I also have an issue where sitting in an air conditioned office is compared to real hardship. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be improved it's just the hyperbole around it grates me.
I think hyperbole is a serious problem with a lot of present discourse. Listen to the histrionic way in which an awful lot of people choose to speak about subjects.
When people mean "I think my working day should be decreased by 1 hour" but they say "these long days are killing me" there's a disconnect between what's being said and the observable reality. Ordinarily, that's fine. People abbreviate. But there seems to be some sort of breakdown across society as to what is collectively accepted to be an emotive abbreviation, and what is a matter of fact statement.
There is rampant pride. I think because people are able to hop on Wikipedia and pretend that thing they just read (and will forget even quicker) is the same as true knowledge.
There is an unwillingness to extend charity and accept that the person you're talking to means well. I think because that makes it impossible to just dismiss people and stroke your own ego.
I think this is why we so often see people talking at or past each other: we have this ugly fake knowledge permeating so many of us and, because people know, deep down, that they're clutching an empty sack, they're hostile the moment anyone might wish to take a peek. And the bright, flashing, dramatic language is the initial defense mechanism, like a rattlesnake.
Personally, I've worked office jobs, ranging from 30 to 48 hours a week, depending on the role. Sometimes it was more when there were big projects being implemented. I'm now a carer for the elderly, and my current working week is 30 hours. Prior to my current employer, I worked a 48 hour week, but regularly picked up extra shifts, for glorious 72 hour working weeks.
So my sympathy is somewhat limited when I hear someone complain that they had to sit, and think, and write some code for 10 extra hours a week for a couple of months a year, whilst they listen to music, sip on their iced latte, and don't have to worry about whether there's someone dying in the room next door. I've been there, done that, and it wasn't that difficult. Any difficulty was handsomely compensated. Honestly, if I could go back and do that period of my life differently, it would just be to get rid of my then-girlfriend, who was much more of a headache than an elongated working week ever could've been.
That being said, the previous care home I worked at had a culture of expecting people to pick up extra shifts, and I was foolish enough to get suckered in. And it took its toll on my health.
The truth is almost always somewhere in the middle. The answer to this problem isn't screw Naughty Dog, neither is it screw their employees.
It's easy to say that all responsibility lay at the feet of the studio, because some of it does, and they're going to keep bleeding talent if they don't make their crunch culture more tolerable.
But I've worked in offices with people who have gone from school, to college, to university, to the office. And some of those people complained about their conditions with an almost enviable naivete, and a lack of awareness that they can, at any moment, just leave for somewhere better.
