Guild Wars 2

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-23-several-prominent-voice-actors-have-voted-to-strike

Wonder if this could have an impact on HoT and living world moving forward.

The strike will be long over before having any significant impact on releases. (even if it lasts a few years—lol)

If ArenaNet needs my voice talent during this strike I am certainly available.

Well that is Rytlock, Scarlet and Queen Jennah …

I’m pretty sure everything has already been completed for HoT so this won’t impact it.

LOL, do these guys ever stay off strike for more than a few months at a time???

Khisanth.2948:

Well that is Rytlock, Scarlet and Queen Jennah …

And the female sylvari.

But yeah, I’d imagine work for the initial launch of HOT and any soon-to-follow stuff has already been recorded. No need to panic, yet. But obviously any yet-to-be recorded things will be up in the air until it’s resolved.

Blude.6812:

The strike will be long over before having any significant impact on releases. (even if it lasts a few years—lol)

It depends how much voice acting the record before hand. Then if things need to be redone, or any rewrites, this could mean delays in content drops. Last time we saw a strike like this was the writers strike a few years back. Most shows that where on at that time had to cut there runs short, or have a big mid season brake. It lasted a good few months. It also delayed some shows returning, which also had to cut short there runs in the schedule.

I’m not saying this could be as bad. But it could have a knock on effect.

It could impact living story. However I do find it interesting they want to earn royalties when a huge team of people is involved in the products they help produce. None of them receive any royalties as far as I’m aware.

Lethalvriend.1723:

It could impact living story. However I do find it interesting they want to earn royalties when a huge team of people is involved in the products they help produce. None of them receive any royalties as far as I’m aware.

Yeah. It’s like a singer getting money everytime there song is played on the radio. Do they want money every time some one watches a cut scene?

I’m sorry, this is sort of disgusting.

They want money that me, as someone who spends on these games they do voice acting, would rather have go to the code monkeys that actually make the game worth playing.

Good voice actors help, however I don’t require a famous and unionized voice actor to enjoy my game.

Give that money to someone trying to get into the industry, ill take the small hit in quality from the cutscene or voice over and live just fine, and still enjoy the game just as much.

They should be lucky that they get get paid for sitting in a room reading a bunch of lines over the course of a few hours. Yes I know real skill plays into it and they should get paid.

But royalties? GTFO….

Id love the gaming industry to say “alright well just hire some lesser quality actors instead, oh and we will give those royalties you wanted to the code monkies who spend 14 hours a day 6 days a week glued to a keyboard” because those guys are the ones that make the game fun to play, not some voice actor.

As to royalties, I really have no idea what is standard in voice acting or related fields. I would follow whatever that standard is. As to artists getting paid every time a song is played on the radio, actually, they do (yes, it is a complex process), at least in the US which is where anet is.

Remember it is not just the LS that gets affected whenever the artistic talent walks. Pretty much any change involves multiple areas: voice, fx, writing, etc. I know how we all LOVE static content. What if in the rush to get HOT out the door a Halloween event has not been completed yet?

In general, voice actors in video games do not get royalties. I personally find it a little ridiculous that they’re demanding it considering what they contribute compared to everyone else involved in making games such as, you know, those that work directly for the game companies and have a personal stake in the end product.

Computer generated voices.

People are always doing things that amuse me. Hehe.

Anyway, I’m sure the strike will end soon enough, they will probably be paid more money for sitting in their underwear and reading lines. Maybe the savings will even be passed down to us, and we will have to pay their “royalties”. Who knows?

But I do know…that I wouldn’t put up with it. There are billions of people in the world with voices, and it isn’t even as hard to voice-act as it is to “act”. If I was a company that needed voice actors, I would just hold an open audition and hire people who actually wanted the work.

But the world is a silly place.

Ayrilana.1396:

In general, voice actors in video games do not get royalties. I personally find it a little ridiculous that they’re demanding it considering what they contribute compared to everyone else involved in making games such as, you know, those that work directly for the game companies and have a personal stake in the end product.

I agree. I’m not sure artists, developers, anybody else gets royalties.

But that’s the new trend, now – making money for something you did years ago. And hey, if they can make it happen, more power to them. I know I wish I could get paid “royalties” for work I’ve done in the past, too.

