PIXELS
AND POLITICS
“I think everyone expresses their
politics in their actions and what
they create, even if they’re not
meaning to, says Pixel Pushers
Union 512’s Ted Anderson. “This is
a departure from the common
belief that some things can
be apolitical if they pass by as
the norm. We believe that that
norm is political, and that people
shouldn’t be too surprised if there’s
a leftist game that is unapologetic
about its politics, as every other
form of media has its own politics
already, even if those politics are
quiet or incidental.”
If you need evidence that a game made
by a worker co-op can be a hit, look no
further than Motion Twin’s Dead Cells. Ted Anderson [second from right]
hanging out with Pixel Pushers
Union 512 and publisher New
Blood Interactive.of setups – we vote on things that affect the
studio, our expenditures, our salaries, etc. It
doesn’t mean we have a big group vote on every
creative decision – we all have our expertise and
collaborate accordingly. But it does mean there
isn’t one boss or stratum of decision-makers
above us that determine all those things for us,
and who ultimately own the work we make.”
With no bosses above their heads, The Glory
Society and Pixel Pushers free themselves from
many of the worst excesses of the video game
industry. There’s no management to force
members into brutal periods of crunch; no
imbalance of power that allows a hierarchy to
question their ‘passion’ for the industry if they
complain about their conditions; no one is going
to exploit them to line their own pockets and
boost profits for shareholders; and the co-op
members aren’t going to vote to lay themselves
off as part of a boom and bust hiring cycle.
“I’ve been laid off before, and I’ve been a part
of a hiring binge before,” says Anderson. “It’s an
untenable system that puts the weight of
production on the shoulders of the workers
without them having much say in how things
rattle out.
“I believe that co-ops can help reverse the lost
wages and ‘churn’ of layoffs and hiring that
happens in our line of work, just as it has in
other industries,” he continues. “I think they are
definitely a better solution than the current
method of production in many industries, and in
games, it’s no different. We’re an industry like any
other, where workers produce goods or services
and are given a wage for that labour. However,
the surplus value of that labour lands in the
pockets of the owners and management of thoseis precisely how people like Anderson and
Farren have responded to their negative
experiences. In 2015, Anderson formed the
worker co-operative Pixel Pushers Union 512,
while Farren co-founded The Glory Society in
early 2019.TAKING CONTROL
“A worker co-op is a business that’s
democratically owned and operated and
controlled by its workers,” explains Scott
Benson, who co-founded The Glory Society with
Farren and Bethany Hockenberry. “There’s a lot
to it, but it comes down to the fact that we talk
things out and communicate, and are
accountable to each other in ways that aren’t
really possible in a top-down business.
Also, voting happens.
“To pick one example that might seem unique
for people who aren’t familiar with these types Tonight We Riot’s tale of the exploited
versus the exploiters is clearly trying to tap
into experiences that many of its players
will have had in their working lives.46 / wfmag.ccA world without bosses?Interface