Do some GMs get paid ?

Drakenora · November 2006

Just wandering, I heard some GM's get paid so here's the question:

hehe How the hell do you get a dreamjob like that

JelloB2000 · November 2006

Originally posted by Drakenora
Just wandering, I heard some GM's get paid so here's the question:
hehe How the hell do you get a dreamjob like that

GM´s are suppose to be always employees but some games have skipped that & use volunteers. The pay isnt that great (average to below average salary) AND its awful like any other job involving customer support.

joseph4th · November 2006

Yes, actual GM's are employees of the company. They arent
paid much and are often hired via a temp agency. For example, most of the
CSRs (Customer Service Representatives) for the launch of Star Wars Galaxies
were hired through a temp agency so they werent actually employees of
SOE. Later they replaced them with outsourcing from India. That
all having been said SOE does have maybe 2 dozen or so that are actual SOE
employees who have been there for years.

Some companies have used volunteers to help filter the issues as they come in
as most of them arent serious issues that need a real CSR to deal with, but I
can't think of a single company that still uses them for actual CS
issues. The practice of doing so was smacked down pretty hard with a
lawsuit won against AOL and then another against Origin. SOE kept it
around for awhile for EQ but now the volunteer 'guides' in SOE games are just
there for story events and do deal with customer service.

But back to the real point, dream job it isn't. You don't get to sit around and
play the game all day. You are the front lines of customer service and you
really only hear from the squeaky wheel. It is a very hard and demanding job
where you have to know the ins and outs of the game and do nothing but deal
with people's problems and sometimes unreasonable expectations while
maintaining a upbeat professional attitude. All this for about 10 bucks
an hour.

Same goes for being a play tester by the way. Yeah that game is fun the
first dozen times, but having to do the same small part of the game over and
over and over and over and over and over and over etc. while looking for that
same bug to repeat can start to wear on you after awhile. That doesn't
even take into consideration of trying to find the part in some outdated design
document that explains what it is this game system is supposed to be doing in
the first place. Again all for the same low pay.

Turn over for both those jobs are very high.

Upload · November 2006

Not all Game Master's are employees. I've met several which are just ''volunteers'' They were invited by other GM's on their experience in-game. I do not recommend you to pure focus on become a GM in a game you like, the change is below 0.01% that you will become one, unfortunately

Tyilin · November 2006

Being a GM cant be that great a job. Imagine if you're a GM for a game that's just been released. All of the players will expect you to know 110% of the game, will demand you help 'NOW!' and will always think that their problem is the most important and must be dealt with first. If you cant help them right away the post on the forums about what a fool you are . They will always expect you to be polite and understanding - even if you are having a rubbish day. Add that to possibly having to work at strange hours and (more than likely) not amazing pay the job (for me anyways) doesn't look so great.

Sure it would be fun to roam free around a new mmorpg world but would you then want to play the game after 10 hours of work?

Hats off to anyone who is a GM and even more compliments to volunteers because their patience must be amazing

Reagrds,

Tyi

RedFlame · November 2006

All GM's for the mainstream (read as Good) games are payed. Salaries range from 15,000 per year to 40,000 per year, depending on your knowledge/creativity. The perk is that some companies allow GM's to do their work from home.

I cannot think of a worse job than a GM. You must deal with all the reports of "ks", "looting", "greifing", "help I got hacked", "haha you suck", "catching bots"...etc. You rarely get to "play" the game, and are 95% of the time dealing with Brazillian players (no racism intended) who do not follow the rules and/or do not speak the language of the game.
If you enjoy the game, power-leveling is a far better idea, but you do not get paid as much. Most sites hiring power levelers get about 200$ for 2 weeks of playing; but if you're unemployed and would be playing regardless, its not a bad choice.

Upload · November 2006

Originally posted by RedFlame

All GM's for the mainstream (read as Good) games are payed. Salaries range from 15,000 per year to 40,000 per year, depending on your knowledge/creativity. The perk is that some companies allow GM's to do their work from home.
I cannot think of a worse job than a GM. You must deal with all the reports of "ks", "looting", "greifing", "help I got hacked", "haha you suck", "catching bots"...etc. You rarely get to "play" the game, and are 95% of the time dealing with Brazillian players (no racism intended) who do not follow the rules and/or do not speak the language of the game.
If you enjoy the game, power-leveling is a far better idea, but you do not get paid as much. Most sites hiring power levelers get about 200$ for 2 weeks of playing; but if you're unemployed and would be playing regardless, its not a bad choice.

You confuse your addiction with a job. Being a Game Master is a job, not just a random picked addicted player.

TigerRei · November 2006

The definition of a Game Master varies between companies. Some are paid, and some are volunteer positions.

Volunteer GMs are generally players who sign up for the position, are not paid, and work at home handling simple support duties. They generally do not have any real access to behind the scenes materials other than access to the petition ticket system. Generally they dont even have any real extra access within the game itself, although this can vary.

Paid GMs are paid depending upon their contract with the company. Often, but not always, they work on-site at the office and are paid a yearly salary. Blizzard for example, pays around $20 an hour for GM positions.

As for being a GM, one must understand something very important: GMs are not positions for people who want to be in power. Far from it, as they are relegated to a duty closer to a public servant, as they work to make the customers feel at ease. Generally a GM's job day to day is to handle support petitions. Depending on the company, this could be as little as responding to customers and routing the petitions to the correct department to actually handling the support duties themselves. Being a GM is considered an entry-level position as the only required experience is grammar and writing ability. Technical knowhow and business management only come into play for GM Supervisor positions and above.

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Do some GMs get paid ?

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