I really want to do the same after years of working in the field and watching it become more and more miserable, but financially I can’t really make the leap to starting my own business yet.

As the years go by I keep learning more and more from organizational practices:

• What raises morale and promotes healthy workflows
• What pisses people off and makes good people leave, and the circumstances that lead to the poor decisions made, since sometimes it’s a cascading effect that’s hard to trace back.
• What people who play games respond most positively to ( typically a mix of real authenticity in a core game design vision rather than pandering + good communication)

trying to keep track of the lessons learned, hoping one day I can make the jump, or at least jump on board with a like minded team

I’m sorry for your situation. Other comments have pointed out that legally you don’t have to comply with the “no side job” bs, so i agree to keep proceeding with it, and if they try to fire you, bring in the lawyers.

On another note, stories like yours are why I want to watch the entire system burn, using executives as fuel for the fire.

Better to resist and flip the bird to these asshats rather than comply in advance.

Good luck to you, keep fighting, and never give up, if only to spite the bastards