Good news!

So all that internal locus of control stuff might actually work. Especially when others are playing along.

The CEO I was going to email today? Yeah. Totally emailed him.

He totally replied within 6 hours of my email. With good news. Possible internship news.

It still may be early for me to get my hopes up, especially since I don't exactly have any marketable skills - not even as a code monkey. But! There is hope.

So if you could continue to pray for me, friends (heck, even enemies. It'd be good for both of us.), I would be greatly appreciative.

An Internal Locus of Control

So I'm pretty much intimidated out of my mind right now.

I just looked through a few game design and development blogs. Almost every one of them has had a "How to break into the industry" subpage - since they get asked so often.

Examples (just for kicks):
Zen of Design
GameCareerGuide.com
Psychochild

Their advice is certainly informative, but disheartening. Let's take Zen of Design's list for example:

• Entry positions are rare - Companies don't hire people straight out of school because there are always experienced people in the market.
• Get in the door any way you can - answer phones, do Quality Assurance work, whatever. Suck it up and get in.
• Build a portfolio - That's what college is for. Show potential employers some kind of finished product - whether NeverWinter Nights mods or simple flash games.
• Prove you can finish - Ideas are cheap. Everyone in the industry has about 100 great ideas they can use any time. You must be able to execute.
• Build networks - 'Nuff said.
• Do anything to get a game industry line on your resume - Intern, do freelance work, or work for a startup
• Accept that you'll be the low man on the totem pole - Be willing to learn. Don't be a brown-noser, but be humble.
• Excel - Be good at what you do.

So that's that. It's quite terrifying, considering I don't have many opportunities to do this stuff. But, in order to shift to an internal locus of control for my life (thank you psychology), I shall list how I'm planning on overcoming these crazy things.

• Hrm... I guess I can't do much about this except be good at the rest.
• I'm emailing a CEO of a small company tomorrow. I'll be emailing other companies in the next week or so looking for internships.
• I have two options here: wait for grad school to come around, or do something slightly out of the ordinary. I'm not much of an artist or a programmer and I don't have a team to work with (I believe that's been pointed out). What can I do? Story. How can I show them proof of interactive story concepts and execution? Dungeons and Dragons, baby.
  
• Well, this is probably accomplished by actually doing any and all of the above.
• Networking is always a challenge for me, but I'm seeing what I can do to go to the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco in March. Also, I'm going to ask said CEO if he might be able to be a contact for me just to grab advice from every once in a while.
• Again, internships.
• Honestly, this is a personal and spiritual growth issue. I'd like to be confident and know I'm good at what I do, but at the same time, I must always remember that there are others that are better. Especially there.
• Yeah... I guess I just need to do this...

So there's all that. You, dear Reader, have now borne witness to my mindset trying to change. I think I'm going to write a different post now. Bye bye.

Question

What does it mean to be a man?
What is the journey from boyhood to manhood? When can one say that one has arrived?


This is pertinent in more ways than one. The reason why I'm asking it now is because Trevor and I are writing a story for class that's kind of about this.

So, yeah. Talk amongst yourselves.

I am frustrated.

I just want to be a video game designer. That's it. No more of this silly school stuff. Just let me have a team that shares my vision, some time to get better influences, and some money and let me design video games.

If you have any interest at all in video games, you should read and understand as best you can this article. Then, you should proceed to get just as passionate about it as I am and decide to do what you need to do to be on my team some day.

Currently, there are these positions:

• Programmer(s) with a passion for programming, but with wide influences
  
• Artist(s) with a passion for 3D modeling, concept art, and visual storytelling with wide influences
• Business folks with a passion for the video game industry, but with wide influences
• Investor(s) with little expectation for success but deep pockets. Must believe in vision and trust the creatives.
• Writer(s) with a passion for storytelling, video games, and being a part of video games becoming art. Must have wide influences.
  
• Lawyer(s) with a passion for law and experience and passion for the entertainment art industry

And the best part of all? No previous experience in the industry is required!

Soon...

A Post and a Posted Item

Hey... remember that one time I had a blog? And I updated it every once in a while?

Yeah.... I remember that.

There's really not much to say at this point. I have had no profound insights into the meaning of life since coming back to college... no difficult trials to endure... not really much of anything...

So yeah, I guess this is your standard, run-of-the-mill "I should update" post.

Also, this is a cool video: