Doom Studio id Software Forms 'Wall-To-Wall' Union

id Software employees voted to form a wall-to-wall union with the CWA, covering all roles at the Doom studio. "The vote wasn't unanimous, though a majority did vote in favor of the union," notes Engadget. From the report: The union will work in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which is the same organization involved with parent company ZeniMax's recent unionization efforts. Microsoft, who owns ZeniMax, has already recognized this new effort, according to a statement by the CWA. It agreed to a labor neutrality agreement with the CWA and ZeniMax workers last year, paving the way for this sort of thing.

From the onset, this union will look to protect remote work for id Software employees. "Remote work isn't a perk. It's a necessity for our health, our families, and our access needs. RTO policies should not be handed down from executives with no consideration for accessibility or our well-being," said id Software Lead Services Programmer Chris Hays. He also said he looks forward to getting worker protections regarding the "responsible use of AI."

Still going?

[Dan East]

I didn't know id Software was still a thing, especially after John Carmack left. What are they even doing now?

Re:Still going?

[jacks smirking reven]

They just released Doom: The Dark Ages this year.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

I actually googled it, and a stupid flower icon shows up on the search results screen: WTF. Also it's a 'prequel' and I don't meet the minimum system requirements (not shocked though since I still see no convincing reason to upgrade this 7 year old computer except maybe the GPU). The original Doom ran butter smooth on a 486 ffs with software rendering. whatever.

Re:

[jacks smirking reven]

Honestly don't even worry about it, instead go back and play the 2016 Doom, it's the best of the reboot series. Ton of fun and the soundtrack is killer.

Re:Still going?

[Bu11etmagnet]

> The original Doom ran butter smooth on a 486 ffs with software rendering.

I'm pretty sure the new one will run quite fast at 320x200 resolution.

Re:Still going?

[thegarbz]

Not sure what flower icon you're talking about. Not sure why you care about it being a 'prequel' or why you put that in quotes, Doom isn't exactly dependent on any major story telling. The prequel aspects of it were just an excuse to bring different kinds of monsters into the story with a more medieval backdrop.

By the way you say you don't meet the minimum requirements as if Doom is some kind of poorly optimised disaster. The reality is the minimum requirements are:
1. A bottom tier video card from 6 years ago.
2. A mid tier gaming CPU from 6 years ago.
3. Sufficient RAM that wouldn't make you put your fist through your computer monitor while running Windows.

There should be no expectation that you can play any AAA game on 7 year old bottom tier hardware. And those specs are designed to give you stable 60fps (because ID actually provides meaningful minimum specs that make their games playable), it would probably run on your system anyway.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Expect the studio to close now that the staff are unionized. American companies absolutely hate being forced to offer decent salaries and working conditions, aka "erhmagerd sOCiALiSM!!!"

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

It depends whether they're needed or not. The software industry definitely needs unions to protect workers, and I'm saying that as a someone who generally dislikes unions, the country I'm in was seriously crippled for many years by too-powerful unions who were more interested in turf wars than helping the workers. OTOH having seen how badly wage-slaves are treated in the US compared to all those evil non-uhmerrican socialist countries I'd actually support unions there despite not liking them much.

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

OTOH having seen how badly wage-slaves are treated in the US compared to all those evil non-uhmerrican socialist countries I'd actually support unions there despite not liking them much.

What actually is a "wage slave" I keep hearing that term, but it seems kinda nebulous.

I'm not particularly against unions when they are needed. But as you note, if they become too powerful, they are just another layer of mess that people have to deal with.

Re:

[SumDog]

I really hate the term "wage slave," because it really degrades how horrible actual slavery is. Actual slavery means you can't leave your job or try to get another job, or move to some other place. It means nothing you do is allowed except at the behest of another human being, and you're not a minor and the other human being isn't your parents.

Capitalism is about choice. You give your labor to someone else, in exchange for capital (hence the name) and you are free who you give that labor to or what skill

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

You might "feel" like you're being forced to .. maybe in some ways you are if you don't see other choices .. but there are other choices.

Right. A lot of people who express their hatred of people who have money, and act as perennial victims of the man, have made a bucket list of choices.

And at some level, they chose to be the victim. I've been around a few years, and I've come to the conclusion that it is easier to blame others for your failures. If you aren't making enough money, it's because this dirty capitalists are keeping you down, or your boss, or you co-workers Suzi and Billy Bob.

