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Recruiter told not to hire WoW players??? myth or fact??
paulscott
Member Posts: 5,613
It's only from a forum post but as we all know the Internets only tell the truth: forums.f13.net/index.php
even got on to Raph's webite: http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/12/15/mmog-play-as-a-barrier-to-getting-a-job/ (service unavailable off and on 
)
I met with a recruiter recently (online media industry) and in conversation I happened to mention I'd spent way too much time in the early 2000s playing online games, which I described as "the ones before World of Warcraft" (I went nuts for EQ1, SWG and the start of WoW, but since 2006 I have only put a handful of days into MMOG playing - as opposed to discussing them - I've obsessed over bicycles and cycling instead).
He replied that employers specifically instruct him not to send them World of Warcraft players. He said there is a belief that WoW players cannot give 100% because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, etc. I mentioned that some people have written about MMOG leadership experience as a career positive or a way to learn project management skills, and he shook his head. He has been specifically asked to avoid WoW players.
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Looks like MMOs are on par with drugs as far as employers are concerned. Infinitly amusing.
EDIT: Of course when corporate tells you to not hire WoW players they mean all MMO players....
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Comments
I wouldn't ask my own recruiter to do a lot of digging about it, but if someone wolunteered to me that they had MMORPG's as a hobby, I would think twice about hiring them as well. While many people just play an hour or two here or there, you never know if you're hiring one of the obsessed ones who will skip work to play, stay up until 2am leading raids and turn up at work tired and the like. It's certainly a risk.
Nothing like people calling in sick for a long weekend of golf every friday or monday during warms days...
probably true, i dont think this is widespread tho. but who admits to being a WoW addict during a job interview?, and i highly doubt employers will ask specifically if the job applicant plays WoW, thats crazy.
I liked this answer on the f13 forums:
Shrug. Everybody does something when they're not working. Just as an example, (and to be clear I do not do this, it's very illegal) I would love to avoid hiring married people with young children. Nothing sucks more time than kids, and children are always prioritized over work. I've had major problems with parents in the past. Major, major problems. If it weren't illegal, I'd hire the unkempt surly gamer with a neckbeard over the married professional guy with a lovely wife and infant at home any day of the week. Any day, any way. If only it were possible.
I also wouldn't hire anyone over 50, women, or cripples. Old people leave at 4:59:59.999, women get married and quit working or take long maternity leaves or sue your ass for harassment, and no matter what they may think, being unable to hobble with that crutch faster than 0.4MPH does impair your ability to do a white collar job, Quasimodo. But hey, all illegal.
i stil have no answer, is wow so good or wow players so stupid. its probably the second one, because warhammer is in every aspect better and still has normal, unadicted community.
i would not like to hire stupid people either so i am not surprised
Playing: Rohan
Played (from best to worst): Shadowbane, Guild Wars, Shayia, Age of Conan, Warhammer, Runes of Magic, Rappelz, Archlord, Knight online, King of Kings, Kal online, Last chaos
This is not really suprising, I know some people that can't keep a job for more than a month because they are so much into Wow that working is quite unimportant.
Let's not talk about it before we got the job, M'kay?
Being a longtime dabbler in 'taboo' hobbies, MMOs are on my list of things I never tell anyone at work or related to work. Recruiters and supervisors want people that are uniform and the further you deviate from the 'norm' the worse things will go for you.
"What I do on my own time is my own business" - if they can't live with that, it's not a place I'd consider working for.
I liked this answer on the f13 forums:
Shrug. Everybody does something when they're not working. Just as an example, (and to be clear I do not do this, it's very illegal) I would love to avoid hiring married people with young children. Nothing sucks more time than kids, and children are always prioritized over work. I've had major problems with parents in the past. Major, major problems. If it weren't illegal, I'd hire the unkempt surly gamer with a neckbeard over the married professional guy with a lovely wife and infant at home any day of the week. Any day, any way. If only it were possible.
I also wouldn't hire anyone over 50, women, or cripples. Old people leave at 4:59:59.999, women get married and quit working or take long maternity leaves or sue your ass for harassment, and no matter what they may think, being unable to hobble with that crutch faster than 0.4MPH does impair your ability to do a white collar job, Quasimodo. But hey, all illegal.
I agree with all of that as well.
Ideally the people you are hiring are in the mid to late 20s, unmarried, no children, and tons of energy and ambition. That's the ideal person for starting with a company, I think. Anything else is less than ideal. You can't only hire on that basis, but, really, there are ways to set job qualifications and salary levels to screen effectively whom you wish to hire, really.
But as for the topic at hand, MMO gaming -- again I wouldn't ask someone to screen on that basis. But if someone were silly enough to volunteer that information in an interview, it would give me pause. Just like I wouldn't expect someone to talk about that DUI they got a few years ago (and yes, that would give me pause, too). Also, everyone should fully expect that employers are running google searches on potential hires, and credit reports are being checked, too. In the grand scheme of things, worrying about MMO use is a small thing, but again if someone volunteered it in an interview, I would be concerned that they might be one of the obsessed players who has "MMOs on the brain", and therefore not a busy little beaver that I would prefer to hire.
