View From the Road: It's Time to Grow Up

[Matt_LRR]

Hell if I played wow I wouldn't want employers being able to look that up, and for exactly the same reason why I wouldn't want them to be able to look up the fact that I drink on weekends. I may not be addicted but it is an activity were enough people are and that the risk of it is always there.

Don't forget certain companies won't hire you if your a known WoW player, and women/men/signifigant others are crazy on the BEST of days.

Which companies? I've never heard a single credible report to this matter, and have actually seen reports that employees attribute leadership to what they learned in WoW guilds, like the Starbucks guy.

I've honestly heard more stories of people bonding wuith the interviewer over the fact that they both play wow than I have of companies rejecting potential hires on the grounds that they play.

-m

I know we have one employer in town who will not hire you if they find out you play WoW. It cuts into the workers productivity and they aren't focused on their jobs like they should be, or at least that's what they said(in their defense they have had quite a few people with WoW problems make life hard on everyone else there).

That doesn't sound very much like a place that I, as a gamer, would be partiularly interested in working at.

I work at what is essentially a government administrative office. Management doesn't care about what you do in your off hours, and the operating assumption on the part of older employees is that young male employees play games, including warcraft.

I chat with the other sub-30 male employees about gem configs, and raiding technique, and the older employees ask, "are you talking about that warcraft, thingy? My son plays that" while feigning interest.

This suits me just fine.

I don't understand why you would want to work at a place that actively rejects a passtime that is in many ways fundamental to your identity. That's just asking for a career of misery.


-m

 

[Chipperz]

It's wierd, I've spent the last two years learning the specifics of games design, even before, I have had interviews for jobs where I've spent longer showing the interviewer how to use a controller so she could bond with her son, but... I still don't like telling new people that I'm a gamer. I play on consoles, PCs and hand helds, I play tabletop games, board games, pen and paper RPGs - this is a massive part of my life, and I still don't like admitting it.

I think it has a lot to do with stuff like Big Bang Theory (just a more recent example) - these people are gamers, they are nerds, and they are hugely socially awkward outcasts, and that might be the only insight a person will get into gamer culture (we don't get as many "person kills someone with an XBox in the room" stories in England). I tell someone I'm a gamer, and there is a strong chance that they will start treating me like the token nerd. I just find it easier to say I'm into movies and work games in as I get to know someone, but it's a slow, painful process getting people to know that I'm a gamer AND a real person.

 

[jeejvebe]

Well I guess it's about time to man-up. Though I'm no adult, only 16, I've still hid my love for gaming on a couple of occasions.

 

[Rathy]

I agree with this article very much. I saw way too many people being paranoid about being googled on the WoW forums, and I know far too many people that just cover up their gaming habits.

I also come from a family that is a bit confused on my gaming habits, thinking I should have dropped them years ago. People either don't seem to realize that its an older hobby now than it was "intended to be" as I seem to see it, and as such you have those few people that look down on it, and those other people that figure they will be looked down upon for still playing so many games.

As for myself, I'm totally the type of person who walks around with a Pokewalker on the outside of my pocket, when the thing isn't lost. RealID really was no problem for me in the hiding my gaming habit sense.

 

[Cody211282]

Hell if I played wow I wouldn't want employers being able to look that up, and for exactly the same reason why I wouldn't want them to be able to look up the fact that I drink on weekends. I may not be addicted but it is an activity were enough people are and that the risk of it is always there.

Don't forget certain companies won't hire you if your a known WoW player, and women/men/signifigant others are crazy on the BEST of days.

Which companies? I've never heard a single credible report to this matter, and have actually seen reports that employees attribute leadership to what they learned in WoW guilds, like the Starbucks guy.

I've honestly heard more stories of people bonding wuith the interviewer over the fact that they both play wow than I have of companies rejecting potential hires on the grounds that they play.

-m

I know we have one employer in town who will not hire you if they find out you play WoW. It cuts into the workers productivity and they aren't focused on their jobs like they should be, or at least that's what they said(in their defense they have had quite a few people with WoW problems make life hard on everyone else there).

That doesn't sound very much like a place that I, as a gamer, would be partiularly interested in working at.

