'I'd Have These Extremely Graphic Dreams': What It's Like To Work On Ultra-Violent Games Like Mortal Kombat 11

[Sugarwatermixlegit]

There is something to this. I'm not saying do away with it. It is weird to have these characters be endearing, family, friends, jokey jokey, and then they kill each other in a glorified bloody mess, like Johnny using Cassie's torso as a puppet, but the character of Johnny would never do something so awful. The more indepth the story becomes, the less I like the seeing the characters crushed in demeaning ways?

I don't know... it's a weird thought, and I might just be rambling lol

This is exactly why I think Johnny, Sonya, And Jax should’ve been cut. Don’t get me wrong, they are amazing characters, but seeing Sonya crush her daughters face in and then blow a hole in it while just moments ago she was being all good protective mom to her is sorta unsettling. I know Sindel could kill Kitana going back to UMK3 but that actually makes sense in terms of character. Fatalities shouldn’t ever go, it’s a part of MK, but the roster needs less family members at this point imo.

 

[Dragonraven666]

This is exactly why I think Johnny, Sonya, And Jax should’ve been cut. Don’t get me wrong, they are amazing characters, but seeing Sonya crush her daughters face in and then blow a hole in it while just moments ago she was being all good protective mom to her is sorta unsettling. I know Sindel could kill Kitana going back to UMK3 but that actually makes sense in terms of character. Fatalities shouldn’t ever go, it’s a part of MK, but the roster needs less family members at this point imo.

Yes, exactly. This is a better way of putting it. I find the family killing off putting lol

 

[Living Corpse]

Sounds like they need to give the animators week long breaks if they feel they are reaching a breaking point. There's only so much violence (real or fake) you can watch before it starts messing with you.

 

[Juxtapose]

To chip in my two cents:

I work in television production; not the same as the video game industry, but the entertainment industry non-the-less and there's lots of parallels, and I've been working professionally now for a little under twenty years.

My thoughts are take any reports like the ones we've been seeing with a grain of salt. Aside from the internet's tendency to sensationalize things significantly these days, as someone who's seen employees and contractors come and go for varied reasons and as someone who's seen employees and contractors deal with phenomenal workplace stresses, there's always more than just one side to any story.

What these former employee/contractor articles are saying might indeed be true, but they're not always the entire truth.

The entertainment industry is an extremely aggressive, challenging, and high stress industry to work in simply because it is a high profit industry. Some of the shows my company makes are factual entertainment murder shows, shows that detail real graphic murders. The researchers and visual researchers we have regularly need to research extremely graphic material, interview families of murder victims, deal with convicts, etc. That is very high stress and wears on a person for very basic psychological reasons.

What many of our researchers and visual researchers do to balance this is they do not work exclusively on murder shows, and rotate out to something much simpler on the stress, like a cooking show, for their own mental health. When they do take on a murder show, they know what they're getting into; the kind of content is clearly laid out for them, and they decide to take the job or not. Other coworkers of mine will never touch a murder show because they know that they couldn't handle it. No one thinks less of them for it.

None of them also look to the company to pay any counseling bills or offer services; they're all professionals.

For those of you who are young, still in school or just starting out in the workforce in general, the best advice I can give you is the truth: Life is not fair or easy. There are times where work will be good and balanced, and there's times where it will be insanely stressful with long, awful hours that just go on and on. Hard periods can sometimes last years, but they're not forever. Your own ability to roll with, and ultimately overcome challenges or not, will be a big part of how well you do professionally or not.

Some people can do this extremely well, others not so much. If you can't at the place or industry you're in, then it might truly not be the place or industry for you. I've seen enough people who couldn't handle TV, and they shifted instead to jobs in advertising, teaching, and a whole spectrum of other things.

The exception to this mentality being when something truly illegal is going on. Sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying, etc. should not be tolerated, and should be investigated through the proper legal channels. There are always resources for employees and contractors to branch out to, always someone to talk to and get advice, even if those people and resources are not within the company you're with at the moment.

For this article in particular, it sounds like the kind of project that Mortal Kombat is simply isn't the kind of project for this poor artist.

 

[DDustiNN]

Can we just stop posting Kotaku articles?

