Read and select the main information that we can use for study. Then rewrite it in a paragraph of 50 words?

The conditions revealed by EA Spouse are intrinsically embedded in the modalities of work of cognitive capitalism. In these conditions, the means of production are the worker’s mind and creative faculty (Berardi, 2009; Lazzarato, 1996). The boundary of life and work becomes inevitably blurred, opening towards new forms of exploitation. The worker is subjected to further pressure and is expected to appear in first person as a singular, competitive individual. In these conditions, collective representation typically guaranteed by a labour union is eroded. EA Spouse was a significant event in the recent history of the video game industry, as it exposed issues that were not appearing in the public discourse. However, the conditions that allowed it to become relevant for a broader community are not easily replicable today. EA Spouse was writing from a position of anonymity, and it identified a specific subject (Electronic Arts) as the source of the struggle. EA Spouse’s husband was one among many who worked at Electronic Arts, thus not immediately identifiable. The letter led to a series of class actions against Electronic Arts; and in the process, the name of EA Spouse, Erin Hoffman, was revealed. Hoffman was a game designer herself. The events that followed further complicate the understanding of this event: Erin Hoffman could only temporarily hide her identity, and she did not have a larger institution or association to refer to, or where to find legal, economic and moral support. Despite the broader resonance that EA Spouse had across the video game industry, Hoffman and her husband fought for their rights as individuals.
Since 2009, at the time when Games of Empire was originally published, much has changed. However, the exploitative conditions revealed by EA Spouse have not been resolved. Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter identified in the independent production of video games a potential alternative to the controls imposed by major publishers such as Electronic Arts. In the last 10 years, we have seen the cooptation of independent modalities of production, subsumed by new gatekeepers such as Steam that retain a margin of profit in return of the necessary visibility to the consumer market (Lipkin, 2013). Moreover, the individualisation of the worker has only been made more prominent (Crogan, 2018). Independent developers are now expected to appear in first person not only in front of the publisher/distributor but also in front of the crowd of potential consumers that might provide the necessary support to finance their project (Tiny, 2017). Crowdfunding platforms and social media are vital contexts of promotion and self-branding for aspiring developers. The increased visibility and individualisation have exacerbated the vulnerability of the developer, who is now subject to constant scrutiny. The harassment inflicted to the designers Phil Fish and Zoe Quinn is emblematic of the implications of the new dynamics of game development. Those who are left at the margins of the contexts of game production because of their gender and race are further discriminated by the over-individualised and overexposed modalities of promotion (Harvey and Fisher, 2014; McRobbie, 2002). At the same time, antagonistic forms of protest become increasingly complex, as the previous employers are replaced by disembodied crowds and distribution platforms (Srnicek, 2017).
As Woodcock (2016, p. 140) noted before the rise of GWU, there are ‘two points of contestation … the first is the prevalence of “crunch time” … The second is the institutional sexism of the industry. These two could be converted into organisable demands in a workplace’. However, at the time – like with Games of Empire – it remained to be seen how this could develop into workplace organising. Indeed, in a foreshadowing of today, Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter (2009, p. 233) explain:
EA Spouse has come out in favor of unionization, observing that while the spate of publicity about work hours has temporarily curbed the imposition of permanent crunch time, ‘I don’t think that will be very long-lived. In my opinion, the only thing that will get publishers to budge is unionization, which I believe to be the best solution’ (cited in Hyman, 2005).
However, much of the contemporary parts of the book focused on Hardt and Negri’s (2000) use of the ‘multitude’, with a broader notion of resistance in relation to video games. For example there is much focus on practices like ‘counterplay’ (Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter, 2009, p. 193).
In light of the recent unionisation efforts, the strongest parts of their analysis related to the longer histories of resistance and refusal – for example in Chapter 1 (‘Immaterial Labour: A Workers’ History of Videogaming’). The history is traced back to the earliest video games and the refusal and capture of immaterial workers in the military–industrial complex. This involves a reading of this kind of work as involving resistance from the start, rather than seeing the recent unionisation as taking place against some sort of tabula rasa.
This focus on histories of resistance provides an important backdrop for making sense of GWU. In more recent years, this has included trade union forms of workers’ struggles in – or adjacent to – the game industry. For example in 2016, voice actors organised a strike with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Although these are highly visible – or more accurately, audible – parts of contemporary video games, they are not often considered to be core parts of the workforce. Their strike was launched for better conditions, particularly focusing on vocal safety, as well as better compensation for their contributions. Similarly, in 2018, workers staged a strike at Eugen, a French video game studio. These workers – who looked much more like the typical video game worker – had organised with a specialised trade union: Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (the video game workers’ union) in order to try and apply a collective bargaining agreement that covered tech workers.
