Notwithstanding some common myths, the people that make video games are not working in a care-free environment. Video game corporations and their employees have to deal with a number of interior and exterior issues. These issues, necessarily, lead straight to assorted disorders and mental issues. In rare cases, they may even develop initial symptoms of arthritis.
For major computer game firms, or those that already have robust footholds in the bizz, the stress can come from performance anxiety. Pressure is exerted on these companies to up the ante since they already have a name for quality and fun in terms of computer game design. Game-players became accustomed to the exacting standards of prior game offerings and, naturally, they're expecting a higher level of quality from new versions or the latest games. This constant requirement for something new and better, mixed with the typically unstable nature of the modern business environment causes performance anxiety from the video game developers to the humble programmers, even up to the producers who be the boss in game development.
For other companies, it isn't the company's reputation that is at risk. Their own stressor is the drive to to outdo their own previous offerings. Outdoing their own product is simply their obsession. An outstanding example of this is Blizzard, the creator and publisher of the "Warcraft" and "Starcraft" games. Both games were renowned for making the maximum of technology existing at the time, as well as being some of the best games in the Real-time Strategy (RTS) category. In South Korea, "Starcraft" is still played heavily despite being having been released over ten years ago. Buckling under the pressure, some unnamed workers have said that if Blizzard management did not implement an open time frame for releasing sequels to the above games (theoretically, to guarantee quality), most staff would have suffered from intense cases of performance anxiety. This has led to Blizzard, as a company , gaining a reputation for taking almost ten years to provide a follow-up to one of their titles due to problem with their team learning how to deal with anxiety and the pressure.
Naturally, it is not simply the mind that is worked and drained by being in the video game industry. The body is just as big a target for a bunch of issues, as the mind is. In fact , games still have to be designed, the concepts have to be developed, and the beta releases must be driven through a thorough quality testing process.
For the visible and auditory side of the games, the most likely problem would likely be muscle pain and headaches. Some have reported signs of arthritis. Artwork for video games goes thru multiple processes, and it's not entirely unusual for artists to get asked to rush through the art idea for the game. For smaller companies, one or two artists might be given strict cut offs for the concept art of more than one project. The rapid pace of drawing makes them subject to muscle pain, while the recurring thinking and visual analysis may cause headaches.
Another section of the company that can have muscle discomfort would be the programming team. Games have to be coded, with every piece of art and each bit of storyline converted into a language the computers and gaming consoles can understand. Most folks are unaware of precisely how much goes into even a straightforward computer game like "Tetris" much less some of the 80-hour long epics produced by SquareEnix, a major Japanese game developer. This is further complicated when there are countless possible interactions in the game's context, starting from character creation options to how particular in-game abilities interact with each other. Now, top that off with a strict deadline and you are all set to see programmers subjected to signs of arthritis, potentially with headaches as the harsh cherry on top.
Migraines are also far from alien when it comes to the quality control teams, who are tasked with playing the beta versions of the games. Beta versions are unreleased, unfinished versions of the game that require extensive testing to determine if everything works. Apart from that, the quality team must also check on the other game elements, such as difficulty or the plot. Since the beta versions are incomplete, there are naturally a bunch of graphical flaws, some of which have been seen to cause migraines.
For millions of game-players around the planet, they like the virtual worlds without even knowing the enormous pressure and dozens of headaches that came in planning their favorite computer games. For most kids, playing video console games is pure fun. But for the game-makers, developing computer console games is not play time.
For major computer game firms, or those that already have robust footholds in the bizz, the stress can come from performance anxiety. Pressure is exerted on these companies to up the ante since they already have a name for quality and fun in terms of computer game design. Game-players became accustomed to the exacting standards of prior game offerings and, naturally, they're expecting a higher level of quality from new versions or the latest games. This constant requirement for something new and better, mixed with the typically unstable nature of the modern business environment causes performance anxiety from the video game developers to the humble programmers, even up to the producers who be the boss in game development.
For other companies, it isn't the company's reputation that is at risk. Their own stressor is the drive to to outdo their own previous offerings. Outdoing their own product is simply their obsession. An outstanding example of this is Blizzard, the creator and publisher of the "Warcraft" and "Starcraft" games. Both games were renowned for making the maximum of technology existing at the time, as well as being some of the best games in the Real-time Strategy (RTS) category. In South Korea, "Starcraft" is still played heavily despite being having been released over ten years ago. Buckling under the pressure, some unnamed workers have said that if Blizzard management did not implement an open time frame for releasing sequels to the above games (theoretically, to guarantee quality), most staff would have suffered from intense cases of performance anxiety. This has led to Blizzard, as a company , gaining a reputation for taking almost ten years to provide a follow-up to one of their titles due to problem with their team learning how to deal with anxiety and the pressure.
Naturally, it is not simply the mind that is worked and drained by being in the video game industry. The body is just as big a target for a bunch of issues, as the mind is. In fact , games still have to be designed, the concepts have to be developed, and the beta releases must be driven through a thorough quality testing process.
For the visible and auditory side of the games, the most likely problem would likely be muscle pain and headaches. Some have reported signs of arthritis. Artwork for video games goes thru multiple processes, and it's not entirely unusual for artists to get asked to rush through the art idea for the game. For smaller companies, one or two artists might be given strict cut offs for the concept art of more than one project. The rapid pace of drawing makes them subject to muscle pain, while the recurring thinking and visual analysis may cause headaches.
Another section of the company that can have muscle discomfort would be the programming team. Games have to be coded, with every piece of art and each bit of storyline converted into a language the computers and gaming consoles can understand. Most folks are unaware of precisely how much goes into even a straightforward computer game like "Tetris" much less some of the 80-hour long epics produced by SquareEnix, a major Japanese game developer. This is further complicated when there are countless possible interactions in the game's context, starting from character creation options to how particular in-game abilities interact with each other. Now, top that off with a strict deadline and you are all set to see programmers subjected to signs of arthritis, potentially with headaches as the harsh cherry on top.
Migraines are also far from alien when it comes to the quality control teams, who are tasked with playing the beta versions of the games. Beta versions are unreleased, unfinished versions of the game that require extensive testing to determine if everything works. Apart from that, the quality team must also check on the other game elements, such as difficulty or the plot. Since the beta versions are incomplete, there are naturally a bunch of graphical flaws, some of which have been seen to cause migraines.
For millions of game-players around the planet, they like the virtual worlds without even knowing the enormous pressure and dozens of headaches that came in planning their favorite computer games. For most kids, playing video console games is pure fun. But for the game-makers, developing computer console games is not play time.
About the Author:
I'm a long time computer game fan and enjoy the latest console games as well as more serious software like the best PC flight simulator available at the flight sim store.
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