intersections

After some thought, I subtitled this ‘The intersection of work and life’ despite the obvious appeal of my original idea, ‘You run for cover‘.

That intersection is game design.  For the past 3 years and change, I’ve worked at Flying Lab Software.  Today, I am a designer, which means I’m doing work I once would have given my left arm to do (despite the difficulties a self-taught typist like me would have getting any work done after losing an arm).  Two of the things I’ve learned since starting this job:

  • Playing games for fun is not the same thing as working on games as a job.
  • Working on games as a job is the best thing I’ve ever done for money.

I was a gamer before working here.  I don’t mean I played a few platformers on a console in college.  I got my start as an 8 year old, given Basic D&D as a birthday gift after seeing the big kids playing Keep on the Borderlands after school.  (And that’s my old school cred.  Take that, motherfuckers.  I’m from back in the day.  The ‘day’ being, uh, the 10th printing of BD&D.)

I’ve played MMOs since I first tried (and fled from) Island of Kesmai at age 10.  I returned to it a wiser 14 year old; when it became Legends of Kesmai and Gamestorm started offering it as unlimited with a monthly fee, I was in dork heaven.  I haven’t been without at least one active subscription to an MMO since then.

As for tabletop RPGs: if I go for more than a few months without running one, I start to get itchy and anxious.

In life I find myself playing games, hanging out with people who play games, writing tabletop games, and thinking about ways to have fun and ensure others have fun.  There, I am an MMO player, an RPG player, a game player.

In work I am designing game systems and game content.  I’m trying to grapple with the big issues: ‘How do we not-suck and also get this game out the door before 2035?’  There, I am a designer, a ‘dev’, a red name.

games is the intersection where I play games, think about them, and then bitch about their shitty designs.  There, I am not speaking as a representative of Flying Lab.  I’m pondering where online games are going, and talking about what seems to work and what seems to fail.

That’s right: I created a blog and wrote this whole post just to rationalize whining about being nerfed.

Where can you find me whining (other than here)?

World of Warcraft.  Who the fuck isn’t playing this game?  But alas, I either suck, or it does.  One of the two.  I’m going to buck all common sense and obvious subscriber numbers and claim that it sucks, not me.

Puzzle Pirates.  I’m actually playing this game for research.  Yep.  Research.

Guild Wars.  Once you start, you just can’t stop.

Final Fantasy XI.  I came, I saw, I burned out at 64th level.  But as usual, I can’t bring myself to cancel the account.

Yogurting.  Goddamn you, Lum.  You’ve created a monster.  This game is so mindlessly compelling.

And of course in such venerable web forums as Something Awful and the comment threads at reason.com, where (in both cases) I am always isildur.

In Seattle, but don’t come looking for me in the real world, you fucking stalker.  Unless you’re cool.  In which case go ahead.