

Headhunter: Employers Hate World Of Warcraft Players - escapade
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/headhunter-employers-hate-world-of-warcraft-players

======
lacker
No surprise there. I estimate playing WoW is more addictive and harmful to
your productivity than smoking marijuana, and certainly you wouldn't mention
the latter to a prospective employer. "Hate" is going a little too far though
- probably the manager in question had a bad experience in the past. I doubt
if you were a productive employee and you mentioned you play WoW if they would
start hating you.

~~~
stcredzero
The thing about smoking marijuana is that it's not incompatible with
heightened creativity. Some would even say that it helps.

<http://www.marijuana-uses.com/essays/002.html>

I suspect that WoW can be conducive to creativity, but for hard-core players
this is often focused entirely on goals in-game. So in the case of hard-core
players, the chances are that an employer will only lose out from decreased
productivity. (Lack of sleep.)

Contrast this with interests in music, art, or sports, where employers can
often stand to gain indirectly from even an employee's avid participation.
Sometimes they gain directly, as in Shigeru Miyamoto.

[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sect...](http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article4488157.ece)

------
arien
There's 11 million people playing WoW, with different levels of
playtime/dedication. It's a bit excessive to try to put all these people in
the same can.

I would trust psychological tests rather than just assume all WoW players are
irresponsible people just cause you met one silly guy who happened to play
WoW.

At my company, around 12 people are WoW players. I play WoW myself and even my
boss did until a year ago. Problems with any of us? None.

~~~
josefresco
There's more than 11 million people using drugs, with different levels of
use/dedication. It's a bit excessive to try to put all these people in the
same can.

I would trust psychological tests rather than just assume all drug users are
irresponsible people just cause you met one silly guy who happened to smoke
pot.

At my company, around 12 people are drug users. I use drugs myself and even my
boss did until a year ago. Problems with any of us? None.

~~~
sgibat
I agree. (I don't think that was effective at making the point you wanted.)

~~~
ConradHex
Yeah. Actually, a better analogy would be alcohol use, since drug use is
illegal (and WoW playing isn't).

What if a company had a bad experience with an alcoholic employee, so they
refused to hire anyone who drinks at all?

------
swilliams
I dunno, yeah, stereotypes tend to have a kernel of truth to them, and I
wouldn't hire someone who played WoW 40 hours a week, but I probably wouldn't
hire someone who did something innocuous (say, photography) for 40 hours a
week. A casual interest/hobby is beneficial to a person.

Then again, I'd have to seriously question the judgment of a person who puts
WoW on their resume.

~~~
midnightsun
I definitely wouldn't hire someone who played for 40 hours a week, but if it's
more reasonable, like 10-15, it essentially becomes a replacement for stuff
like watching tv or movies.

The problem is that games like WOW are designed to be addictive, especially at
the endgame levels. My college room mate ended up playing for more than 2000
hours before he quit, and it's not been great for him - he's been jobless for
two years since graduation.

~~~
iron_ball
Seriously. I played a vast amount too -- I just did the math and it was
probably around 4000 hours, a number I can barely believe in retrospect.
Although I finally quit for good nearly two years ago, I feel as though the
game _emptied my life_. I was fortunate to have a support group outside the
game who kept me involved in recurring real-life activities, or perhaps it
would have been worse.

Lucky for me, I quit the game because I moved to New York to work full time.
But I've heard a lot of horror stories of people dropping out of college or
life itself due to MMOs.

------
copenja
Let me get this right.

This is an article by a guy who was told by a guy who was told by a headhunter
who was told by an employer that WOW players are bad employees?

I wouldn't draw any conclusions from this.

~~~
echair
As often happens, the discussion here is better than the article.

------
dmpayton
I play WoW 10-15 hours a week with the wife, in-laws, and other IRL friends.
It's a great family activity and helps me keep in touch with friends from high
school that now live hundreds of miles away.

I also put in ~50 hours/week into my job at a startup, and have been told I
write good code. I'd wager I'm not a bad employee.

I'd agree that WoW addicts wouldn't make great employees. However, there's a
huge difference between a WoW _addict_ and a WoW _player_ , please don't lump
us together.

