The Atlantic - Latest Comments in The Atlantic should never have put me on

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Kuros — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:20:38 -0000

WoW is a truly appalling habit. As an employer I would discriminate as well.

You go around killing stuff in true hack 'n slash style. Its nothing like proper DnD at all.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

frosty — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:30:11 -0000

Sure, my employer understands.

So how come you're the only Atlantic blogger blocked at work by Websense? Same URL, right? I assume you've done something dastardly to the link that makes me have to come home to read your stuff.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Crimfan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:14:54 -0000

Someone pointed out the fact that employers WILL Google you. There was an article in the WaPo on this... turns out young teachers were posting stupid and very unprofessional stuff on their Facebook profiles and principals were not amused.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/27/AR2008042702213.html

As a late thirtysomething who grew up just before the days of the web I'm often quite shocked at what people will post. Having made it through grad school to get a tenure track research job, I'm often asked by my fellow students a few years ahead or my students now about the job thing. One thing I say: Make sure to start cleaning up your internet presence a year or two BEFORE you plan to go out on the market. You can explain away a WoW habit or those pictures of the trip to Cabo with your old girlfriend if it was a few years back. You can't if it's last month.

This is even more true given zero-defect hiring now that the economy's down.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

ErinSiobhan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:52:24 -0000

I have had two kids and have gone through honeymoon periods with two online games (WoW and Shattered Galaxy). I can say, without a doubt, that the children caused far more disruption of my worklife than any late night gaming did.

Both kids basically reduced me to zombie status for the first eight months of their lives as they were both breastfed and refused to sleep through the night for far too long.

I am also frequently called upon to miss work due to school closures (weather), school plays, music festivals, track and field meets, and child illness.

Based on my experience, no parent of young children should ever be considred for any position with any company.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Brian — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:41:07 -0000

It wasn't a Halloween episode. I'm ashamed to say I know that.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Paul Wartenberg — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:36:41 -0000

Seriously. If employers are worried about WoW players not being "100 percent" dedicated to the job, then what about these potential hirees?

1) The guys and gals with 6-year-olds starting off at school, needing parent/teacher conferences on a bi-weekly basis?

2) The guys and gals who are football/sports fanatics who take every weekend to RV to their alumni for gameday? And by weekend I mean "all the days after Wednesday, and maybe up into Monday thanks to the 3-kegger tailgating hangover".

3) The guys and gals volunteering at their community churches for such things as soup kitchens, blanket giveaways, bake sales to fundraise for all these homeless shelters getting overwhelmed this post-Bush era?

4) The guys and gals working two extra jobs to pay for health care/mortgages/college loans?

Think any of these groups are giving "100 percent" at work? Think employers have a right to discriminate against any of them?

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Tim McGaha — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:51:45 -0000

Gah ... Fat-fingered the last comment. That's a bit of Homer, from one of the Halloween episodes.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Tim McGaha — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:49:59 -0000

"Kill my boss! Do I dare to live out the American dream?"

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Hugh — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:22:37 -0000

Jack, very funny! But what about the quests that involve killing an instance boss? Killing bosses sounds fun, but the rewards are all negative - unless of course one lives in the evil Star Trek universe where that's the accepted rout to advancement.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

JimF — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:21:42 -0000

I'm lucky, all my potentially embarrassing stuff is listed under Jim Franks. Feel free to try and figure out which one. One of the few times I've been glad of a common name.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Jordan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:16:25 -0000

I remember there was a question on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me... about what habit would disqualify you from serving in the Israeli army. The answer? DnD. Apparently they believe it means that players aren't in touch with reality.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Toastman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:03:01 -0000

To me, this is like refusing to hire anyone who ever has a drink. Of course a practicing alcoholic who polishes off a bottle of vodka every day is not likely to be a star employee, but there are plenty of us who enjoy a drink now and then and still manage to get work done during the day. It's the same with WoW. There most definitely are plenty of obsessive game-addicts whose workdays are spent covertly researching talent trees and scheduling raids. But there are plenty of us who play more casually and still manage to get a good night's sleep, thank you very much.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Monstertron — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:22:20 -0000

@Jack: If you were going to maximize repetitive work out of a WoW player, there better be a pretty good pet to get out of it. Like a rock with a smile painted on it. I hear those are big with the kids.