ANET If you need voices, Im here!

paintpixie.7398:

People are always doing things that amuse me. Hehe.

Anyway, I’m sure the strike will end soon enough, they will probably be paid more money for sitting in their underwear and reading lines. Maybe the savings will even be passed down to us, and we will have to pay their “royalties”. Who knows?

But I do know…that I wouldn’t put up with it. There are billions of people in the world with voices, and it isn’t even as hard to voice-act as it is to “act”. If I was a company that needed voice actors, I would just hold an open audition and hire people who actually wanted the work.

But the world is a silly place.

I wouldn’t say voice acting is easier. You have to sell the whole emotional side of things just with your voice. It’s up to the Devs to sell it visually, sink it all up and what not. Voice acting is like phoning work pretending your I’ll when really you just don’t feel like going in. If you can’t sell that your ill, chances are your boss is not going to believe you. Or if you lie, if you can’t sell it your in trouble. There are people who just can’t. And there are people who can make a living out of it.

BrotherBelial.3094:

paintpixie.7398:

People are always doing things that amuse me. Hehe.

Anyway, I’m sure the strike will end soon enough, they will probably be paid more money for sitting in their underwear and reading lines. Maybe the savings will even be passed down to us, and we will have to pay their “royalties”. Who knows?

But I do know…that I wouldn’t put up with it. There are billions of people in the world with voices, and it isn’t even as hard to voice-act as it is to “act”. If I was a company that needed voice actors, I would just hold an open audition and hire people who actually wanted the work.

But the world is a silly place.

I wouldn’t say voice acting is easier. You have to sell the whole emotional side of things just with your voice. It’s up to the Devs to sell it visually, sink it all up and what not. Voice acting is like phoning work pretending your I’ll when really you just don’t feel like going in. If you can’t sell that your ill, chances are your boss is not going to believe you. Or if you lie, if you can’t sell it your in trouble. There are people who just can’t. And there are people who can make a living out of it.

I would. You don’t have to sell the “whole emotional side of things”. You only have to sell…the voice. The rest, is done by others. The majority of it, in fact, is done by others.

When you are voice acting, you have the script in front of you. You have to read with emotion, yes, but that is IT. When you are “acting”, you have to have that emotion in your whole body. You can’t necessarily just read a script. You have to wear what they tell you to wear, you have to physically, mentally, and vocally perform.

A voice is only a piece of acting. A significant piece, but just a piece non-the-less.

But then again, I’m not a voice actor, and I assume neither are you, so all we can say about it is pure speculation of what our own opinion of it is.

BrotherBelial.3094:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-23-several-prominent-voice-actors-have-voted-to-strike

Wonder if this could have an impact on HoT and living world moving forward.

Voice actors union SAG-AFTRA may initiate a strike if enough of its members vote to do so by 5th October.

This can’t affect HoT, as the actors would have had to complete their studio work weeks ago. Based on how Seasons 1 & 2 were recorded, it also seems likely that some (or even all) of the living story for the next year has probably also been recorded. (Updated dialogue was often added as text-only, as needed.)

If it actually happens, it could affect future Living Story iterations:

• If ANet might be inclined to limit the amount of dialogue or characters in some ways, to account for potentially increased costs.
• If it goes on for ages and ages, it might limit ANet’s ability to schedule studio time.

On the whole, I doubt many of us will be able to notice any differences.

Where is the players union? We should get royalties for playing the game.

paintpixie.7398:

BrotherBelial.3094:

paintpixie.7398:

People are always doing things that amuse me. Hehe.

Anyway, I’m sure the strike will end soon enough, they will probably be paid more money for sitting in their underwear and reading lines. Maybe the savings will even be passed down to us, and we will have to pay their “royalties”. Who knows?

But I do know…that I wouldn’t put up with it. There are billions of people in the world with voices, and it isn’t even as hard to voice-act as it is to “act”. If I was a company that needed voice actors, I would just hold an open audition and hire people who actually wanted the work.

But the world is a silly place.