~~~
catch23
As a level 73 priest, I agree. Nothing wrong with taking the game leisurely.
There were some weeks when guildies thought I quit WoW simply because I wasn't
around for such a long time, but sometimes work needs the focus. I think
you're likely to take the game more leisurely if you play with real-life-
friends versus 40 people you've never met.

~~~
dmpayton
62 Hunter, here. What server are you on?

And I agree about playing with real-life friends vs. online people. I took a
two-year break from the game just because all of my friends dropped out for
various reasons. Only just got back into it a few months ago to play with the
family.

------
newmediaclay
Ask HN: Who hates WOW players more -- employers or girls?

~~~
JacobAldridge
Employers. Because some WOW players actually get jobs.

</Generalisation>

------
mattmaroon
I think they're implying causation where correlation exists. I'm guessing most
WoW addicts (and there are lots of casual players, who can be fine employees)
are simply obsessive types who would be attacking some other hobby full force
if not for WoW. D&D, building a robot in their garage, whatever.

~~~
Tichy
Except D&D and robot building are creative activities, which WoW doesn't seem
to be.

~~~
mattmaroon
I don't see how WoW is any different than D&D, especially to an employer.

~~~
Tichy
For D&D people often create their own stories, and they display their
imagination in acting it out (even with pre-fabricated stories, the options
for actions are infinite). WoW only allows you to follow actions that have
been written into the game by Blizzard. I think it is very different.

However, you are right, employers might not know the difference.

~~~
mattmaroon
I've never played, but my perception (from what I've heard) is that in D&D one
person does the creating and the rest just sort of play. Is that inaccurate?

I really just meant it as an example of a hobby people obsess about though. I
don't doubt it's a little more food for the brain than WoW, which I rank
possibly below reality television.

~~~
Tichy
One person creates the story, but playing is really roleplaying. The players
can conceive the wildest actions, and the master has to come up with a
reasonable continuation of the story, often improvising on the fly. I think it
is not uncommon that things go entirely different than originally planned.

Sometimes one might even play a completely improvised story, it all depends on
the group.

~~~
mattmaroon
That definitely sounds more creative then, and actually maybe not a bad thing
to look for in employees for certain jobs.

------
flashgordon
actually while WoW (or even warcraft) can be very addictive, it is very hard
to make this prediction in isolation without looking at a candidate's job
history or experience...

our team leader (who is very good at his job) is an avid WoW player (with
about 6 characters going at a time)... at any point when i turn towards his
monitor there is atleast one WoW related page on one of his monitors... while
I do find that wierd, his productivity is not affected so what can you say
about that??

but having said that I cant see a reason why you would put something like WoW
in your resume in the first place... i mean you are trying to get a job here,
not show you well you can cast a shrinking spell!

------
t0pj
Don't worry - I'll quit WoW as soon as I can get my paws on Starcraft II.

~~~
mlinsey
I think RTS games are less addictive because they are broken up into discrete
games and are much more intense in terms of mental energy and frantic
clicking. Whenever I play a good game of StarCraft or WarCraft III, I usually
feel really drained and don't feel at all like playing another game.

~~~
t0pj
I agree. It seems like you never get enough oomph from an engrossing session
of WoW - never really satisified, always feeling empty after the latest
chapter/quest.

It's kind of like reading a Robert Kiyosaki book - getting to the end and
needing to buy the next book right away. The content makes you feel good but
it always leaves you feeling a bit undernourished, hoping the next fix will
finally complete you - leaving you whole.

The preceding was a bit of self-reflection, perhaps. :)

------
Dilpil
Your probably better off not working at a company that "doesn't hire Xs".

~~~
mrtron
I don't hire people that "don't hire Xs".

