So today at the place where I intern there was a big crisis – a ton of information booklets for some prospective TAs needed to be done by the end of the day. Cue me dropping everything in order to put together 8 massive booklets complete with snazzy pictures. My colleagues were well impressed, commenting on my aptitude for combining text, pictures and information in a functional but pretty format. My instant reaction to this, was “It’s easy – I do this kind of thing with my WoW interface all the time!”. It was true, I do have a lot of practice at positioning items on a screen to find a good balance. It’s hardly rocket surgery!
This isn’t the first time it’s occurred to me that Warcraft actually provides you with a lot of skills that employers want. Ok, not everyone suffers from UI OCD like myself but there are plenty of others, just look at raiding. Coordinating 25 people to work together in common cause, using only a keyboard and a microphone actually takes a lot of skill. Employers are always going on about teamwork, leadership skills, communication skills, problem-solving, bla bla bla. I bet most of them would struggle to reach Marrowgar. Also, did I mention that studies show that video gamers outperform non-gamers consistently in many tests of mental ability? Probably because we’re going home and using our brains every night instead of just watching tv.
I think you get the point, Warcraft players actually make amazing employees. So I’m kind if annoyed that a) I’m unemployed and b) people simply don’t accept my Warcraft-related skills. Of course, I have other skills too, its not like I’m basing an interview around them or anything. But I have tried to use them to shore up some of my weaker points. I don’t have many examples in a professional context of leadership skills, mostly because as a recently graduated student I have mostly only done peon-level jobs. So the raid example seems an obvious thing to bring up, because leading a raid of 24 other people is more difficult than most of the tasks I see people around me getting paid for. Yet this not seen as an acceptable answer.
It’s prejudice, plain and simple. I interviewed a guy the other day (interviewing as part of hardcore interning, not paid work, long story) and the guy answered the leadership skills question by citing he was captain of the football team. I figured this was a totally acceptable answer, since he was young and probably didn’t have a professional example to give, same as me. Yet my raid-leading does not carry the same weight. In fact, I’ve been told by people to never mention a game as an example of anything. Our society is quite simply biased against gamers. Its nothing new, but it pisses me off.
Ok so time to wrap up this rant of a tired, slightly inebriated WoW player with a question: Has Warcraft ever helped you, or hindered you, in a professional context?
You raise some good points, blogging about WoW is also another one! There’s arranging the blog, making it tidy and presentable, the writing which is an obvious one, communicating with your readers articulatly (I’m tired too shush) and patiently (i.e. keeping your cool if they insult you), not to mention the greater community – events promoting team work. Sadly, don’t think I could put this on a CV either :<
It is prejudice of a sort, but driven by ignorance- people who haven’t ever played an mmo just don’t understand how much time, dedication and organisation goes into something like a raid or the administration of a guild. That’s not their fault, not everyone likes to play games, but it would be nice if gaming was seen in a more positive light rather than just a waste of time, wouldn’t it 😦 I don’t mention it at work unless someone else does, for that reason. Anyway, good luck with your job hunting!
True, it’s hardly prejudice in the same way as something like, say, sexism. It’s rather that people have no idea what’s involved, and that games are actually more of an art form than simple button-pushing entertainment.
And thank you 🙂
I love how you do something you like, then later you find you’ve gained all these wonderful skills without even being aware of it. Real learning. I still maintain that 90% of my english-speaking (and writing) abilities come from being exposed to games at a young age. I simply had to master english in order to do something I enjoyed, and it was effortless.
As I see it, a very prominent trait that gamers tend to have is adaptability – the ability to “get” things quickly. Gamers deal with different rulesets (physics, health, numbers, triggers etc), different preconditions, all the time. From game to game, even from situation to situation (WoW raiding being a good example) the conditions for play changes – what you’ve done in the past may not be relevant. If you play enough, you get really good at figuring out new systems, new conditions, what works and what doesn’t. It’s very telling to watch “non-gamers” when they try to play games, as compared to a gamer. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, the somewhat aimless “do whatever” approach, not seeing connections that would be obvious to you – some of them are just easily discouraged, feel lost, and soon quit. Gamers way more often have this click. They see how their actions play out in the game they’re playing and take note of that, even if not consciously.
Analyzing this stuff is kind of hard, because the things we know best are often invisible to ourselves – we take them for granted, they are our modus operandi – “what else would I do”?
Jane McGonigal talks a bit about some skills gamers learn in this talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
from about the 9 minute mark. I’m not sure if I agree with all of them (or the talk at large), but it’s good food for thought.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I just want to spread this game http://armorgames.com/play/5351/this-is-the-only-level-too
apropos changing conditions in games :p
Also, “Achievement unlocked” on the same site is great. Why have a game when you can just have tons of achievements?!
Oh, such a good post! I don’t ever mention- ever, ever, ever- to anyone that I play WoW; there’s just such a stigma against it. They would think I’d lost my mind.
(And in addition to the job thing, how many times have you had to reschedule dinner plans with friends because, “Errrrrr, the dog’s really sick” (and raid start is 7 pm on the dot, yo!)?
I cheer every time Blizzard gets a new subscriber- it gets us all one step closer to 25-man raid leader being a universally recognized resume builder! 🙂
Hehe, yes I used to do this all the time. “Oh tomorrow night? Sorry I can’t, I have a…. thing to do”. Nowadays I’ve become more open about it though, although only with people who know me. I haven’t completely acknowledged my geekery amongst work colleagues yet!