If you decide to work on Mortal Kombat, you know what you’re signing up for. This is dumb.

 

[Dragonraven666]

Kotaku tends to be a pretty decent source on the games industry. Let's be serious, there is some shady shit that happens. If you are a consumer, and you want to be an ethical consumer, there's nothing wrong with knowing what or who is feeding you, or offering you, as media. I think that the video game industry, with the manner in which it is unregulated, is a detriment to it's work force. I'm not holding something like Kotaku up as a savior, but hearing from the inside of an industry is never really a bad thing.

 

[Dragonraven666]

None of them also look to the company to pay any counseling bills or offer services; they're all professionals.

They should, if your company is your source of health care, then they absolutely should. Sadly we have a stigma with mental health issues and what's considered fair and reasonable in the work place. I respect your opinion, and your view from within the entertainment industry, but I think to say that your employer (who mind you is unregulated because 'we treat our team as a family' or some such non-sense mantra) doesn't have a responsibility to your well being, that's just not right.

 

[HeavyNorse]

I'm worried about how many people here just go "Deal with it", "Don't worry about it" and "They know what they signed up for"... that's probably the least constructive thing to say. Ignoring an issue won't make it go away. Caring about your employees health, both physical AND mental, isn't something that should just be brushed off as a non-issue.

I can understand that working on something like this would affect you in the long run. This could be your dream job, to work on Mortal Kombat or other media which contain very violent and gory imagery, and you could be completely alright with that part! But the human mind absorb everything we see and it will affect you if exposed to it for a long time! What's important is HOW you deal with it, how you process it. Because ignoring it can lead to it suddenly bursting through, giving you nightmares, insomnia, maybe even lead to depression and anxiety issues.

It's a good thing that these things are being talked about, putting some spotlight on it as it hopefully leads to it being dealt with. For example having a therapist working alongside the employees so these issues can be tended to before it starts becoming harmful.

Starting this conversation can be hard though, as a lot of people can be very dismissive of it (proven throughout this thread), but I'm glad that they are. ^^

Edit:
Also, let make this 100% clear! In NO WAY am I saying Mortal Kombat should be censored in any way! What I'm saying is that WB/NRS should take the precautions on how it affects those working on the game, to make sure they are capable of continuing their work!

 

[haketh]

100% your job should be looking out for the Mental Health of Employees not just because it's the right thing to do but also to ensure quality of a product for people that seem to lack empathy

 

[Vslayer]

I agree, but a company isn't your parent and if YOU feel your mental health started to go to crap, you speak up and you get the help you need. These are adults we're talking about, not children. Sure companies should make mental health a priority, but so should the workers. People tend to forget to actually take care of themselves.

 

[Juxtapose]

They should, if your company is your source of health care, then they absolutely should. Sadly we have a stigma with mental health issues and what's considered fair and reasonable in the work place. I respect your opinion, and your view from within the entertainment industry, but I think to say that your employer (who mind you is unregulated because 'we treat our team as a family' or some such non-sense mantra) doesn't have a responsibility to your well being, that's just not right.

No, they shouldn't, because that's not how business is. I also live and work in Canada, where the health care industry, and stigma around mental health, is very different then the US.

Employees of the company get a benefits package, and that does indeed cover counseling services. The people working on the shows though, like the researchers and visual researchers I mention, are contractors, freelancers. Contractors do not get benefits packages because they're not employees; they're independent companies offering their services to their client (the company) in exchange for their specified, agreed upon rate.

I suppose they could try to negotiate for such things, but I doubt that would go well because it's not an industry standard.

And as I mention, not every kind of project is for every kind of person. Those who aren't able to handle such content typically don't keep doing it, as there's always other shows and options for them.

I respect your opinion as well, not disrespect meant with the above, but note your opinion is simply not how the business world works.

An employer is not your pal or family looking out for you, they're you're client expecting you to perform the service you agreed to perform. If you are unable to perform that service, then it's not the job for you. If you believe you are unable to perform the service due to abuse from the employer, then you need to seek professional or legal counsel.

