Anyone know anything about being a Game Master in an MMO?

[Iono]

Anyone know anything about being a Game Master in an MMO? What do job duties include usually?

Anything that would stand out about the job? Perks/ negatives?

Thank you for your time.

[Askari0]

http://bannable-offenses.blogspot.com/

Read up on that and you should get a great idea of what it's like to be a GM. Basically, you're customer support.

[Koga]

Ever worked in a Call Center?

Now you know. Except you type your answers and sit next to a bunch of fat fucks who are completely socially inept and only talk about video games.

[Zalius]

try not to know anything about how the game works

[Koga]

try not to know anything about how the game works

It's actually more along the mindset of "I am uber kewl! And even tho i don't know much about the game... im a GM so these other fucks dont know what they are talking about!!"

Just like any call center, you have the sympathetic ones, and the ones that are annoyed you messaged them even though that is what they are paid to do.

[Iono]

try not to know anything about how the game works

They actually ask about all your previous MMO experience when applying. So I was wondering if there's any other tasks besides answering all the calls, because it sounds like they actually want you to know about it.


As for [GM]Dave's blog, while great, I'm not sure what percentage is true >.>a

[Falisa]

I worked as a GM for SOE for over a year and its hard to say what the job is like because they way you are treated and the environment of the work place is dependent on the company (hell, in SOE, it differed depending on what game you worked on).

Job duties depend on the game too. It all depends on how much responsibility they need to put on a single GM, for EQ2, all we did was in game help tickets, and they had a separate team handle tech support, and a separate team handled hacked account/RMT. But when I switched to Free Realms, we had to handle everything there was to customer support almost (except tech).

As for the job environment, I really enjoyed the job the first 3 months when I was on Everquest 2. The coworkers were so awesome, and management was the best Ive ever worked under. I woke up excited to go into work to hang out with my coworkers (we'd stay at work until 2 am playing Left 4 Dead on the work computers). But new management happened, I switched to Free Realms, and life became a living hell working for SOE. No games on any computers, couldnt browse non-work related websites, the only way you could get a promotion is if you sucked your manager's dick. So your experience may vary depending on whos running the place.

[Koga]

GM Dave? None of it.


As for previous MMO knowledge. I can tell you that while it may help, its not 100% of what they are looking for. Teaching someone the tools isn't hard. They want competent people is all. Someone who has a good balance of mind and work well with others around them.

They are also usually looking for your people skills, not leadership skills.

[Koga]

Falisa... I have known GM's in SOE, Bioware, and Blizzard. Of those, SOE has the worse "ratings" lol... >_< I can't imagine you enjoyed yourself there much?

[Falisa]

In 2008, I absolutely loved working there. In 2009, it was torture.

[Lordender]

Your going to hear massive nerd raging from mostly kids as a GM. I speak from experience, it is going to feel like being a customer service person at a bad retail place sometimes.

[Seanr]

How many promotions did you get Falisa?

[Darus Grey]

She must be the CEO by now.

[Valkrish]

You must enjoy long talks on the phone with a mix of pleasant people and trolls.

[Seanr]

This is why she did not enjoy herself probably. Got so many promotions.

[Pikarya]

I like where this is going.

[Iono]

Thanks for all the info.

Any idea if there's any future in it? Or at least some decent chance for advancement.

[Conformity]

I worked as a GM for SOE for over a year and its hard to say what the job is like because they way you are treated and the environment of the work place is dependent on the company (hell, in SOE, it differed depending on what game you worked on).

Job duties depend on the game too. It all depends on how much responsibility they need to put on a single GM, for EQ2, all we did was in game help tickets, and they had a separate team handle tech support, and a separate team handled hacked account/RMT. But when I switched to Free Realms, we had to handle everything there was to customer support almost (except tech).

As for the job environment, I really enjoyed the job the first 3 months when I was on Everquest 2. The coworkers were so awesome, and management was the best Ive ever worked under. I woke up excited to go into work to hang out with my coworkers (we'd stay at work until 2 am playing Left 4 Dead on the work computers). But new management happened, I switched to Free Realms, and life became a living hell working for SOE. No games on any computers, couldnt browse non-work related websites, the only way you could get a promotion is if you sucked your manager's dick. So your experience may vary depending on whos running the place.

So.......... did you get promoted?

[Iono]

Are BG and KI considered work-related sites? >.>a

[Darus Grey]

Thanks for all the info.

Any idea if there's any future in it? Or at least some decent chance for advancement.

There's a reasonable chance you can advance out of the GM pool into the actual development team or to community manager depending on what skills you have, and as we've established, whose dick you're willing to suck.