Nicole
Wong Reveals Identity Of EA Spouse (thanks
Shacknews) has a
follow-up on the tale of EA Spouse (
story), revealing Erin
Hoffman as the identify of the then-anonymous whistle-blower
who exposed working
conditions within the game development industry that paved the way for the
EA lawsuit (
story) and other steps toward reform. Here's a bit:
So Hoffman, then 23, poured out her frustration -- under the pen name EA
Spouse -- in a November 2004 blog that resonated so strongly with other video
game developers that it helped spark an employee uprising inside EA and six
lawsuits for unpaid overtime against three of the industry's most prominent
employers.
Hoffman wrote on the blog that EA's attitude toward its workers was: "If they
don't want to sacrifice their lives and their health and their talent so that a
multibillion dollar corporation can continue its Godzilla-stomp through the game
industry, they can work someplace else.''
Now, more than a year later, game developers have won settlements in three
class-action lawsuits alleging EA created exhausting work schedules without
paying overtime and successfully pressed employers to ease unrelenting
workloads. And EA Spouse, whose true identity has been cloaked until now, is
becoming a voice against America's culture of overwork.