 

[Juxtapose]

I agree, but a company isn't your parent and if YOU feel your mental health started to go to crap, you speak up and you get the help you need. These are adults we're talking about, not children. Sure companies should make mental health a priority, but so should the workers. People tend to forget to actually take care of themselves.

^Bingo.

 

[Dragonraven666]

No, they shouldn't, because that's not how business is. I also live and work in Canada, where the health care industry, and stigma around mental health, is very different then the US.

Employees of the company get a benefits package, and that does indeed cover counseling services. The people working on the shows though, like the researchers and visual researchers I mention, are contractors, freelancers. Contractors do not get benefits packages because they're not employees; they're independent companies offering their services to their client (the company) in exchange for their specified, agreed upon rate.

I suppose they could try to negotiate for such things, but I doubt that would go well because it's not an industry standard.

And as I mention, not every kind of project is for every kind of person. Those who aren't able to handle such content typically don't keep doing it, as there's always other shows and options for them.

I respect your opinion as well, not disrespect meant with the above, but note your opinion is simply not how the business world works.

An employer is not your pal or family looking out for you, they're you're client expecting you to perform the service you agreed to perform. If you are unable to perform that service, then it's not the job for you. If you believe you are unable to perform the service due to abuse from the employer, then you need to seek professional or legal counsel.

This is very true, I don't want to get too political, but yes Canada and the US have very different healthcare systems. Ours is employer based, and is where I'm coming from in that your employer should have a healthcare plan that includes mental health as one of those options. I'm not sure how Canada's model of capitalism works, I'm sure it's near around ours, but unions here are dead or feckless (unless you're a police union, go figure), and lacking any real teeth for negotiation. Yours most likely works in a federal sense, while ours are a broken mish-mash of states all setting up their own laws and rules.

I agree that the employer is not your pal or family, they may say it, but they're lying through their teeth when they do, which is why I think you need regulation, unions, or some matter to keep you from being crushed by mini-corporate dictators.

 

[Vslayer]

This is very true, I don't want to get too political, but yes Canada and the US have very different healthcare systems. Ours is employer based, and is where I'm coming from in that your employer should have a healthcare plan that includes mental health as one of those options. I'm not sure how Canada's model of capitalism works, I'm sure it's near around ours, but unions here are dead or feckless (unless you're a police union, go figure), and lacking any real teeth for negotiation. Yours most likely works in a federal sense, while ours are a broken mish-mash of states all setting up their own laws and rules.

I agree that the employer is not your pal or family, they may say it, but they're lying through their teeth when they do, which is why I think you need regulation, unions, or some matter to keep you from being crushed by mini-corporate dictators.

In Canada, we have healthcare based on our employer provided by another company, but it's more for things like medication, dental, glasses, etc., Our hospital healthcare is free and has nothing to do with work at all, if you're a citizen, you get it.

 

[Juxtapose]

This is very true, I don't want to get too political, but yes Canada and the US have very different healthcare systems. Ours is employer based, and is where I'm coming from in that your employer should have a healthcare plan that includes mental health as one of those options. I'm not sure how Canada's model of capitalism works, I'm sure it's near around ours, but unions here are dead or feckless (unless you're a police union, go figure), and lacking any real teeth for negotiation. Yours most likely works in a federal sense, while ours are a broken mish-mash of states all setting up their own laws and rules.

I agree that the employer is not your pal or family, they may say it, but they're lying through their teeth when they do, which is why I think you need regulation, unions, or some matter to keep you from being crushed by mini-corporate dictators.

Discussing differences in country's systems doesn't need to turn into a political argument .

I know in the US healthcare is privatized, here in Canada, it's regulated by the provincial governments. I'm in Ontario, and here we pay into our healthcare each year in our income tax return. I know there's a reputation abroad that health care is free here, but that's not true at all. Here, everyone pays into "the pot," and if you need use of the services through the year, much is covered under the provincial health plan.

Not everything is though, and psychologist visits and therapy fall under this. Those services are up to the individual.

Many companies here provide benefit packages to their employers. Mine, for example, covers 80% of the cost for psychiatric treatment, more or less.

My company, while founded in Canada, has a US branch as well, and I have not heard of major complaints or issues from them in terms of how coverage and such works for them. I know my company would be complying with government regulations and industry standards there.

