Out Of The Blue

I make all these plans -
And then something completely unexpected happens...

I test video games for a living. I've been doing it for years. I got into the industry because - like most folks who enjoy video games, I had my own ideas about what would make a great game.

Once I was in the industry, I became privy to all the BS that makes this business stink. It's largely the same complaints you'll find in any career - or even the military. The people making the decisions are those least qualified to do so.

People are appointed to posts not due to their skills, but due to their networking. You've gotta talk the talk and schmooze and aggressively market yourself. Make the right friends, go out for beers and strippers after work.

Oh, and it gives you a 5 year boost if you're a smoker. All the powerful people smoke. Gotta light up and chitchat with the upper management. Ah, cancer, the great equalizer. You can't walk into the boardroom and chat, but outside in the smoking zone, every man is a prince.

Whatever. Since I don't network, drink beer, suck up, or smoke, I was screwed.

When I got into the industry, it was at entry level, as a tester. Testing is a high-turnover position, and it's pretty easy to get hired. From test you can move to Test Lead, and eventually into Production or Design if you have the right skills. I'm a Lead.

Producers don't really produce anything. They spend a lot of time on the phone, sending and replying to emails, and making sure everyone is communicating well. Arguing about exactly what the contract dictates. Stressful. They also sit in lots and lots of meetings. No thanks.

Designers usually don't get to design a game. Producers make a lot of the decisions, lay down a lot of parameters and details, and the designers build around that. My early, ignorant expectation was that designers designed. In truth, usually they implement what other people have designed.

I became a tester to determine from the inside what skills I needed to become a designer. When it quickly became clear that programming was never going to be something I could learn, I looked in the Art direction.

Unfortunately, I have no skills in art either. I'm a writer. There's little chance of writing a killer design document and getting hired on its strengths alone.

Those in charge want to PLAY your idea. "Go build it - just a level or two, and we'll see how it plays." This is comparable to a screenwriter being told to go off and film a few scenes of his sci-fi action script.

"Go Writer! Build all those sets, hire the actors, the costuming, the props, the cameras, the lighting and special effects. Half an hour of edited footage should do it. Oh, and with music."

And the screenwriter says "But I'm a writer, not a filmmaker, costumer, cameraman, or special effects wizard. Oh, or a musician."

Like the Dr. McCoy lines, "I'm a Doctor, dammit, not a..."

So I decided that the industry was not for me. I am not among First-Person-Shooter genre fans. I would want to design more compelling games, like Ico, Katamari, Okami, or Prince of Persia - Sands of Time.

So even if I managed to claw my way into design, I'd be working on one Unreal, Quake, or Grand Theft Auto clone after another. Developers can't afford to make too many cutting edge, concept games.

I decided that once my current position ended, (and they all have a built-in expiration date, when the game you're testing ships) I was done in the video game industry. I wasn't willing to do what was necessary to get the job I wanted.

Like learn actual skills. Come on, what is that all about?

Did I mention that the Artists and Designers nominally can be expected to work 60-80 hour weeks (on salary) for months on end? And then they get dropped like a lump of damp feces as soon as a project is over? Yeah, that was a deterrent too. Plus, everybody wants into Design - there's tons of competition, with far more talented and skilled folks than myself vying to be hired.

Stick a spork in me, I'm done.

And then, out of the blue, Activision came calling. It turns out an old friend of mine has recommended me as "Kick Ass." and Activision wanted to see my resume. I sent it. It details one testing job after another. Clearly a Tester, not a Designer.

A week later, they emailed back and asked me to write an essay -
How the mechanics of Spider-Man 2 could be improved for future Spider-Man games.

Spider-Man 2 is a great game, by the way. I had to go buy it to do the essay- I'd never played it. I quickly went through it, taking notes along the way. It's a bit repetitive, but web-slinging from building to building is satisfying, and a surprising amount of fun.

I wrote the essay - they wanted 500 words or less, and it's hard to cram in all the niceties of introduction, body, conclusion into 500 words, and still say everything that must be said. So I cut off the conclusion. It's ends kind of abruptly, but what can you do? In the end, for something like this - it's about content, not pleasantries.

A couple of hours later, I get another email. They liked my essay and want to interview me Friday at 11am.

After deciding to get out of the industry because what I really want to do was so unlikely, they contact me out of the blue. How weird is that?

My present job pays well, ($17 an hour) but will most likely end Oct 1. Now, if Activision wants to hire me for like $15, do I take it? Jobs are very unstable in this industry, and I could work at Activision for two months, and they'd get bought by EA and everybody gets fired. No telling...

So do I sit here with my boring testing job and make the good money, or take a chance and probably earn less, hopefully beyond Oct. 1?

"Designer - Activision" would look stellar on my resume. Once I had some design experience, (if it was for more than a couple months) I might be able to get a design job at another company - it's breaking in that's hard.

But -

The wife and I are planning to move to Florida some time next year. It could be in February, it could be July. It depends on when she finds a job to transfer to. Do I want to take a new job, just to leave it in six months? If I'm even still working at Activision at that time, it could be a three month gig, which would still leave me unemployed in October.

And there's very few video game companies in Florida. So that Activision credit on my resume wouldn't do much for me as I apply for a clerical job...

What do you think, world? If you're still reading at this point, let me know.