I doubt I have ever seen a quality product that didn't require significant crunch time or men ending up shadows of their former selves due to overtime. I don't think it's possible, tbh. A man has to do what a man has to do.
So you are saying that working as a zombie each day for months produces a better quality product than working with a fresh mind, well slept and with a healthy relationship. Those quality products were good despite the crunch, not because of it. Do you think programmers are at their best when they are tired, their fingers hurt and their eyes are dry? I have a feeling they are making much more bugs in that condition.
False dichotomy based on strawmen. Crunch and overtime happens when you want to make the best thing possible, aside from what you could do with the luxury of an infinite schedule. Nothing exceptional was ever developed on time once the last bullet-point was crossed off the list at a set deadline. I'm not saying it's good for the people involved or even healthy when such internal cultures develop, but it's still true. There's a reason most of the greatest works of mankind were essentially made by relentless autists and sordid shells of men with unhinged personal relationships - and throughout most of history, that can't be blamed on board rooms or corporate masters.
They want to do something healthy? Stop blaming others for their own decisions and what their passions have cost them. Crunch culture was a thing long before gaming companies were corporate giants, and it's almost always been a defining trait of the exceptional and the dedicated. If you don't want that, if you just want to be drone #5 with the 9-5 work and a steady paycheck, there's nothing wrong with that. But most of the people involved in this conversation, Avellone, Schafer, we all know that that's not them, or at least it wasn't. They could've quit, and sometimes they did, and do. And they may have been right to do so.
But to paint this as abusive, or claim that crunch and dedication and passion-driven relentless exceptionalism is somehow inherently evil? Kindly go fuck yourselves, guys.
How do you stay sharp when you are working without the needed sleep and relaxing? It is the polar opposite of sharpness.
Drugs, obviously. God, it's like you've never witnessed an artist's descent into madness and unhealthy dependence before.
