[ekianjo]

> If people continue to work in the games industry despite the workload and pay they must be getting something out of it.

Most people are. They get to meet with cool folks, they get press coverage, there's a lot of feedback loop between users and creators (much more than in virtually any other industry), and you get to work with people who have the same passion as you - and you can actually USE and ENJOY what you create as well. That's worth something, even if not necessarily in monetary value.

[teamonkey]

Also it's very challenging and can be very satisfying. It can actually be quite fun working in games.