I work at what is essentially a government administrative office. Management doesn't care about what you do in your off hours, and the operating assumption on the part of older employees is that young male employees play games, including warcraft.

I chat with the other sub-30 male employees about gem configs, and raiding technique, and the older employees ask, "are you talking about that warcraft, thingy? My son plays that" while feigning interest.

This suits me just fine.

I don't understand why you would want to work at a place that actively rejects a passtime that is in many ways fundamental to your identity. That's just asking for a career of misery.


-m

It's the big college employer in town, and they pay rather good for a small town like this. And as I have said when Iw as working there we had a few to many people decide WoW was more important then work, hell a few of them tried to install it on their computers and played that instead of taking calls(it's a call center and a busy one at that, 1 person not taking calls tend to back up the rest of the calls and that means the customers on the other end are pissed off when they get to someone). The only person I ever heard of not getting a job because of it mentioned it on his resume(he put raid leader as management experience, not a smart move) so it's not like they would fire you after yous tarted working because of it.

 

[Evil the White]

I had this problem back when I played wargames. People assumed it was something done by introverted virgins in their 30s, who were big, hairy and lived with their mothers. (Although a surprising number of them did have beards.) The people who assume this are often the ones that have no or very little experiance with the medium, so they base their opinion as to whether or not their hearsay indicates whether it seems like an appropriate pasttime. WoW suffers from many of the same problems, because of the various images that have become assosiated with it, such as the said South Park episode.

I myself have only spent a small amount of time playing WoW, but from that short time of a few hours at my cousin's house, I can see why so many people enjoy it, but would also be ashamed to admit it. In ome ways, it's like a gaming equivalent of a drug; it's addictive, and different people will have different views when they find out you 'take' it: outsiders with not experiance will look at you in shame and with pity, because these people believe you are addicted to it. Some console gamers will also take this viewpoint, because they are not often exposed to MMOGs. Opinions from other gamers may vary between respect, because of the level of time and input required to upkeep a chracter, and indifference, because they see it as another game, no different to the time an Xbox 360 owner may put in to achieve that extra level of Prestige in Call of Duty, or the time a modder may spend making a map. In many ways it is unfair, because more Xbox owners probably become addicted to the idea of Prestige because they can compete with their friends, making it more of a 'sociable' activity than WoW, even thought the basic princible (more time and kills = more exp) is the same.

 

[WINDOWCLEAN2]

I have no problem accepting i'm a gamer.

In fact in my rather mixed group of friends (Skaters, athletes, geeks, muscians etc etc) i'm the designated Gamer Geek. It's a good life.

 

[Jared]

I agree, totally. I dont hide who I am..people at work know it, and, I dont hide it, I talk openly on it...

Gamers trying to hide behind it really just reinforce the sterotype that gamers are idiots...and, we are not. I still think the community has alot of growing up to do

 

[Matt_LRR]

Spoiler: snip

Hell if I played wow I wouldn't want employers being able to look that up, and for exactly the same reason why I wouldn't want them to be able to look up the fact that I drink on weekends. I may not be addicted but it is an activity were enough people are and that the risk of it is always there.

Don't forget certain companies won't hire you if your a known WoW player, and women/men/signifigant others are crazy on the BEST of days.

Which companies? I've never heard a single credible report to this matter, and have actually seen reports that employees attribute leadership to what they learned in WoW guilds, like the Starbucks guy.

I've honestly heard more stories of people bonding wuith the interviewer over the fact that they both play wow than I have of companies rejecting potential hires on the grounds that they play.

-m

I know we have one employer in town who will not hire you if they find out you play WoW. It cuts into the workers productivity and they aren't focused on their jobs like they should be, or at least that's what they said(in their defense they have had quite a few people with WoW problems make life hard on everyone else there).

That doesn't sound very much like a place that I, as a gamer, would be partiularly interested in working at.

I work at what is essentially a government administrative office. Management doesn't care about what you do in your off hours, and the operating assumption on the part of older employees is that young male employees play games, including warcraft.

I chat with the other sub-30 male employees about gem configs, and raiding technique, and the older employees ask, "are you talking about that warcraft, thingy? My son plays that" while feigning interest.

This suits me just fine.

I don't understand why you would want to work at a place that actively rejects a passtime that is in many ways fundamental to your identity. That's just asking for a career of misery.


