How Making a Video Game About Your life Can Get you Fired

Posted by aosot on February 1st, 2013

When Canadian game designer David Gallant created the purposely mundane I Get this Call Every day, based on his employment experience at various call centers, he knew it could get him into trouble. But it’s easy to think in hypotheticals. On Tuesday, however, the worst case scenario actually happened.

I Get this Call Every day was originally conceived during a mini-Ludum Dare game jam from last September with the theme “Not Game. ”
Gallant's job at the Canada Revenue Agency was not the first time he'd worked in a call center.
Gallant's job at the Canada Revenue Agency was not the first time he'd worked in a call center.

“That’s where I kind of got the idea of a call center simulation where there’s no good outcomes, ” he told me on Wednesday. “There’s no real way to win the game. ”

Development continued for several weeks after the jam, and it was finally published on his personal website on December 21. Gallant followed the popular pay-what-you-want model with a minimum of $2. On launch day, Kotaku ran a story on it, which drove a little bit of attention his way, but nothing notable in terms of sales. Gallant was just happy to have someone pay attention to his game.

The game itself falls into a similar category as Cart Life. I Get this Call Every day has less to do with fun and more to do with imparting empathy through interactivity. Games are in a unique position to convey an activity, even one as dull as talking to taxpayers on the phone. I Get this Call Every day has players sitting at a desk, waiting for a green button to flash, and choosing how to respond. Both characters are voiced by Gallant, and the whole experience--interface, visuals, art--is humorously crude.

It’s also, ironically, very easy to get fired yourself in I Get this Call Every day.

Gallant published the game on Desura and Indievania, and made a move for approval on Steam's Greenlight service. It hasn’t gone well, with users responding negatively to the MS Paintish aesthetic.

“Things were, for the past week, really quiet, ” he said.

Then, a reporter for the Toronto Star contacted Gallant. The Toronto Star is a big, notable newspaper in Canada, so if the Toronto Star comes a-knockin’, you answer. The reporter wanted to discuss I Get this Call Every day, and revealed a key bit of information about Gallant’s life: the reporter knew he worked at Canada Revenue Agency.

I contacted the reporter in question, Valerie Hauch, to learn more about how she found out about the game, but Hauch did not return my request for comment, as of this writing.

His co-workers were aware of his hobby, and he regularly passed out business cards to promote the part-time business. Either nobody went to the website prominently featuring I Get this Call Every day, or nobody cared. He didn’t actively discuss and showcase I Get this Call Every day, though, knowing it might solicit unwanted attention.

“I got the idea that my fellow coworkers really wouldn’t be the audience for this game because it is an experience that they already have to deal with, ” he said.

Nonetheless, Gallant’s not-quite-secret secret was about to become very, very public.

“To this point, I had never disclosed who I worked for deliberately, ” he said. “The game doesn’t mention what employer it is. ”

Gallant was told this detail would be included in the reporter’s piece, which appeared in a story on Tuesday titled “Tax department employee creates online game to vent his frustration with taxpayers. ” Furthermore, the reporter contacted the government to get an official response.

“I knew that was always a possibility, ” said Gallant. “This game could, in a way, be linked back to my employer, it could be something they take offense to, and I always knew there was a risk that i could lose my job because of that. ”

He knew the risk, and the reporter was just doing their job. Pretty quickly, the situation snowballed. Gallant was unable to disclose the exact nature of what happened on Tuesday. Take a guess. He could only confirm he no longer had a job, and it’s pretty clear the reason Gallant is no longer taking phone calls is due to the game he made.

“The Minister considers this type of conduct offensive and completely unacceptable, ” said National Revenue Minister Gail Shea in a statement to the Toronto Star. “The Minister has asked the Commissioner (of Revenue, Andrew Treusch) to investigate and take any and all necessary corrective action. The Minister has asked the CRA to investigate urgently to ensure no confidential taxpayer information was compromised. ”

It’s not difficult to suspect how a story like this might end. source: giantbomb


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