The following reporters spoke with us either in person, on the phone, or via email, and so are included here at the top.
New York Times: "When a Video Game Stops Being Fun", by Randall Stross :
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/yourmoney/21digi.html?ex=1258693200&en=40a60cc6d7971ab2&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
Los Angeles Times: "Working Too Hard in an Industry of Fun and Games", by Alex Pham :
http://www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/career/la-fi-sweat17nov17,0,336030.story?coll=la-class-employ-career
Salon.com: "Santa's Sweatshop", by Katharine Mieszkowski
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/12/02/no_fun_and_games/index_np.html
and follow-up, "A change of heart for Scrooge?":
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/12/06/more_santa_sweatshop/index_np.html
CNet News: "For developers, it's not all fun and games" :
http://news.com.com/For+developers%2C+its+not+all+fun+and+games/2100-1022_3-5457274.html
National Public Radio: "Stressed-Out Game Designers Sue Software Maker", by Laura Sydell :
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4206253
Editor's note: For the following I have to extend a personal apology. Rick Healey from NetJak was one of the first to contact me via email regarding the ea_spouse story. We exchanged a few emails and he sent me a list of interview questions. In the following email deluge, I mistook someone else's questions for his, and answered them, but did not get to Rick's until he sent me a reminder email much later. Visit his site, and help me atone for being a flake. =)
Netjak.com: "A Call for Solidarity" (editorial) :
http://www.netjak.com/review.php/759
Netjak.com: "Interview with EA_Spouse" :
http://www.netjak.com/review.php/768
While our contact was limited to the blog, I do need to mention Paul from snarkyspot.blogspot.com here, who faithfully reported on happenings in the blog and surrounding it for quite a long time. His post provides a neat cross-section of events as they occurred as far as press is concerned, and a number of the non-obvious links (NYT, LAT, WSJ, etc) listed here came from his site:
http://snarkyspot.blogspot.com/2004/11/ea-spouse-speaks-out-against-game.html
Other Features
Wall Street Journal: "Workers at EA Claim They Are Owed Overtime" :
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/274.html?thread=719890#t719890
CNN.com: "Gaming's growing pains" :
http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/15/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm
San Francisco Examiner: "Long hours spur online rant" :
http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/111204n_ea
Lockergnome.com: "When A Video Game Stops Being Fun" :
http://channels.lockergnome.com/news/archives/20041121_when_a_video_game_stops_being_fun.phtml
Prior to its extended article, and after, CNet released a few others:
http://news.com.com/2061-1043-5449296.html?tag=rsspr.5449339
http://news.com.com/Electronic+Arts+faces+overtime+lawsuit/2100-1043_3-5450316.html?part=rss&tag=5450316&subj=news.1043.20
http://news.com.com/5208-1043-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=3181&messageID=17528&start=-195
http://news.com.com/Electronic+Arts+promises+workplace+change/2100-1022_3-5476714.html
InsertCredit.com: "News: EA: The Human Story" :
http://www.insertcredit.com/archives/000019.html
Kotaku: "Fear and loathing at Electronic Arts" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/industry-news/fear-and-loathing-at-electronic-arts-025405.php
BluesNews: "Op Ed" (with comments) :
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=52772
Gamasutra News: "'EA Spouse' Weblog Raises Issues On Game Development Quality of Life" :
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=4543
Enginesofmischief.com (Evan Robinson): "It's Not Just Abusive. It's Stupid." :
http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/11/643
GameStar.de: "Krasse Arbeitsbedingungen in den USA" :
http://www.gamestar.de/news/branchen/21547/
Heise.de: "Kein Spaß bei Electronic Arts" :
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/53216
WorldAccess.nl: "Slavenarbeid bij EA?" :
http://www.worldaccess.nl/planet/show/id=75057/contentid=524009/sc=77221f
ForeverGeek.com: "EA Employees Unhappy, Attempt Class Action Lawsuit" (with comments) :
http://forevergeek.com/games/ea_employees_unhappy_attempt_class_action_lawsuit.php
Pagtech.com: "EA Work Conditions" :
http://www.pagtech.com/News/EAWorkConditions.html
Homelanfed.com: "A Spouse's Look At Electronic Arts" :
http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?mode=mail&id=27444
FiringSquad.com: "Corporate culture problem at EA?" (with comments) :
http://firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=7349
Cinescape.com: "Electronic Arts: Innocent or Guilty?" :
http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Games&action=page&obj_id=42967&type_id=270331&cat_id=270444&sub_id=272439
Joystiq.com: "'EA spouse' speaks out!" :
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/2500628063884828