-m

It's the big college employer in town, and they pay rather good for a small town like this. And as I have said when Iw as working there we had a few to many people decide WoW was more important then work, hell a few of them tried to install it on their computers and played that instead of taking calls(it's a call center and a busy one at that, 1 person not taking calls tend to back up the rest of the calls and that means the customers on the other end are pissed off when they get to someone). The only person I ever heard of not getting a job because of it mentioned it on his resume(he put raid leader as management experience, not a smart move) so it's not like they would fire you after yous tarted working because of it.

If they're going to reject my application based not on my qualifications, but on what I like to do for fun, then I didn't want to work there anyhow.

-m

 

[Shale_Dirk]

lol WoW is like being in the Closet apparently. My buddy didn't mind it. If i played WoW i'm sure i wouldn't have minded it.

Sniped.

Gaming: Homosexuality of the 21st Century

 

[Cody211282]

Spoiler: snip

Hell if I played wow I wouldn't want employers being able to look that up, and for exactly the same reason why I wouldn't want them to be able to look up the fact that I drink on weekends. I may not be addicted but it is an activity were enough people are and that the risk of it is always there.

Don't forget certain companies won't hire you if your a known WoW player, and women/men/signifigant others are crazy on the BEST of days.

Which companies? I've never heard a single credible report to this matter, and have actually seen reports that employees attribute leadership to what they learned in WoW guilds, like the Starbucks guy.

I've honestly heard more stories of people bonding wuith the interviewer over the fact that they both play wow than I have of companies rejecting potential hires on the grounds that they play.

-m

I know we have one employer in town who will not hire you if they find out you play WoW. It cuts into the workers productivity and they aren't focused on their jobs like they should be, or at least that's what they said(in their defense they have had quite a few people with WoW problems make life hard on everyone else there).

That doesn't sound very much like a place that I, as a gamer, would be partiularly interested in working at.

I work at what is essentially a government administrative office. Management doesn't care about what you do in your off hours, and the operating assumption on the part of older employees is that young male employees play games, including warcraft.

I chat with the other sub-30 male employees about gem configs, and raiding technique, and the older employees ask, "are you talking about that warcraft, thingy? My son plays that" while feigning interest.

This suits me just fine.

I don't understand why you would want to work at a place that actively rejects a passtime that is in many ways fundamental to your identity. That's just asking for a career of misery.


-m

It's the big college employer in town, and they pay rather good for a small town like this. And as I have said when Iw as working there we had a few to many people decide WoW was more important then work, hell a few of them tried to install it on their computers and played that instead of taking calls(it's a call center and a busy one at that, 1 person not taking calls tend to back up the rest of the calls and that means the customers on the other end are pissed off when they get to someone). The only person I ever heard of not getting a job because of it mentioned it on his resume(he put raid leader as management experience, not a smart move) so it's not like they would fire you after yous tarted working because of it.

If they're going to reject my application based not on my qualifications, but on what I like to do for fun, then I didn't want to work there anyhow.

-m

I agree with you there, but I do also get where they are coming from, , also that rule only applys to people who can't keep their mouth shut about it for en interview, and I would guess they are the people have have a big problem anyway.

 

[JIst00]

John, while I agree with most of the points you make, especially with needing "poster boys" for the positive side of gaming, I think that for the most part people are private. I think it comes down to the fact that unless you personally tell someone something, it's no ones business but your own, and the RealID thing took that choice away. Personally my co-worker Rob and I are rarely not discussing WoW on our breaks, and there are a fair few gamers at my job, even one of my managers is a big XBox fan, but a lot of people see gaming as a negative thing, a waste of time or an addiction and the like. I don't know about potential employers overlooking candidates because they play WoW, or lead a TF2 clan or something, but some of these potential employers are like our parents who didnt understand how we could sit inside playing Sonic 2 on such a lovely day, or maybe parents who cant shift their own kids of MW2 to do their homework. Hell one of my old guildies had to leave the game because his grades were slipping and his parents blamed WoW. To be honest they were more than likely right, he was raiding a hell of a lot, and it was exam seasong coming up. Anyway, backk to the point at hand, to me the RealID farce was about choice and Blizz making the options unreasonable.

