Laboring at The Escapist

[t33mhonda]

Dammit Jim...You're an accountant...now go and account for yourself ;-)

 

[Playbahnosh]

Heh, it's funny how people think this is a job interview, trying to figure out the right answers to show they'd fit right in. I was tempted to do the same, but it doesn't matter, since North Carolina is a little far from Hungary, I think I'm disqualified.

I've been a video game journalist for some years now, and I like it. I write reviews and articles for a Hungarian gamer webzine, and I love every minute of it. The job has it's bad side (deadlines, fanboys, stuff like that), but what job doesn't? I had a few people here asking me in PMs about becoming a game journalist. It's a tricky question, but I think this article answers it just right. It's stressful, it's tough sometimes, but the payoff is worth it.

BTW, what if I chose the third answer to the 4th question? Janeway FTW!

 

[Narcogen]

I wanted to like Andromeda, but I couldn't stand the strain.

 

[Deity1986]

Why Kirk or Picard for that matter. Sure, they were the best, but Janeway was ok. Also, that seems a little silly to me to base someone's team working skills on a Star Trek preference question.

Janeway was not okay. I've watched all of Voyager and I ended up hating her.
And the Empire would blatantly win purely because the Federation would try and talk first.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Heh. Amusing questions.

I've debated no. 3 endlessly with some people about 6-7 years ago...

I'd answer them, but that's silly. As amusing as it must seem to answer example questions, and the notion of working at a place like this sounds fun...

I'm far too lazy.

More to the point, I'd rather spend my time making games, than writing about them.

Still, an interesting insight in to how you all think. XD...

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

I wish i could get questions like those at a job interview. Of course, even if i got the job i'd be far too lazy to keep it XD
And my answers to the questions would be as follows:
1:Star Wars Knights of the old republic. Simply the best RPG of all time and Bastilla was totally hot and you could make her walk around in her underwear.
2:OMFG its finally happening, the zombies have risen. I can finally put my daring plan into action. How do you feel about being used as bait so i can get to the tank?
3: Neither. The Odessy with Asgard upgrades from Stargate SG1 would destroy all of them.
4: Kirk. He was just cooler and he had to fight his best friend in a little arena with that awesome music
5:Lego puzzle. Best of both worlds
and 6: GI Joe can go burn in hell, i play with Action Man

 

[Kajin]

You guys might want to be careful about what kinds of questions you ask. Under the right circumstances, about half of those 6 questions would be considered illegal to ask during an actual interview.

Say for example I wanted to apply for a job at the escapist, and by some miracle actually managed to get an interview. If you truly do not hire people based on knowledge of star trek, than if a question like that came up during an interview for me it would be counted as "age discrimination." I'm only 20 yo at this point in time. Assuming against all common sense and logic that I actually have the credentials necessary to apply for the escapist, that essentially means that there is a very good chance I know only a little about star trek. That would give me legal grounds to sue your hide off if I did not get the job.

I am of course working under the assumption that you posted these questions in jest and that they actually have little to do with your hiring process, so I'm sure you guys have nothing to worry about XD

1. I don't really have any specific game I really count as my most favorite, but their are a lot of contenders. Wind Waker, Plansecape: Torment, Clive Barkers Undying, and Unreal Tournament 2004 are all contendors for personal fav.

2. I don't trust most news vendors. I even take the escapist with a pinch of salt, in spite of the fact that I consider them one of the most trustworthy news sources I frequent I still must consider the human element and the possibility for a mistake during the chain of events that lead up to you posting the article.

3. Battle droid/Clone Trooper cannon fodder ftw.

4. Kirk, for I too have a love of green women.

5. I prefer bionicle actually. More easily allows the custom abomination to come to life in the eye of the beholder.

6. knowing... knowing... Lemme see... I know the answer involves combat... Give me a hint, is the combat with words or miniguns?

 

[Dramatic Flare]

4. This question tests whether you view yourself as better filling a command or staff position. People who think about being the captain usually say Kirk. People who think about working for the captain usually say Picard. People who do not get the job say "I don't know anything about Star Trek."