@Doctor Cleveland: Substitute "gnomes" for "blood elves" and you might be on to something.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Jordan Weber-Flink — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:44:50 -0000

Jack: what are the stats on the silly hat? Is it better than the silly hats that other players^wemployees are wearing? Also will this quest affect my blogosphere rep? 'Cause I've been grinding that forever in hopes of unlocking the memeorandum and technorati achievements.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Barbara — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:10:59 -0000

I wonder if this is something the online show "The Guild" will cover? Sounds like an amusing side plot.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Doctor Cleveland — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:52:26 -0000

Really, this whole "no WoW players" thing is just an excuse to discriminate against blood elves.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Jack — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:44:44 -0000

I'd hire a WoW player for anything, you guys are desensitized to repetition and tiny rewards. Wait till your boss starts coming to you with assignments in quest form: "TNC, I need 5 posts on old school rap, 3 youtube videos, 10 commentaries on race in america and a print piece. Reward: I'll raise your salary by $10/year and give you a silly looking hat"

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Joel — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:18:06 -0000

I do spend far too much time discussing sports and politics, although I forced myself on hiatus from my favorite sporting sites.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Evan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:16:37 -0000

TNC,

I've got a friend in Chicago who, at times, refuses to go out or hang with any of his buddies for days or weeks on end so that he can WoW it up. Sometimes he lies to us and says he's busy with stuff to do for work, but then my brother once caught him at his apartment playing the game instead. I've got no problem if he's a Class 50 Knight Warlord, but it does have an effect on his ability to socialize with us properly.

Of course, I think the bigger issue for employees who lack focus or have strange sleep patterns because of WoW isn't that they are irresponsible. It's that they hate their jobs and would much, much, MUCH rather be questing instead of sitting at a desk looking over company reports.

Looks like it's back to work for me......sigh.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Joel — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:15:36 -0000

Well, for the record, my productivity and efficiency increased appreciably when I stopped playing computer games. That's correlative, not causative.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Paul Wartenberg — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:15:00 -0000

Any difference between the MMO gamers and the ones playing Minesweeper or Solitare?

Companies should only worry about MMOers if they find a lot of Runescape installed everywhere.

Maybe we should all be like Jennie Breeden and just stick to LARPing.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Matt Stevens — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:11:37 -0000

This is the kind of voodoo that employers use when they have too many applicants chasing after too few jobs. Plays Warcraft? Unreliable. Overweight? Shows poor self-control. Fidgets? Can't focus. Eager to get the job? Shows desperation. etc., etc., etc.

One sad side-effect of high unemployment is that all of us will be placed under this kind of scrutiny, allowing employers to force all their life-style standards on the rest of us.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

James F. Elliott — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:48:44 -0000

I have it on good authority -- well, okay, I just live in Silicon Valley and know far too many people working in the computer and software fields -- that the Internets would grind to a halt if employers we no longer hiring players of World of Warcraft.

Is there some sort of rampant real-life guild-on-guild PvP going on? Sort of like the Nortenos and Serrenos only with those fake swords you buy at cutlery stores? Because I'd pay good money to see my friends working at Apple hitting each other with warhammers while screaming "For the Horde!"

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

freaktown — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:25:47 -0000

haha. i dont even play WOW but if i had to get a job based on my "sleeping patterns" i'd be unemployed.

Re: The Atlantic should never have put me on

Swervus — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:23:03 -0000

I think if you wander into a job interview with the carpal tunnel brace on, start saying things like "screen shot or it didn't happen", and type all interoffice email in 1337-speak your employer might get the idea that your mind is indeed elsewhere.