Like I said though, I agree, we need "posterboys", like the starbucks kid and the like, because untill we can convince everyone else that we gamers are hobbiests like those who collect stamps or play tabletop games or whatever, we will always have this negative stigma.

 

[Kwatsu]

I'm not so sure it's a question of being ashamed. A lot of employers have skewed ideas of what gamers are like, labelling them as slackers or thinking they'll be unreliable because some horrendous WoW addiction will take over their lives. Might seem silly to some, but if the person's desperate for a job, or to keep the one they have, not advertising their hobbies might make a big difference.

 

[Low Key]

First of all, World of Warcraft is seen as something VERY nerdy, and amongst everyone who plays it, some of them think being called a nerd is an insult. I certainly don't, but some do. That's just the way things work.

Secondly, there are people who will call in sick to work just to play a video game. If their names are posted freely for all to see, they won't be able to do that because we all know there will be a few asshole bosses who will check to make sure someone who called in isn't playing.

Lastly and quite possibly most importantly, when it comes to video games and friends or a significant other, there are better ways to spend your time. Say your spouse wants you home from work to go out and do something special together, but you give them an excuse that you have to work late when in fact you are sitting somewhere playing WoW. Or take your good ole friends. They want to go get shitfaced at the bar for the third night in a row, but you? Well, you don't want to, so you make an excuse not to go, ironically that your spouse wants to go somewhere tonight or whatever. But instead of doing that, you log on to play the game.

If anyone can access these names, it's not just about being ashamed of gaming, it's about being ousted for lying. People love playing these game so much, they'd rather dodge being with the ones they love and/or respect just to get some raiding in, and therein lies the problem with the Real ID thing.

 

[Sebenko]

If they're going to reject my application based not on my qualifications, but on what I like to do for fun, then I didn't want to work there anyhow.

-m

Around these parts, beggars can't be choosers when it comes to a job.

 

[JIst00]

Secondly, there are people who will call in sick to work just to play a video game. If their names are posted freely for all to see, they won't be able to do that because we all know there will be a few asshole bosses who will check to make sure someone who called in isn't playing.

While your absolutely right, if I'm having a sick day because Im actually ill, it doesnt make me any less likely to be online, you got to do something to pass the time and distract yourself from feeling like death pissed in your mouth. =P

 

[Matt_LRR]

Secondly, there are people who will call in sick to work just to play a video game. If their names are posted freely for all to see, they won't be able to do that because we all know there will be a few asshole bosses who will check to make sure someone who called in isn't playing.

While your absolutely right, if I'm having a sick day because Im actually ill, it doesnt make me any less likely to be online, you got to do something to pass the time and distract yourself from feeling like death pissed in your mouth. =P

The WoW Real ID service did not broadcast your online status publicly.

That was never planned, never suggested, never hinted at.

The system was set up such that in-game people on your realID friends list could see your online status. That is all.

Your boss would have to be playing wow, AND have your friend contact for this to be a relevent point.

-m

 

[Low Key]

Secondly, there are people who will call in sick to work just to play a video game. If their names are posted freely for all to see, they won't be able to do that because we all know there will be a few asshole bosses who will check to make sure someone who called in isn't playing.

While your absolutely right, if I'm having a sick day because Im actually ill, it doesnt make me any less likely to be online, you got to do something to pass the time and distract yourself from feeling like death pissed in your mouth. =P

Yes, but I know most bosses believe that if you call in sick, all you should be doing is sleeping.

Secondly, there are people who will call in sick to work just to play a video game. If their names are posted freely for all to see, they won't be able to do that because we all know there will be a few asshole bosses who will check to make sure someone who called in isn't playing.

While your absolutely right, if I'm having a sick day because Im actually ill, it doesnt make me any less likely to be online, you got to do something to pass the time and distract yourself from feeling like death pissed in your mouth. =P

The WoW Real ID service did not broadcast your online status publicly.

That was never planned, never suggested, never hinted at.

The system was set up such that in-game people on your realID friends list could see your online status. That is all.

Your boss would have to be playing wow, AND have your friend contact for this to be a relevent point.

-m

I didn't know that. I think with how big of a deal this whole situation turned out to be, it seems a lot of people didn't know that either.