Question: Gaming Experience on a Resume

[UUUU]

This news article about recruiting via a game got me thinking about various conversations I've had with people about how much work they put into the games they play. I got me wondering if the not-too-distant future might hold the possibility that your online gaming experience be included in your employment resume. I know it wouldn't be a new idea and would have been discussed countless times in other places but I've never seen it taken seriously.

When I was playing WoW, I had a discussion with an ex guild leader of one of the top guilds on his server at the time and he said that running the guild was like a full time job and he'd stopped because the game wasn't fun, it had been a full time job.

In EU there are professional event organisers, entrepreneurs who find and exploit business opportunities to turn a profit, all manner of skills are used that represent the quality and employability of a person. And it has the potential to be provable, either via records from Mindark or references from fellow gamers, or more reliably a mixture of both. The same could be said of a multitude of games out there. A hurdle I guess would be giving the Mindarks and Blizzards the incentive to hand over such records (although in an RCE more disposable income could mean more deposits ). There are already instances of online activity having a negative impact on a person's employment (various facebook references about sickies, drugs, etc).

To me it seems not too big a leap to incorporate some of what we do in our free time into our reputation as a person in the business world and to a small extent is already happening and to an extent has always happened. Is the next step too big a leap? Are there any next steps?

[Mikass]

I think this might be a next step. Infact might be several next steps.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card gives some pretty good clues and this is a book written in `85. Main character in this book was playing some RTS simulation game at which he got very good at. The game/simulation he was apparently "playing", was a 3d interface that actually commanded real life spaceships that went into war against an alien race. He actually managed to destroy a whole race in RL by playing a RTS computer game.

[rumsponge]

Well, I know that the US and British Armies are using web-based games to recruit, but I can't see how video game experience helps much of anything else.

If you were a fresh-out and in some business program and you had built a company in some game that was successful in real-world terms, maybe someone would find it interesting.

I do a lot of interviewing in the engineering field and I can tell you without a doubt that we would laugh and laugh and laugh if someone sent in a resume with their gaming experience. But, we're bastards.

Personally, I'd much rather see internship or Peace Corp experience than video game experience.

[UUUU]

Originally Posted by rumsponge

Well, I know that the US and British Armies are using web-based games to recruit, but I can't see how video game experience helps much of anything else.

If you were a fresh-out and in some business program and you had built a company in some game that was successful in real-world terms, maybe someone would find it interesting.

I do a lot of interviewing in the engineering field and I can tell you without a doubt that we would laugh and laugh and laugh if someone sent in a resume with their gaming experience. But, we're bastards.

Personally, I'd much rather see internship or Peace Corp experience than video game experience.

You don't think that the skills it takes to run or even be a productive participant in a top society/guild/group in whatever MMORPG are similar skill groups as those applied in the workforce?

[Trux]

Originally Posted by UUUU

You don't think that the skills it takes to run or even be a productive participant in a top society/guild/group in whatever MMORPG are similar skill groups as those applied in the workforce?

you'd need to prove that.. could always happen the brave and wise leader of a top-clan fails miserably as soon as he's off the screen and has to look into real ppl's eyes..
also, besides being lots of work, running a clan is nowhere near as complex/difficult/challenging than running a real business.. even the proudest gamers have to admit that (incase they do have experience with real life / business) ..

maybe in the future virtual worlds and avatars are employed for a big range of jobs, and someone applying for a job as grid-agent could then mention he was already in the early stages of gaming, so he's a real veteran..
but we have to wait for that.. it's predicted since ages, but not really close yet..

[agalvayne]

It sounds strange to put "gaming " on a resume, but you make a good argument.
Lets just hope its not like the guy who's had plenty of flight experience on Snakes on a plane, but in reality he's referring to a game

[rumsponge]

As I see it, there are thousands and thousands of socs/corps/guilds in the virtual world. How would you measure and demonstrate whether yours was a success or not?

Even if you ran the best soc/corp/guild/whatever, I really don't think it means much to the real world. Things are much more complicated in real businesses.

Remember, management isn't only about people skills. That is maybe 10-20% of it. It is much more about project planning, resource management, and the like.

I might be able to see it having meaning on a college application some day, though.

[UUUU]

Originally Posted by Trux

you'd need to prove that.. could always happen the brave and wise leader of a top-clan fails miserably as soon as he's off the screen and has to look into real ppl's eyes..
also, besides being lots of work, running a clan is nowhere near as complex/difficult/challenging than running a real business.. even the proudest gamers have to admit that (incase they do have experience with real life / business) ..

maybe in the future virtual worlds and avatars are employed for a big range of jobs, and someone applying for a job as grid-agent could then mention he was already in the early stages of gaming, so he's a real veteran..
but we have to wait for that.. it's predicted since ages, but not really close yet..

No proof, just wondering what people's ideas are

I think the dedication, communication and problem solving skills of some of the more accomplished players might give potential employers insight into their potential but as you say they might crumple when faced with different challenges.

WoW is my main experience so I'll use that as an example. Organising a 20-40 person raid where the slightest mistake by any player could result in loss for everyone takes a kind of leadership that not everyone has. Figuring out a boss's weaknesses, the correct combination from a multitude of spells, weapons, protection required by every member of the group, particularly at the highest levels as well as being able to coordinate times with people that might from anywhere in the world and keep morale high enough that people want to keep playing rather than logging out and ruining the raid if things aren't going the way they expect or want. And getting people to listen is a particularly rare commodity these days as well as getting them to do what is asked of them.

Anyone with endgame WoW experience would be able to back me up in saying that there are times when the slightest mistake can end a raid.

I think that it would probably only be a gamer who would start employing in this way and only achieving consistant public success would cause the business world to take it seriously.

[agalvayne]

Though the actual gameplay aspect isn't really useful in real life situations, in some games, especially something like Entropia, which has lots of opportunities for investment and management of funds with a direct link to the $, there are plenty of valid and useful skills to be learned and honed. Many people, even those that don't own shops, keep spreadsheets of expenditure and tt return, then market value, and then some will try and find out whether it is more profitable to hang around for an extra few %, or sell slightly lower and move on to another run. They set themselves budgets, keep track of skillgains, and closely watch the market values and economy. The only problem is that it is difficult to verify; you may have the balance sheets, and receipts for money deposited and withdrawn, but this just shows that you are profiting, and doesn't really explain what you had to do to achieve it.
Even if there are skills to be learned by playing the games, to me personally, it feels like a negative to see "Gaming" written on the resume, and suggests that they waste their time instead of doing something more useful.

[Trux]

Originally Posted by UUUU

No proof, just wondering what people's ideas are

..

WoW is my main experience so I'll use that as an example. Organising a 20-40 person raid where the slightest mistake by any player could result in loss for everyone takes a kind of leadership that not everyone has. Figuring out a boss's weaknesses, the correct combination from a multitude of spells, weapons, protection required by every member of the group, particularly at the highest levels as well as being able to coordinate times with people that might from anywhere in the world and keep morale high enough that people want to keep playing rather than logging out and ruining the raid if things aren't going the way they expect or want. And getting people to listen is a particularly rare commodity these days as well as getting them to do what is asked of them.

..

i think this is pretty much the same that a captain of a football-team does..

skills like that are, imo, generally required in everydays life today.. i think employers like to hear what else you can do..