Game Master gig in Cork

jabberwock

Yes, yes there is a work forum but I would firstly like a bit of insight from here.

--- maybe bounce it over in a couple of days


So I remember a thread about Blizzard in Cork and working for them being a pain or something but i can't for the life of me find it.

I know it was from a while back but I was wondering if anyone knows of anything about them down there.

Also really anything about the life of a GM. Does it destroy the game for them, etc.

Thinking of applying and would just like a heads-up

thanks for reading. (you can delete it now! lol)

Ivan

I used to work for Clientlogic (which then became Sitel). They had a contract with a best-selling MMO company, but unfortunately I am still under my NDA/Contract until October so I cannot directly talk about it.

Now, while this was an outsource operation, I have heard from friends of mine in cork who used to work with me in Swords, that it is a similar operation in that, although it is directly working for Blizzard, the work environment still feels as though you are working for an outsourcing company.

With that in mind, I would highly recommend against working there. Your love of the game in question goes out the window as you are frustrated just by logging in, the shift work/patterns can be very straining and you feel as if your life is not your own.

While I cant go into specific details about the nature of the work environment, it is very similar to any other customer support which can be a soul-sucking job depending on how you look at it.

Dont get me wrong though, it isnt all bad. There are some upsides though, although they are more things I cant really go into. But to this day, I feel that (working for that company) the negatives out-weighed the good, but this is for an entirely different company (Blizzard) and so it may not be the same.

So, my advice, if you want it; is that so long as it doesnt require that large of a lifestyle change, that you go for it. Try it out for a while and see how you like it. It is definitely very nice to be able to "stand around the water cooler talking about what you did the previous night in the MMO you support". Also most people would be of a like mind, so being able to talk about new comics, or new games or movies can make the work environment in general, alot of fun...

Genghiz Cohen

Cons:
Long work hours.
Deal with idiots on a daily basis. (This guy ganked me and lol'ed at me can you ban him!?!?!one!!lol!!)

Pros:
A 25 YEAR(!!!) gamecard.
The single most awesome statue I have ever seen. Link

If I were looking for a job, I would defiantly be sending my CV in.
I'm not a GM, but I know these things for a fact.

jabberwock

thanks for the feedback.

Sure i might as well give it a go..

Ivan any tips/info on how a interview would go down for them?

Ivan

jabberwock wrote: »

thanks for the feedback.

Sure i might as well give it a go..

Ivan any tips/info on how a interview would go down for them?

Well, with any customer support job the emphasis is usually on your desire and willingness to help the customer/player. Get the point across that you are just like the people you will be helping, in that you have experienced most of the issues you would be supporting.

Otherwise, be friendly and honest (to a degree) and you shouldnt have much difficulty securing a job, if you've already got the interview then you are over half-way there

Good luck with it.

Lone Stone

Ivan wrote: »

I used to work for Clientlogic (which then became Sitel). They had a contract with a best-selling MMO company, but unfortunately I am still under my NDA/Contract until October so I cannot directly talk about it.

Now, while this was an outsource operation, I have heard from friends of mine in cork who used to work with me in Swords, that it is a similar operation in that, although it is directly working for Blizzard, the work environment still feels as though you are working for an outsourcing company.

With that in mind, I would highly recommend against working there. Your love of the game in question goes out the window as you are frustrated just by logging in, the shift work/patterns can be very straining and you feel as if your life is not your own.

While I cant go into specific details about the nature of the work environment, it is very similar to any other customer support which can be a soul-sucking job depending on how you look at it.

Dont get me wrong though, it isnt all bad. There are some upsides though, although they are more things I cant really go into. But to this day, I feel that (working for that company) the negatives out-weighed the good, but this is for an entirely different company (Blizzard) and so it may not be the same.

So, my advice, if you want it; is that so long as it doesnt require that large of a lifestyle change, that you go for it. Try it out for a while and see how you like it. It is definitely very nice to be able to "stand around the water cooler talking about what you did the previous night in the MMO you support". Also most people would be of a like mind, so being able to talk about new comics, or new games or movies can make the work environment in general, alot of fun...

I went for a job there thought i had it from the interview but then i messed it up when i said cant wait to get the **** out of this suit at the end of it
sounds like a lucky escape phew. Was a nice big place tho i felt a bit out place going for my interview when i seen everyone wondering around in casual dress

Horsefumbler

Ivan wrote: »

There are some upsides though, although they are more things I cant really go into.

why not?
this is an anonymous forum you uptight bastard

Ivan

Horsefumbler wrote: »

why not?
this is an anonymous forum you uptight bastard

Sadly, I've posted my name too many times on these forums to believe I still have any anonymity here. Besides, how can I expect other people to respect WotLK Alpha/Beta NDA's when I wont respect my own work based ones?

Dont worry though, I plan on doing a "tell all" when my NDA expires in October of this year :P

Dellarocca

*waits with bated breath*

Thought about appliying to work for Blizzard a while back. But I don't think they have a position for lazy git going.

Kirby

used to work their. Shifts were awful...and i mean awful. They always used to muck it up. on several occasions people would get off eight hour shifts, and be expected to start another eight hours 4 hours later. Yes, it was a scheduling accident but you were forever told "it wont happen again". It happened again. Alot. and you were told tough ****.