Totalgaming.net: "EA Spouse talks about life as a PC game developer" :
http://totalgaming.stardock.com/forums.asp?MID=5&CMID=5&AID=34709
TechReview.com: "Gamer Overtime" :
http://www.techreview.com/blog/blog.asp?blogID=1651
Auxiliary Stories
Kotaku: "Former EA employee speaks out under real name" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/industry-news/former-ea-employee-speaks-out-under-real-name-025556.php
Kotaku: "EA promises changes in leaked internal memo" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//ea-promises-changes-in-leaked-internal-memo-026800.php
Kotaku: "Exclusive: EA confirms memo is real" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//exclusive-ea-confrms-memo-is-real-026895.php
Kotaku: "EA suit could change the face of the gaming industry" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/legal/ea-suit-could-change-the-face-of-the-gaming-industry-025586.php
Kotaku: "EA keeps the promises coming" :
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/business//ea-keeps-the-promises-coming-027156.php
GameDaily.biz: "EA Feeling Pressure, May Reclassify Overtime" :
http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=8464§ion=feature&email=
Mercury News.com: "EA to reconsider OT-eligible jobs" :
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/business/technology/10359549.htm
BluesNews: "EA Class Action Suit Coming?" (with comments) :
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=52808
Salon.com: "Raking muck in 'The Sims Online'" :
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/12/12/sims_online_newspaper/index.html
Gamespot.com: "Employees readying class-action lawsuit against EA" :
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/11/news_6112998.html
1up.com: "EA Faces Class-Action Overtime Suit" :
http://cgw.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3136538
Wargamer.com: "EA Facing Lawsuit Over Worker Pay" :
http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=1451
Lunabean.com: "EA Not One of the 100 Best Places to Work?" :
http://www.lunabean.com/news/000795.php
TheSimsZone.co.uk: "EA Employees sue Company" :
http://news.thesimszone.co.uk/archive.php?ID=1847
GamesIndustry.biz: "Developer working conditions hide a cancer in the games industry" :
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=dev&aid=3721
Gamespot.com: "Neil Young heads to EALA" :
http://www.gamespot.com/news/productionupdates/archive/2004/12/14/index.html
Gamepro.com: "Top Gaming Lows of 2004" :
http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/features/40850.shtml
Penny Arcade news items:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-11-12
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-11-15
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2004-12-15
Slashdot
Slashdot has covered a couple of different facets of the story (likely they were responsible for more than one of the original boosts in hits), and they have a few thousand comments on the story collectively as well, so I figured they deserved their own section:
"EA Games: The Human Story" :
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/11/0031259&tid=98&tid=10
"Electronic Arts Facing Possible Class Action Lawsuit" :
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/12/0537234&tid=123&tid=156&tid=10
"Quality of Life Issues Holding Back Game Industry" :
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/11/0031259&tid=98&tid=10
"NYT on EA Games" :
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/21/1746257&from=rss
"EA_Spouse Forum Becoming Thriving Community" :
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/09/159247&tid=187
"EA Spouse Posts Plans for Watchdog [Organization]" :
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/15/1645240&tid=8
"A College Guide to EA" :
http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/11/13/208253.shtml?tid=146&tid=187&tid=10
In a poll: "I Give Thanks For" (one answer: "A day off from my job at EA Games")
http://slashdot.org/pollBooth.pl?qid=1216
IGDA
The IGDA produced a Quality of Life White Paper in 2003, first bringing up some of these issues; they broke the ice, but then the discussion dwindled. This year there will be an entire Summit at the Game Developers Conference to address these issues. Jason Della Roca, IGDA Program Director, has mentioned a possible negotiation with CMP to arrange for an inexpensive Summit-only pass as an attachment to the Classic Pass -- here's hoping they come through, I'd like to be there. (For non-GDC-goers, the main part of the GDC is Wednesday through Friday; Monday and Tuesday are tutorial days, covered by a separate pass or a larger comprehensive "GigaPass", which is correspondingly significantly more expensive.)
The IGDA Quality of Life website:
http://www.igda.org/qol/
The White Paper:
http://www.igda.org/qol/whitepaper.php
The QoL discussion forum:
http://www.igda.org/Forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=168
Discussion Boards
While not precisely press, here are some links to other forums where the story has appeared.
