How to Put MMO Experience on a Resume

I've included this on my resume a few times and I've always gotten the job. Your hobbies are your hobbies. I don't know why some of you seem to think honesty is not a good policy. Sometimes they just want to know a little something about you it doesn't have to be the only point on your resume that's for sure but it's never hurt me. I'm not talking about bullshit jobs either this is my career feild of ten years.

I spent 5 years as a corporate recruiter and I can assure you that if I saw that on a resume, it would be immediately and duly filed in the appropriately round, metal receptacle. I do not recommend that anyone do this...you're just asking to have your resume laughed at (first) and ignored (second).

There's an intern at work who is an avid WoW player. He can't have a conversation about anything besides that fucking game. He also has this blank look on his face... I'm quite certain he would be a more interesting person if he never played that game.

As a partner in a firm, I do a fair bit of interviews and hiring. Personally, I would think it was pretty cool that someone put that on their resume. If someone can coordinate and lead a guild, which I know from experience, can be a tough task, then that's a skill that is highly useful. Plus, you never know, that person interviewing you may have something in common with you or have a friend/relative that plays games too. That may spark up a candid conversation about it and give you the opportunity to show some passion about something you're interested in.

If you think its so bad that you would laugh in their face, you are disconnected. If you are a recruiter and you do this, seek some job training, because I surely wouldn't hire you to recruit for my firm.

WOW! (No pun) As with most things, knowing your audience is paramount. I would never recommend this as a standard practice for a general-purpose version of a resume targeted toward a corporate/professional job in finance/accounting/operations/hr etc.

However, obviously if it's a game-related position the rules (and your audience) are different.

I find it hard to believe how people take Guilds seriously. I was a WoW player and had a friend who was part of a Guild. He raided dungeons every freaking night. The image of seeing 20-30 human players just giving it to NPCs inside a dungeon JUST CANNOT be compared to running a business. These players raid the same dungeons over and over again, should they be praised for that? Should I also start considering putting my HALO 3 TEAM SLAYER experience on my resume just because I used some kind of tactic and destroyed some n00bs in GUARDIAN? This post is bogus

Wanna get into the games industry? Lead a mod team, not a guild

Ugh, this is beyond pathetic, nothing about this makes any sense.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. This is funny. But for those of you who take it seriously, here's why this shouldn't be considered a good thing:

It says that you spent huge blocks of time in a fantasy world doing nothing productive to gain fantasy treadmill rewards. In the real world, you don't get a reward doled out to you every few weeks. Sometimes you'll have to "grind" for years before you get a really tangible accomplishment/payoff. If someone is hiring their ideal candidate is someone who looks very excited about their job/field, not some internet game. Someone who has used their free-time/money to gain experience in that area.

That's not to say there is anything wrong with playing MMOs or spending your free-time however you like. You just shouldn't expect that to be a bullet point on your resume.

If I saw a resume' come across with this on my desk, I'd probably point and laugh, then promptly through it in the trash.

Including this on any resume' is completely unprofessional except perhaps as a community manager for said company's game.

LOL

Member, Shacknews.com
Still hasn't gotten me chicks.

I don't think I'd put in on the resume but perhaps on the resume provide a link to a personal site. On that personal site you could put a lot more detail and there perhaps include something like this.

I don't think this is the worst idea in the world but you'd have to be very careful in your approach and it would depend upon you experience level, professional field, the culture of the company you're applying for, the relationship you may already have with that company or recruiter, and probably other things I can't even think of off the top of my head.

While this may not be a good idea for corporate jobs, it can be beneficial for a game-related job. I know someone hired to be a balance designer largely due to leading a well known guild.

At Blizzard, there are several Everquest guild leaders hired for dungeon design and quest writing. This includes Rob Pardo, vice-president of game design, and Jeff Kaplan, lead world designer, who both led Legacy of Steel, one of the premier EQ raiding guilds, at various points in its history. And Alex Afrasiabi, quest designer, who is the former leader of the most well known EQ raiding guild, Fires of Heaven.

