Life may imitate art, but it seems art can cost you your day job. Picked up by The Star, indie developer David S. Gallant recently revealed via Twitter that he is currently out of work after his employers caught wind of I Get This Call Every Day, a game criticizing the banal minutia surrounding an average day working at a call center.
Life may imitate art, but it seems art can cost you your day job. Picked up by The Star, indie developer David S. Gallant recently revealed via twitter that he is currently out of work after his employers caught wind of I Get This Call Every Day, his game criticizing the banal minutia surrounding an average day working at a call center.
“Please understand that after the next tweet,” Gallant said, “I cannot and will not provide any further comment on today’s situation.” Adding, “Anyone hiring?”
Gallant never revealed where he worked when the game was released, but soon enough the Internet found out (it always does, doesn’t it?), and word of the game made it to his higher-ups. Gallant apparently worked for the Canadian Revenue Agency, and when his bosses found out about the game, they were none too pleased, revealing as much in a statement to The Star:
“National Revenue Minister Gail Shea is not amused. Her communications director, Clarke Olsen, sent an email to The Star Tuesday stating, “The Minister considers this type of conduct offensive and completely unacceptable. 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.”
In an earlier interview with Kotaku, Gallant expressed trepidation about diving headfirst into indie game development, stating that he “realized the financial cliffjump” it would take, and that he is “not a young, single indie dev able to take big risks with money.” Following the fallout, fans have offered support, trying to paint the situation in a positive light, but Gallant remains a realist, tweeting “I know that everyone keeps saying that I can focus on creating now, and that will happen, but the fact is: I have to focus on paying rent too.”
