It’s common for companies to remove the name of an employee if they leave even a week before GM. Some may retain a mention of you in the special thanks section, but other companies don’t even bother with even that token gesture. Some developers care, and others don’t, as they feel that it’s just an ego issue, and feel they can always prove their work in other manners. I’d like to think most developers do care. It’s not just a pride thing, but it’s about getting respect for the work you’ve done.

EA Mythic’s VP Mark Jacobs has come out publicly to address this issue head on, but his comments only leave a bad taste.

“I think the credits belong to the people who have been working on this game non-stop, whether they’ve been with us for a week or whether they’ve been with us for three years. If you’re part of the team when we launch, you deserve to be in the credits. No question about it. That, in my estimation, is what the credits are for.”

Mr. Jacobs is completely wrong. Credits are for crediting all work done by people to create the final product. They’re not meant as a reward for those who manage to slog through the long, soul-crushing hours at the end of the project. Credits are for attributing work. Obviously, Jacobs doesn’t see it like that. For him, they are just another management tool to keep employees in check.

“There is no requirement [to have credits]. A lot of companies don’t give any credits, but we do. If all the game companies agree on something — even internally there’s no absolute plan within EA because it’s up to the studios — on that day, I’ll be thrilled.”

Mr. Jacob is apparently unaware of the work the IGDA has done towards establishing an industry standard for credits. But even if he was, I’m sure that wouldn’t stand in his way. Let’s not be fooled, studios like Mythic wouldn’t consider applying the white paper unless they were forced to. And that is unlikely to happen unless enough developers stand up for such a standard, or an association with leverage is created. The crediting standards available in the Film and TV industry didn’t happen by accident; they were obtained after many bitter battles between the studios and the various industry unions.

He cited games like “EverQuest,” with its multiple expansions, as an example of game that just can’t credit everybody. “Online games are ever-changing and [have] ever-changing credits,” he explained. “Show me one MMO that has been up for seven years that has kept the credits for every single person who’s worked on the game as long as they’ve had a large team.”

Mr. Jacobs shoots himself in the foot with this argument. Everquest is actually one of the few MMOs to maintain a detailed credits list for every expansion package released over its history. So his claim that game can’t credit everyone is both misinformed and disingenuous. It isn’t that hard to attribute to keep a list of all contributors over the development of a game. They just choose not to. It’s a despicable practice, and it needs to end.

Developers, you can help change this situation by attaching this document at the end of whatever new employee contract you sign. Remember, you have the right to negotiate your contracts, and a request for proper attribution of your work is not an outrageous demand.

Update (August 31, 2008 at 9:06 pm)

Last week, the IGDA came out publicly and very strongly against the crediting tactics of EA Mythic. The EA Mythic studio took the brunt of the criticism, but don’t let that fool you; the same criticism could be leveled at 95% of the publishers and developers out there.

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