I wouldn’t say voice acting is easier. You have to sell the whole emotional side of things just with your voice. It’s up to the Devs to sell it visually, sink it all up and what not. Voice acting is like phoning work pretending your I’ll when really you just don’t feel like going in. If you can’t sell that your ill, chances are your boss is not going to believe you. Or if you lie, if you can’t sell it your in trouble. There are people who just can’t. And there are people who can make a living out of it.

I would. You don’t have to sell the “whole emotional side of things”. You only have to sell…the voice. The rest, is done by others. The majority of it, in fact, is done by others.

When you are voice acting, you have the script in front of you. You have to read with emotion, yes, but that is IT. When you are “acting”, you have to have that emotion in your whole body. You can’t necessarily just read a script. You have to wear what they tell you to wear, you have to physically, mentally, and vocally perform.

A voice is only a piece of acting. A significant piece, but just a piece non-the-less.

But then again, I’m not a voice actor, and I assume neither are you, so all we can say about it is pure speculation of what our own opinion of it is.

Did you read my post? I said it was a piece. I said it was the devs who sell it visually. I did a lot of acting in amateur dramatics, and school plays, (Oliver, Bugsy Malone, Blood Brother’s) I did the narrator’s part in blood brothers, so it was kind of like voice acting for the most part. It was alot easier than other rolls I had done, but, it was challenging in different ways. Alot of the time it was up to other cast members to sell what I was saying.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I was in the same league as professional voice actors. But I can relate to the work they do, and know it’s not as easy as you’d think. In rehearsals I remember repeating some lines about 20 times to get the delivery and impact that the director wanted, but yes it was easier not having to be in costume and doing it, unless you call a nice suite a costume lol.

BrotherBelial.3094:

Blude.6812:

The strike will be long over before having any significant impact on releases. (even if it lasts a few years—lol)

It depends how much voice acting the record before hand. Then if things need to be redone, or any rewrites, this could mean delays in content drops. Last time we saw a strike like this was the writers strike a few years back. Most shows that where on at that time had to cut there runs short, or have a big mid season brake. It lasted a good few months. It also delayed some shows returning, which also had to cut short there runs in the schedule.

I’m not saying this could be as bad. But it could have a knock on effect.

Thanks for that! BUUUUT, I was being sarcastic—meaning a long strike would have no effect on Anet.

To be honest, what they’re asking for doesn’t sound that far fetched at all.
Hope it goes well for them.

BrotherBelial.3094:

paintpixie.7398:

BrotherBelial.3094:

paintpixie.7398:

People are always doing things that amuse me. Hehe.

Anyway, I’m sure the strike will end soon enough, they will probably be paid more money for sitting in their underwear and reading lines. Maybe the savings will even be passed down to us, and we will have to pay their “royalties”. Who knows?

But I do know…that I wouldn’t put up with it. There are billions of people in the world with voices, and it isn’t even as hard to voice-act as it is to “act”. If I was a company that needed voice actors, I would just hold an open audition and hire people who actually wanted the work.

But the world is a silly place.

I wouldn’t say voice acting is easier. You have to sell the whole emotional side of things just with your voice. It’s up to the Devs to sell it visually, sink it all up and what not. Voice acting is like phoning work pretending your I’ll when really you just don’t feel like going in. If you can’t sell that your ill, chances are your boss is not going to believe you. Or if you lie, if you can’t sell it your in trouble. There are people who just can’t. And there are people who can make a living out of it.

I would. You don’t have to sell the “whole emotional side of things”. You only have to sell…the voice. The rest, is done by others. The majority of it, in fact, is done by others.

When you are voice acting, you have the script in front of you. You have to read with emotion, yes, but that is IT. When you are “acting”, you have to have that emotion in your whole body. You can’t necessarily just read a script. You have to wear what they tell you to wear, you have to physically, mentally, and vocally perform.

A voice is only a piece of acting. A significant piece, but just a piece non-the-less.

But then again, I’m not a voice actor, and I assume neither are you, so all we can say about it is pure speculation of what our own opinion of it is.