On the flip side, I also do know that business and employment in the US is more cutthroat than many other markets in the world.

For unions, they can be a mixed bag from my experience. There's actually a lawsuit going on in Canada right now in the TV industry, where contractors are suing to be recognized as employees; granting them the overtime pay, benefits, etc. thereof. The suit is calling for a Union to be formed to protect worker rights, and it's interesting to see the split among contractors on that.

I find many of the younger ones want this, but many of the older and more experienced contractors due not. The reasons they're giving is that due to union fees, their earnings would actually decrease, and they'd have significantly less freedom and control over the kinds of jobs they can contract out to.

For my part, it'll be interesting to see how this entire suit plays out. Right now it's expect to take over five years, assuming it even makes it to the courts.

 

[Juxtapose]

In Canada, we have healthcare based on our employer provided by another company, but it's more for things like medication, dental, glasses, etc., Our hospital healthcare is free and has nothing to do with work at all, if you're a citizen, you get it.

I describe it in a little more detail above .

As someone with a chronic health condition, I'm very happy we have the healthcare system we do here.

 

[Lun]

I don't want to sound blunt, but...... anyone here really believing this idiocy? This is an insult to real PTSD sufferers.

And it also sheds a new light to the "crunch" problem of NetherRealms Software: overexagerated lies.

 

[Dragonraven666]

PTSD can be caused from many scenarios. Rape, suicide, torture, and seeing these things played out for 80 hours a week or more, could do that to your brain.

 

[Scyther]

I don't want to sound blunt, but...... anyone here really believing this idiocy? This is an insult to real PTSD sufferers.

And it also sheds a new light to the "crunch" problem of NetherRealms Software: overexagerated lies.

Are you...are you seriously trying to gatekeep PTSD?

 

[Vslayer]

I describe it in a little more detail above .

As someone with a chronic health condition, I'm very happy we have the healthcare system we do here.

yep, you did a better job than I did XD I do love the healthcare we have, even if waiting lists are long and the emergency room wait is ridiculous, we always have that safety net to fall back on.

 

[EarlyReflections]

To chip in my two cents:

I work in television production; not the same as the video game industry, but the entertainment industry non-the-less and there's lots of parallels, and I've been working professionally now for a little under twenty years.

My thoughts are take any reports like the ones we've been seeing with a grain of salt. Aside from the internet's tendency to sensationalize things significantly these days, as someone who's seen employees and contractors come and go for varied reasons and as someone who's seen employees and contractors deal with phenomenal workplace stresses, there's always more than just one side to any story.

What these former employee/contractor articles are saying might indeed be true, but they're not always the entire truth.

The entertainment industry is an extremely aggressive, challenging, and high stress industry to work in simply because it is a high profit industry. Some of the shows my company makes are factual entertainment murder shows, shows that detail real graphic murders. The researchers and visual researchers we have regularly need to research extremely graphic material, interview families of murder victims, deal with convicts, etc. That is very high stress and wears on a person for very basic psychological reasons.

What many of our researchers and visual researchers do to balance this is they do not work exclusively on murder shows, and rotate out to something much simpler on the stress, like a cooking show, for their own mental health. When they do take on a murder show, they know what they're getting into; the kind of content is clearly laid out for them, and they decide to take the job or not. Other coworkers of mine will never touch a murder show because they know that they couldn't handle it. No one thinks less of them for it.

None of them also look to the company to pay any counseling bills or offer services; they're all professionals.

For those of you who are young, still in school or just starting out in the workforce in general, the best advice I can give you is the truth: Life is not fair or easy. There are times where work will be good and balanced, and there's times where it will be insanely stressful with long, awful hours that just go on and on. Hard periods can sometimes last years, but they're not forever. Your own ability to roll with, and ultimately overcome challenges or not, will be a big part of how well you do professionally or not.

Some people can do this extremely well, others not so much. If you can't at the place or industry you're in, then it might truly not be the place or industry for you. I've seen enough people who couldn't handle TV, and they shifted instead to jobs in advertising, teaching, and a whole spectrum of other things.

