How many times have you tried to explain to your parents that, no, gaming is not just a hobby for you, but a genuine passion? How many times have you tried to convince everyone around you that gaming jobs could actually make you a lot of money as a stable job? How many fkn times have you had to defend yourself for "still" playing video games at your age?
Too many times to count, right? Same. So let me tell you about how I managed to find a gaming job that I love more than anything, that is stable and that gives me more money than I earned at any corporate job (don't mind me, just bragging at this point.)
READ MORE:
- EarlyGame Talk: Why Do I Love Games That Feel Like Work?
- EarlyGame Talk: It’s Time to Stop the Hype Train (and Stop Preordering Games!)
- EarlyGame Talk: From Video Game Loving Girl to Twitch Streamer
If you’re a 90’s baby or older, you know how making a career in gaming seemed unthinkable. Our parents worked hard, physical jobs. They couldn't understand us when we said we wanted to do something that we were passionate about in our future.
So what do you do when everyone around you tells you to just give up because it can’t be accomplished anyway?
That’s right: you give up.
And that’s where you’re wrong*
(*prepare for the motivational speech of your life)
I’m sure that you’re not the only one stuck in a job that you absolutely hate. Many gave up their dreams for the sake of ‘having a stable job with a stable income’.
I’m saying this because I’ve been there.
Due to my degree, I ended up in a law firm, and I hated it. I hated the same, boring tasks every single day. I hatedthe indifference I had towards everything I did and the lack of passion that I could pour into it. I hated never going to work happily and never looking forward to another day in this everlasting cycle of hatred. Basically, I never went home feeling like I accomplished something that day.
Sounds familiar, right?
But you know when I felt good? Once I got home and was able to wind down by playing my favorite games.
If you’ve been on this website for a while and have read any article that included Dragon Age, chances are VERY high that that was my article (because I am still emotionally damaged by what Solas has done to me, and if Dragon Age 4 doesn't fix what they did in Inquisition, I will riot.)
Dragon Age got me into gaming and founded my passion. And boy oh boy, am I happy it was this one (special shoutout to BioWare at this point, Mass Effect 1-3 was bomb as well, Andromeda disappointed me and Anthem can go and f*ck itself :))
Over the years, more games started popping up that I began to love. RPG’s, most of all. Through those, I discovered my passion for writing, because daaaaamn, some of these RPG’s? Writing on point.
Since I love RPG’s so much, I started a blog about KPOP (smart, right?). It accumulated over 15K followers (yeah, touch me) and I started to understand that: hey… maybe there is something there after all.
But how do you get started, when you’re not sure if there’s even a job in gaming that would be your thing?
Let’s talk about this in more detail.
First things first, ask yourself what you love. No, not just gaming. Beyond that. What is your passion? What is something that never feels like work to you, despite it being work? (Now strike masturbation out of your thoughts, please)
As an example: for me, that was writing. For you, it could be something like drawing, streaming, Skyrim Sex modding, hell, even something as simple as playing around with graphics to make your game look as beautiful as it can be.
You need to understand that there are more gaming jobs out there than you’d think. It’s not just about: sitting down, punching into the keyboards to develop a code, and then BOOM, done is the finished project.
Google loves lists, so here are just a few examples that you can become successful in:
- Streamer
- Pro Player
- Game Designer
- Programmer
- Animator
- Audio Engineer
- Software Developer
- Voice Actor (also good for Hentai, in case that's more your thing – eheh)
- Writer
- Marketing Management
These are just a few examples of what gaming jobs could look like. You just need to put in the effort of finding them… and not give up like everyone else.
So back to me. Because it’s my column and you can’t spell column without M and my name is M-ichelle and...– ahem....: As I told you before, my passion is writing. When I decided to change my life and start looking for a job that would actually give me satisfaction in life (no sex joke for once, if you have dirty thoughts, that's on you), I focused on writing. Only writing.
And then, I came across EarlyGame.
Gaming Journalist.
Boy, I clicked that faster than 8-year old me clicking on the banner: "Congratulations, you've won the newest iPhone."
And here is where the next important thing comes into play that surely stopped you from applying to anything Gaming career related before: the experience, or lack thereof.
My education had NOTHING to do with journalism. I studied translation and, trust me on this, that has nothing to do with writing, even though it technically is. So I asked myself before applying: does that even make sense? Would I even have a chance at getting this job if I had no educational background in journalism?
Once again, sounds familiar, right?
Keep in mind that the only experience I had in writing was coming from my blog. And while getting 15K for a Tumblr blog where I write smutty stories that teenagers like to read is quite the achievement (shoutout to those 15K smut readers), I wasn’t sure if this was enough. Because that’s what the world teaches you right?
“Do what you were trained to do. Do what you studied for.”
But I didn’t see myself as a translator. Ever. I studied translation for the sole purpose of translating video games, which should tell you everything you need to know.
But honey, it’s 2021. This isn’t 2021 mentality. It’s not “Do what you studied for”, but rather “Do what you want to do.”
And if that’s gaming? Then pursue a Gaming Career.
EarlyGame saw my passion for gaming and liked the article that I’d written for them for my job interview (which was about what? You were correct. Dragon Age). Aaaaand that was that.
Passion, a little bit of luck, and a lot of determination.
Bottom line: don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something, not even find a gaming job – because that is simply not true.
You put in the effort and you WILL (Smith) succeed. Just don’t give up, even if it doesn’t work right away.
And now, it's time for a shameless plug: if you don't know how to find a gaming job, EarlyGame is always looking for interns for content creation/video editing/social media management/marketing/business development. Even if there isn't anything on this list that speaks to you, hit us up at: career@earlygame.com anyways. We're always happy to look at your CVs!