Did you read my post? I said it was a piece. I said it was the devs who sell it visually. I did a lot of acting in amateur dramatics, and school plays, (Oliver, Bugsy Malone, Blood Brother’s) I did the narrator’s part in blood brothers, so it was kind of like voice acting for the most part. It was alot easier than other rolls I had done, but, it was challenging in different ways. Alot of the time it was up to other cast members to sell what I was saying.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I was in the same league as professional voice actors. But I can relate to the work they do, and know it’s not as easy as you’d think. In rehearsals I remember repeating some lines about 20 times to get the delivery and impact that the director wanted, but yes it was easier not having to be in costume and doing it, unless you call a nice suite a costume lol.

Yes, I did read your post. Though the part that struck me the strongest was the first two sentences of what you said. And being that this isn’t a radio program, and a lot of work is done by others to bring across the same effect as a living actor could enact, I thought it was a bit short-sighted on your part. If I have misunderstood you, or taken those first two sentences out of context somehow, I apologize. My heart is in animation, and I may have taken it personally for that reason, as I interpreted what you said to mean that a voice actor does all of the work that an actor does, with just their voice, implying that the others involved in projects of this nature do essentially nothing.

Rashagar.8349:

To be honest, what they’re asking for doesn’t sound that far fetched at all.
Hope it goes well for them.

I forgot to say that in my earlier post: yes, their requests sound reasonable.

Well as 99.999% of my guild on TS said when they first heard Jennifer Hale during the HoT announcement:

Death to Queen Jennah!

Seriously she annoyed us that much :P

Well, you know, if the concept art, 3d modeling, and software design industry all formed strong unions they could make similar demands.

The problem is that they won’t, which sucks. People are still making money off of art and code I did five years ago and I don’t see a cent of it. That’s how things work. Actors, however, have very individual skill sets that are noticable in the end product.

Your audience will more than likely not notice if you switch systems programmers halfway through production, and if your artists are good they won’t notice if you switch concept or production artists halfway either.

Your audience will most assuredly notice if you switch voice or film actors though, as there’s a consistance to that which can’t really be mimiced or replaced.

Actors used to be treated as much like dirt as production artists are in (many, not necessarily Arenanet) game studios right now, but in the 20s they rose up and formed a union so they weren’t mericlessly exploited by their mother companies any more. That union persists to the current day.

What prevent the rest of your gamge development team from doing the same is that the code and art skills aren’t nearly as rare, and there are far far more potential new hires waiting in the wings that can actually do the job as well or better than the staff that would strike, so attempting to strike as a production art team would only be a minor inconvenience, and most of the more cutthroat studios would just be like “K, we’ll just call up people from this big list of 900 qualified applicants we have to replace you, bye”

Good for them.

StrangerDanger.3496:

I’m sorry, this is sort of disgusting.

They want money that me, as someone who spends on these games they do voice acting, would rather have go to the code monkeys that actually make the game worth playing.

Good voice actors help, however I don’t require a famous and unionized voice actor to enjoy my game.

Give that money to someone trying to get into the industry, ill take the small hit in quality from the cutscene or voice over and live just fine, and still enjoy the game just as much.

They should be lucky that they get get paid for sitting in a room reading a bunch of lines over the course of a few hours. Yes I know real skill plays into it and they should get paid.

But royalties? GTFO….

Id love the gaming industry to say “alright well just hire some lesser quality actors instead, oh and we will give those royalties you wanted to the code monkies who spend 14 hours a day 6 days a week glued to a keyboard” because those guys are the ones that make the game fun to play, not some voice actor.

Everyone should be treated and paid properly and if they’re not, they should group up and do something about it.

That’s just common sense.

It’s not (or shouldn’t be) an either/or situation, with money being taken from one set of workers, to give to another.

These are multi-million dollar companies we’re talking about, here.

Voice acting is important for sure, but this is not a movie we are talking about where voice acting is half of the experience. Multi-million companies or not, they shouldn’t have to pay royalties to voice actors for games.

Like some have stated here, that money is better spent on programmers, visual and audio artists who make all the graphics (models, textures, effects) and sounds (ty for the farthorn and too bad you already changed it).

Quite frankly, there is a lot of awful voice acting in games but how often are you bothered by programming bugs, skills not working properly weird terrain anomalies, glitching textures, disconnecting and lags and how often by that cutscene that had bad voice acting?

