By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - Mortal Kombat Developer Diagnosed with PTSD

pokoko said:
I mean, yeah. If someone doesn't like the sight of blood or death, should they work as a doctor in an emergency room? Probably not. Should they work for a software developer that has depended on that kind of thing for many years? Hm.

Why didn't he just say that it wasn't for him and resign?

Lol, this is simplistic thinking at best. You think Dr's love the sight of blood or guts? This stuff always has an impact on people's minds and its really a responsibility of the employer to provide proper support and access the wellbeing of their staff. Dr's also work years and years in a field which slowly attunes them to dealing with this, 99% of 3D artist do not spend their time watching decapitations. 

Some of you really want to live in the stone age with your complete disregard of other people's well being. There are on going discussions in many jobs where this is required  for example the humans involved in censoring social media content. It's a constant challenge and should never be dismissed as "well, just find another job", even the people seem ok need to have support systems for when/if cracks start to show. 



Around the Network
ClassicGamingWizzz said:
Dulfite said:

There may not be a lot of video game studios hiring, but there are tons and tons of coding/developer/programmer jobs for businesses out there, front or back end. As long as these people aren't dead set on developing video games specifically, they should have no problem finding work.

Dude have Kids, acepts a job in another parte of the country, spended weeks preparing and moving , starts job, Kids start to school, wife finda a job too, guy after two weeks working days : fuck this job , let me find another, he looks close to his new house, cant find a new One, the closest One is 100 km away , easy lets move on again. ...

Again, tons of jobs, or at least near but I live on the outskirts of a top ten U.S. city population so I could have a different experience than you.



Pemalite said:
pokoko said:

I don't believe that people have zero responsibility for themselves.

I work in the emergency services. - PTSD is not something an individual can take "responsibility for". - You don't know if you will get PTSD until you actually have it... And by the time you have it, you cannot take responsibility for anything as you are NOT in the right frame of mind.

If a company/business/organization is exposing individuals to content which may have the potential negative effects either in the short or long term, then they should have the support in place to assist said exposed individuals when the time comes, it's as simple as that... And that should remain true regardless of the field you work in... PTSD is not something you should eve take lightly.

DonFerrari said:
And sorry to burst the discussion, but yes Military don't enlist expecting PTSD but they know that is a possible occurrence and mainly they know they are likely to enter battle and kill or die. Same way when you enter a company that makes Mortal Kombat that since the 1st game were about gore and violence you have to expect to be exposed to it.

In saying that... You join the Military knowing/hoping that the support exists in the event you may get PTSD.

Video games is a relatively new field though, so the support for workers being exposed to questionable content simply doesn't exist yet... Where-as the Military has had centuries to build the appropriate frameworks to support it's workers, same with other fields.

Yes on the part of the company establishing a support or treatment program should be something the HR is doing for some time already.

ClassicGamingWizzz said:
What in the actual fuck AM i reading in this thread, One thing is lookking at a Goofy as fuck unrealisyic death scene in mortal Kombat, other is having to watch real murder, real gore for hours and days and months. Doubt when hiring they didnt out out the " you have to watch people getting murdered all day to make games Here" . Imagine moving from the other SIDE of the country to work There and ending up doing this all day, There is not too many big studios like netherealm across country and all close to each other, There is a lot of factors when quitting jobs depending of the type of the job. People act like its easy finding jobs and they can Change with a finger snap. Wake up to reality ffs

Do you have evidence that the company either didn't tell they would have to do research of real life gore material to create on the game or mandate that the employees see these videos almost all day long? Or as several people here are speculating the people themselves choose to watch those videos to be inspired?



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

ClassicGamingWizzz said:
Dulfite said:

There may not be a lot of video game studios hiring, but there are tons and tons of coding/developer/programmer jobs for businesses out there, front or back end. As long as these people aren't dead set on developing video games specifically, they should have no problem finding work.

Dude have Kids, acepts a job in another parte of the country, spended weeks preparing and moving , starts job, Kids start to school, wife finda a job too, guy after two weeks working days : fuck this job , let me find another, he looks close to his new house, cant find a new One, the closest One is 100 km away , easy lets move on again. ...

^ agree with this.

Felt like the tone was abit harsh... people are like "just take responsibility for your own health".
Theres tones of factors that could be at play, and external ones like you mentioned.

Like maybe he knew it wasnt good for him, but couldnt do anything about it because of said factors.
And as others have said, with PTSD, it can just "come on" suddenly, outta the blue and you "snap".

Maybe he thought he could deal with it, or handle it,... and he just couldnt anymore one day.

Its pretty unsympathetic of people here to just go "he should have just quit earlier on, and found another job".



I guess I should read the damn article, but what I could see being the “shocker” here is finding out that many of your coworkers are ok with or even excited for watching real life reference content to get a fantasy Mortal Kombat fatality to look better.
As for personal responsibility vs. company responsibility I think there should be a balance, and I don’t know enough facts to debate it...even reading the article probably won’t reveal enough facts since you cannot trust the news because their business model Is getting maximum attention.



