If you’ve ever worked in the games industry, you’ve likely been impacted by layoffs. Whether you’ve been laid off yourself, had partners or close friends find themselves suddenly unemployed, or you’ve had to show up to work after losing half your team, there are very few people in the industry who haven’t been impacted by the life and identity-altering experience that are layoffs. As a psychologist in this industry (who was laid off myself in the last five years), I’m particularly grateful for organizations like Seattle Indies who have weekly events to help devs stay connected with each other, and ASGC who focus on providing practical support and visibility to developers looking for work. I’ve been having a lot of conversations with people who are navigating their own layoff experiences or worried about the well-being of friends or the future of their own jobs. A few conversations at a recent Seattle Indies social reminded me that sometimes it’s helpful to have a doctor reinforce the basics you know are helpful. With that in mind, here are your doctor-recommended reminders for how to increase your own resilience while you’re navigating the instability of the industry.
Note: I’m a therapist but not your therapist – this information is provided for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please take what you find helpful and leave what isn’t applicable to you.
Have Regular Social Interactions
Jobs give us regular opportunities for social connection with others, which is crucial for our well-being. Even if you didn’t love your coworkers, they still provided you with regular, predictable social input. When you lose that, it’s easy to have your social world shrink, compounded further if your schedule has changed, or you didn’t have much of a reason to connect with liked coworkers outside of work. When you’re out of work, or worried that may be on the horizon, it’s important to set up regular opportunities to connect with others – this could be a scheduled phone call or gaming session, or attendance at a local book
club, or even a habit of going to the same coffee shop in-person a couple of times a week. In addition to the scheduled social events that can help provide structure, staying connected with the networks you care about (even if it’s uncomfortable at first) can help keep you from sinking into unhealthy patterns of isolation. That doesn’t mean you can’t still take a breath and take time to recharge and rest by yourself, but remember that we’re social creatures. Even small doses of human interaction can go a long way to keeping you connected during isolating times. Organizations like the Games Industry Gathering (GIG), Seattle Indies, ASGC, and Take This all have Discord servers where industry folks can connect. Additionally, many community members have created servers to stay connected with former coworkers, ranging from just a few people, to almost everyone who has been laid off from a particular studio.
Move Your Body
When we’re distressed and don’t have the imposed structure of a work day, it can be harder to get our brains engaged in what we know will be good for us. Whether you hate exercise in all forms, or just want to avoid getting sweaty, it is, unfortunately, one of the best things you can do to improve emotional regulation and well-being. You don’t have to be traditional about it though. Consider dusting off your favorite movement-based game (I still go back to Beat Saber), walking on a treadmill while playing your favorite mobile or handheld game (my personal favorite right now is Balatro), or volunteering to walk dogs at a local shelter. Further, do what you can to set up your environment to get you into the behavior. My clients have used strategies like setting out comfortable walking clothes the night before, telling their friends their exercise plan (like doing 25 pushups every day before gaming), and keeping their Switch charging next to their treadmill.
Consider Who You Are Outside of Work
Many of us in passion-driven careers associate a lot of our identity with what we do for work. It’s great to have passion for what you do, and it’s important for that passion to be only one of multiple things that define who you are and determine your worth to yourself. Consider spending at least three hours a week doing something that you care about (or could care about) that isn’t work-related. Try out new cooking recipes, start chipping away at that project you’ve been kicking around in your head for two years, or volunteer at a local community center or charitable organization (e.g., senior center or community kitchen). These individual activities may seem trite, but they help give our brain more data points about who we are as a person, so that if one part of our identity experiences a disruption, we don’t disintegrate into a dusty pile of shame and despair. If you were to die tomorrow, what are three things you’d want people to remember about you?
Ask For Help (Especially If You Need It)
If you’ve gotten this far and are noticing a sinking feeling in your stomach because you know all this, but you’re struggling to get started? That’s a good sign that you may need some additional help – this could be accountability from a close friend or family member, or professional help from a licensed therapist or other medical professional. Are you doing okay now, but worried that you might not be later? That’s actually a great time to let a few trusted people in your life know what’s going on, and what will be helpful if you start to struggle.
Layoffs are brutal, and you deserve better than this. It’s okay to not be okay, but don’t go at it alone.
Here is more information on coping and layoffs. If you’d like to learn more about burnout in the games industry, you can read more about our research here. If you’d like to help your team increase resilience to burnout, or support ADHD and autistic integration in the workplace, Take This provides workshops and consulting services to studios.