HoloTweed Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/10/22/498954253/voice-actors-strike-against-video-game-companies Obviously all voice work for KOTET recorded by now, but EA is one of the main companies being picketed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRomanRuler Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 (edited) Strike against EA, Activision and Disney? Sounds amazing :):):) I just hope this is not one of those idiotic strikes where everyone just looks after themselves. Finland had one of those happen, instead of raising taxes equally, some people went on strike and that meant taxes had to be raised for others while some got off the hook. As far as i know, this looks like perfectly acceptable and good reason to be striking for. And if it is bad for EA, it must be amazing and awesome happy day for everyone Edited October 22, 2016 by TheRomanRuler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlavivsAetivs Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Bastila was always a snippy one. ~ Eudoxia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDymond Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Negotiations had been going on for almost two years, and talk of a strike was on the table for at least the past year - when KotFE did those "nostalgic" conversations without the Player Characters being voiced (which I hate), I kind of wondered if it was supposed to be a shot fired in this whole behind-the-scenes drama. Hopefully it gets resolved soon and the actors get a fair outcome - this game being fully voiced is one of the things that drew me to it and got me to switch over from WoW, and it's been a significant part of the recipe that's kept me subbed for the past five years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAWUSS Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 She can stay in Exile for a while longer for all I care... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmortalLowlife Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Scott Witlin, the lawyer representing the video game companies, says voice actors "represent less than one tenth of 1 percent of the work that goes into making a video game." Classic example of corporate greed..... because if you take out the voice actors in games like fallout, mass effect, or any other game with a fully voiced story...It's a completely different experience. Imagine playing every game today with 1980's text dialogue boxes instead of actual talking characters & npcs. Yea..... pay them folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlavivsAetivs Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Classic example of corporate greed..... because if you take out the voice actors in games like fallout, mass effect, or any other game with a fully voiced story...It's a completely different experience. Imagine playing every game today with 1980's text dialogue boxes instead of actual talking characters & npcs. Yea..... pay them folks. Zork! The Interactive Text Adventure! ~ Eudoxia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyraineAlei Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Classic example of corporate greed..... because if you take out the voice actors in games like fallout, mass effect, or any other game with a fully voiced story...It's a completely different experience. Imagine playing every game today with 1980's text dialogue boxes instead of actual talking characters & npcs. Yea..... pay them folks. .... *points to the Pokemon Video Game franchise* You've seen the primary games of that series right? Textboxes. Everywhere. Side games might have some VA work being done, but all of the sounds are computer generated otherwise, down to the music. Though I do wish it had voice acting like here because I'm tired of the protagonist NPC always being silent. Oh wait, you're talking computer games. Ah... mmm. Ehhhh... Yeah, nothing new-ish that I can think of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRomanRuler Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Negotiations had been going on for almost two years, and talk of a strike was on the table for at least the past year - when KotFE did those "nostalgic" conversations without the Player Characters being voiced (which I hate), I kind of wondered if it was supposed to be a shot fired in this whole behind-the-scenes drama. Hopefully it gets resolved soon and the actors get a fair outcome - this game being fully voiced is one of the things that drew me to it and got me to switch over from WoW, and it's been a significant part of the recipe that's kept me subbed for the past five years. 100% agreed. I am fine if they have some very few special conversations as "nostalgic", but rest of the game should be 100% voice acted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRomanRuler Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 .... Oh wait, you're talking computer games. Ah... mmm. Ehhhh... Yeah, nothing new-ish that I can think of. Becouse in 99% of cases voice acting>no voice acting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolodome Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Classic example of corporate greed..... because if you take out the voice actors in games like fallout, mass effect, or any other game with a fully voiced story...It's a completely different experience. Imagine playing every game today with 1980's text dialogue boxes instead of actual talking characters & npcs. Yea..... pay them folks. Seriously. If they represent so little work, then don't hire them and watch the market take the hit, when customers are surprised to see the complete lack of voice acting. It makes me sad that they are still having to fight for this stuff in 2016. The vocal sessions, especially... I've read about it in the past and the conditions can be awful. Having someone strain their voice for hours, with no or little breaks. The human voice is not a machine... it needs rest and proper care. Anyone who has tried to do voice recording for a long period of time, done a lecture, etc... knows firsthand how easy it is to run out of juice. And then stack on top of that the strain of making your voice do weird distortions and kooky voices. It's awful. Now I'm wondering if this is the real reason they set aside chapter a month. Perhaps they saw the rumblings of this and knew it could be a disaster to attempt if they got caught it in while a strike was ongoing. I mean, this whole line by the lawyer just disgusts me: The problem we have is that their position doesn't fit in with this industry. It may fit in with other industries but it doesn't work for the video game industry because of the nature of the production and the way these companies are organized. If it doesn't fit, then stop hiring them and suffer the consequences. Don't act like they don't fit, but hire them anyway and pay them **** with **** working conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaze-Yama Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 It is a bogus argument to say that giving voice actors compensation would somehow upset the industry. Everyone on the payroll of a major development studio or publisher is on salary at least for the duration of the project and even then they will bring in tons of free lance artists or consultants if they need to. If some major studios can afford to pay hollywood actors for roles in Call of Duty and other games they can afford to pay out for voice work that is just as good if not better. If a hollywood star has a hit movie they can put it in their contracts to get a bonus once the box office hits a certain point. No way that voice actors shouldn't get the same option especially since gaming is already closing in on or exceeding the film industry in terms of profits. This won't be an issue for swtor since it only mentions new titles, but it could impact the new mass effect or any future star wars games. More game companies should shell out for quality voice acting because it really shows. I don't know how much say Lucasfilm has on this but it seems like they treat their voice actors with respect judging