As I've said before-- game development is the sort of industry that everyone thinks they'll want to work in, only to change their minds very quickly once they see how the sausage is made. Never mind unionizing, even just raising awareness about the work conditions in the industry - and making it clear that they're not representative of "tech" more generally - would help a lot!
this. When I was a little kid I wanted to make games. Worked in the industry for 13 years. It's pretty brutal. 10AM to 10PM for months on end (this was when games were deployed on disks so there was a hard deadline, hence brutal crunch). The basic (but unsaid) feeling inside was that there are a ton of people who would be happy to replace you, so don't complain. Its an art form (visuals, audio, story, mechanics, math etc) so maybe suffering is innate. :). I don't miss it, but, I have always wanted to flesh out some ideas that have bouncing around for years.