Um, what? Perhaps you guys have some sort of mathematical equation that rules how a person's favorite television hero will result in their ideal work position, but I think that's bull even if you do. I would have to say Picard merely because he's the one I grew up with, whereas I've only seen two episodes of the original Star Trek series. How could I ever logically prefer Kirk over Picard when I've never really seen Kirk in action?

Finally, what if I say, "Neither, Malcolm Reynolds," or, "Neither, John Sheridan"?

I, mean, I guess the whole article is rather tongue in cheek so this may be unneeded, but on the other hand.... that seems a rather silly way to go about testing someone.

 

[Archon]

You guys might want to be careful about what kinds of questions you ask. Under the right circumstances, about half of those 6 questions would be considered illegal to ask during an actual interview.

Say for example I wanted to apply for a job at the escapist, and by some miracle actually managed to get an interview. If you truly do not hire people based on knowledge of star trek, than if a question like that came up during an interview for me it would be counted as "age discrimination." I'm only 20 yo at this point in time. Assuming against all common sense and logic that I actually have the credentials necessary to apply for the escapist, that essentially means that there is a very good chance I know only a little about star trek. That would give me legal grounds to sue your hide off if I did not get the job.

Kajin, if you were planning a class action by disgruntled youth for our failure to test for Stargate v. Firefly preferences, you're out of luck, I'm afraid.

There is no protection against being discriminated on account of being young!

According to the US Equal Employment Commission website (http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/age.html), "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA?s protections apply to both employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his/her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training. The ADEA permits employers to favor older workers based on age even when doing so adversely affects a younger worker who is 40 or older."

Upholding this law, the Supreme Court held in General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v Cline (2005) that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) does not prohibit an employer from engaging in "reverse" age discrimination, the act of favoring relatively older employees over relatively younger employees.

 

[Geoffrey42]

Say for example I wanted to apply for a job at the escapist, and by some miracle actually managed to get an interview. If you truly do not hire people based on knowledge of star trek, than if a question like that came up during an interview for me it would be counted as "age discrimination." I'm only 20 yo at this point in time. Assuming against all common sense and logic that I actually have the credentials necessary to apply for the escapist, that essentially means that there is a very good chance I know only a little about star trek. That would give me legal grounds to sue your hide off if I did not get the job.

It doesn't seem that far a stretch for The Escapist to argue that "familiarity with mainstream gamer/nerd culture" is a pre-requisite of working there. The Kirk/Picard and Star Trek/Star Wars debates are well-documented and long-running. While I don't doubt that there are sue-happy people who could try something like this, I don't actually think the Escapist would be at risk.

EDIT: I should really post faster, or re-review the thread if I take too long. Beaten to the punch by a far better rebuttal from el jefe.

 

[Kross]

It's also not (completely) about if you like Picard or Kirk, but how you answer the question. If you give a relevant/funny answer, that's also probably the correct answer.

Of course, then you may be made to go home and watch some episodes or (even numbered) movies.

 

[Jonatron]

I want to work for you guys now, after all this stuff. Work? Yes. Excellent collegues? Excellent. But journalism is not on my list of aspirations. More comfortable camping in front of a computer, and I'm going to go into the interesting field of Animation, cannot wait for University.



If however, I am of the same mind when I'm done with education, and Escapist is recruiting, I may submit a CV.

1: Playing Metroid Prime 2 right now, so I'm all about that, but favourite game would fall somewhere between Symphony of the/Super Metroid and Broken Sword.
2: Brutal supernatural killing? Nah... not national guard... ZOMBIES!
3: The scale of Starwars' battles taints this one a bit, and my lack of StarTrek knowledge'd let me down. Looking at how easily the Star Trek government people got screwed by a whale phone, my initial thought was Starwars. Would Jedi and Sith be involved?
4:Kirk. I've only saw the older films, and have not got around to going through the original series yet, wanted to, but haven't found the slot to. Too before my time to get it first time around, but I know enough to be sure Kirk's a badass.
5: Lego. I wouldn't mind the puzzle, but Lego... *oooh...*

 

[Susan Arendt]

4. This question tests whether you view yourself as better filling a command or staff position. People who think about being the captain usually say Kirk. People who think about working for the captain usually say Picard. People who do not get the job say "I don't know anything about Star Trek."