from how the animation studio runs so I hope the game companies can adopt the same stance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBuzzard Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Negotiations had been going on for almost two years, and talk of a strike was on the table for at least the past year - when KotFE did those "nostalgic" conversations without the Player Characters being voiced (which I hate), I kind of wondered if it was supposed to be a shot fired in this whole behind-the-scenes drama. Hopefully it gets resolved soon and the actors get a fair outcome - this game being fully voiced is one of the things that drew me to it and got me to switch over from WoW, and it's been a significant part of the recipe that's kept me subbed for the past five years. I agree. This whole issue could very well be what is at the heart of postponing the return of our companions. Let's face it some of those moments could (and should be) intense... you can't use "canned" speeches etc from the past. Whomever is on the board of directors, or to whomever would be responsible for more direct input really should be willing to give a bit more. I know that it's easier said than done. I'm sure that there are unions to consider and negotiate with. Hopefully those who deal with this sort of matter will find that middle ground where a settlement can be made ..... SOON. It will benefit everyone: both the company and the consumer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRomanRuler Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Seriously. If they represent so little work, then don't hire them and watch the market take the hit, when customers are surprised to see the complete lack of voice acting. It makes me sad that they are still having to fight for this stuff in 2016. The vocal sessions, especially... I've read about it in the past and the conditions can be awful. Having someone strain their voice for hours, with no or little breaks. The human voice is not a machine... it needs rest and proper care. Anyone who has tried to do voice recording for a long period of time, done a lecture, etc... knows firsthand how easy it is to run out of juice. And then stack on top of that the strain of making your voice do weird distortions and kooky voices. It's awful. Now I'm wondering if this is the real reason they set aside chapter a month. Perhaps they saw the rumblings of this and knew it could be a disaster to attempt if they got caught it in while a strike was ongoing. I mean, this whole line by the lawyer just disgusts me: If it doesn't fit, then stop hiring them and suffer the consequences. Don't act like they don't fit, but hire them anyway and pay them **** with **** working conditions. Indeed. EA and many others are just awful. Voice actors do amazing work these days, but even on games with best voice acting they don´t get compensated for it. I am happy they went on strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_riches Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 She can stay in Exile for a while longer for all I care... Do you realise that the voice actress also voices the female trooper in this game as well? That one would be a bit harder to get around and at worst would have to be recast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyraineAlei Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Do you realise that the voice actress also voices the female trooper in this game as well? That one would be a bit harder to get around and at worst would have to be recast. Yeah.... That one's a bit of a problem, and I'm not sure reusing old canned "FOR THE REPUBLIC!" or "HAVOC SQUAD - MOVE OUT!" all the time for an expansion would work very well. Though in a pinch, I'd use some old Mass Effect canned bits to help fill in for Fem Trooper's lines if the situation called for it. And would save on her time spent recording. Not by much, but some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amaresch Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 I guess we'll find out when the voices in game start resembling my navigation apps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTurin Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Well, now we know why the focus is shifting away from story back to group content... they literally can't produce story anymore. Woohoo, time for some operations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 As I've noted, Voice Acting isn't a major cost in money for development (so far). That probably shouldn't be the case, but it is today. (especially since it is a MAJOR time cost). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRomanRuler Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Well, now we know why the focus is shifting away from story back to group content... they literally can't produce story anymore. Woohoo, time for some operations! Why are you happy? Operations don´t keep this game alive. Operations are not why people play this game for. We really do need focus to be on story. I am not saying other content should or should not be ignored, but focus needs to be on story. I also wonder if this is reason why we have not gotten companions back. Not everyone wants to publicly be part of strike but still are on strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SithKoriandr Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Why are you happy? Operations don´t keep this game alive. Operations are not why people play this game for. We really do need focus to be on story. I am not saying other content should or should not be ignored, but focus needs to be on story. I also wonder if this is reason why we have not gotten companions back. Not everyone wants to publicly be part of strike but still are on strike. This was my first thought. This is why we lost our companions. The strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyraineAlei Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Why are you happy? Operations don´t keep this game alive. Operations are not why people play this game for. We really do need focus to be on story. I am not saying other content should or should not be ignored, but focus needs to be on story. I also wonder if this is reason why we have not gotten companions back. Not everyone wants to publicly be part of strike but still are on strike. ^ But also on the Operations note- I haven't seen many groups calling out to do the Operation/Operation like fights that are just one guy to kill. Kinda makes me wonder if people like to run through the Operations that have a little story .... which means voice acting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanArgent Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Why are you happy? Operations don´t keep this game alive. Operations are not why people play this game for. We really do need focus to be on story. I am not saying other content should or should not be ignored, but focus needs to be on story. I also wonder if this is reason why we have not gotten companions back. Not everyone wants to publicly be part of strike but still are on strike. That's heresy around here, just so you know. It's the dedicated raiders (and PvPers) that keep the keep the game alive; story is just something to be spacebarred through ASAP to get the to end-game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsetso Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Whatever. They'll find someone else to do it. There are no irreplaceable people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
americanaussie Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Meh, they are overpaid. Conditions are awful blah blah blah. I just watched an interview with a celeb who said she walked in, said a line, got paid $1 million, even though they didn't use said line in the end. That was for a disney movie. She said she got paid for 5 mins of her time. Maybe it's different for the actors on swtor, but this makes me sad. I hate the parts of the game without proper speaking cut scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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