In a recent tweet, the popular video game aggregator OpenCritic mentioned they were thinking about adding a “Crunch Meter” to its website.
With all the talk over the past year (and before that) of game developers being worked to the bone, this would give access to report on conditions and treatment without fear of retaliation. Allowing those on the outside to see what exactly is happening within some of our favorite studios. A tool that could help exposure some wrongdoing? I’d be down for that.
Considering implementing a "crunch meter" on OpenCritic, similar to Glassdoor.
The idea is that devs could anonymously report work/life balance during development of a game. We'd try to work in some sort of verification process (perhaps verified LinkedIn work email).
Thoughts?
— OpenCritic (@Open_Critic) June 27, 2019
Obviously, the key here is the verification process, which needs to be rock solid. The last thing anyone needs is someone claiming to be part of a studio and spreading misinformation. However, if OpenCritic can get this verification process hammered out and is able to keep this separate from the reviews, this could more developers/QA testers and pretty much anyone else affected by crunch time. Allowing that information to be more commonplace, and hopefully/ideally available to more people.
Yes, OpenCritic, please make this happen. Especially since I feel it would put some much-needed pressure on the studios and how they handle crunch time. Only time will tell if they ultimately decide to implement this feature. Until then, be sure to checking back over at www.opencritic.com.
