As Hollywood writers prepare to strike, one has to wonder why creators in the arena of electronic entertainment have never camped out in a canvas tent outside of Electronic Arts or Activision or some other big-name videogame producer with a bunch of protest signs, asking for a bigger stake in the profits of franchises like Madden, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid or the Spider-Man games.

Is it because the videogame industry is a complete delight to work for with ideal working conditions and everyone’s rich beyond their wildest dreams? I doubt it.

I suspect part of the reason is that writers in electronic entertainment may not be unionized. Are videogame translators, script-writers, localizers and the sort even allowed into the Writers Guild of America?

Frankly, I don’t know.

But considering some of the rumors of 20-hour shifts, conditions that expect creators to live, eat and sleep in developers’ studios when on deadline and other such working conditions, it would be a surprising oversight by the WGA not to at least attempt to protect the scribes who bring us Silent Hill and Resident Evil.

Is there a benefit to the WGA potentially not having a presence in the vidoegame industry? Sure; no chance of a strike if there’s no union.

Then again, the way the industry tends to gobble up and spit out scribes, often leaving them in poor health from overworked conditions, uninsured and sometimes blamed for games that flop, well… maybe a bit more WGA presence in the industry wouldn’t be such a horrible thing, either.