Looks like our social justice warriors are a little lazy when it doesn't concern them...

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidMullich/20140822/223945/No_Consoles_For_Old_Men_Ageism_In_The_Game_Industry.php

Resume of the author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mullich

This is a huge problem in general (at least in my country). why should it be different in the gaming world? Companies don't want to pay him tons of money when they can get cheaper, younger workers.

It's funny, I work as a lead software developer, and am involved in recruiting. We rejected several candidates that were foreign (because they weren't good enough) and the recruitment agent asked "So, be honest, what kind of group are we looking for here?". We were shocked by that response, we had rejected them on a purely technical basis.

I am of the opinion that I'd recruit a martian (any age) if they can just do the job. I need a good senior dev right now, I don't care about age, I don't care about ethnicity. Hiring a good software developer is so hard I find it mind blowing that anyone could afford to discriminate. EDIT: To be clear, I don't work in games dev.

That's a huge problem all over the world. The main reasons - you've already mentioned. Others are a bit more subtle. But in the end, those are falling under economics , too.

I know it is a horrible thing to think, but my gut-laugh immediate reaction was "Okay, so it is working for sexually and racially/culturally diverse people, maybe I can join in too!"
From what little I know (from a The Office episodes on the subject :D) ageism would be illegal if he was already IN a company and they were discriminating against him, but not hiring him (for unexplained and no-explanation-needed reasons) is okay?
Judging from his resumé, maybe he should do a kickstarter! :D

Example of Ageism (not just in gaming): His picture in the linked wiki article is from 32 years ago.

Its not just the gaming and IT-industry that's like this, its the same in most other professional sectors, from Business to Engineering. Most companies want younger people if given the choice.

Ageism is always a concern. It just depends on the economic state of the world and or nation. Generally, in an economic downturn companies seek the youthful, to rob them of that youth in search of margins that bring the most profit. Whereas, in a stable and growing economy companies seek older individuals, generally for their greater skill and wisdom.

We must also remember that as the technical capabilities of the human race continue to advance over the generations, the relative creation of employment opportunities in the world is not rising equally. We still have a massive displacement of jobs through the continually advancing use of automation and computerized technology. And the fact that education's expense is continuing to rise. This creates an arm's race of sorts, with the young and old competing for employment in ways they have never before.

For a guy with his resume, you'd think that studios would be lining up to throw projects at him. I knew who he was, because I believe HoMM III's Sir Mullich was modeled on him. (Yay, useless minute trivia!)

Perhaps he should try building his own team, come up with some solid ideas and toss 'em on Kickstarter. If the problem is as truly endemic as it seems, he should have literally zero problems getting a solid and experienced team together to make something truly unique.

I'm all most certain several of his job rejections were purely ageism.

Just be glad your job wasn't outsourced to countries that use near slave labor.

And I third that 'kickstarter'. Just please, don't get in bed with an evil publisher.

Oh boy, how this one rings more than one bell. ;-)

David Mullich has a problem getting a job in a game studio? Is this real? oO
No wonder that modern games lack so much charm.

I would think that companies based on creative products (books, art, games, movies, music, ect) would prefer older people. Provided that their mental faculties haven't deteriorated or stratified, they should be able to bring a great deal of experience and maturity to the table. Sure, they might require a bigger paycheck - but unlike inexperienced workers, they are more apt to stay on target, or at least have something decent by launch time.

Anyways, perhaps this particular person should try asking Larian for a job? I get the feeling that they will be hiring, since Original Sin has been released.

If they, too, prefer younger ones, there's little to worry about.

The insane thing is that most companies want younger people with many years of experience. :P

I partially agree here. What companies want are employees that are like 25-35 and already have several years worth of experience. At least the older workers have some legal protections in place, the younger workers don't have any protections at all against age discrimination.