An Interview With Matthew Jeffrey
31 May, 2007, 2:53 pm IST | Avinash Bali
Challenging everything... and everyone!
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Parents the world over have this notion that most video games are hyper violent and that playing games can turn an innocent child into an axe wielding maniac; what’s your take on this? I want parents and older generations to appreciate that games are not all predicated on violence; games like the Sims, Harry Potter and Brain Training can be fun AND educational, not only in terms of asking the player to think and respond in different situations but also in helping coordination and reaction times. I also hope that parents watch what their children play; there are some violent games in the market but these are not developed for younger players and therefore parents should ensure their children do not play such games. EA's philosophy has always been to make games that your family would be proud of and not to show excessive violence and blood. In 2004, EA was slapped with a class action lawsuit on the grounds of employee exploitation. How badly did this tarnish the company’s image? Did EA learn anything from this experience? I think that any industry which is faced with project deadlines will have the challenge to ensure a fair work/life balance. When coming to an end of a project and faced with commercially releasing a game, production schedules do get harder. More hours are needed as a combination of adding final polish but also teams push to the maximum to add in crucial content which can move a game from a 80 % Metacritic to a 90/95 % Metacritic review score. That means a great deal to a team. There is no greater satisfaction than working on a Worldwide great game. Additional hours or 'crunch' as it is called, also affects other industries, including film, TV commercials, in fact anything with a project deadline. It is a challenge to many companies not just within gaming. I ask this question at Universities. Tell me did you hand in your coursework/homework 2 weeks before deadline or on the day of the deadline. 99 per cent say they only start the work or are working on their coursework the night before handing it in. Crucial for EA is that we listened to what was being said and we have made a number of adjustments to lessen the effects of 'crunch'. Key is ensuring that we maximize time spent in the preproduction phase. This includes locking down a game design early in the cycle and not consistently changing scope and design through the project. Following on from tightly defined game design is then the ability to effectively plan the project and ensure a fair distribution of hours over the whole of the project, not just the last few months. With EA listening to concerns and reacting this shows a business looking after its 10,000 worldwide employees. There has been no repeat of EA Spouse because we listened and acted. But we are not complacent and we always need to look after our staff. |
Tags: Interview , Matthew Jeffrey , EA
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