IGDA: http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.php?s=71ef8c1d3b2e5065e7dcf1566b6de36b&threadid=13068
ShackNews: http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=8965013
InsertCredit.com: http://forums.insertcredit.com/viewtopic.php?t=2251
Tokyopia.com: http://tokyopia.com/tk/forum/index.php?showtopic=1523&st=0
Penny-arcade.com: http://www.penny-arcade.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5&topicdays=0&start=50
The-nexlevel.com: http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/archive/index.php/t-32954.html
GameDev.net: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=281984
RottenTomatoes.com: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=376274
ems-quarters.com: http://ems-quarters.com/teamxk/index.php?board=7;action=display;threadid=130
Fark.com: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1213869&backwards=yes&ok=true
PocketPCThoughts.com: http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=300774&sid=7362a15a35d678a0f7133249d12468a3
AnimationNation: http://www.animationnation.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=009435;p=
CGChar: http://cgchar.toonstruck.com/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=10&t=2903&s=2a13eb07d48427fcacc38ff4f1c7b569
Sherman3D: http://www.sherman3d.net/Sherman3D/forum_viewtopic.php?15.132
NeoSeeker: http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.php?fn=view_thread&t=461884
Fatwallet.com: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=55&threadid=395573&newest=1
Igromania.ru: http://www.igromania.ru/forums/index.php?showtopic=24916&st=450&#entry777416
Blogs
If you would like your blog listed here, email me and I'll add a link.
Joe Straitiff, ex-EA: http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/368.html
Another_EA_Spouse: http://workingweek.blogspot.com/
Jason Della Rocca: http://www.igda.org/blogs/realitypanic/archives/000233.html
SnarkySpot, also listed above: http://snarkyspot.blogspot.com/2004/11/ea-spouse-speaks-out-against-game.html
Evan Robinson: http://enginesofmischief.com/blogs/ramblings/archives/2004/11/10/640
John Dvorak: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/index.php?p=748
Code Monkey: http://thepixelmine.blogspot.com/
Tossed.org: http://www.tossed.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7
Charles Miller: http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2004/11/12/the_floggings_will_continue_until_morale_improves
Samus: http://samoose.blogspot.com/2004/11/nuthin-doin.html
Malevolent.com: http://www.malevolent.com/weblog/archive/2004/11/17/suffering-arts/
Inordinate.net: http://inordinate.net/wordpress/index.php?p=241
Darren Barefoot: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/001357.html
Adeliedreams: http://www.livejournal.com/users/adeliedreams/80750.html
GameGirlAdvance: http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2004/11/10/close_to_home.html
CGAnimation: http://cganimation.blogspot.com/2004/11/electronic-arts-overworked-artists.html
Thealguy: http://thealguy.blogspot.com/2004/11/this-just-sucks.html
Suberfantacularizzle: http://suberfantacularizzle.blogspot.com/2004/11/dont-work-for-ea.html
Skor Grimm: http://skorgrimm.blogspot.com/2004/11/boycott-ea-games.html
Pingz.com: http://www.pingz.com/2004/11/when-spouses-attack.php
Room101: http://www.drakkos.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/2004/11/ea-spouse.html
Onyxorison: http://onyxorison.blogspot.com/2004/11/easpouse-or-hell-no-im-not-working-for.html
Interestingdrug: http://interestingdrug.blogspot.com/2004/11/ea-is-programming-sweatshop.html
Mark Raimondi: http://mraimondi.blogspot.com/2004/11/another-company-that-needs-good-ass.html
Harold "AlphaTwo Vaughan": http://alphatwo.blogspot.com/2004/11/when-it-rains-it-pours.html
Blog247.blogspot: http://blog247.blogspot.com/2004/11/power-of-blogs.html
Limshengming.com: http://www.limshengming.com/index.php?p=204
Longklaw.com: http://www.longklaw.com/archives/2004/11/challenge_every.html
No Status Quo: http://www.nosq.com/leaderhsip/2004/11/ea-spouse-story/
Keith Soltys: http://www.soltys.ca/coredump/2004/11/permanent-crunch-time-at-ea.html
Bruce (bigkid.com.au): http://www.bigkid.com.au/2004/11/12/ea_spouse_protests_exploitation/
Guilesworld.com: http://www.guilesworld.com/blog/_archives/2004/11/12/181569.html
Stuart Moulder: http://www.livejournal.com/users/stuart_moulder/88892.html
Genoism: http://flashmade.com/genoism/forums/
Webcomics
UserFriendly.org ran two comics featuring the EA story:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20041114
and
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20041205
VGCats: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=132
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