/vr/ - Retro Games

Japanese work culture seems like hell

>>7045423
Only when you assume it's the same hostile environment that American corporate culture has.

>>7045420
According to "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers" a lot of not bathing, coffee, and in at least one instance, trying to out-psych the Yakuza.

>>7045443
>and in at least one instance, trying to out-psych the Yakuza.
say what got a tl;dr for that?

>>7045420
stressful and exhausting but creatively rewarding

>>7045451
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/11/rumour_leading_japanese_game_company_kidnapped_devs_sister_to_stop_them_from_working_with_nintendo
tl;dr a company that totally wasn't SEGA had yakuza kidnap some guy's sister to keep his company from cooperating with Nintendo. The guy ended up buying one of their arcade machines, renting a forklift, and having the arcade machine smashed outside totally not SEGA's offices.

There's something where Kojima talks about getting bullied constantly for being the ideas guy

>>7045459
there was also a distributor in vol 1 talking about how you'd have yakuza hired to come and mess with your machines, and the only solution was to hire your own yakuza to stop them. Apparently it's all because video games are seen as a "pleasure" industry which makes them fall under improper activities to Japanese, so that means gangs get interested in it. There were a couple companies that apparently started with yakuza money, such as SNK.

Being literally associated with underworld figures might explain why japanese game developers didn't see their work as being something that would last, or why they distanced themselves from it with fake names/etc.

>>7045423
Having worked in it it's not that bad. Literally just say no when they ask for stupid shit like staying 8 hours late and all you'll get is a horrible attempt at peer pressure. Just work hard and get along with everybody and show up to the after work drinking spot and everyone is fine

the one anecdote I have about working at nintendo is that it was very serious. Apparently they had three doors, and your lobby was based on how important you were. Also, they started every day with Mozart's "eine kleine nachtmusik" and the people worked like little robots day in and day out.

>>7045459
Hahaha, holy shit

My dad used to work at Nintendo when I was a kid. He said most of their time is spent just playing video games.

>>7045438
that runs counter to every description of the Japanese office workplace ever

What is it like to be Shiggy's son/daughter?

>>7045474
>why they distanced themselves from it with fake names/etc.
That was to prevent other developers from headhunting their competition.

>>7045443
>>7045459
Sounds like a good read, pdf available?

>>7045438
yeah, it's somehow worse

>>7046248
But japan is a based and redpilled ethnostate where men celebrate being men by going out to the bar after work everyday to build brotherhood and comraderie. Sure, the work is hard, but you know the company will always have your back.

Like all of Japanese corporate culture, it's mostly being a chained slave in a cubicle who works 20 hour days, sleeps in a hammock in the office, and rarely sees your family.

>>7045420
I couldn't say which would be more hellish, Japanese or American game dev.
I can't even tell which posts in this thread are shitposts and legit braindead retarded weebs.

>>7045423
because its adapted for japanese people.
for them, its natural.
dont @ me with suicide statistics. they arent miserable, just accountable.

>>7045452
This may be a atereotype but I also get the impression 80s Japan business culture meant constant drinking and fucking whores with your coworkers and bosses.

>>7045475
>and show up to the after work drinking spot and everyone is fine
Are there really no teetotalers in Japan? I don’t drink so I could never work somewhere where I’m expected to go out and get drunk after work everyday.

>>7046270
>Sure, the work is hard, but you know the company will always have your back.
Is this still true in Japan or is it like America where job security doesn't exist anymore?

>>7045550
I read he didn’t let them play video games much.

>>7046270
>company always having your back
>post is made after 1990

>>7046382
>company always having your back
>post is made after the industrial revolution

>>7046371
>>7046382
>What do you think it was like being a videogame developer in 1980s Japan?

>>7045459
...Majima?

>>7045459
>The only companies that have been able to do business while staying clean are probably Nintendo and Namco.

>>7045459
>I don't know how much you know about [REDACTED], but are you aware of the "quarantine room" [隔離部屋, literal translation: "Isolation room"] problem from around the year 2000? They would put employees alone in a room and give them absolutely nothing to do, in order to make them resign. [REDACTED] did that, and former [REDACTED] employees sued them and won. That's the kind of thing [REDACTED] did back then. They didn't just put people behind a partition or something, they sent them away to a completely different floor of the building. [REDACTED] didn't just lose a lawsuit over this, they completely tarnished their image. Nobody wanted to buy games from a company like that. It became a major social issue. Like this article, about [REDACTED] being sued for the quarantine room and issuing a public apology.

it was sega lol
https://saki.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/news/986125663/

>>7046514
the highlight of that thread

>>7046514
I don't understand that tactic and I've seen it employed at a few companies. If you park me with a decent salary I would literally ride that god damned isolation room into the sunset. You'd have to force me out. Don't test my ability to be a lazy piece of shit

>>7046270

>>7046368
Their beer is super light. I went in as a complete alco-nub in 2008 and bought a comically oversized stein when we went to the Izakaya and barely got a buzz before I gave up over the sheer volume. Shit like Strong Zero is actually pretty cheap for the ABV though

>>7046689
Tactic is probably more effective with Japanese than Westerners due to their strongly established concept of shame. Here we'd be like cool you mean I'm getting paid to sit in a room and drink coffee for 8 hours a day? Sweet.

>>7046768
Sakaguchi looks like a real bro. I'd love to go drinking with him and Uematsu, I bet they got some wild stories to tell.

>>7046826
East Asians aren't that good at tolerating alcohol, it's a genetic issue. That's why their drinks are babby-tier.

>>7046858
A shitload of it would just be them saying they still don't know what the fuck Nasir was smoking or how me managed to shit out the first 2-3 FFs

>>7046856
One of my former managers had this happen to him. He's a total fuckup but they parked him when he was probably making around 60-75k and it's like, who the fuck is going to want to put in the effort to leave at that point? It's been half a decade since I left and he's still there

>>7045469
kek based af
fuck hackjima and hackjima drones

>>7045420
What GameBoy game was he working on, bros?

>>7045420
>Miyamoto_farting_on_mario.jpg

>>7046904
Kinda weird that Squaresoft owed its early success, not to mention survival, to this random Iranian guy who barely spoke a word of Japanese.

>>7046689
Better yet, get another job that can be done remotely and use the isolation room as your office. Collect two salaries for the price of one.

>>7047386
Probably Yoshi.

>>7046368
>and show up to the after work drinking spot and everyone is fine
>Are there really no teetotalers in Japan?
How did you get from A to B?

>I don’t drink so I
Ah, because you think every topic is actually about you