Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Literal Boss Fight”.
Aftra has decided to hold the general vote on whether to authorize. That’S pretty key here, a strike against video game companies. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a strike will happen just that. If the vote is successful, they will have the authority to call a strike when negotiations win slash if negotiations fail, the union is seeking similar terms to what they asked of TV and film companies like an 11 wage increase and protections from AI.
The last time. Video game voice actors held a strike was in October of 2016, which lasted 340 days. The eventual agreement included a new bonus system and increased transparency during the hiring process, so that actors would know at least the genre of the game and whether their work would include include profanity, slurs, sexual or violent themes or physical stunts.
What the heck? What for a voice, actor? Okay, the agreement did not guarantee residuals a key point of contention. Reportedly, a stalemate has already been reached in negotiations with surprisingly Activision and take two discussion question. What is the best way to help voice actors? What is the advantage disadvantage of having multiple sectors striking at once man? It might bring more attention to it as an advantage. I don’t think there’s a bunch other than that, though, to be honest, and I don’t think that for outside of a very vocal minority of of really supportive gaming fans, I don’t think that most will care. I think that they will that they will just want the games um. I mean we’ve seen that I’d love to say otherwise, but we just talked about horse armor earlier in the show like it’s it’s.
This isn’t just true for gamers to. If I’m being completely honest, this feels true for basically everything um wait, what really one sec? Sorry, no! It’S still up. Okay, um, but like people will have stances on things and then the second that those stances get challenged if it inconveniences them is less entertaining or costs them any amount of money.
It’S decently common that those stances will then be ditched. Apparently, a lot of voice actors do mocap as well. I just I just would have assumed someone else. Did the milk. I had no idea it kind of makes sense.
I mean I could definitely see if someone’s multi-talented or whatever they might as well, but they don’t. Hang together the emotion of what you’re saying with physical actions and your your face and your oh, that’s probably it. I bet you it’s a bunch of face, facial movement, stuff. Well, that wouldn’t be a stunt, but like it yeah, it could be tied into the whole capture.
Yeah yeah yeah that yeah it makes sense. Um hold on one one quick thing: uh, someone in twitch chat: it’s not changing regulations in Germany, it’s just not worth repairing a car if it fails the TV, okay, okay, all right, good to notifying or updating or whatever else. Thank you for the clarification. That’S great. It doesn’t change the point that some people will not have the option of discussing policy with Germans, they’re going to be specific. Also, apparently, part of what I said was right and in some City, centers uh bands based on emissions do exist.
Okay, so yeah, I’m not completely wrong, I’m just German wrong um right so back to back to the voice actor strike. So here’s my concern and we’ve talked about this a little bit, even though it’s it’s not really. You know related to our industry being in YouTube. We have talked a little bit about segafra and about the writer’s Guild strike and what I, what I have expressed before and what I’m going to express again is, I think, it’s too late. I think it’s too late for them to stop the AI Onslaught, because that’s what all three of these have, as one at least one of their Central protections from AI themes, is protections against Ai and protection.
For that there will be. I mean in particular The Writer’s Guild wants protections against just stuffing them in a room to you know, turn some AI horse plop into something palatable with a tiny team and then never even be on set so that there’s no career advancement. That’S what they’re trying to prevent, and ultimately I don’t think any of the studios are interested in in their career growth.
They they see them as they see. The whole thing is transactional and I think that now that the power of AI has been demonstrated, I think once chat, GPT 3 Broke ground, the the the the horse was out of the barn. I I think they saw oh, we are this close and, and maybe their perception is actually wrong. I mean we’ve seen a lot of problems.
Oh yeah, with with large language models in their current form, they’re, not not perfect, but I think to uh to uh to let’s face it, probably a pretty technologically Normy person who might work as an executive at a at a film studio. It seems pretty great and if they’re looking at it, going okay well assuming explosive development in this area, like we see in Tech, if they’re just extrapolating, based on what they’ve seen before, then, it seems like we’re so close that we can just twiddle our thumbs for A little bit here not negotiate anything, and this problem will solve itself one way or the other either with these people starving themselves to the point where they come crawling back for work or to the point where we just replace them with machines. Okay, I’ll just wait. If the latter happens, movies are going to suck even more than they do now. I know right, I will say there was some recent good ones I haven’t seen Oppenheimer, but I’ve heard it’s good and Barbie was great um, but for years now movies have been awesome. In my opinion, I am not yeah, I’m um, I’m I’m.
I am scared for the The Voice, the video game, voice, actors, chances here and just like. I just like I’ve, said about the The Writer’s Guild and, to a lesser degree, the Actors Guild. I think that um, I think they have leverage they have, that they have the star power at least um, but I think that I I in the same way that I’ve expressed uh concern about the writer’s Guild.
