Why do gamers often make less than the programmers have equivalent experience in other industries.
Is this true? And if so, why?
There are specific reasons why paid gaming companies pay less than non-gamers, in addition to the fact that programming games seem to be more interesting for applicants and they offer less because they can?

1 hour ago, Cabrra said:

If you refer to a game programmer I have some insights for you.

Location, experience, full time/contract, QA vs developer, different platforms/languages, etc. is relevant to any industry.

But from what I have seen while looking around, opportunities for game developer jobs were substantially less than what I get (enterprise software), with most other things similar. The fact I even considered them I think speaks a lot for that difference being because people in those roles are prepared to do so for less, while people working on boring software that almost nobody really cares about unless they are complaining are more likely to take a "highest bidder" approach.

Maybe people going into games also hope to do their own thing rather than just what the corporate bosses feel is important, but having looked at some jobs, done some interviews etc. I'm not sure they actually would generally get more freedom.

This is pretty demotivating to read.

"I would do this for free, because I like it" is a wrong way of thinking. Even if you like it, this doesn't mean you will be extent of responsibility and dead lines, and waking up early in the morning to get to the office, having to politically handle interactions with mentally issued colleagues. I mean a job is a job! Even if you like it or not, it is a job and has to be paid properly. Although i understand world is not working that way. What the others in this thread say could be happening for real. I understand it. I'm just saying.

The worst thing is, bad working conditions could turn you away from your hobby. If you suffer for your hobby, you could end up hating it. Why to end up hating your hobby? Because of exploiters?! "Bad show", bro!!
If you work for less money than your colleagues YOU WILL SUFFER!!!! Colleagues will dislike you and treat you badly. Every error they will search for and find in your code will be a big deal and be explained with your "cheap incompetence".

If you love making games, better find people to build a team and go fund yourself. Or ask for a good salary. Or sell your product, "take the money and run".

I only can accept working for much less if I am on some course paid by the company. After that, i have to work one month or so to adapt to the new environment, and during this I could be paid less, but right after this, i will expect to receive the salary of the rest of people in my range.

The problem is the inequality. If everybody is being exploited and all the colleagues receive small salaries, this is ok. But if you are one of the few in the company who will be not paid well because "you love what you do".........you will end up hating your hobby, and you'll lose your job too.

Talents are divine gifts. We should respect our talents. I would work in a pizza while drawing in the free time instead of being exploited in a job where i have to draw in bad conditions and after work i have to do something else in order to distract myself from my bad experience at work. To distract from my ex-hobby, doing something else.

(i just woke up today, very wanting to design the 3D hair for my model(lot of work to do), but then i read this and now i feel demotivated to even open the 3D file....)

For programmers the game studios have to compete with the major tech companies for talented engineers if they are looking for top talent. There is just very a high demand for programmers at the moment. It is really as simply as that. 

11 minutes ago, Dirk Gregorius said:

For programmers the game studios have to compete with the major tech companies for talented engineers if they are looking for top talent. There is just very a high demand for programmers at the moment. It is really as simply as that. 

Additionally recently the big companies have been hiring more and more for jobs that require the same skillset that game companies hire for.  This is because they are getting into areas like interactive entertainment, VR/AR, and even their own game-related projects that compete with game studios for the same set of programmers.  And sine a company like Google or Amazon can afford to pay much more than a game studio to get the best talent and get their projects staffed, that's what happens.