From the history covered in Games of Empire to these most recent pre-GWU flashpoints, there are likely many stories of workers who resisted and tried to organise. These may have been individual acts, or small attempts to try something new, or plans that never materialised. However, what is certain is that there has been workplace resistance throughout the history of the video game industry. Most of these were invisible – known only to those directly involved and hidden from a popular understanding of the industry. The formation of GWU should therefore be understood as the first moment of international visibility of worker organising. The formalisation of these networks is also creating moments where workers can meet, discuss and plan action on a scale that was never present before.
Rise of GWU
The strikes of voice actors and video game workers at Eugen foreshadowed the rise of game worker organising, showing that it was possible – even if not probable at that point. However, these were covered in increasingly pro-worker video game media. Alongside new organising in video games and the wider tech industry, many of these publications were also having their own pushes for unionisation. However, it was not until the annual US Game Developer Conference in 2018 that organising became internationally visible. At this conference, there was a scheduled discussion on ‘Union Now? Pros, Cons and Consequences of Unionisation for Game Devs’. This was to be hosted by the executive director of the International Game Developers Association. This professional association is widely considered to be anti-unionisation and not orientated around worker concerns. A group of video game workers planned a pro-union intervention. They decided on a name: GWU, developed a logo and prepared video game themed propaganda. This attempt to raise the visibility of pro-union voices was greatly amplified when the panel organisers attempted to suppress the discussion. News spread of the event across social media, rapidly building an international profile for GWU.
As of the point of writing, there are now national chapters of GWU across the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Oceania, with an increasing number of country specific chapters. The UK group was the first of this wave to become a legal trade union, joining the IWGB as a branch at the end of 2018. Most recently, the Irish GWU chapter has unionised with the Financial Services Union.
The process of unionising that the GWU UK branch has adopted differs from much of the mainstream trade union movement. In particular, this has involved translating aspects of trade unionism into a context that works effectively with video game workers. An important part of this has been the use of online communication tools, including Discord. Given that the majority of the workforce already use Discord, due to its large uptake for communicating while playing games, it quickly became the preferred online method. While the sign up process to GWU required disclosure of information about the worker, Discord allows for some anonymity amongst participants. This meant that early process of recruitment – in which many workers were initially not prepared to give their names or details about employers – could be mediated via Discord, with workers increasing their level of disclosure amongst each other as confidence in the project developed. The online communication became an important bridge for workers who had never organised before to build their engagement in steps, leading up to in person meetings and union activities.
The use of social media more broadly has become an important part of the growth of GWU UK. However, the interrelation between in person meetings, video calls, instant messaging and shared online discussions has accelerated the development of both local chapters of GWU and the international network. However, these questions of visibility have always been important to the early stages of trade union organising, particularly in the face of hostile employers. It is worth noting that at one of the first meetings of GWU UK, many of the workers who attended did not know that union membership could (and most often should) not be disclosed to an employer at the initial stage of organising.
At the time of writing, GWU UK charges a monthly fee to its members (£8–15 per month, depending on salary) and welcomes anyone who is ‘involved in the creation of video games’, as long as they do not have hiring/firing powers (GWU UK, 2019b). This decision was the result of a lengthy debate about who and what constitutes a ‘game worker’. Unlike the discussion of the multitude against empire that often comes up in Games of Empire, instead here there is a return to the more convention opposition of boss and worker. This can be clearly seen in the riffing off the use of ‘boss’ from video game terminology in leaflets and social media content (Woodcock, 2020) but is also a return to a workplace politics that often slipped into the background in Empire. The formation of a trade union is, of course, not analogous to a revolutionary subject that Hardt and Negri were searching for. Trade unions play a contradictory role under capitalism, in what Hyman (1975, p. 185) has argued is the dialectic of industrial relations: ‘conflict and accommodation’. However, the new formation could play a role – despite the limitations of trade unionism – as ‘schools of war’ for wider struggles, as Engels (2009, p. 232) once argued. It is these dynamic workers are involved in within the union that are of particular interest.
The members of the new union have been actively involved in campaigns and political education on workers’ rights. GWU UK has also joined in political campaigns and strikes of other groups associated with the broader IWGB, which gathers workers involved in the gig economy (such as Uber drivers and couriers), and low-paid migrant workers involved in sectors such as security, cleaning and care. GWU UK has been organising local training sessions to educate members on how to engage with their bosses and with potential new members on their workplace. While the details of the disputes cannot be disclosed (as will be discussed below), GWU UK has announced on 21st January 2020 that a total of 19 cases, involving 11 companies, have been opened by the union since its inception. This has resulted in £25,720 win for their members. The cases where the union has been involved include forms of grievance, such as harassment, discrimation and bullying, changes to terms and conditions, unfair or wrong dismissal and redundancies. The union has also started local groups across the United Kingdom, with the purpose of involving a larger number of workers in meetings and bottom-up decision-making. In short, GWU UK’s activity has been, so far, a combination of information and sensibilisation, creation of local networks and legal representation.