[DiGRA UK] Anyone else following Game Dev 'Lab Time/Limbo' Groups?

[Tom Doncom]

Hey DiGRA

I was wondering if anyone else has been following the recent info on game company 'limbo pools' for employees not on projects (like the articles on Gamasutra and Kotaku)? From what I have read they are like holding pools so the staff are still in the company (and as far as I know, still paid) even if no work is available for them, instead of being let go. I had been following Kotaku's posts on job horror stories from the industry and they were actually shocking me quite a bit (was even debating if the industry should be Unionised to get more rights, and I don't even like Unions!), so was really enthusiastic to hear about projects like Ubisoft's 'interproject' Wooga's 'Lab Time' groups.

I really think they could be a colossal benefit if such things became industry standard but (as stories from Ubisoft's group especially suggests) there seem to be serious issues (especially employee feelings in such groups; they seem to loose motivation in them) that would need addressing. Got some initial thoughts from someone i know whose background is managerial consultancy on things like naval control projects; he felt concepts like Yerkes–Dodson and the Maslow hierarchy would be worth considering for studying how best to keep people motivated and how best to make use of them (the ‘Lab Time’ concept of Wooga has a good example of trying to keep them motivated; it gives them targets to reach with their time).

Am curious what other people’s thoughts are on this? Can think of a few ideas on projects that groups like these could give employees in limbo, some of which run with our idea of expanding networking with outside the industry and academia (running community groups, helping out mod projects, Reviewing industry methods and software, etc).

Tom
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