I just feel like the video game voice actors are going to come in hot they’re gon na maybe feel good about their chances, and I think what they’re going to find out is. They have absolutely zero negotiating leverage. I I don’t know man. I think that uh, I think that developers will just kind of go okay, forget it then, and they will pivot to technological tools and Gamers will be enraged and then they will buy the game anyway. Would you wager yeah that there are more gaming Studios than there are um? I’M gon na stop you here, because I don’t know yeah, there’s so many indie in both for both that I I just.
I would have no idea how to how to compare the numbers, because I feel like like people are talking in chat right now about how um you know how I mentioned. Oh it’s for facial, animations and you’re like yeah, but they said stunt. So it’s more than that um bg3 ball is gate. Three yeah um.
Someone mentioned that, and this makes sense, because they’re really good uh, but they mentioned that the voice actors did um mocap while they were talking, and the facial animation is what people are talking are very good, so it makes sense right. So I wonder if a game like bg3 were like all the lines or voice acted and they have this mocap on faces, and it’s like it’s a really good immersion quality, beneficial part of the game. I wonder if certain Studios will just opt to work with the new terms of the um voice, actors, Guild or Alliance, or I’m not sure which actual oh, no okay, apparently seg aftra is also the union of the video game voice actors.
I don’t actually know I didn’t know what union they were part of yeah, sorry, um, but yeah. I wonder if some studios will decide to work with them anyways, because they’re like this is going to be a quality differentiator for us um. Maybe that’s honestly gon na take a very long time for AI to catch up with properly yeah you’re, probably right um.
But I also do wonder if, in the same way, that Television Studios just pivoted to reality TV and found out that people will just consume whatever direct they give them. I wonder if a lot of them will just not care yeah um as someone who actually doesn’t really care about voice acting in games, I prefer to read – and I will I I actually find it really distracting. One of the things that I like to do is I change the uh, the voice track to like Japanese or something because I find it way less distracting to have because I’ll I’ll Advance the text as fast as I can read it, which is at like probably About six to eight times the speed that they will read the lines, and so I find it a lot less distracting to have words cut off in the middle of them when they’re in a language I don’t understand uh, I don’t care, I I, but a lot Of people really like, I very much appreciate it, not only do I find it’s a big immersion bonus, but um, also just with with my troubles with reading it like right, it’s nice, it feels it feels a lot more relaxing to not have to read um and Uh it also just I can go so much faster because I’m not getting lost in text or whatever else minorly dyslexic, um yeah. I don’t know people people do not like my uh, my skipping voice, acting you’re skipping. Oh, I don’t know I just I don’t like it. It’S like personal preference thing yeah, I I I don’t. I skip it. Sometimes, if I’m not as interested in the conversation just space bar space bar space bar skip through it. But usually I don’t oh well. No.
I don’t I don’t I don’t skip reading it like. I want to know, what’s happening, I just don’t want to. I just don’t wan na. I don’t want to hear people say it like.
I I forget which Final Fantasy game switched to like full voice. Acting was it nine, I’m not gon na know ten uh yeah, I I can’t remember, but I I just I I hated it. I was like this sucks bring back text. Let’S go attacked um and, like oh man, games that don’t support um, I think tapping to completely fill in a text box like when they’re like, and you can’t speed it up.
I just I wan na I wan na throw my controller through the TV. I can’t it drives me absolutely crazy. That’S never a problem for me because I can’t keep up with it.
Anyways uh, apparently it was 10. yeah agreed Grand wig. Nine was so good. I can’t he has never played like any of the good Final Fantasy games. He’S played like eight yeah, it was great, I really liked it, and then I never played another one. I made it like 45 minutes into eight and I was like this is stupid and I just I couldn’t sorry I just couldn’t people do like it. I I just yeah it’s not that I don’t have patience. I just don’t have time. That’S there’s a bit.
There’S there’s a big difference. Well, there isn’t a big difference, they’re kind of the same thing yeah. I tell people that I liked eight and they get so offended because they’re like oh, like six or seven or whatever, was so much better blah blah blah blah. I can’t believe you like that one. I was like the only one I I play. I thought was good. Like I don’t know, what do you want from me? Come on someday school was awesome. I had the necklace.
I had the necklace with the lion with the sword through the top. I had that for a while, like a sword, gun or a gun sword, a gun sword gun blade. I don’t care to be more specific yeah. It sounds stupid.
It was sick. If, if you have a gun, it was awesome. Why do you need a blade on it? What is this like? The year 1850, get your musket, Maybe okay, .