snatchin'

The first major fork is Stefan’s acceptance of the job. It’s a YES and a NO, but the NO is really a YES, BUT.

It is excruciating how the latter didn’t negotiate for more buts. Stefan, like many naive young programmers, fell into the trap of believing that breaking into game development means giving up all control to your employer. If he sets a deadline, you meet it. Doesn’t matter when. Sinclair Research, producer of the ZX Spectrum, was absolutely notorious for setting impossible publicized deadlines. It was meant to curb procrastination, but it really just burnt out a lot of employees and enforced a work-until-you-die mentality that’s still so pervasive today.

I think analyzing Colin from a workers-first perspective is important; he’s irreverent with Thakur, prone to taking breaks. It’s written as a “he gets fucked up, he’s a free spirit,” but I really do think it shows how Colin is wary of the industry. He goes on self-directed breaks because he knows he won’t ever get a proportionate one to his workload. He doesn’t buy a Lamborghini because he knows how precarious the game bubble is. I think it’s worth interpreting the acid scene through this too; warnings about PAC-Man living in a nightmare could be analogous to programmers like themselves scurrying in the maze trap that is the game industry. The demons are mental constructs, the kind that enforce acclaim and happiness as achievable only on corporate terms.  

On the other hand, Stefan is inexperienced enough to give himself up entirely to the system. We see him stress over his own perceived inability to code efficiently, rather than ever question if his boss had set problematic work expectations. Working remotely shouldn’t mean working without guidance. 

[ i would agree with this if it wasnt for the fact that him saying no was because we chose no for him. and he literally couldn’t control himself saying no. same with biting his nails, or pouring tea over or destroying the computer. he never knows why he does the things he does. he even told his therapist he didn’t know what made him say no he just said it. because we chose it. had nothing to do with being exploited. ]

Hope this is the right format for replying. I’m really interested in the meta-narratives we can understand from Bandersnatch’s false choices –they are false, really–if we use different theories, frameworks, and schools of thought for understanding both the actual story and the way the story is presented. 

For this little post, I’m coming from a point-of-view where I’ve worked with and in modern independent game development. Right now, we’re seeing a lot of developers speaking up about how overwork and toxicity is normalized. The crunch is dangerous. 

program and control

“Apart 👏🏼 from 👏🏼 Colin” 👏🏼 he 👏🏼 said