Why I do not write game text for a living

[benlehman]

The following is a post on the Forge that someone in Eden studios posted in response to one of their freelancers saying that not only was he denied payment, he was denied even a writing credit:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=143463#143463

I am responding to it here and not there, because here I don't have to be polite.



First off -- if your business model requires that you *not pay* the people who are *producing your product* then maybe you ought to consider using a different business model. One that didn't rely on exploitation. Just maybe.

Secondly, while the fellow here says that they've done everything to try to make things right for the "mistake" of denying him a writing credit, this is clearly not true. They sent him... a comp copy. Which he ought to be getting anyway. *Every* writing source except for vanity presses provides comp copies.

So, in short, Eden Studios has not paid this guy a fair wage for fair work (yeah, he was conned into it, but I think if you're going to charge money for writing you'd better be willing to pay money for it), further denied him the payment of having a publication credit, bitched about having sent him a comp copy and still say that:

"We take pride in being a place where new creators can get published. We let them know what they are getting into and they choose to contribute or not. When we make promises, we do out best to fulfill them, even if it takes a bit of time to do so."

Well, frankly, man, you didn't fulfill your promises. You promised publication credit... and didn't give it. You most likely didn't tell him that he would make $350-700 for 7000 words in a fair writing market.

But it's all okay, because you let him "get published." The rosy glow of seeing your words in print -- even under someone else's name -- is clearly far greater than any cash. And he couldn't have done that himself, and made more money on it.

Frankly, I hope the "RPG biz" crashes and burns. With the exception of a few scant companies, it is exploitive, immoral, and wrong.

Comments

[crnixon.livejournal.com]

What Ben said.

I have to verbally slap the guy who actually wrote the work, though. He could have done it himself, and he doesn't need anyone to tell him that.

[meiganren.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure you can call what most RPG companies are doing a business. From an Economist's perspective, none of these small companies make a profit. What I mean by that: if I spent 100 hours working at McDonalds, I'd make more money than if I spent 100 hours writing a RPG book. So an Economist would say that I'm not publishing the book for money, I'm publishing it because I enjoy publishing it. Which is true, of course.

Not that makes any of this any better. Ripping people off as a lawyer making $400 an hour is wrong, but it makes some sense. Ripping people off so you can make an extra $200? Really?