Other similar examples not related to mmos were guys from the Street Fighter tournament scene hired to be designers for a sequel to a AAA franchise.

Leading a successful guild in an mmo is not unlike running a business. Both require leadership skills, organization, planning, dedication, etc. Charisma doesn't hurt and you're often looked to for motivation. Marketing comes into play as you need to advertise your success to attract good players. You have to keep your employees (guild members) happy to avoid other businesses hiring them away.

Ive mentioned computer games in my hobbies section before and gotten the job, and i think people seem to think that its a socially less acceptable hobby than say sports an stuff. I think if you just threw in that your a WoW addict and play everynight then yeah you wont get the job, but i havent played WoW for nearly a year now and the fact that i commited 2 years of my life to being an active guild member shouldnt just be forgotten, denied and thrown away. Yes i was into a computer game, but his game was different you played it with thousands of other people and you had to communicate and use teamwork to achieve the goals in game. I think the only reason why people would throw your resume in the bin is simply because they dont know what the game is and are being big headed in assuming the game bears no relevance to real life skills.

I'd rather see a short resume than one crammed with filler. Especially filler like this... this would immediately get the resume it's written on tossed in the recycling bin. At least, when it comes to non-gaming-industry jobs.

Heh, not sure I agree with this approach... but it's not a completely unsound concept. I play ice hockey and couldn't imagine myself putting any long explanation (other than my position as goalie) in an "Activities and Interests" section. That could be where MMOs or other games could go, because that's where employers create an initial judgment on how much of a "team player" you are. Just a thought!

This has to be a joke, right? I would call the applicant in for an interview just to laugh in his face.

Relevant Work Experience:
1) Collected all 100 Hidden Packages on GTA3
2) Advanced driving skills with all cars

I can't imagine any manager-type or HR-type ever taking that sort of thing seriously. From what I know from experience with the tech industry: placing MMO guild experience on a resume will merely make you the faceless joke at the water cooler for 5 minutes.

this reminds me of an interview i did back when i worked at a game dev, the interviewed actually revealed he had been addicted to everquest for over a year and although he had scored the highest on the interview than any others, that sole fact almost made me not pick him,

of course in the end i did pick him after he assured me he was "cured" but he revealed himself to be quite a weirdo and later left on his own

I would never hire you.

no one remembers this? http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html

Gotta say this seems like a reallllly bad idea. Unless it was for some game related job - and even then it would be questionable.

This makes my friend's stupid little brother's answers on his truck driving app look absolutely relevant. His hobbies were listed as beautiful women and ice cream. We're unsure if those were enjoyed separately or at the same time, if at all.

I think it'd be more impressive to list the fact that you're not addicted to an MMO if you're applying for a game related job. Not only are you showing you've got the necessary skills (especially if you made it to the guild stage), but you've shown the strength to give it all up for more important things, like having a damn life.

YES!!! My MMO experience will now give me that edge I was lacking to get that fast food job.

1st l0lz

but willy, only .00001% of any HR dept will think this is interesting

I actually used experience of adminning 8 TFC servers (4 of which were the top ranked servers for TFC in ze world before our IP's were changed to make the Quake3 dolts happy) for a job interview 5-6 years ago. I got the job, too :)

bwahahahhaa

*Regularly stops playing for periods 6-8 months.
*Bitches constantly about processes and leadership
*Griefs other players and spawn camps.

hmmm, maybe its best I leave that off the resume.

since when is IBM a renowned institution?

Wow, I would drop a resume immediately if I saw this. Sorry, you poor bastard. Don't put game experience on a resume.

Of course, most employers wouldn't be pleased to learn that actual JOBS were quit in order to demonstrate these qualities.

Can I just lol this whole story?

Does not ninja loot; can be trusted with key to stationery cupboard.

This might work in Korea but it'll be a while before it works here heh.

Yea, just don't do this.