The exception to this mentality being when something truly illegal is going on. Sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying, etc. should not be tolerated, and should be investigated through the proper legal channels. There are always resources for employees and contractors to branch out to, always someone to talk to and get advice, even if those people and resources are not within the company you're with at the moment.

For this article in particular, it sounds like the kind of project that Mortal Kombat is simply isn't the kind of project for this poor artist.

Ι work in entertainment as well. Can't agree and relate more.

Also, MK needs a No Blood option so everyone can enjoy. Nobody cares for over the top violence anymore. We're all here for gameplay and story.

 

[Lun]

Are you...are you seriously trying to gatekeep PTSD?

No, by all means, let's extend the meaning of that term so it can apply to literally anything and everything. Just like "autism" and "attention deficit". Go on.

 

[Lun]

To chip in my two cents:

I work in television production; not the same as the video game industry, but the entertainment industry non-the-less and there's lots of parallels, and I've been working professionally now for a little under twenty years.

My thoughts are take any reports like the ones we've been seeing with a grain of salt. Aside from the internet's tendency to sensationalize things significantly these days, as someone who's seen employees and contractors come and go for varied reasons and as someone who's seen employees and contractors deal with phenomenal workplace stresses, there's always more than just one side to any story.

What these former employee/contractor articles are saying might indeed be true, but they're not always the entire truth.

The entertainment industry is an extremely aggressive, challenging, and high stress industry to work in simply because it is a high profit industry. Some of the shows my company makes are factual entertainment murder shows, shows that detail real graphic murders. The researchers and visual researchers we have regularly need to research extremely graphic material, interview families of murder victims, deal with convicts, etc. That is very high stress and wears on a person for very basic psychological reasons.

What many of our researchers and visual researchers do to balance this is they do not work exclusively on murder shows, and rotate out to something much simpler on the stress, like a cooking show, for their own mental health. When they do take on a murder show, they know what they're getting into; the kind of content is clearly laid out for them, and they decide to take the job or not. Other coworkers of mine will never touch a murder show because they know that they couldn't handle it. No one thinks less of them for it.

None of them also look to the company to pay any counseling bills or offer services; they're all professionals.

For those of you who are young, still in school or just starting out in the workforce in general, the best advice I can give you is the truth: Life is not fair or easy. There are times where work will be good and balanced, and there's times where it will be insanely stressful with long, awful hours that just go on and on. Hard periods can sometimes last years, but they're not forever. Your own ability to roll with, and ultimately overcome challenges or not, will be a big part of how well you do professionally or not.

Some people can do this extremely well, others not so much. If you can't at the place or industry you're in, then it might truly not be the place or industry for you. I've seen enough people who couldn't handle TV, and they shifted instead to jobs in advertising, teaching, and a whole spectrum of other things.

The exception to this mentality being when something truly illegal is going on. Sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying, etc. should not be tolerated, and should be investigated through the proper legal channels. There are always resources for employees and contractors to branch out to, always someone to talk to and get advice, even if those people and resources are not within the company you're with at the moment.

For this article in particular, it sounds like the kind of project that Mortal Kombat is simply isn't the kind of project for this poor artist.

Well said.

 

[Scyther]

No, by all means, let's extend the meaning of that term so it can apply to literally anything and everything. Just like "autism" and "attention deficit". Go on.

I have to ask...how old are you?

 

[Lun]

I have to ask...how old are you?

35.
I've seen kids who are better than me at maths get diagnosed with "dyscalculia". I've also seen teenagers who are plain, simple spoiled bullies get diagnosed with "attention deficit disorder". Oh, and there's this kid who has behavioural problems but ZERO writing/reading/speaking problems who is seeing a logopedist, and his mother actually asked me why (I said it's probably because the logopedist needs money). Another situation was of a kid who was diagnosed with all of these psychological problems, and one whole year later the psychologist came and told the mother "I was wrong. He lied all this time".

And people hold to that so much. "I'm autistic/ADD/anything so I don't have to do this or that".

Meanwhile, if someone really happens to suffer from one of those problems, good luck for them, because how are people going to believe it when half of the others fake it due to corrupted or plain lazy psychologists?

And hey, do you honestly believe watching a disturbing photo is actually comparable to experiencing a traumatic event in real life?