Candidate spoke about WoW in an interview

Diddums said:

This. I've also built up some incredibly successful guilds from the ground up and people often don't realise the time, dedication, organizational skills, people skills and dependency it requires. Imagine herding cats. Teenage cats who have just discovered women, red bull and other games but want all the glitz and glamour without actually committing. It's not an easy task by any measure, but it's very obvious why people can't relate to it.

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This. Running a guild or clan can turn into a full time exercise. Fighting fires, calming teenager angst rage monsters, organising, learning when to compromise and when to put your foot down. There can be a lot learned from this sort of organisational learning.

However, it would really depend on the age of the person. Someone in their late 20's or early 30's might connect and know what it takes. Someone in their late 40's would likely dismiss it entirely. Really depends on the situation for me.

It could've been worse. He could've shouted "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins" as he legs it into your office scattering the contents of your desk across the place before running around the rest of the building aggroing all the staff whilst being chased by security.

Malevolence said:

It could've been worse. He could've shouted "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins" as he legs it into your office scattering the contents of your desk across the place before running around the rest of the building aggroing all the staff whilst being chased by security.

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Still would've got the job

I think it'd be more relevant if he could show where WoW skills had translated into real world achievements.

He's not trying to sell 'WoW skills', he's trying to show his analytical skills. The way he's organised his playing of that game is an application/real world example of those skills.

Perhaps he isn't currently working in an analytics role/is a student etc.. In which case some side project or hobby where he's applied some relevant skills is a nice real world example in itself.

Malevolence said:

It could've been worse. He could've shouted "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy Jenkins" as he legs it into your office scattering the contents of your desk across the place before running around the rest of the building aggroing all the staff whilst being chased by security.

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If anyone did that, I'd employ them instantly. As long as he turned to face you, and stared you right in the eyes and said; "Least I got chicken!"

Phate said:

See I've never played WoW but if someone told me they had key roles within certain big alliances in EVE then I'd appreciate what they had put into it.

Probably very similar in many ways.

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I was arguing this thread with my wife and said "if they can write degree economic papers about Eve Online why can't you use the skills you pick up in the game for a interview?"

That one stumped her.

Something like EVE online ought to be fine for a dissertation.

Likewise a lot of prominent mathematical finance academics also conduct research on betting markets.

I'm not a WoW player, in fact I abhor it. However my sentiments would be the same as the OP. It's a demonstration of skill that he can do that for something as unimportant as an online game.

You know what......it was a gamble IMO but it made him stand out from the crowd. Interviews can be a painful process for the interviewer, candidates blurring into each other as they all give the same mundane answers. Even if you were or were not a WOW player or even a games player you would have remembered him for this.

Good on him for having the ***** to stand out from the masses.

It's a gamble, you're basically counting on at least one of the interviewers knowing what you're talking about or it's probably a negative.

Obviously not a problem here in the games industry, you'll likely fail if you can't hold a convincing conversation about a variety of games.

I spoke about it in my first interview, at the time I was in A top 50 guild so it was a pretty big part of my life.

I did do it more in laymans terms about what it had taught me about working with other people, my high standards and also the officer side of running a guild. Didn't actually name the game I was talking about either.

My (to be) boss bailed me out a bit by saying he knew what I was talking about (Really doubt that he did in hindsight) I got the job but I doubt it was a deal breaker as I came to know the people on the panel very well.

It's not a bad thing to mention if you can simplify and you think someone on the panel is going to get where you are coming from rather than just thinking you're that guy off the South Park episode; looks like it has paid off for him with yourself on the panel appreciating exactly what he means.

mid_gen said:

It's a gamble, you're basically counting on at least one of the interviewers knowing what you're talking about or it's probably a negative.

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Actually, I think if explained properly then it shouldn't be a negative

"Well the example I have is from an online game, and I know that you may be thinking 'but it's just a game' but..." and then explain the situation to them in layman's terms, how you approached the problem and how the solution worked and then how that can apply in real life then hopefully the interviewer will understand.

It's rarely about the subject being asked, the the process behind what you've done and how you approached it and evaluated it.

If you were asked "tell me about a situation where you've had to work as part of a team to achieve a goal" you could tell them about the time you did a project at work, or that time you helped work with a group of people in a charity scheme to build homes, or about that time you had to coordinate with 100 other people, all remotely in order to achieve X in a game, all the planning and communication that took place etc.

All valid in my book.

I wouldnt be impressed with examples from a consequence free virtual environment where people pretend to be something they are not and all communication is by instant messaging...

n111ck said:

I wouldnt be impressed with examples from a consequence free virtual environment where people pretend to be something they are not and all communication is by instant messaging...

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You might as well be talking about the trading floor at a bank there...

dowie said:

You might as well be talking about the trading floor at a bank there...

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I wouldn't be impressed by 'bankers' either...

Had a recent interviewer ask me what I meant by being a Twitch Broadcaster on my CV as other intrests

Spent about 30 minutes talking themthrough everything that was involved in this, hopw it was run, how it was broadcast etc.

Didn't get that job, but there comm's department who was sat in have since e-mailed me lol

n111ck said:

I wouldnt be impressed with examples from a consequence free virtual environment where people pretend to be something they are not and all communication is by instant messaging...

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Consequence free, now that depends on the game. Games like eve are anything but, weeks of work can be wasted in hours if you're not careful.

Just because you don't see a value to something, doesn't mean there isn't value there.

It also shows how little you know about the subject thinking it's all instant messaging.

OP: Was the candidate offered the job and if so, did they accept ?

AHarvey said:

Consequence free, now that depends on the game. Games like eve are anything but, weeks of work can be wasted in hours if you're not careful.

Just because you don't see a value to something, doesn't mean there isn't value there.

It also shows how little you know about the subject thinking it's all instant messaging.

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Lol like anyone on here doesn't know how WOW works - regardless I said 'I' wouldn't be impressed...