I really want to work in video games, but i am not sure how to market my skillset...

I have a bachelors in psychology... focused on research so I have a strong understanding of statistics, effect cause relationships, human behavior... realistically a fantastic skillset for marketing. I have a lifetime of gaming unironically, my very earliest memories are of playing duck hunt with my daddy for literally my 2nd birthday and realistically I have yet to set that controller down more than 30 years later. I have a profound understanding of how and why players consume games, and I have a very good track record of investing my time in what inevitably wind up being great games (very early Diablo fan, Very early Wow sub, season 1 fortnite, season 2 League of legends) I have gotten to the point where I can just look at a game and know it will fail or succeed, for how long it will last and exactly why it will fail or succeed specifically and simply through understanding my own preferences. Now don't think for even an instant that that means every game I love was a roaring success. Take for instance now very dead Battlerite by Stun Lock Studios... a genuinely innovative, and e-sport focused team competitive game, They did everything right from an industry perspective, but it failed hard because it was out of sync with its player base... truly and fatally and it was their active choice to sink that ship. their failure actually taught me so much about the industry, developer priorities, and the harsh reality that some games are made to be great games and some games are made to generate revenue and in some sense the folks at SLS actually were successful financially (i think they broke even financially, depends on how much of a financial loss their first and only Battlerite pro league was).

over the duration of the Pandemic I was more or less homeless, entirely displaced due to stupid politics and just kind of an unfortunate reality of human behavior, perception, and the reality that I have a different kind of body that people generally speaking do not have the patience to learn about accept and simply allow to exist. Prejudice has for a very long while been my shadow and it is my personal belief it almost never has been the prejudice of my employers that has been my downfall, but of the consumers of the industries that I have worked in and my personal history has informed me that if I am ever going to be a success in my life, that will only happen if I can manage to work outside of the public eye in something that I am deeply passionate about and to subsequently surround myself with like minded, goal oriented professionals who approach their work in a directly scientific fashion.

so I spent the entire year jamming my face into these games that I love with the sole objective being to look at the gestalt systemic design of these games... the entire directive... the schematic ideal... the structure and the indented direction and outcome. I've been able to cultivate this level of understanding that is I think considerably higher than the average consumer... I am now capable of looking at something like Bow Season in Fortnite Ch.2 season 6, the current battle pass and recognize almost immediately when i see, bows, primitive tech, crafting systems, and then realize when epic games acquires Horizon Zero Dawn that the entire battle pass was very carefully constructed with the sole intention of commercializing that acquisition. low and behold the season progressed, the mysterious eggss hatched into dinosaurs and they did so exactly one week before a big sale announcement, a partnership skin and none of it happened accidentally. conversely I can look at things like the supporter packs in PoE and having more than 3 years here now I can see a long standing trend of using the supporter packs as a means of foreshadowing upcoming league concepts.

I have Zoomed my field of view as far out as I possibly can and am now able to see the constellations as opposed to the individual stars if that makes any sense and it is those systems, the Press junkets and how they perfectly mirror exactly how wizards of the coast rolls out their new card sets down to the scheduled tweets and reddit "leaks" and these things genuinely excite me more than the games themselves these days (thank you Chris, you taught me how to look at systems in this way actually). I guess that means I'm getting old right? It is slowly but surely becoming more fun for me to understand not how the game works, but how the developer has managed to make the game work.

I remember being 7 or 8 years old, hanging out with my childhood friends and creating what were essentially DnD mods that would play out in the star wars universe... we even created our own stat tables, specializations (guns vs light sabers... we were kids) then working on progression, gold as opposed to exp and then a ladder of gear to climb for power creep... at 8 years old my guys... I'm 33, I have all of the tools, I have the mind, I have the education... I lack the opportunity.

I think ultimately I am petrified by the reality that I know literally nothing about programming at all. I am terrified that this reality for me immediately disqualifies me from candidacy in the industry even though I intellectually understand that most likely isn't the case.