Yeah, I’m not sure entirely how much on board I am with the royalty demands considering how much less of a part voice acting is of a game than it is in, for instance, film (especially live-action film).
The rest of the demands make a lot of sense, though. When you take on a job you do deserve to know what it is and what it requires.

That said, for titles selling millions of copies, royalties for acting talent is substantially less likely to break the bank either way. It’s if they started asking that for indie titles I would be really worried. Then again they might not be able to afford SAG actors anyway.

Cirran.1429:

LOL, do these guys ever stay off strike for more than a few months at a time???

What guys are you talking about? There have been various strikes in the entertainment industry (predominantly over the producers not being willing to share money earned from new media). It hasn’t, however, been the same group of people each time.

There are different unions for film actors, tv actors, writers, etc.

You know who doesn’t need to go on strike? Sony and Fox and so on, because they are making tons of money regardless.

America has enough voice talent to fill any void. If foreign voice actors refuse to record for German, French etc, there are those in America that can do that. Put out a request in Los Angeles, and you’ll have hundreds of actors auditioning for the parts. You can find any shape, size, color, accent, or dialect actor there.

That potential fine of $2500 for being inattentive seems a little stupid though. O_o

You’d be stressing in that recording box hardcore.

Sirius.4510:

Yeah, I’m not sure entirely how much on board I am with the royalty demands considering how much less of a part voice acting is of a game than it is in, for instance, film (especially live-action film).
The rest of the demands make a lot of sense, though. When you take on a job you do deserve to know what it is and what it requires.

That said, for titles selling millions of copies, royalties for acting talent is substantially less likely to break the bank either way. It’s if they started asking that for indie titles I would be really worried. Then again they might not be able to afford SAG actors anyway.

Well, people are starting to compare games to film more because story writing has gotten better over the years for games, as well as the voice acting. I mean, look at the first resident evil game and the atrocious voice acting for it. It was bad. The redone version was much better, and better received.

Not to mention in games that have some kind of story mode, are being criticized for it, not to mention, if voice acting is involved, it too is being criticized. Will bad voice acting sink a good game? Most likely not, but it’ll hurt the rating.

And while you can say “oh, no one shouldn’t care about the ratings!” lets face it, not everyone takes time to research, they see a number, if that number is high, they buy it. If it wasn’t successful, the system wouldn’t still be around.

“This… Is CNN”

Now does the above line bring a picture of the voice actor to mind? If so, there is a Brand and that Brand is worth money. Should an actor get a royalty for reading a script as a minor part of a game though? I can see both sides of this discussion, but I think I am going to have to come down on the side of, No.

The brand that I called out above should definitely influence the wage given to the actor as part of the negotiation of their compensation contract and I think that is fine. And if it is deemed that the actor’s voice comprised a significant majority of what the game is about, then maybe they should request a ‘residual’ but that would need to be discussed when the employment contract is negotiated. At that point in time it is up to the hiring company (ANet in this case) to weigh if this persons voice is critical to the success of the game or would some other actor, who doesn’t require a residual, fulfill the role equally as well?

Would GW2 be as successful if Jennifer was NOT Queen Jenna and the part was initially cast with another actor? In my opinion, yes. (If you’re reading this, sorry Jennifer, no offense) Though a person’s voice adds a certain ‘flavor’ to a game, in most cases, it is not ‘critical’ to its success.

I have heard a comparison made to someone singing a song. I don’t think that is a fair analogy. The residuals afforded to a singer for each play of their song is done because the song IS the work of art, in its entirety, and if it was sung by someone else it might not be as well received. The entire success of the song project hangs critically on, if the performance is liked or not, and thus the residual is paid in direct relationship to said success. That is just not the same as a voice role as part of a game.

As an example:
Let us propose that someone bought the game and played for years without ever doing the Personal Story, the Living World season 1&2 or the Queen’s Jubilee event. Would they be able to enjoy the rest of the game, having never heard Queen Jenna’s voice? I’ll let you decide.

Eh, we’ll see what comes of this. I’m all for talented workers organizing to make sure they’re not getting ripped off so long as what they’re demanding is reasonable. Sometimes unions can be just as greedy as the big companies they supposedly keep in check. Contrary to what some people seem to think, greed is a human problem and isn’t just reserved for the wealthy among us.

