Erin Hoffman

Erin Hoffman is an American game developer and blogger. She is best known for an (initially) anonymous blog post where her handle was EA Spouse. The post, originally made on November 11, 2004 to LiveJournal, sharply criticized the labor practices of Electronic Arts, was widely distributed within the industry, and led to changes in game industry labor practices.[1] Hoffman has also been a co-director of the International Game Developers Association, and as of 2011 is a published fantasy author.

Contents

EA Spouse

Hoffman's blog post, under the pseudonym "EA Spouse" was posted in 2004. In 2006, her true identity was revealed, and that she had been fiancee of Leander Hasty, who was employed at the time by Electronic Arts.[2] She gave the reasons for writing the blog as follows: "We had received so many excuses, and they had done so much overtime and everyone was so tired." Hoffman said before telling her fiance, "I need to write something about this. It's not right."

Hoffman's actions have resulted in three class action lawsuits against Electronic Arts and some changes throughout the industry at large, such as reclassification of entry-level artists as hourly employees, thus making them eligible for overtime under California law.

Hoffman's fiance Leander Hasty was the main plaintiff in the successful class action suit on behalf of software engineers at Electronic Arts, which in 2007 awarded the plaintiffs USD $14.9 million for unpaid overtime.[3][4]

Aftermath

After the entire affair and the court action, Hoffman and Hasty founded GameWatch, a watchdog organization meant to facilitate discussions between employees at different companies.[5]

In 2010, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the International Game Developers Association,[6] a position which she held until early 2011. In June 2011 she published her first novel, Sword of Fire and Sea, ISBN 9781616143732.[7]

From September 2010 until October 2011, Hoffman was a Lead Systems Designer at Zynga.[8] In December 2011, it was announced that she had joined Loot Drop as a lead designer.[9]

References

  1. ^ Hoffman, Erin. Nov. 11, 2004. "EA: The Human Story." Retrieved Jan. 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Takahashi, Dean. April 25, 2006. "Nicole Wong Reveals Identity Of EA Spouse." The Mercury News. Retrieved Jan. 23, 2007.
  3. ^ Programmers Win EA Overtime Settlement, EA_Spouse Revealed
  4. ^ Surette, Tim. April 26, 2006. "EA settles OT dispute, disgruntled "spouse" outed." www.gamespot.com. Retrieved Jan. 23, 2007.
  5. ^ EA_Spouse's Mask Removed
  6. ^ Remo, Chris (March 2, 2010). "IGDA elections see four new board members, one reelection". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27479/IGDA_Elections_See_Four_New_Board_Members_One_Reelection.php. Retrieved August 13, 2011. 
  7. ^ Peitzman, Louis (July 21, 2011). "Erin Hoffman: debut novel, 'Sword of Fire and Sea'". San Francisco Chronicle. http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-07-21/entertainment/29797411_1_fantasy-genre-fantasy-world-sword. Retrieved August 13, 2011. 
  8. ^ Erin Hoffman's LinkedIn profile
  9. ^ Curtis, Tom (December 21, 2011). "Industry veteran and activist Erin Hoffman joins Loot Drop". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/39297/Industry_Veteran_And_Activist_Erin_Hoffman_Joins_Loot_Drop.php. 

External links