What's sad is when I was playing EQ2, the laugh of the day was even guild officers calling in "sick" to play some online special event.
For those like myself who can't work due to a real disability, it sickens me that these types would pass the workload onto other employees for a day of fun. When I did work, it wasn't fun doing 2 or 3 other people's jobs. If I was an employer would've fired the lazy bums for passing the load and abusing sick leave, regardless of the economy. When I see my sis come home from a full time job so tired to even make it to bed and sleeps at the kitchen table until she can, more so.
One worker's fun and obsession, usually turns up being paid by employers and employees, and that's wrong.
Play responsibly.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
Like most stereotypes there is some (maybe small) element of truth to it. I have personally know two people who were fired as a result of lack of performance directly related to WoW and EQ, and I have known others that have gotten into trouble. I don't know what the percentage of "problem" MMORPG players is but this kind of story does get around with the results you are experiencing.
I wouldnt hire an avid MMO player either. I would not ask about it though. If you are dumb enough to talk about it then enjoy the unemployment line.
"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". No one can stop anyone from pursuing happiness, but life and liberty are said to only exist if they are deliberately sought and paid for".
What's sad is when I was playing EQ2, the laugh of the day was even guild officers calling in "sick" to play some online special event.
For those like myself who can't work due to a real disability, it sickens me that these types would pass the workload onto other employees for a day of fun. When I did work, it wasn't fun doing 2 or 3 other people's jobs. If I was an employer would've fired the lazy bums for passing the load and abusing sick leave, regardless of the economy. When I see my sis come home from a full time job so tired to even make it to bed and sleeps at the kitchen table until she can, more so.
One worker's fun and obsession, usually turns up being paid by employers and employees, and that's wrong.
Play responsibly.
I am the only one in my office that does my job. If I call in sick it just waits for me until I get back.
Although, here it is almost the end of the year and I have nearly three weeks of sicktime and vacation to gobble up. Not going to happen . . .
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=
|X| \*........*/ |X|
|X|_________|X|
You wouldn't understand
To be honest I know a guy from last year that let himself fail out of his college program because he was too busy watching anime... But he was a very :waves hands trying to find words: socially repressed and awkward extrovert (it's true extroverts can be socially repressed and awkward too).
I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of entrance tests to some companies are made to find how easily people can become obsessed and the likeliness that that are obbessed with something.
:on a side not my windows have a quarter inch of ice formed on them and I don't want to take the plastic off:
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Hmm nothing like it huh?
Lets see a client comes in town on the weekend and......golfing.....drinks.....strip club.......dinner out to a NICE restraunt......gets a new client or maybe a new lucrative contract.
OR....client comes in from out of town and you offer him a computer in the office to play WOW ALL WEEKEND!!!!
Gee whiz nothing like it at all you were right!!!
What is your physical limit?
Let me give you a further graphics example of this problem. I rented an office to work on my MMORPG engine. I have a few computers and a server. I also have a good friend who does some work on the side for me. He is an avid WoW player. I used to play also but I quit when I stated this project. His main job is working for the government doing web site development. However they allow him to work from here for three days a week since the commute is a lot closer.
A couple of weeks ago I asked him to load WoW (along with some other MMORPGs) onto one of the computers so we could log in to do some tests on implementation of certain feathers. We got what we needed in a few hours however now that WoW is on the computer he spends about 50% of the time here playing WoW when he is supposed to be doing work for the government.
It’s a very uncomfortable situation for me because I have known him for over 20 years and he is a good friend however I feel somewhat complicit that he’s ripping off the government. His wife thinks he is hard at work and I know for a fact that he spends a lot of hours at home playing WoW and he even has kids. If I ever hire anyone else I am going to ask if they play MMORGS and I probably won’t hire them if they do. I’m sorry I have to do this but this is a small business I can’t afford to risk having and under producing employee.
Of course if you are in the MMORPG industry, it may be hard to exclude people who play MMOs!
Your grammar attests to the IQ of people with this sort of opinion.
The WAR community probably isnt addicted for the same reason that its relatively small... cause the game more or less blows chunks.
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
I liked this answer on the f13 forums:
Shrug. Everybody does something when they're not working. Just as an example, (and to be clear I do not do this, it's very illegal) I would love to avoid hiring married people with young children. Nothing sucks more time than kids, and children are always prioritized over work. I've had major problems with parents in the past. Major, major problems. If it weren't illegal, I'd hire the unkempt surly gamer with a neckbeard over the married professional guy with a lovely wife and infant at home any day of the week. Any day, any way. If only it were possible.
