Noclip Podcast #06 - Marijam Didžgalvytė (Game Workers Unite)

My feeling was that she meant in the population at large, like video hame fans. but I may be wrong

This is clearly going to be a divisive episode. As someone who doesn't work in the industry, but who leans very progressive, believes in work/life balance and the power of unions to protect and fight for those who are being exploited, I was really glad when Danny announced this episode. After listening to Marijam talk about her perspective on a variety of topics here though, I think I'm actually less likely to advocate and support the GWU specifically. I found her "take-down" of Lucas Pope particularly hollow. Not everyone needs to be an activist. There need to be a variety of people playing different roles in order to make change happen. Not only are most games political in some way, even when you attempt to make your argument by classifying something as one of the first “overtly political" games (whatever that means), it helps to know what you're talking about. The Bafta he accepted was for "Best strategy or simulation", which he was up for against "Civilization V: Brave new world", and "Democracy 3", both clearly politically charged games from franchises that have been around for years, if not decades.

 She describes his Bafta win as “self-congratulatory”, though by definition an awards show like this is about being congratulated by others. He didn’t nominate himself. He didn’t choose himself as the winner. He didn’t thank himself. In the interview after his speech he talks about how he hopes the game helps people build empathy, and that his intention was to just make a fun game. In her medium piece on the game she warns of the dangers of ineffective commentary. Of Pope’s Bafta appearance she notes, “Meanwhile, the UK continues to enforce draconian border controls and use murderous detention centres”. I looked into it and it turns out that even after her medium post was published, these border controls and detention centres actually continue to exist. How embarrassing. I don't really know enough about the dynamics of successful unions to know whether people with such divisive "us/them" views such as “I must admit that I struggle to recognise Border Agents as humans” are necessary to union negotiations. Maybe they are? Maybe empathy isn’t that important?

 Either way, thanks for the podcast Danny. It was interesting, but I wish she’d been challenged a bit more.

Steve Dennis

As per someone else's comment on the YouTube video: "Progressives have really not been in [the games industry] space and really abandoned it, and in that vacuum obviously right wing politics have developed." This is a really odd statement. I've been in the AAA space for over a decade, and the incredible vast majority of people I've worked with have been extremely progressive. It gives the impression that she doesn't have experience inside the development scene itself, which makes me question the good the GWU could really do.

Theron Miles