this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2026
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Laura Fryer - HR is killing Games (www.youtube.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech to c/games@lemmy.world
41 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Laura Fryer gives a fairly scathing review of HR's encroachment and obvious power grab to be less "day to day" and more to (verbatim) be "at the same level or above the CEO".

Video goes into how HR makes toxic work environments that demonize ever speaking out or questioning anything, and the toxic positivity that holds games back.

From HR -> "People and Culture" -> "Chief Disruptors"

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[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

now it’s become where everything is so coated in foam that there’s only the “approved” way to do things, which means covering the user in bubble wrap before sending them through the feel-good forests, and it’s making things very boring to play.

Is this because of HR or maybe it's because of capitalism's penchant for the enshittification of everything? If a product is appealing to everyone, it appeals to no one.

I think the HR issue is separate from the quality of the games. Indie dev companies are putting out really great quality games at a higher frequency than when AAA games were dominating the marketplace. Maybe there's an argument that the smaller dev teams don't need as much involvement from HR because they're smaller and can police each other better about not being assholes to one another. It's an interesting topic regardless.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech -5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I think it's both. I do think they're in the room, they have elbowed in a spot at the table and I've seen it first hand, however I don't think like in the video they are the only say. I think you're spot on in saying that bit, "If a product is appealing to everyone, it appeals to no one."

I think HR in the room is another symptom, I think it's executives trying to make sure no one feels put off by a game so that everyone plays it and they have the biggest audience. Then you have Legal come in and neutralize more dialogue because it could be considered rude or offensive. Then marketing comes in and says that they don't know how to market this to this group, and then at the end you get a very boring game that is perfectly safe for everyone to play, but that no one wants to play.

It's simply that corporations don't understand creative work. Creative work and art are subjective, and they are meant to heighten emotions and make people think about it. They are meant quite literally to go counter to everything a corporate environment pushes for.

I also agree that I have been going Indie more because you can tell they aren't as over-encumbered by corporate pressure. They have something they want to make or say, they are passionate and they get it done. I guess my thesis, seperate from Laura's, is that HR and these other teams need to let creatives be creatives. Step in when you need to for sure, but stop at that line and go no further. HR should be there for HR reasons, Legal should protect the company from liability, and marketers should market the product, but none of them (or the executives) should be swaying the creative process to make their jobs easier. It's their jobs to protect the creative process, not the other way around.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Step in when you need to for sure, but stop at that line and go no further. HR should be there for HR reasons, Legal should protect the company from liability, and marketers should market the product, but none of them (or the executives) should be swaying the creative process to make their jobs easier. It’s their jobs to protect the creative process, not the other way around.

I totally agree with you. Thanks for coming back to the discussion table with me, so to speak.

As long as the creative process doesn't include objectifying and sexually harassing their women coworkers, absolutely. There's honestly a fine line, I know it doesn't seem very fine, it seems really obvious that it shouldn't be happening, but the entirety of the history of creating games has been tainted with the pervasive sexism that's allowed to bloom under a "boys will be boys" kind of approach with these creatives.

Maybe the future of gaming isn't with the big companies at all anymore. Maybe they're too big to succeed the way they used to.

[–] rursta@retrolemmy.com 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It’s simply that corporations don’t understand creative work.

I wish you were a tad politically literate. Capitalists are against 🌈creativity✨ Corporations are owned by capitalists. It is in their interests to exploit the workers’ creative process, even sabotage them, for undeterred profit.

They are meant quite literally to go counter to everything a corporate environment pushes for.

🤔 weird how that is, huh

I guess my thesis, seperate from Laura’s, is that HR and these other teams need to let creatives be creatives.

Then those teams have to be anticapitalist, by default.

HR should be there for HR reasons, Legal should protect the company from liability, and marketers should market the product, but none of them (or the executives) should be swaying the creative process to make their jobs easier.

Then you miscomprehend why executives hired all the above to sway the creatives to make their lives richer.

It’s their jobs to protect the creative process, not the other way around.

And this is the thesis, me, Velma, and other creatives have been saying for millennia: vanguards are class traitors. They only exist to protect “executives.” “Executives” created HR to vanguard their interests.