Good info, and fair enough for people to support the strike, if they want to.

FWIW, my view is that the use of AI-generated figures, voices etc. in video games is inevitable. As a gamer, I genuinely don't care who is behind a particular voice. I cannot imagine that many gamers do. All the strike is going to do, is hasten the shift to AI.

Unless you're excited to live in a world where creative personality and art history has been replaced by public or private utilities, the (maybe not) inevitable deserves at least a little resistance.

A lot of the mainstream "creative" media has been just that for a while now. It did not need AI to lose its soul.

The cost of acting as a percentage of budget or revenue is highest for indie studios because it's done at fixed union rates without the variability in the number of hours that can be spent on it you get for art and polish coding. It is likely to take over the stuff we actually like first, because, among other things, small studios are more willing to take risks and accept quality compromises in new technology acquisition.

A lot of the non-mainstream stuff only exists because the creatives in the mainstream take the capital they earn there and shovel it into niche stuff.

Excluding artists from the mainstream wont just hurt the mainstream. It will starve the niche too.

This kind of defeatism is the only thing that could make it "inevitable" in the first place.

I care, I understand not everyone does though

They want to ban generative AI in video games? Why would a company ever agree to that?

The writers strike eventually resolved, but with big layoffs and wiped $2B from the LA economy

The fully organic push might just be a bargaining tactic. There's other big wins like ensuring your likeness won't be replicated, your work used to train AI without compensation, or your work replaced with an AI sound-alike when it's cheaper.

I guess I'm unintentionally supporting them, because Riot removed Arena last week. That was the only game type I had the stomach to play, I'm tired of whacking minions.

“Digital picket line”? Over “AI”? For heavens sake, grow up. What are you protesting, the use of technology and mankind’s advancement?

Towards what? artist-less art? Higher returns?

Why do you think artist-less art is a bad thing? Do you think code written by A.I is bad too?

Where can we learn more about this? The strike calls for players to boycott the game?

Here's a few links. I don't believe the union officially calls for players to boycott or anything, just for union members to strike. Either way I haven't played since the strike became official, primarily because I always try to support striking unions when possible, and secondarily because it's pretty easy to just not play a game while they're negotiating.

https://apnews.com/article/sagaftra-formosa-interactive-leag...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_SAG-AFTRA_video_game_stri...

How is it not relevant to a post by Riot/LoL?

Except the strike is not really against LoL as a game, but as one of the largest clients of the actually targeted company. The strike is purely an industry strike and does not have much to do with players, as it originates in the VA company trying to pull a scummy move to bypass an union. The strike's goal was to force Riot to take position and disavow the company, which has been successful.