Do you think Voice Actors should be payed more for their work?

[IceBrand]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/09/video_game_voice_actors_contemplate_strike_action_over_pay_and_conditions

This is where the topic idea came from. Basically voice actors go through a difficult struggle to voice characters. They are given no context on the characters, story, mood, etc and sit for long sessions non stop.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Silver Ninja

[Maritisa]

...I had no idea it was this bad.

Holy shit, what the actual FUCK is wrong with all these corporations? I assume this is a long-going thing, but, my god, just another thing to add to the extensive list of terrible things they've been doing.

Here's hoping something gets worked out here, that's ridiculous.

[Water Mage]

I've heard about it, and here's another article:

http://www.destructoid.com/sag-affiliated-video-game-voice-actors-may-go-on-strike-312068.phtml

Here's some quotes from the article:

"Another interesting bit comes towards the end of the counter-proposal. "Once an engagement is accepted, the performer shall appear at that session, on time, ready and willing to perform and attentive to the services for which they have been engaged." If the voice actor breaks this part of the agreement, they will have to pay $2,500 in "Liquidated Damages." SAG-AFTRA claims "this means [actors] could be fined for almost anything: checking an incoming text, posting to Twitter, even zoning out for a second."

Producers are also seeking the right to fine SAG-AFTRA franchised agents $100,000 for refusing to "refer represented performers for engagements at rates provided." (Shorthand: if your agent doesn't send you on a certain audition, they'll be charged.) Or, if SAG-AFTRA revokes their franchise, they will only charge $50,000."

And my personal favorite:

"In response to negotiations falling through, voice actors have taken to Twitter with the hashtag #PerformanceMatters, named for a voice acting panel at Long Beach Comic Con.

Blum, one of the architects of the movement, believes game voice actors deserve better. "We've been told that our performances do not matter. That anyone can do this work. And that the fans won't care if we're replaced by non-actors. We believe otherwise. So we have unified and are taking a stand to prove it."

"We believe in creating a quality product and are only asking for a reasonable, safe and fair working environment so we are able to continue providing it."

They are told that their perfomances don't matter, that fans don't care about voice acting in games...

Make that what you will.

[Rapier]

So the issue seems to be with the abusive demands from work, and not with the payment (which is... actually very complicated to discuss about because of the objective x subjective value dialetics, and I'm bad at economics).

Not sure how to solve this. In theory, a group of voice actors could be enough to put pressure in corporations and demand for better payment and/or work conditions, bonus points if these actors are professional since they are more capable of influencing their employers than average actors.

[Zera]

Since this is just on topic, I'll share it -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooegM_JZLb4

I guess Xander Mobus had a better deal than most VAs, but it's not like the Smash Bros series cuts corners. Aside from improving VA business practices, perhaps more games in the future will feature soft-spoken characters like Mario, Link, Kirby, and Samus, as those are (presumably) the easiest to do, don't require as much context, and give the gameplay more room to shine.

Blum, one of the architects of the movement, believes game voice actors deserve better. "We've been told that our performances do not matter. That anyone can do this work. And that the fans won't care if we're replaced by non-actors. We believe otherwise. So we have unified and are taking a stand to prove it."

Even as a non-VA, I am aware that this statement is almost completely untrue. Anyone can be a VA - a crappy, mediocre VA - but it takes a lot of skill and talent to be a truly good one.

An example of good VA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG4ei3it8B0

An example of not-so-good VA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bangt7d9vGA

Edited September 26, 2015 by Zera

[NICKT™]

I won't support it simply because it's only giving a voice to a small aspect and group within the game-making industry.

Entertainment industry as a whole is toxic and treats people like trash yet gaming sees you fall to the wayside unless you're a really big name.

All these voice-actors whining should really sit down and wonder how bad it is for 99% of people who work in those offices, they all get screwed over in the end and when you shout "what about me" instead of "what about us", it's a surefire way for me not to give a fuck.

EDIT:

Also, voice acting isn't that hard.

The hardest part is literally having multiple voices, acting is a piss in the wind if you've half a brain and the person behind the glass is half-competent at getting the best out of a voicer.

Edited September 26, 2015 by NICKT™

[Maritisa]

All these voice-actors whining should really sit down and wonder how bad it is for 99% of people who work in those offices,

Just because it's worse for someone else doesn't just excuse things being bad. Yeah, pretty much everyone in the industry who isn't a big name probably struggles, yeah they probably go through terrible treatment and working conditions, (Actually there was an EC episode all about it...) but that doesn't just make people who've also been wronged suddenly less valid.

People need to be treated like people. Not like assets. Regardless of what they do. There should never under any circumstances be any exceptions to that.

[deleted35362]

like one problem is that with games, they dont really....need voice acting to sell a lot. games need programmers, games need artists and composers to an extent but voice acting...has its place in games but isnt treated like its that important...

and like nickt said programmers get overworked sometimes to sick to meet deadlines....SEGA <_<

[Retyl]

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Edited September 6, 2018 by Retyl

[Hyperthrough]

I think they should. They give most games personality to the characters and locations.

It also seems stressing not knowing what the project is about, yet they have to try to act in character. Plus, not being paid enough is bad enough.

[Mrs Chrom]

Some of their demands are legitimate but they're just massively overestimating how valuable they are to the industry. So many games are massive successes without voice acting or with just mediocre voice acting that it really is more of a nice novelty than a necessity.

It is definitely a big plus. But I don't think it'll really affect game sales. Take a quick look through the top 10 rated games of all time: http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html

Half of them have no voice acting.