It does suck the fun out of the game too. Having to talk to people about the game for 8 hours and never being allowed to actually PLAY it is such a kick in the nuts.

Also, the 25 year gamecard thing is bull****. In france, everyone gets it. Over here, only the select few ever got it and that was usually after pestering management for 6 months.

I was there for a while....and it wasn't a nice experience.

Froot

The problem is that they are hiring people who play wow, so they can treat them as such. If they hired people who couldn't give a f*ck about warcraft they would have tighter run ship in my opinion, good employees rather than enthusiastic fans who eventually realise that by working for blizzard they are not actually going to some day be rewarded with immortality or whatever.

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Pros:
A 25 YEAR(!!!) gamecard.
The single most awesome statue I have ever seen. Link

If I were looking for a job, I would defiantly be sending my CV in.
I'm not a GM, but I know these things for a fact.

If a 25 year game card is your primary "pro" then I'd rather be flipping burgers at McDonalds.

Blizzard are no different from the majority of Tech Support employers, they work on a badly run shift system, the salary is crap (oh yay! I'm 24, have a degree and I'm on 22k a year, wow I feel so fulfilled!!11one) and they rely on scooping up fanboys of their games to work for them because anyone other than a fan would see it as a regular **** job.

Ivan

While on the whole, I do agree with your point Froot, specifically;

Froot wrote: »

...and they rely on scooping up fanboys of their games to work for them because anyone other than a fan would see it as a regular **** job.

there are a few points that need to be clarified.

First of all the 25 year game card is correct and while to most it probably doesnt mean much, the fact is for those who continue to play the game while working there, its effectively an extra €180 per year, for the next 25 years for nothing. That roughly works out at €4500 and in most cases employees there are given 3x25 year game cards.

In fact this is as much a staple of Working directly for Blizzard, that the fact that Kirby denies its existence would imply to me that s/he has in fact, never worked there before.

Also, working any duration shift within 11 hours or less is highly illegal in Ireland. And no company, REPEAT NO COMPANY let alone a multi-national, is going to leave itself open to legal preceedings by breaking this highly specific law.

But on the whole, it is true. In theory, it should be no different to working for any technical support company, but in practice it does tend to be. The type of people that tend to gravitate towards customer support for games/mmos, are generally gamers themselves and therefore your peers. This alone makes for a highly enjoyable work place.

Just to clarify for everyone, this debate/conversation is regarding Blizzard in Cork, a place I have never worked but where I have a few friends currently working.

Vertakill

Ivan wrote: »

First of all the 25 year game card is correct and while to most it probably doesnt mean much, the fact is for those who continue to play the game while working there, its effectively an extra €180 per year, for the next 25 years for nothing. That roughly works out at €4500 and in most cases employees there are given 3x25 year game cards.

In fact this is as much a staple of Working directly for Blizzard, that the fact that Kirby denies its existence would imply to me that s/he has in fact, never worked there before.

I worked for ClientLogic in Swords and I never got a 25 year game card*. The only people that got that were a select few in Phase 1 and after they (Blizz) realised what a terrible idea that was, they handed out 6 month game cards instead. They left the original people with the 25 year subscription though. I opted to miss Phase 1 in order to go to WCG - what a mistake that was!

* It's not actually a 'game card'. You just give a Blizz employee your account details and he adds x months onto your subscription. I wasn't in one of the days they were doing this and I never actually got any time added to my account until about 6 months after I'd started. Luckily I'd no intention of playing!

I don't know why I'm surprised at the amount of people on here that worked for CL... I just never thought about it while working there.

It was a bit of a laugh and I did enjoy my time there for the most part and there were a good bunch of guys working there. It does get repetitive and you will learn to hate the game eventually, unless you're a hardcore WoW fan with which you'll probably end up loving the game even more.
I'd actually quit playing WoW long before I started in CL and I only briefly restarted it after working there a few months. So it's not all fans that work there...
Put it this way, I'd much prefer to work there than somewhere like Eircom/AOL on the phones etc.

Vertakill

Oh also, I'm going to just assume Kirby is referring to Cork because pretty much everything they said would be considered bullsh1t if it was referring to the place in Swords.

Since I've never worked in Cork, these are Dublin related:

Pros: Cushy job. 4 days a week, never any traffic going in or out of work, foozball table, pool table (table sucked tho), TV, could also switch anyday you needed with someone else provided they agreed to it (have a few mates and you'll be able to take off anyday you like within a days notice).

Cons: Unsociable hours (eventually starts to eat away at you, unless your a complete hermit), no canteen after 4pm which meant mass amounts of takeaways, Repetitive, Tedious, Lack of job satisfaction, Very little room for promotion.

Working for Blizzard themselves does sound, initially, a little more appealing than working for the outsourced company. I'm not sure I'd go along with that though.

Woden

I also did the gig in clientlogic back from Oct 06 to Jan 07. Quit the day the expansion launched ><. Was just looking for an excuse though in fairness by that stage a combination of the issues mentioned by the above posters.

Hours, take away food and for me the commute.

One thing that rather bothered me at the time, I'm not sure how much it changed after I left, was that what we actually dealt there was very small. Anything of substance was passed onto Paris. Leaving an overall sense of no responsibility and frustration.

Part of this I'm sure was related to the new relationship between CL and Blizzard at the time and trust etc. However from an end worker perspective I didn't like it