I also wouldn't hire anyone over 50, women, or cripples. Old people leave at 4:59:59.999, women get married and quit working or take long maternity leaves or sue your ass for harassment, and no matter what they may think, being unable to hobble with that crutch faster than 0.4MPH does impair your ability to do a white collar job, Quasimodo. But hey, all illegal.
I agree with all of that as well.
Ideally the people you are hiring are in the mid to late 20s, unmarried, no children, and tons of energy and ambition. That's the ideal person for starting with a company, I think. Anything else is less than ideal. You can't only hire on that basis, but, really, there are ways to set job qualifications and salary levels to screen effectively whom you wish to hire, really.
But as for the topic at hand, MMO gaming -- again I wouldn't ask someone to screen on that basis. But if someone were silly enough to volunteer that information in an interview, it would give me pause. Just like I wouldn't expect someone to talk about that DUI they got a few years ago (and yes, that would give me pause, too). Also, everyone should fully expect that employers are running google searches on potential hires, and credit reports are being checked, too. In the grand scheme of things, worrying about MMO use is a small thing, but again if someone volunteered it in an interview, I would be concerned that they might be one of the obsessed players who has "MMOs on the brain", and therefore not a busy little beaver that I would prefer to hire.
This made me want to vomit. People with children often possess a great skillset, were generally more patient, better at multitasking, and we arent known for doing irresponsible things like barhopping every night. We show up and work hard because we have kids to support. I dont have the luxory of calling off work for that reason alone.
Seriously, Im a better employee than any unmarried 20 somethings at my job, in 2 years, Ive never been late, not once, and have never called off due to my kids. And I do a far better job to boot.
I really want to resort to nastiness after reading this, but Ill stop here.
What's sad is when I was playing EQ2, the laugh of the day was even guild officers calling in "sick" to play some online special event.
For those like myself who can't work due to a real disability, it sickens me that these types would pass the workload onto other employees for a day of fun. When I did work, it wasn't fun doing 2 or 3 other people's jobs. If I was an employer would've fired the lazy bums for passing the load and abusing sick leave, regardless of the economy. When I see my sis come home from a full time job so tired to even make it to bed and sleeps at the kitchen table until she can, more so.
One worker's fun and obsession, usually turns up being paid by employers and employees, and that's wrong.
Play responsibly.
I am the only one in my office that does my job. If I call in sick it just waits for me until I get back.
Although, here it is almost the end of the year and I have nearly three weeks of sicktime and vacation to gobble up. Not going to happen . . .
Some companies require employees to take at least 2 weeks of vacation or forfeit vacation pay. That'll be time for a MMO player to level up and all. But not calling in "sick", to play special events and because of a hangover due to raiding all night.
If the game is more important than fellow workers they spend 8+hrs a day with, and increasing their benefit costs by calling in sick when not, that worker is a drain on the rest and either needs rehab, or be fired. Small businesses suffer the worst when one worker doesn't pull their weight, as like you say, there's no floaters to do the job for you.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
I don't know if I would say a game is "more important" than fellow workers. But games can be more *interesting* than fellow workers! (this of course would vary depending on how interesting your fellow workers actually are)
Presently, I have a job where I don't necessarily even like all of my co-workers. It's not necessary that I like them. However, we are professionals and all treat each other cordially and help out as requested or needed. With the US economy the way it is, jumping ship isn't as easy as it once was. So at the end of the day, my present job is just that: a job. It is not something I personally would consider a career. I do my best to pull my own weight (and then some) and everyone else seems to do the same.
Well, there is also the other side of it. Sometimes it can help get a job to be a raidleder or a guildleader. I saw an article in the local newspaper (in Denmark), where a recruiter said it could be a very good thing to play games like MMO's because it often showed you had some social competence to navagiate in a virtual world. If you then were a succesful raidleader/guildleder it was even better, because you had then shown abilities in leadership.
I don't see any reason to doubt the recruiter from the article used in the OP. All I am saying is the opposite has also been seen.
So I guess as an MMO player we simply have to consider what to say our hobbies are before we say them. In some places it will count positive to play MMO's and in other places it will count as negative.
There was an old bit about not putting hobbies on your resume. Basically anything that doesn't directly factor into the job situation is another piece of information that can shoot yourself in the foot. Just don't do it.
This seems a pretty uninformed decision from the employer. MMO players in general seem to be pretty intelligent to me. Very fluent spellers and something can be said about developing social skills online which will probably come in handy on the workplace.
I would just like to add on this topic that I made this post while at work
Must have been extrabladet, lol. When you start to play more than a certain number of hours every day the social competence seems to decline. Most of my Wow playing friends are normal but some are just playing too much. A friend ditch hes girlfriend recently because she played all the time and when not playing she only wanted to talk about Wow (is she some of you're peoples dream girl or what? She is cute too
).
But there are so many gamers so most isn't no lifers that skip work for an important RAID. Still it might not be smart to mention anything about Wow to a recruiter, better safe than sorry.