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AllDevsMatter
Well this might get ugly.

Well… prepare for a lot of this:

I'm suddenly being reminded of what happened with Silent Hill HD Collection. Konami didn't want to pay royalties to the original VAs so they recorded completely new voice acting for both SH2 and 3 (getting people like Troy Baker to voice James Sunderland, and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, who already does most of the vocal tracks for the SH games, to voice Maria).

However Guy Cihi and the other SH2 VAs weren't happy that fans weren't getting the voices they already knew the most, so they actually went to Konami and signed away any rights they had to royalties just so fans could have the option of using the original voices in the SH2 portion (as far as I know none of the SH3 VAs did the same, so that half is still new voices only). Granted SH HD Collection still suffered anyway from bad technical problems, but still the whole voice actor stuff is pretty noteworthy.

Wow, BBC are also covering this

Fully on board with my fellow voiceover artists here. Even back when I first recorded my voice reel, after "only" 3 hours my throat was knackered.

If you go on the actor Wil Wheaton's blog right now he explains how the aftereffects of this can negatively affect your work for the next few days.

"The union that represents them wants better protection and pay for roles that cause "voice stress" such as repeated shouting.
It also wants a clearer definition between the roles of voice actors and those who are involved in motion capture."

Mo cap is completely different field – mo cap acting needs to be treated as completely separate from VO! Never done it but know dancers and stuff who have. VOs are not necessarily trained in all safety aspects.

Absolutely agree. I have every intentions of getting into the voice acting industry at some point once I get some decent equipment to do some of my own shit. VAing can be stressful, even for the short shitty quick ones I've done in the past, they hurt if you're doing it for hours on end or literally any character with a heavy gravelly voice.

Now the question comes, are the big game companies going to be reasonable and give the VA's what they are asking for, which is a tiny amount of the mutliple millions that the company makes with their hit games.

Or are they going to stubbornly think they can get by without them, leading to a return of silent text box games as a "throwback" to cover up the cost cutting, or bad voice overs by amatuers which, while it may lead to new talent breaking into the industry, will result in an inferior product overall?

We have probably a year before games that can't be delayed need to get released and made. We'll see who breaks first.

The only thing I don't like about this, is if Gamergate gets tied into this, because some of the people supporting this are Aggros like Wheaton and Burch.
I'm wondering about the people who Wheaton plays those table top games with as well on that web show he runs, the VA's include Laura Bailey and Yuri Lowenthal.

Would you mind elaborating for me what an "aggro" is? I don't understand it in this context.

Aggro = Anti-GamerGate, You know the people against Gamergate.

I admit I don't quite recall the origin of it, but "Aggro" is another name given to the anti-Gamergate side. If you're wondering how you get "aggro" out of that, you can shorten anti-Gamergate to just "AGG" and of course now you're just two letter away from "aggro." Aggro by definition means "aggressive, violent behavior" and the worst parts of the anti-GG side have been known to be violently aggressive, not physically but vocally. Of course Pro-GG can be aggressive too, just with different goals in mind.

But anyway this isn't really a GamerGate related issue, though I will admit to finding it unintentionally hilarious that Ashly Burch has actually complained about "toxic masculinity" in video games in the past but ironically guess what video games she's most often in? Violent ones like Borderlands (where she plays a violent child to boot), Saints Row (which she and her cuckold brother love), Team Fortress 2 (which has no playable female characters to begin with, and no lets not start up the topic of the Pyro), and fucking Mortal Kombat X as Cassie Cage. Also one of her most well known anime roles is Attack on Titan, where one of the main characters in said show gets his "super powers" from feelings of aggression (I've only seen the anime so if the manga contradicts what I say then ignore this part).

^ Thanks for the info. It's a shame some VOs are feeling the need to plunge themselves into the whole GG mess. I personally avoid both sides, since it seems like a can of worms no matter which side you look at.