If you either remove voice acting from some games or just replace it with amateurs, it's very unlikely to affect sales that much. People go for games based on the concepts and ideas. This is very different to movies, where the actors really do matter.

[Zera]

I really hope that this doesn't mean that a lot of games will go Nintendo style and have only text and/or shitty voice acting.

Nintendo games always have good, if not excellent voice acting. If they replace Charles Martinet's voice of Mario, his helium yelps will never be the same.

[Retyl]

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Edited September 6, 2018 by Retyl

[Zera]

Give me an example of terrible then.

[Retyl]

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Edited September 6, 2018 by Retyl

[shadowofchaos]

Give me an example of terrible then.

"Don't leeeaaave meee... FAAATHEEEER."

The Tellius games were notorious for generating memes with how fans thought the voice acting was passable at best.

Anyways, voice actors deserve better than that.

I know every industry has its challenges, and I prefer JP VAs and stuff... but my preferences for language does not mean that I condone English VA's being crapped on by the companies and fans.

They should be more appreciated. Especially in the states.

Being fined for small things mentioned earlier is absolutely ridiculous.

Edited September 26, 2015 by shadowofchaos

[Zera]

Those aren't even mediocre. (I haven't played the Tellius games, but the cutscenes I watched sound okay.)

The only one I can kinda agree with is F-Zero GX, and that was more because they chose the wrong voices for the characters than the acting itself.

If you're gonna diss Prime 3's voice acting, then I seriously have to wonder how ludicrously high your standards are.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Zera

[Jave]

Radiant Dawn's voice acting is beyond horrible. Micaiah, Mia and Mist only have one scene each, so why bother giving them different VAs when Lani Minella is available. She also voices Rolf, who doesn't sound any different from her Luke Triton voice.

And who thought it was good idea for Jason Adkins to also voice Kid Ike?

Edited September 26, 2015 by Jave

[solrocknroll]

Radiant Dawn's voice acting is beyond horrible. Micaiah, Mia and Mist only have one scene each, so why bother giving them different VAs when Lani Minella is available. She also voices Rolf, who doesn't sound any different from her Luke Triton voice.

And who thought it was good idea for Jason Adkins to also voice Kid Ike?

Okay yeah, the cast is really hollow, but as someone who loves Minella I couldn't care less. She IS the only true Rouge the Bat after all.

[The DanMan]

The comments on that article, frankly, are pathetic; there's so much false info and finger-pointing that it makes me want to puke. Few voice actors have "lucrative" jobs; most make just enough to get by, and they don't do that by picking and choosing.

For the most part, I side with the VAs. They should get adequate info on a character so they can fine-tune the performance to that character, and in general better treatment. If mo-cap is involved, then they should get extra pay. However, I disagree with the comparisons to film actors; a VA does less and has less involvement, and are therefore paid less. Voice acting isn't mandatory for a video game; unless your film is animated, you need actors.

If they do decide to go on strike, I'll be interested in seeing the short-term repercussions. Could be that when the dust settles there's a few more popular VA's who are non-union and took advantage of the situation.

[kingddd]

Give me an example of terrible then.

It's all personal bias but here's how I feel about most of Nintendo's voice localization.

Rhythm Heaven's first DS localization music was terrible. The singing had no energy at all. The voice direction was a downright bore.

Pretty much all of FE's english voice before FE13. And no Tellius games's voice acting weren't mediocre. They were atrocious and I still laugh at how bad it is to this day. They don't fit at all.

Pit's original english voice for brawl was pretty cringey and was way too low pitched. It was much better in KI:U.

Metroid Other M's voice acting could have been so much better. The monologues didn't feel right at all.

The thing is most of the older Nintendo titles hired interns and internal staff to do the voices so it wasn't until recently that they started hiring more professional voice actors.

The only few IPs I feel Nintendo got the voice direction right was Star Fox, Punch Out, Code Name Steam and Battalion Wars and even then, a lot of those IPs were outsourced studios that did proper voice direction.

Edited September 26, 2015 by kingddd

[Zera]

Although I like Pit's voice in Uprising, I thought his higher pitched voice in Brawl fit his youthful nature more. BTW, since this is about the acting itself and not the directing of it, Samus's monologues from Other M don't really count as Jessica Martin was instructed to speak a specific way by Sakamoto.

[kingddd]

Although I like Pit's voice in Uprising, I thought his higher pitched voice in Brawl fit his youthful nature more. BTW, since this is about the acting itself and not the directing of it, Samus's monologues from Other M don't really count as Jessica Martin was instructed to speak a specific way by Sakamoto.

doesn't matter who the director was. It's still bad voice direction and the delivery was subpar at best.

[Zera]

The voice actor is not to blame for crappy voice directing. Mrgrgr.

[NinjaMonkey]

I'm not a fan of "professional" voice actors ever since Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies gave Phoenix, Edgeworth and Apollo different voices to those in previous entries. That, and I can easily spot when companies lazily get Troy Baker to voice someone. The only instances where I prefer professional VA's is David Hayter as Solid Snake and DC Douglas as Albert Wesker.

Radiant Dawn's voice acting is beyond horrible. Micaiah, Mia and Mist only have one scene each, so why bother giving them different VAs when Lani Minella is available. She also voices Rolf, who doesn't sound any different from her Luke Triton voice.

And who thought it was good idea for Jason Adkins to also voice Kid Ike?

I thought the VA was pretty good actually. Certainly better in comparison to Awakening's VA, which I thought was bland, unemotional and uninspired (which is why I skip all the cutscenes in Awakening).