Around the Network
NightlyPoe said:
V-r0cK said:
If true it's sad, but a part of me feels like these guys should've known what they signed up for working NeatherRealm Studios. MK games are their bread and butter.

I doubt they knew they were signing up to be exposed to real snuff films.

Personally, the upgrade in graphics has made Mortal Kombat uncomfortable at best and unwatchable at worst for me.

I believe we are all jumping to conclusions.  Do we know its company policy for people to watch that stuff or is it the individuals doing so in order to get inspired.  The person said they would walk by seeing people watching this stuff but that just might only be for people who need to do so because for some reason they believe it will help them with making the game.

It would be different if we read that people are being forced to watch such content in order to do their job and if they did not they would be fired or something along those lines.



ClassicGamingWizzz said:
Dulfite said:

There may not be a lot of video game studios hiring, but there are tons and tons of coding/developer/programmer jobs for businesses out there, front or back end. As long as these people aren't dead set on developing video games specifically, they should have no problem finding work.

Dude have Kids, acepts a job in another parte of the country, spended weeks preparing and moving , starts job, Kids start to school, wife finda a job too, guy after two weeks working days : fuck this job , let me find another, he looks close to his new house, cant find a new One, the closest One is 100 km away , easy lets move on again. ...

Guy stays in job that causes him PTSD, ends up committing suicide due to job or something worse.  Is the job more important than your well being, your family etc.  At some point, when does a person realize they need to take care of themselves no matter what the cost before it ruins everything they have.  No one is saying it's easy to find a different job or even do something else but its still the responsibility of the individual to come to terms and make a decision.  Nobody says life is easy but you still in charge of your life and you cannot always expect things to go your way or to be bailed out by a third party.  Even if NR gave this guy counseling and medical help, he still cannot do the job so at the end of the day he has to move on.



NightlyPoe said:
Machiavellian said:

I believe we are all jumping to conclusions.  Do we know its company policy for people to watch that stuff or is it the individuals doing so in order to get inspired.  The person said they would walk by seeing people watching this stuff but that just might only be for people who need to do so because for some reason they believe it will help them with making the game.

It would be different if we read that people are being forced to watch such content in order to do their job and if they did not they would be fired or something along those lines.

I would suggest it should be company policy not to expose your co-workers to such graphic images and that the company holds some responsibility for allowing such an environment.

Well wouldn't that just be your personal view.  Also why would your personal view should be the deciding factor to limit what an artist feel they need to do in order to do their Job.  The company already exposes their people to graphic images because they produce them within their game.  I am not sure exactly what you are expecting.  Have you seen any MK game including the latest one.  The fatalities and brutalities are pretty damn graphic already.  Just because personally you would not view, watch or create this content just mean this type of game, working at that company isn't for you.

So what responsibility does the company need to  provide.  Would it be any different then a Police, Firefighter, Military or any other company that has any type of high stress.  So far no one has found out or even know what NR offer for their employees but instead just throwing out emotional statements.  So a guy got PSTD from working there but then again an employee can get PSTD from any high stress job.  It seems you are judging the company without even knowing what they offer as solutions. 

Still, at the end of the day, if a person cannot cut it at a job they still will need to find another one.  Nothing changes on that front.  If a person tried to be a policeman, firefighter or joined the military and could not cut it, developed PSTD, what do you think would happen.  Yes they can get medical help but as far as the job is concerned they have to find something else.



Machiavellian said:
NightlyPoe said:

I would suggest it should be company policy not to expose your co-workers to such graphic images and that the company holds some responsibility for allowing such an environment.

Well wouldn't that just be your personal view.  Also why would your personal view should be the deciding factor to limit what an artist feel they need to do in order to do their Job.  The company already exposes their people to graphic images because they produce them within their game.  I am not sure exactly what you are expecting.  Have you seen any MK game including the latest one.  The fatalities and brutalities are pretty damn graphic already.  Just because personally you would not view, watch or create this content just mean this type of game, working at that company isn't for you.

So what responsibility does the company need to  provide.  Would it be any different then a Police, Firefighter, Military or any other company that has any type of high stress.  So far no one has found out or even know what NR offer for their employees but instead just throwing out emotional statements.  So a guy got PSTD from working there but then again an employee can get PSTD from any high stress job.  It seems you are judging the company without even knowing what they offer as solutions. 

There is a catastrophic divide between what you see in real life and what you see in a video game, not even remotely comparable.

The company most certainly does need to take responsibility, they are damaging the health of their employees, it's their job to make sure they are looked after... That goes for ANY field you work in.

Machiavellian said:

If a person tried to be a policeman, firefighter or joined the military and could not cut it, developed PSTD, what do you think would happen.  Yes they can get medical help but as far as the job is concerned they have to find something else.

I can tell you exactly what would happen. They wouldn't be told to "toughen up and find another job" that is for sure.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

Put him in the trenches during WW1 and then he can experience true shell shock.  Swear people these days would get ptsd from watching WW2 footage.