Following Three Employee Deaths, Lineage 2: Revolution Developer Netmarble Introduces Anti-Crunch Standards
Korean developer Netmarble Games, which was sued by NCSoft while working on Lineage 2: Revolution -- an event that seemed not to be a hindrance in Revolution becoming one of NCSoft's top games -- has yet another legal issue to resolve. This one's a bit more serious, as it seeks to address the deaths of several of its workers following extended periods of crunch.
As covered by MMOCulture, employees at Netmarble are now generally limited to eight-hour work days, including one hour for lunch, and are prohibited from working between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 08:00 a.m. without special authoriazation. Pregnant employees are further limited to a 30-hour work week.
Why is all this happening? Apparently, no fewer than three employees have died recently, with one working 80 to 90 hours per week during October. That was enough to even draw the attention of the South Korean government -- which seems like a good deal better reason for the government to get involved in game development than loot boxes.
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Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
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I think people do not understand that sitting for long periods can kill even if your on a blood thinning program you still need to move about periodically.
I was victim over 11 years ago when playing wow.
I used to play none stop for extreme hours 20++ far greater than the average player.
It sent me to hospital, for me, I was very lucky, I had shortened breath & the clots had been blocked by my lungs, I had 4 of them, if they had passed through my heart I would of died or at least had a stroke or more serious brain problem.
I thank those doctors for finding the problem. The weird thing was at the time all those doctors who listened to my gaming reasons of why I ended up there, they just couldn't fathom. I had about 8 doctors around me when I explained to them I was playing wow a lot harder than normal, they all agreed they were playing it too & said because of my then diagnosis of blood clots, P.e. or pulmonary embolism, that they had played for long times too, then said because of me, they would now back off from doing it.
Once told i could go home I uninstalled the game & never played the game again until a few mths back as I thought I'd see if it had that impact again through the new free trial, I found myself yet again stuck in my chair playing for longer hours than normal, I'm glad i knew to uninstall it as it is lesson I learnt the hard way all those years ago.
My gaming motto is ............."back away, if you feel your here to stay"
So please game players
Get up every hour,
Make sure you daily exercise, go for a run/bike ride/walk etc for half hour to an hour each day.
We are not after champions or supreme athletes, take it easy, trot, do star jumps, do it to your pace, dont follow a digital watch or any device, just do it as a thing, you can do, anything, to circulate your body, then afterwards you can sit or play games for an hour or 2 .
good luck & good safe gaming :)