Apple TV+ has just launched its newest series, Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet, a workplace comedy that takes viewers inside the development of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). While finding the humor in the video game development industry is the show's first priority, the project also gives Mythic Quest's creative team the ability to comment on a number of issues that the gaming and tech industries actually face on a regular basis.

　　"That was really just a function of making it feel authentic. It wasn't that we wanted to look for hot button issues, per se," co-creator, executive producer, and star Rob McElhenney explained during a group interview at the TCA winter press tour. "It was just we were asking ourselves, and then asking [co-producers] Ubisoft, and then asking the experts that we brought in. What [are] the things that we're dealing with that every workplace is dealing with right now and then what are the [issues] that are specific to the gaming community and the gaming industry that they're dealing with right now? Because we want it to feel as authentic to their experience as possible."

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　　Now Playing: Rob McElhenney Debuts Comedy Show Mythic Quest

　　He continued, "It just so happens [that] Nazis are infiltrating social media. and this is something that lots of social media companies are wrestling with." Indeed, an early episode in Season 1 sees the Mythic Quest team trying to figure out how to handle an influx of white supremacists using their platform to congregate.

　　The series also tackles the issue of gender inequality in the gaming industry. On the show, Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) is the lead engineer, and the producers plan to point out how rare that is.

　　"We have, obviously, a cast that has lots of women in it and the only way to be authentic about that and not be like, 'Oh, this happens everywhere in gaming,' was to talk about how unique it is that Poppy's in her position. To talk about how the other three women that we have on the show are in the lowest level positions of the company," executive producer Megan Ganz said. While the cast of the show is made up equally of men and women, Ganz was careful to note that the same isn't necessarily true of the game development world. "It is not, and it brings up conflict, and conflict is great for comedy," she added.

　　Another topic the show will touch on is crunch, otherwise known as the practice of overworking developers to meet game release deadlines.

　　"Crunch is a very serious part of the development world right now. And how do we explore that in a way that feels authentic and real to what's happening and also fair? Do we collectively believe that some of these corporations are inherently or the people that work for them are inherently evil and trying to force people into slave labor? No, of course not," McElhenney said. "But we do recognize that they're being pushed--these devs are being pushed--past, probably, the point at which it's appropriate. And how do we reconcile those things? Because what corporate wants, of course, is something made for something cheaper but there are reasons for that that aren't just profitability. It's also the ability to give it out to the consumer for less than three times what the marked-up value would be. But beyond that, you can't then also ask somebody to work a 70-hour week and not be compensated for it, especially people who want to be there. They want to make the game as great as they can make it, they just want to be compensated."

　　Still, while Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet will be touching on these very real things that exist in the gaming industry, along with more common workplace issues like professional jealousy and office romance, it's still a comedy first and foremost. What else would you expect for a show co-created by the executive producers and stars of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, McElhenney and Charlie Day?

　　Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet is now available on Apple TV+. It's already been picked up for a second season, which will use a different name.