Um, what? Perhaps you guys have some sort of mathematical equation that rules how a person's favorite television hero will result in their ideal work position, but I think that's bull even if you do. I would have to say Picard merely because he's the one I grew up with, whereas I've only seen two episodes of the original Star Trek series. How could I ever logically prefer Kirk over Picard when I've never really seen Kirk in action?

Finally, what if I say, "Neither, Malcolm Reynolds," or, "Neither, John Sheridan"?

I, mean, I guess the whole article is rather tongue in cheek so this may be unneeded, but on the other hand.... that seems a rather silly way to go about testing someone.

This is, at times, a fairly ridiculous job. We sometimes stop and say, "Can you believe we're actually having a serious conversation about this?" If you can't take a step back and just go with the absurdity, you won't last long here.

 

[Dramatic Flare]

4. This question tests whether you view yourself as better filling a command or staff position. People who think about being the captain usually say Kirk. People who think about working for the captain usually say Picard. People who do not get the job say "I don't know anything about Star Trek."

Um, what? Perhaps you guys have some sort of mathematical equation that rules how a person's favorite television hero will result in their ideal work position, but I think that's bull even if you do. I would have to say Picard merely because he's the one I grew up with, whereas I've only seen two episodes of the original Star Trek series. How could I ever logically prefer Kirk over Picard when I've never really seen Kirk in action?

Finally, what if I say, "Neither, Malcolm Reynolds," or, "Neither, John Sheridan"?

I, mean, I guess the whole article is rather tongue in cheek so this may be unneeded, but on the other hand.... that seems a rather silly way to go about testing someone.

If you can't adapt to silliness, you definitely don't have a future at The Escapist.

...Did I just get owned?
I think I did.

 

[Kajin]

You guys might want to be careful about what kinds of questions you ask. Under the right circumstances, about half of those 6 questions would be considered illegal to ask during an actual interview.

Say for example I wanted to apply for a job at the escapist, and by some miracle actually managed to get an interview. If you truly do not hire people based on knowledge of star trek, than if a question like that came up during an interview for me it would be counted as "age discrimination." I'm only 20 yo at this point in time. Assuming against all common sense and logic that I actually have the credentials necessary to apply for the escapist, that essentially means that there is a very good chance I know only a little about star trek. That would give me legal grounds to sue your hide off if I did not get the job.

Kajin, if you were planning a class action by disgruntled youth for our failure to test for Stargate v. Firefly preferences, you're out of luck, I'm afraid.

There is no protection against being discriminated on account of being young!

According to the US Equal Employment Commission website (http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/age.html), "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA?s protections apply to both employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his/her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training. The ADEA permits employers to favor older workers based on age even when doing so adversely affects a younger worker who is 40 or older."

Upholding this law, the Supreme Court held in General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v Cline (2005) that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) does not prohibit an employer from engaging in "reverse" age discrimination, the act of favoring relatively older employees over relatively younger employees.

Hahaha!
Thanks, always nice to learn something new XD
The books I've been studying didn't cover age discrimination to that extent so I assumed it worked both ways.
...
I think I need new books.

 

[Captain Pancake]

I'd rather work for picard than kirk any day...

 

[Capo Taco]

Obsession with realism, desire to be a know-it-all buzzkill...one or the other, yeah.

I can enjoy the pwnage going on in here!

I think I might do alright in the interview outlined here. Let's give it a shot.

1. My favorite game right now is 'an untitled story'. Man, why did I ever stop playing platforming games? At times this game is so very sadistic where you find yourself repeating one spot over and over again, whereas at other time it is so very benevolent, like falling in a pit while trying to get to save point to discover that it's a fake pit with a heart (additional life) in it! Other favorites are warcraft 3 and team fortress 2.

