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> That assumes that you don't get any value out of having a glamorous job. The only value you get out of having a "glamorous job" is that other people think yo

> That assumes that you don't get any value out of having a glamorous job. The only value you get out of having a "glamorous job" is that other people think you have a glamorous job. Glamour has to do with perception, not reality. > Sure, there are tons of people that want to be game developers. Why? Because a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome! Wrong. They want to be game developers because they think a lot of things about being a game developer are awesome. Once again, this deals only with perception. > You get a laid-back working environment, you get to work with artists and other exciting, creative people, the work is technically challenging, you spend your day looking at monsters and explosions instead of spreadsheets and forms...If you're lucky, you create something that people will form real emotional attachment to. From the numerous comments on this thread alone, actually being a game developer is about as far from any of those things as you can get. > People you meet will be excited to talk to you about your work. This is probably the only thing on your list that is true, but if your happiness is primarily based on what other people think about you, you have a lot bigger problems in life than what your job is. > You may as well try to make them be something you love. I never said that you shouldn't do something you love. My point was that you should consider the bias of perception on market dynamics when determining your occupation, rather than falling prey to the trap of perception, like a lot of people do.

munificent 14y ago
Wow, aren't you a ray of sunshine?
MrScruff 14y ago
I work in a related industry (film) and you're mostly wrong here. The work itself is what keeps people in the industry, and the work is genuinely more fun than other jobs I've had for a number of reasons. - You're expected to always be on the absolute cutting edge in an extremely fast moving area, computer graphics. - The ultimate goal of the projects is to make images that are so appealing, people will pay money to see them projected on a screen. This is fun. - It requires extremely high levels of creative and technical proficiency, and to do really well ideally you'll have components of both. - You work with people who are extremely passionate about what they do, and not what it might pay them. This does actually make a difference. Now there are definitely significant down sides, but it's not that people are brainwashed into thinking they enjoy their work.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  Sigh...you've completely missed my point. > The work itself is what keeps people in the industry, and the work is genuinely more fun than other jobs I've had for a number of reasons. Let me say once again: My point was that you should consider the bias of perception on market dynamics when determining your occupation, rather than falling prey to the trap of perception, like a lot of people do. If your job really is as fun as it is perceived to be, then everything I've said obviously doesn't apply to you. Now, I don't know anything about the film industry first-hand, but I've heard plenty of stories from friends and acquaintances about how ridiculously difficult it is to get into (primarily on the acting side of things, though, so it may not apply to your particular occupation). There's definitely a reporting bias. For every person like you who is happily employed in the film industry, there are hundreds of people who journeyed to Hollywood with the hopes of making it big and then realized that things weren't so easy.
  - MrScruff 14y ago
    I work in the post-production side of the film industry. Most people working in film aren't actors or celebrities. It has absolutely nothing to do with making it big in Hollywood. It is very similar to working in the games industry, to the extent that people can easily move between the two. It also suffers from some of the negative aspects of the games industry, namely punishing hours and relatively poor compensation compared to similarly challenging roles in other areas of technology. However, as I said, it's fun work. Too much of it, certainly. But nonetheless fun. The games industry is similar. That's the point I'm making.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      > However, as I said, it's fun work. Too much of it, certainly. But nonetheless fun. The games industry is similar. That's the point I'm making. And the point I'm making is that the games industry isn't similar (in that it isn't as fun as people make it out to be), as evidenced by numerous such assertions by various people who have worked in the industry.

munificent 14y ago

Wow, aren't you a ray of sunshine?

MrScruff 14y ago

I work in a related industry (film) and you're mostly wrong here. The work itself is what keeps people in the industry, and the work is genuinely more fun than other jobs I've had for a number of reasons. - You're expected to always be on the absolute cutting edge in an extremely fast moving area, computer graphics. - The ultimate goal of the projects is to make images that are so appealing, people will pay money to see them projected on a screen. This is fun. - It requires extremely high levels of creative and technical proficiency, and to do really well ideally you'll have components of both. - You work with people who are extremely passionate about what they do, and not what it might pay them. This does actually make a difference. Now there are definitely significant down sides, but it's not that people are brainwashed into thinking they enjoy their work.

w1ntermute 14y ago
Sigh...you've completely missed my point. > The work itself is what keeps people in the industry, and the work is genuinely more fun than other jobs I've had for a number of reasons. Let me say once again: My point was that you should consider the bias of perception on market dynamics when determining your occupation, rather than falling prey to the trap of perception, like a lot of people do. If your job really is as fun as it is perceived to be, then everything I've said obviously doesn't apply to you. Now, I don't know anything about the film industry first-hand, but I've heard plenty of stories from friends and acquaintances about how ridiculously difficult it is to get into (primarily on the acting side of things, though, so it may not apply to your particular occupation). There's definitely a reporting bias. For every person like you who is happily employed in the film industry, there are hundreds of people who journeyed to Hollywood with the hopes of making it big and then realized that things weren't so easy.
- MrScruff 14y ago
  I work in the post-production side of the film industry. Most people working in film aren't actors or celebrities. It has absolutely nothing to do with making it big in Hollywood. It is very similar to working in the games industry, to the extent that people can easily move between the two. It also suffers from some of the negative aspects of the games industry, namely punishing hours and relatively poor compensation compared to similarly challenging roles in other areas of technology. However, as I said, it's fun work. Too much of it, certainly. But nonetheless fun. The games industry is similar. That's the point I'm making.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    > However, as I said, it's fun work. Too much of it, certainly. But nonetheless fun. The games industry is similar. That's the point I'm making. And the point I'm making is that the games industry isn't similar (in that it isn't as fun as people make it out to be), as evidenced by numerous such assertions by various people who have worked in the industry.