable. Creative industries is the only job in the world where people expect you to work for free. This is wrong. Now, I don’t know whether it’s because people don’t understand the work that goes into creating something, and therefore don’t know how much it’s worth, or whether people just don’t understand that art and creating things is not a hobby but a career. But I do know that I put blood, sweat and tears into everything I do. I work tirelessly, for days on end, with a diet of nicotine and caffeine just to bash through something that is essentially purely for everyone but me, selling my soul and destroying my sleeping pattern to meet my own artificial and arbitrary deadline, just to have some stuffy-nose prick tell me that I should be happy with the ‘exposure’. Would a panel-beater be happy with being exposed? Would a journalist understand if someone snubbed their pride and joy, their endless hours of practice to master their craft? Do chefs get paid in Yelp reviews? I think not. So why should I be happy because you got content that I sold my soul to make for free? Here’s a video demonstrating why no one else gets paid in exposure. http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-business/this-video-shows-what-happens-if-you-asked-other-professions-work-for-free/