Has nothing to do with desire for stasis, desire to

Re:

[quall]

The software industry needs unions? Why? Unions suck for skilled jobs.

Re: Still going?

[AcidFnTonic]

Or in my case self taught and unions require a degree. So the best talent will be forced out.

Re:

[dgatwood]

Unions did a lot of good at one time for low skilled work. They gave us the 40 hour work week and weekends. But mid/high-skilled union shops quickly turn to shit. The quality goes out the window and there's no merit incentive for very merit based jobs.

Not inherently. Some unions do put in specific rules about specific job levels having specific pay, but not all. It just depends on what the union demands in their negotiations. A more reasonable approach would be to demand a certain minimum amount of wage increase each year. Even in that situation, if management isn't willing to give merit-based increases because the total dollar amount including the mandatory minimum for everyone else adds up to too much money, then it could still have that effect, o

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

This is the kind of attitude that has resulted in workers now taking home 60% of their share of productivity today vs. what they got in the '70s. If anyone figures out a counterbalance to ownership-class power other than collective worker action, let me know.

Re: Still going?

[OrangeTide]

Feudalism seems cool, let's do that but with technology.

I'll rent my apartment from my boss and he can evict me if I work for a competitor. Seems fair, just people making contracts. No government needed, not even when security escorts me off the premises.

Re:

[Kevin108]

I agree that the studio will close, but it will be because the union will get everything it wants. Afterward, to justify the union, it has to keep demanding more, which is when things fall apart.

Re:

[thegarbz]

They released 6 games since Carmack left, the most recent only 6 months ago...

CWA is not a very strong union

[damn_registrars]

I was a CWA member throughout grad school. It may be that they just put a lot more effort into the larger companies where their members were employed (think Verizon as one great example) but we didn't see much help from them as grad students. I remember one meeting my first year where we were reminded we could always ask for a union rep anytime we were talking with our PI, and that was about it.

Re:

[_merlin]

CWA is the Country Women's Association (also known as the Cranky Women's Association) in Australia. They aren't very powerful, either.

GODgames continued

[Creepy]

I was a victim of studio misbehavior during the runup to GOD games changing this behavior. Publishers would force an NDA and no attribution, no credit clause. When you wanted to say I did this, I worked on this, you couldn't. Switched to business software because I was sick of being f***ed up the ass by the game and music industries. Basically, had to go into a job with zero experience with 5 years of experience. Yeah, f*you game industry. On that note, anyone need GLIDE 3D, lol. 3dfx joke, nVidia won that

Re:

[drinkypoo]

On that note, anyone need GLIDE 3D, lol. 3dfx joke, nVidia won that war.

I'd say Microsoft won that war, and everyone else lost.

No wonder

[uzkonosy_placental]

From what i read about this Marty CEO character, he's a proper c*nt

https://medium.com/@mickgordon... [medium.com]

Re:

[NobleNobbler]

Wow, that story is pretty infuriating

My WFH iron mine

[Ol Olsoc]

"Remote work isn't a perk. It's a necessity for our health, our families, and our access needs. RTO policies should not be handed down from executives with no consideration for accessibility or our well-being,"

Perhaps the good gentleman can produce the citations that people who work from home live longer, have better family dynamics, and whatever the last thing is.

There should be a very clear cut line starting in 2020, of excellent health, happy families, whereas before 2020 these workers had many h

Re:

[Zuck Enabler]

Shitting in a ditch was pretty standard for a long time too.

Re:

[alvinrod]

Just because something was standard for centuries doesn't mean we should continue doing it if it's no longer necessary unless you'd like your doctor to go back to chiseling holes in your head to let the bad spirits out. There are still a lot of jobs that require people to work on premises because they need specialized tools or equipment that can't be operated in their homes. Software developers are not those people and while there may be occasional benefits to getting people together in person, that's hardl

Re:

[argStyopa]

It is also true that something that's nice and convenient isn't a necessity, either.

I fully agree that it's nice.
I fully agree that it's convenient.
It requires a fair amount of self-discipline; there are some employees that can handle that, and some that cannot.

Ideally, a company would evaluate you on your performance & productivity, not where you're sitting.

It's still not "a necessity" that's bullshit hyperbole.