To say that voice actors don’t make a difference to the quality of the title is nuts. Did you guys play GW1 Factions? The voice acting was awful, and it definitely impacted the game. Voice actors deserve to be reasonably paid. Games that sell 2mil copies can afford it.

mtpelion.4562:

If ArenaNet needs my voice talent during this strike I am certainly available.

I am available also. I can do Baritone and Bass. I won’t even charge anything.

Eh, it’s Arena Net’s fault for hiring top voice actors from the guild. They knew this way before GW2 went live. You know why we did not have our PC characters re-voiced during the living world season. Is directly related to them hiring people from the guild who have other contracts and priorities. It’s called “think before you do,” and that’s on A-nets plate (not the guilds).

My husband has done voice over work. As for royalties it all depends on how much voice work there is and how long it lasts and if it’s covered under the union rules or ….. Lots of different things come into the price that they are paid. Usually thou it’s a one time pay thing. You get paid so much for doing so much work. You may get something extra for some stuff but usually not. And then don’t forget the percentages paid to the managers and/or agents so even if they get, say $500 per day that usually 10% goes to the manager and then 10% to the agent and maybe another 10% to someone else etc. And it’s usually set up so that the check from the company that hires you goes to the manager and they take their cut first and you get it after they are done. And oh yea don’t forget taxes that you are usually required to pay yourself as you are considered self employed and if you have ever looked at being self employed then you know that those taxes are higher than if you worked for someone else.

So much blind hatred. I wouldn’t be surprised, at all, if most of the replies come from folks whom have not researched this at all.

…and you have to pay for insurance yourself and don’t get paid time off, that stuff is super fun.

If Anet is searching for some voice actors…WoodenPotatoes has shown his large range of his VA abilities, from Tengu to women to a 5 year old boy. He can do it all!

Anet probably has all HoT dialog recorded. In worst case we will have few half mute season 3 episodes.

“if a video game is wildly successful, actors should share in its financial success”

I would have no issue with this IF every other person involved also received that same “bonus” payout. Companies do still do bonuses if they do well (not many, but that’s not the point). I can see voice actors asking for some quality of life changes when taking a gig, but royalties? smh

I’m all for the transparency to the work. That aside I could careless for professional voice acting in a MMO, subtitles are fine by me. Put that money into Tech and gameplay.

swtor…..

Transparency for deals made – Yes.

Stunt Coordinators for voice acting (da heck?) – No.

Royalties from successful games ? – Hell No!

Sounds to me like people that already make too much money for what they do are being greedy.

Ninjeff.6510:

Sounds to me like people that already make too much money for what they do are being greedy.

I’ll quote what another poster (someone whose spouse does voice over work) said about the pay your typical V.O. artist receives. Obviously, your Felicia Days and Nolan Norths will be making more money, but it’s still not the amount some people seem to imagine they make.

“My husband has done voice over work. As for royalties it all depends on how much voice work there is and how long it lasts and if it’s covered under the union rules or ….. Lots of different things come into the price that they are paid. Usually thou it’s a one time pay thing. You get paid so much for doing so much work. You may get something extra for some stuff but usually not. And then don’t forget the percentages paid to the managers and/or agents so even if they get, say $500 per day that usually 10% goes to the manager and then 10% to the agent and maybe another 10% to someone else etc. And it’s usually set up so that the check from the company that hires you goes to the manager and they take their cut first and you get it after they are done. And oh yea don’t forget taxes that you are usually required to pay yourself as you are considered self employed and if you have ever looked at being self employed then you know that those taxes are higher than if you worked for someone else.”

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

“if a video game is wildly successful, actors should share in its financial success”

I would have no issue with this IF every other person involved also received that same “bonus” payout. Companies do still do bonuses if they do well (not many, but that’s not the point). I can see voice actors asking for some quality of life changes when taking a gig, but royalties? smh

Look at games with great VA and games with lousy VA — it makes a big difference in the gaming experience of many players. Why shouldn’t the VAs share in the success of hte project, just as actors do in film or TV? Not every employee is intrinsic to the experience, although maybe key grips and “best boys” should also get royalties — if they do, their union can also negotiate with the producers for better minimum contract standards.