Someone very big, someone very special, someone who had a big and direct influence on my development as a young gamer is hiring right now... and I have absolutely no idea how to sparkle amongst the other young gems out there. In an ocean of young programmers and lifelong gamers... how the hell can I ever hope to stand out.


Sigh, I'm gonna apply... but I don't think they'll even read my resume. Fingers Crossed that someone wants to hire and train an aspiring young gaming consultant and data analyst.

I suggest trying to talk to some folks that work in the business to get a better idea of how your skills might be utilized. This make you more able to present yourself and what you have to offer in the most relevant positive way.

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Turtledove wrote:

I suggest trying to talk to some folks that work in the business to get a better idea of how your skills might be utilized. This make you more able to present yourself and what you have to offer in the most relevant positive way.

I appreciate this and you are entirely correct, but also I know already that my skillset and education would make me a fantastic consultant, but everyone expects 2 years experience and well, how do you even get that if everyone requires it?

Furthermore, I only know OF people in the industry, I do not know anyone in the industry. I guess I could Email Bex or someone, but I don't want to bug GGG staff with my petty personal lack of self confidence. Alternatively, I have watched Chris Wilson's GDC presentations once or twice and I genuinely feel that enough behind the curtain insight is present in his presentations, and beyond that just simply observing the structure and growth at GGG, I really feel confident in knowing exactly where I would fit into a company like GGG... I just also know that a company of GGG's caliber or higher would more often hire a consulting firm.

I guess ultimately If I walk this path I will ultimately be asking someone to take a risk with me and hire me on as an in house consultant, and I simply do not know if that is something that happens in the industry at all.

This must be how Icarus felt putting on his wings.

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

I guess ultimately If I walk this path I will ultimately be asking someone to take a risk with me and hire me on as an in house consultant, and I simply do not know if that is something that happens in the industry at all.

This must be how Icarus felt putting on his wings.

Talking about Icarus with 3 years in university by taking one of the most popular studies for both majors and minors just makes my eyes roll.

I'm trained in psychology as well with my personal tendencies leaning towards sociology, behavior and psychophilosophy but I don't think I can be of any use to GGG other than telling them the 5 theories which they already implement that their marketing head learned on the first day in university.

Even if in some alternate universe there would be such a position to hold, I think trying to get recruited through a public forum post isn't the way to go; and even if it would be the way to go then your posts are unnecessarily verbose and overly emotional(ly blackmailing with a sob story) when they should be concise and displaying instrumentality.

oh, this isn't about working for GGG, I am an American and New Zealand has profoundly prohibitive immigration laws as well as laws surrounding work visa's and hiring within their nation. I don't assume I'll ever work for GGG though I really do appreciate their "work-Life balance" sensibility. That being said I do think The man whos team I did attempt to join is friends with the GGG folks and are likely very much cut from the same cloth so to speak.

but no, you would be a fool to think that anyone would hire you through your forum posting for sure. now Indicating that your are familiar with research psychology and are gifted with multi-variate regression analysis techniques and are familiar with several of the software's the deal with regression analysis and can build studies and track in game data points and create a numeric gradient of player engagement through proposed new systems into a game and regularly and reliably predict player behavior trends BEFORE some new patch gets rolled out or some change happens in game... that I do think is valuable.

I understand you think everyone who posts a lot here are trolls but make no mistake... I am about my bullshit.

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

Indicating that your are familiar with research psychology and are gifted with multi-variate regression analysis techniques and are familiar with several of the software's the deal with regression analysis and can build studies and track in game data points and create a numeric gradient of player engagement through proposed new systems into a game and regularly and reliably predict player behavior trends BEFORE some new patch gets rolled out or some change happens in game... that I do think is valuable.

How to say "data analyst" in 100 words.
Who are you writing this for?

You can be certain that they have data collection in place and rest of the psychology and philosophy is the game designers work.
Behavioral frameworks are applied already very well, even Chris has demonstrated good knowledge on them.

