Readers' 'True Corporate Slave Stories' Game Designers and Creators Edition
In the full-color manga '
The survey results compiled here are from several years ago, but we have also conducted an updated survey. Whether you answered the survey back then or are just finding out about the works or projects for the first time, we encourage you to share stories that you can laugh at now, or stories that you still can't laugh at.
Please tell us an episode where you felt like you were a 'corporate slave' | Questionnaire form
You can read about trends in painful corporate slave stories and breakdowns by occupation in the article below.
What are the results of a survey asking GIGAZINE readers, 'Have you ever had an episode where you felt like you were a 'corporate slave'?' - GIGAZINE
The image below is a word cloud of corporate slave stories shared by creative people, including designers, illustrators, and content creators. The larger the letters and the darker the color, the more commonly used the words are, with words like 'time,' 'overtime,' and 'staying up all night' standing out. In addition, creative people, whether they are freelancers or employed at a company, seem to feel a lot of pressure to complete the work they have on their own, so the word 'myself' is also prominent.
There were many comments that mentioned working hours, regardless of occupation. Below are some specific stories about working hours shared by people who answered that they work in creative jobs.
・I couldn't go home from work for days, so I took a nap next to the machine while waiting for the rendering. I couldn't go home to change clothes, so I bought some clothes at the Uniqlo near the office and changed into them. The sight of young people happily shopping at the select shop that I could see from the office window was a different world from mine. (CG Designer)
・There was a time when I got home so late that I couldn't function properly until after midnight. (Web designer)
・Working 24 hours a day (animation production)
・I could only go home once or twice a month, and spent most of my time sleeping at the office. Despite that, I received a very low salary in cash with no legal benefits. (CM production)
・At the company where I used to work, I didn't have a day off for a year, and I couldn't go home and had to stay up all night every day. Also, my boss would call me on my cell phone or at work many times, even on my days off or in the middle of the night, saying, 'I'll kill you if you sleep,' and I remember working every day for the company despite that environment. (Web production)
by 'The part-time life of a hero and a corporate slave' Death 5 'A call from my boss and a contract for business!'
・After recording at the company studio, I put the data, which was due the next day, on a USB memory stick and took it home to edit, but when I got home I realized that the USB memory stick was damaged and I couldn't retrieve the data. It was already 11:30pm, so I reluctantly took the last train to the company studio, which was an hour away by train, and edited it there without sleeping, then sent it to my moody boss first thing in the morning and went home again. However, on the way home, I got a phone call saying, 'No, do it again,' without any explanation of what needed to be corrected, and I had to redo the same edit, so I stayed up all night editing again. (Other)
・The only thing I pay attention to in the weather forecast is the minimum temperature. I can't go outside while it's still light out, so I live in a different season than the people around me. (Game engineer)
・When I joined the company, I was given a futon to use for overnight overtime (Other)
・Video production takes time, and the deadline is short, so the usual work period was not enough, and I had to stay overnight and barely had time to sleep. The worst part was when I only got 2 hours of sleep in 5 days, and realized that I would not feel sleepy if I stayed up all night for 3 days. (Video production)
In creative jobs, there are many cases where overtime and overnight stays are necessary to meet deadlines and client requests. In addition, there were several stories of people struggling with abstract instructions and revisions from superiors and clients due to creative work.
・I participated in the team to finish a title that had become a mess for another group, and stayed up all night every day, but when I finished it, the company didn't even thank me, so I felt like a corporate slave. (Anime industry)
・When I quickly remade something as instructed by my boss without asking for permission, but he said it was lame and made me apologize to the client. (Designer)
by '
- At the client's request, I shortened the delivery time and stayed at the company for a week.
・When launching an EC site for a client apparel store, I stayed in the store's backyard for three days and continued taking product photos. (Web Designer)
・Even if the revision is strange no matter how you look at it, if it is what the client wants, we will make the revision on the same day. The next day, we may make unreasonable revisions such as changing it back to the original layout or design. Even if we object, the sales department will not talk to us and we end up doing as they say. (Advertising designer)
by 'The part-time life of a hero and a corporate slave'
Also, because 'The Part-Time Life of a Hero and Corporate Slave' is set in a black gaming company, we will also be compiling some corporate slave stories sent in from people in gaming-related jobs.
・This is a story from my 20s when the work of directors and planners was not clearly separated. During busy periods, when I dealt with clients, wrote specifications, and also did coding if there were not enough people, the number of people on the project increased, and I ran out of time just interacting with clients and each department, so my work hours were from 7pm onwards. When I was working on deadlines or tasks that affected the work of other departments, I would go home once at around 5am, take a bath and change clothes, go to the office, and take a nap only until the start of work for a week or two. One day, when my work had settled down, a complaint was made by the management company about a certain team staying up all night, and an internal meeting was held. I wasn't scolded, so I thought 'Did the system change?' and asked my senior about it, and he said 'It's been like that for a long time,' which surprised me. My actions had accidentally slipped through a loophole in the confirmation system, and at the time I thought 'I was lucky,' but later I realized that I was a natural corporate slave.
・While playing a game or reading a manga, I find myself thinking, 'This is a great idea.'
'The Part-Time Life of a Hero and a Corporate Slave' Deathma 4.5 'If the succubus who came to charm the hero ends up falling for him instead, I'm in trouble.'
・I was made to work overtime for about a month to create adult software that was unrelated to my work for a friend of the chairman.
・We were locked in a meeting smelling of cigarettes for more than five hours. If the meeting dragged on into the evening, we would start working from there, so inevitably everyone had to work overtime until late into the night. Most of us had to sleep overnight or stay up all night. Even so, we would always have to start over from scratch at the word of the boss.
・I was in charge of advertising for a famous game title from a certain famous manufacturer, but since it was a major title, there was a lot of work to do, such as preparing for the unveiling event, creating slides to be used at the event, creating promotional materials to be sent nationwide, magazine ads, instructions, packaging, etc., and I was nervous and under a lot of pressure every time I presented to the director of the famous game. I would come home on the first train, take a bath, and go straight to work...I stayed up all night for five days in a row. I was still young, so I was able to do the job, but rather than being a corporate slave, I felt like I was devoting myself to the work...
We will continue to introduce specific corporate slave stories from other professions, as well as stories from new surveys, so please look forward to it. We are looking forward to new corporate slave stories, so please post them in the survey form below or on X (formerly Twitter)!
Please tell us an episode where you felt like you were a 'corporate slave' | Questionnaire form
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