Breakfast Topic: Will work for Blizz
by Krystalle Voecks 
Jan 3rd 2009 at 8:00AM
But there again, it is Blizzard, and I'd be lying if I said most people I know wouldn't give their [insert requisite body part] to work there, just to experience the culture and be part of the company that makes some truly awesome games. The sheer coolness of the company and a lot of their outward facing policies seems like being part of that team would more than make up for any abuse you might get as a trade-off. How about you? Would you be willing to step onto the front lines, taking every nasty, mean comment you're dealt with a smile - or carefully constructed snark? Would you be willing to work at Blizzard on the front lines? Or is that a bit too much of a figurative bulls-eye than you'd want painted on yourself?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MjrShake Jan 3rd 2009 8:06AM
I worked for technical help for a cable company for 2 years. So I think I could handle dodging questions for Bilzzard.
daryl Jan 3rd 2009 8:15AM
It's never a good idea to work on your hobby.
It would be fascinating at first but your hobby will become boring.
eg, I'm a rail enthusiast but driving trains on the same line every day would be boring
Daryl.
Lemons Jan 3rd 2009 7:04PM
Have you actually experienced this effect firsthand or r u just giving our random advice with no backing?
I'd think turning your hobby into a job would be awesome personally. The only time I'd be unhappy is if someone told me exactly how to do my hobby, instead of me just having the freedom to do it however I want.
Hendrata Jan 4th 2009 1:54AM
But I agree completely. I play piano as a hobby and work 9-5 in an office. I would NEVER accept a job to play piano at a hotel 2 nights a week, even though I think I'm good enough. I would start to hate playing piano because I don't want to be told what to play, how to play etc.
Kashak12 Jan 3rd 2009 8:15AM
[insert requisite body part]...... that's what she said. :P
Krystalle Voecks Jan 3rd 2009 8:18AM
...to work there.
Ya perv. XD
empwolf Jan 3rd 2009 8:40AM
LOL I have a job like that now. Granted perhaps it does not have the cool factor to the rest of the world that WOW does, but I find it rewarding. I think any of us who work for a living have to eat a little *self censored* each day anyways, but do not get the enjoyment we imagine WOW employees have.
Aerie Jan 3rd 2009 8:47AM
I spent a short amount of time as one of AoC's volunteer GM's (NDA be damned), and do quite a bit of cusomter support stuff IRL. That said, I wouldn't want to work for blizzard for the wow factor of "OMG, I work with the game I play on!", it'd be, as mentioned in the article, because Blizzard seems like it's full of fantastic characters :p
What I'd give to answer some of those "Unstoppable Force or Immovable Object" questions is beyond a body part :p
sharkeater75 Jan 3rd 2009 9:01AM
they are plenty shady.
http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/08/21/blizzard-giving-pve-to-pvp-transfers-to-friends/
yeah i'd find a way to moonlight
Tenchan Jan 3rd 2009 9:19AM
I'd work CSR, GM or CM just so when I criticize other CSR/GM/CMs, no one can rebutt me with "Make it better."
But seeing that I have a temper and am somewhat impatient, I'd probably only be able to stand it for a relatively short amount of time before my urge to be a good example is overcome by my urge to incinerate someone.
Hogan Jan 3rd 2009 2:39PM
Id give anything to work with blizzard. I can take all the "punishment" that the GM's and CM's go through daily. Plus, all the benefits are crazy.
Tsuvo Jan 3rd 2009 9:54AM
"Never make a career out of what you love."
People say this because they assume you will get burnt out and then loose two things for the price of one. I disagree. Do something you love and you will want to do it each day. I would have to imagine that being a GM is going to be completely different than actually playing the game and therefore would not cripple your actual PLAY TIME.
So, yes, I would gladly give both of my arms and both of my legs and bang away on a keyboard with my forehead to work for Blizzard.
DeathPaladin Jan 3rd 2009 10:47AM
"So, yes, I would gladly give both of my arms and both of my legs and bang away on a keyboard with my forehead to work for Blizzard."
So you'd play a [insert your least favorite class here]?
Victus Jan 3rd 2009 10:05AM
"So, yes, I would gladly give both of my arms and both of my legs and bang away on a keyboard with my forehead to work for Blizzard."
send them an e-mail with this
Ametrine Jan 3rd 2009 10:19AM
It'd probably be more legible than most forum posts.
MusedMoose Jan 3rd 2009 10:28AM
Not only can I say that I would, I have applied for a job at Blizzard before, and I will again as soon as one comes up that I'm actually qualified for.
Anything to escape a dreary office job filled with normals. @_@
Merus Jan 3rd 2009 10:40AM
I think the culture of secrecy that Blizzard has would start to get to me after a while. It helps that I really appreciate my job - interesting people, working on challenging things, getting paid more than I would in the games industry.
Dobmeister Jan 3rd 2009 10:39AM
The grass isn't always greener on the other side, far from it in some cases.
I think I'll pass on walking past the water cooler listening to Thundgot discussing the status of Ulduar with his drinking buddy Vaneras.
I think I'll pass on attending teleconferences with developers calmly pointing out, "... and here is where we will have the Ashbringer/Assbanger as boss loot ..."
I think I'll pass on living my days in a Tauren Chieftains company T-shirt, wearing my elf ears company headset and eating my Pandaren steak in the canteen.
Dave Jan 3rd 2009 10:45AM
Okay, having personal experience in this BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
Blizzard underpays their industry jobs by a decent amount. Is that worth it to you? Maybe not right now, but 3 years down the road when you've realized it's just another desk job where you do the same thing you'd do anywhere else... that sort of thing starts to get to you.
I work in TV, I took a job (for less money) with a certain sports network where I thought "holy crap, I'm going to work for something I really like!!". Except they KNOW you have that sort of attitude and they abuse it significantly. You're putting a lot of your value in the reputation of a company, and it only lasts so long. They kinda treat people like crap with a "well, if you don't like working here, we've got a thousand people waiting to take your job!" and that's the truth. And it's demoralizing to say the least, which also helps to make the job and the rest around it revolving doors.
I would be absolutely unsurprised to see that the same thing happens at Blizzard, and from what we've seen with at least the public front... people don't last very long at all at Blizzard. It's roughly the same sort of standard I saw at my previous job, where a very small handful of people put up with it on a daily basis (or are in charge of it, which is slightly better) and the grunts put in a good effort but last maybe 3 years at the most. (the younger the person, the less they were willing to deal with it seemed). I don't know for sure, but it does definitely seem like maybe %25 of the people at Blizzard were around 4 years ago at launch and perhaps less than that were around for the development cycle prior to launch.
That says a lot about a company, and should be a huge red flag that you're not going to get the sort of experience you want there unless you're just looking for a big name on a resume. (and again, from personal experience it's nice... but not necessarily nice enough as feeling appreciated every day at work).
There are probably better places to work. There are probably worse places to work. I'd definitely say that if you're really wanting to work for Blizzard... be really sure that you want to take the sort of mental abuse that the job will deliver. It might not be overt abuse, but it's the kind of grind that will wear on you as you go and turn small annoyances into big deals.
Kaphik Jan 3rd 2009 12:12PM
Where are you getting your information from? Perhaps the customer service experiences a huge turnover, as does the customer service at nearly every single company in the world experiences. Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine doesn't experience that.
And, if you think that working for Blizzard is bad, read this article from the OC register:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/employees-blizzard-company-2250480-sams-work