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

I understand you think everyone who posts a lot here are trolls but make no mistake... I am about my bullshit.

Your every second claim is like "Icarus wings" - making bold statements that completely crash and burn on closer inspection - definitely not a good quality to have for someone who has to be delicate with their assumptions.
If there's a word that I haven't used in this forum, it's "troll".

Maybe send resume with a cover letter to studio heads? Go back to graduate school? This is why I didnt go to college. Huge opportunity cost compared to apprenticeship plus I had no clue what I would do there or when done and would only be going for the chicks. It's cool if you know whats up like going to be an architect or MD or something that needs the piece of paper/credential to be a certified professional (like a union card I have) but otherwise I think it's a racket for people that want to continue HS. Enjoy your student loans. Hope Biden hooks you up with relief.

Whatever you decide to do, always try to think outside the box and come up with something unique. If you're a woman, it'll be easier than if you were a man. If you're a man, just try to think like a woman and if you can't then just borrow some to help you out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6LhCim5y_Y&list=RDq6LhCim5y_Y&start_radio=1

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

I have a bachelors in psychology... focused on research so I have a strong understanding of statistics, effect cause relationships, human behavior... realistically a fantastic skillset for marketing.

"

I am not sure how to market my skillset...

Go to your alma mater and demand a refund because you don't know how to market a goddamn thing.

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

over the duration of the Pandemic I was more or less homeless,

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

so I spent the entire year jamming my face into these games that I love with the sole objective being to look at the gestalt systemic design of these games...

You weren't homeless. You were enabled by people supporting you, and you're too much of an ingrate to even casually thank them in your post.

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

I am petrified by the reality that I know literally nothing about programming at all. I am terrified that this reality for me immediately disqualifies me from candidacy in the industry even though I intellectually understand that most likely isn't the case.

It's important to understand three facts:
1. the job you want is NOT an entry level position, it's roughly equivalent to being a supervisor,
2. most companies promote from within, and
3. entry level positions in the video game development industry require coding skills.

So yeah, you should be terrified about that. And saying "that intellectually isn't the case" is like saying you don't need to work for a living, you can just win the lottery.

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Fauxxx_NL wrote:

I remember being 7 or 8 years old, hanging out with my childhood friends and creating what were essentially DnD mods that would play out in the star wars universe... we even created our own stat tables, specializations (guns vs light sabers... we were kids) then working on progression, gold as opposed to exp and then a ladder of gear to climb for power creep... at 8 years old my guys... I'm 33, I have all of the tools, I have the mind, I have the education... I lack the opportunity.

First, I strongly advise you not to tell that story at any job interviews. You being a dork at 8 (like I was at that age) is not in any way a noteworthy achievement. If you think it is, throw that idea into a trashcan immediately.

Second, you don't have the education. We already covered how you don't know how to code. This doesn't mean you can't get what you want — countless people every day learn to code, a great many of them self-taught. My purpose here is not to tell you that you're irredeemably unlearned; my point is to tell you that you're overconfident but that you can fix that. Do yourself a favor and forever dispense with the idea that you have the mind and that you have the education, and replace that with the idea that there are always new ways you can learn to think and new methods you can learn to use. Stop blaming other people for prejudice against your body type — you might convince me that up to 5% of hiring managers are bigoted against you but I'm going to assume the other 19 out of any 20 are reasonable — and take responsibility for your success.

Or keep mooching off of whoever's enabling you and keep playing video games with your life. That's probably easier. You wouldn't need to listen to any advice to do that.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

A shining light in a sea of stagnant bong water.

Last edited by Rachel_GGG on Sep 31, 2018 0:61:72 PM

Hi Scrotie, you know he wrote that like almost 3 months ago. I mean there is some god advice in there but not sure how relevant it will really be now.

Regarding your sig, did Rachel_GGG say the first line in an edit? Perhaps the two lines are totally disconnected? That is a pretty strange sig. There must be some story behind it?