2. Doctor's have gone crazy trying to secretly engineer supersoldiers.

3. Star trek federation. The federation is much more inclusive towards other races. The combined expertise and intelligence that these other races bring to the fight results in a truly expert fighting force. The empire is much more oppressive, ruling with an iron fist over many different races, yet always reserving command positions to humans. The federation would have an easy time finding rebels inside the empire to support their fight. And everyone knows that ewoks are too cute to die in numbers!

4. Kirk. Although I much prefer picard's actions, you just can't compete with kirk in a battle. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM

5. Lego puleaze. I never did play with lego much as a kid, preferring instead to draw mazes or play on my commodore, but I really feel I missed out on building rube goldberg contraptions.

Thank you for the interview, but I must say that I´m not currently interested, preferring instead to continue towards becoming a fight director. Talk about being interested in many things! It´s a pleasure to read the escapist and to participate in this quiz without the nervousness that comes with wanting to be hired for something.

 

[Caliostro]

Because answering questions is fun...

1 - Team Fortress 2. I have many favorites, but considering TF2 just siphons my free time lately, it's only fair it gets the "award".

2 - First thing that poped into my head was "warzone!".Realistically I know that it would be something stupid like a protest, but in my head all I'm thinking is like "counter strike! Zombies! Alien invasion! Real life - the only place where power armoured space marines can still be cool!"... Don't ask.

3 - That's a silly question isn't it? Who has the death star...? Who has Darth Vader...? Fighting different "universes" is generally silly as the "power scale" is always different between them. In this case, Star Wars generally has a lot more... "power", to it.

4 - Honestly don't know. Nor do I particularly get how it relates to your "expected answer". They're both captains as far as I remember, they both follow a higher command and do their best to uphold "the prime directive". I suppose Kirk gets some bonus points for being the original captain, but there's something just very calm and cool about Piccard that's quite awesome. So my official reply would be "Both, with a side of Darth Vader".

5 - Legos. I prefer the creative interactivity. When I was younger I did spend countless hours creating giant robots out of assorted Lego pieces. In fact, the only reason I no longer do is because I lost them somehow. Man, Legos are awesome.

...Am I hired now Mr. Overlord Macris...?


(sorry, had to)

 

[Altorin]

And thus, the CEO of the Escapist crushed my dreams of having any job that I will like ever.

Time to find a tall roof and a short rope

...

Just kidding of course, at least about the roof/rope thing.. I am however quite thoroughly screwed out of employment happiness.

I'll just have to consolidate myself by having sex with people until "Homeless Bum" stops being alluring.


EDIT:

and because answering the questions seems to be the "In" thing to do, here we go

1. My Favorite Game is the one that I'm playing at the moment. I just finished Batman Arkham Asylum, and that was pretty Awesome, but unless a game is horrible, then it is usually my favorite. I do have classic games that I will always love, most Notably Crono Trigger.

2. My first thought was "Zombie Apocalypse", but that's just because I'm "applying" for an Escapist job. If it were a regular job, I'd probably cover my mouth and say "Swine Flu?"

3. I prefer Star Trek, but the federation were wiped out by a single Borg Cube in one alternate timeline. So probably Star Wars would win.. Then again.. The Star Trek universe does have that 1 Borg Cube.. so, maybe it's a draw.

4. Picard, although I DO like random adventures, and Kirk was known for those.. I'd much prefer to have Picard as a Captain though.. he exudes confidence in a much different way to kirk.. I think it's laced with experience.. His words have more weight.

5. I'd prefer building a lego set that has a set of instructions... all of my "free creation" lego experiments always look like someone mixed a bunch of Play-Doh colours together.. If I build a lego set from a manual, then I end up with a product I can be proud to have had a part in creating.. even if it's not really my creation. I find actual jigsaw puzzles confusing.

6. and Yes, I did finish reading the whole article

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

Ah Jessica, that part made me Laugh, i say thank You to every Escapist Staff Member i can, when i can because of how Stressful it can be, and cause this place is awesome