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Fake Edit - Oops, longer post than I intended, here's the tldr version:
I'm a professor and game developer. I think our biggest problem is not being able to see the possibilities that are right in front of our face.
Hello all! I don't really remember if the forum led me to the book or vice versa, but I've been mostly lurking for a year or so. When the insider info was posted, it seemed like a good way to give a bit back to the forum for all the useful info I've picked up from here. I'm also always a bit hesitant to post much in places that google can index, so hopefully the private forum will encourage me to share a bit more. It's not always easy to talk about businessly aspirations with people in the real world either though, so I have a habit of just keeping everything to myself (which doesn't exactly encourage a lot of action).
I think the problem that most people have in pretty much every area of their lives is that they don't really realize what's possible. When I think back to pretty much every unfortunate decision that I've made (and that was most of them), I think I made wrong decisions because of an overly limited view of what was possible. I feel like I've come a long way in that regard, but I'm also sure that in 5-10 more years, I'll look back on the things I'm doing now and shake my head in shame too.
A brief history:
I've has entrepreneurial tendencies since I was a kid, selling and trading candy, toys, and later on stereo equipment, etc. Whatever I've been interested in has always turned into a bit of a business for me, but only at a pocketchange level, since nothing bigger ever seemed possible. I mean, intellectually, I knew it was possible for someone, but it never seemed real enough for "me" to do it.
I spent my time (too much of it) in college mostly following the path of least resistance. I learned a lot of course, but none of it was from classes. It's not that I didn't work hard. School was just very low on my list of priorities. I put a prodigious amount of effort into campus organizations and games (was basically a pro-gamer for a couple of years).
After a brief time in the real world, I didn't really like where I was at in life, so I went into grad school thinking that it would change things. I graduated and then found out that it didn't. It might have if I'd realized how important going to a top-end program was, but I didn't, and the path of least resistance certainly didn't take me to an elite school.
I wound up teaching in Asia for a while before deciding to "follow my passion", which was gaming. I did my research this time and got into what is arguably the best school for getting people into the game industry. After a couple of years of 80-100 hour weeks, I had a 3rd degree and my "dream job".
I worked on a AAA MMO and a few social games, which brought me into the business/metrics side of things. Researching that led me into internet marketing and 10's of projects and sites which taught me a lot but that never had enough time spent on them to make them terribly useful.
My time in the game industry didn't turn out like I'd hoped, so I left it to go into academia. I'm now an assistant professor who tries to talk students out of going into the game industry (and then tries to teach them how to get in, when they ignore my warnings hehe.)
My game industry experience wasn't ideal, but it was the first time in my life that I committed myself to a goal based on what I wanted, ignoring any aspect of how unlikely, difficult, or costly it might be. It was basically the turning point in my life, confidence-wise. I literally no longer have thoughts of "Can I?" Now I think "Should I?" and "How?" Of course, I still have problems of the "stop thinking and start doing" variety... always a work in progress I guess.
I currently have a few side projects which I intend to make out-earn my day job, but everything is in a very early state (probably because I'm not focusing on just one). The most promising project as of yet is a indie game dev studio created with a few previous co-workers. It's obviously a harsh business, but we a nice range of skillsets and everyone has industry experience.
I'm a professor and game developer. I think our biggest problem is not being able to see the possibilities that are right in front of our face.
Hello all! I don't really remember if the forum led me to the book or vice versa, but I've been mostly lurking for a year or so. When the insider info was posted, it seemed like a good way to give a bit back to the forum for all the useful info I've picked up from here. I'm also always a bit hesitant to post much in places that google can index, so hopefully the private forum will encourage me to share a bit more. It's not always easy to talk about businessly aspirations with people in the real world either though, so I have a habit of just keeping everything to myself (which doesn't exactly encourage a lot of action).
I think the problem that most people have in pretty much every area of their lives is that they don't really realize what's possible. When I think back to pretty much every unfortunate decision that I've made (and that was most of them), I think I made wrong decisions because of an overly limited view of what was possible. I feel like I've come a long way in that regard, but I'm also sure that in 5-10 more years, I'll look back on the things I'm doing now and shake my head in shame too.
A brief history:
I've has entrepreneurial tendencies since I was a kid, selling and trading candy, toys, and later on stereo equipment, etc. Whatever I've been interested in has always turned into a bit of a business for me, but only at a pocketchange level, since nothing bigger ever seemed possible. I mean, intellectually, I knew it was possible for someone, but it never seemed real enough for "me" to do it.
I spent my time (too much of it) in college mostly following the path of least resistance. I learned a lot of course, but none of it was from classes. It's not that I didn't work hard. School was just very low on my list of priorities. I put a prodigious amount of effort into campus organizations and games (was basically a pro-gamer for a couple of years).
After a brief time in the real world, I didn't really like where I was at in life, so I went into grad school thinking that it would change things. I graduated and then found out that it didn't. It might have if I'd realized how important going to a top-end program was, but I didn't, and the path of least resistance certainly didn't take me to an elite school.
I wound up teaching in Asia for a while before deciding to "follow my passion", which was gaming. I did my research this time and got into what is arguably the best school for getting people into the game industry. After a couple of years of 80-100 hour weeks, I had a 3rd degree and my "dream job".
I worked on a AAA MMO and a few social games, which brought me into the business/metrics side of things. Researching that led me into internet marketing and 10's of projects and sites which taught me a lot but that never had enough time spent on them to make them terribly useful.
My time in the game industry didn't turn out like I'd hoped, so I left it to go into academia. I'm now an assistant professor who tries to talk students out of going into the game industry (and then tries to teach them how to get in, when they ignore my warnings hehe.)
My game industry experience wasn't ideal, but it was the first time in my life that I committed myself to a goal based on what I wanted, ignoring any aspect of how unlikely, difficult, or costly it might be. It was basically the turning point in my life, confidence-wise. I literally no longer have thoughts of "Can I?" Now I think "Should I?" and "How?" Of course, I still have problems of the "stop thinking and start doing" variety... always a work in progress I guess.
I currently have a few side projects which I intend to make out-earn my day job, but everything is in a very early state (probably because I'm not focusing on just one). The most promising project as of yet is a indie game dev studio created with a few previous co-workers. It's obviously a harsh business, but we a nice range of skillsets and everyone has industry experience.
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