I knew I wasn't the only one.

I studied film and television. It's totally applicable, I swear.

Before I worked at Riot, I think my business cards said something like "freelance problem solver" as the title. I got a new title but kept the job description more or less.

Like davin, I float around, but I work with the player behavior team a lot. The best part is getting to hang around smart people coming up with incredibly clever solutions to problems. I described it to someone else once as essentially being a "psychology groupie." But in order to justify my presence, I try to ask the right questions to make sure we're always thinking about things from the player's perspective and crafting an exceptional player experience with every ioata of every feature we release.

Before Riot, I worked in television post-production. It's not directly related to psychology or player behavior, but you'd be surprised how much overlaps exists between creating meaning through film and crafting meaningful experiences in and around a game. (Bear with me while I get philosophical for a second. There's a point coming.) Like any good film, the meaning of any particular moment in a game is created through context: you're hopping on goombas and grabbing coins to save the princess, you're walking back and forth in the grass to train your pokemon. In a vacuum, the action is meaningless, but it gains meaning because of the way you perceives it interacting with your goal.

Weirdly enough, film helps you understand this a lot, because subtle differences in the order of shots or the angle of the camera can dramatically alter someone's perception of an event, even if the action is the same in all cases. Think Star Wars. Han Solo is being held up in a bar by Greedo, a bounty hunter. If we see Han shoot Greedo without any provocation, what does that say about Han? If we see Greedo shoot, then Han shoot immediately after, how does that change your perception of Han? Virtually the same shots in all cases, just re-ordered, can be the difference between spawning a huge internet meme and nothing at all.

What the heck does this have to do with player behavior? Changing someone's behavior for the better is all about changing the context for their in-game actions. I'm not as well-versed in the science of it as either Lyte or davin, but I use what I know about context and meaning to poke and prod at the science where I can. I like to think I'm asking the right questions and helping us create a better player experience at the other end. We'll see. =c)

I'll reiterate Lyte's comment: do stuff. The hardest thing in the world is actually taking a good idea and making it real. There are countless obstacles there, and if you have something to show for yourself, it means you overcame them.

Also, never stop learning about as much stuff as possible. Read voraciously. Ask experts you meet tons of questions. There is virtually no knowledge that is useless when it comes to games, especially with something as broad and undefined as player behavior. The more knowledge you have to draw from, the more you can think critically and come up with clever solutions to problems, which is really the heart of "doing stuff" right.

I'm tempted to thumbs down you purely for "Guido".

We're traveling all around alaska. I would tell you exact locations but my grandparents are taking me. It only took them 7 years since when I first asked.

Lulz. Ninjaedited. ;-)

Inform it that such toxic behaviour can not be tolerated and might lead to a ban from the Riot offices. I'm sure it will reform its ways. Nobody/nothing wants to be banned from the Riot offices...

Legend of bot lane!

That makes a lot of sense. I took a film class in the spring and there's a lot of overlap in cinematography and editing. I've always paid special attention to this aspect of films/shows/cinematic games but it still managed to surprise me just how much thought goes into a single shot. Angle, lighting, focus, and set design all have this major impact on the psyche even before we consider the actor's input.

On the downside, I will never be able to watch anything by J.J. Abrams again without being tempted to turn his love of fake blue lens flares into a drinking game. :P

Thanks for the input!

Hey, at least you get to go at all. I've known some people who've never even traveled outside the state they were born in, and probably never will.

Lyte - feeling a little better, so here's Baron in a santa hat. Couldn't draw it freehand, though. After numerous attempts I ended up mostly tracing it. :/

<3 Printing this out and putting it on my desk.

Why don't you just give him a santa hat?

Hey there! ^^

I'm aspiring to enter the gaming industry, I'm currently in my second year of studies (Game programming)
Next year or (more likely) the year after i'm going to do a "NEIS" course (Australian thing, 8 weeks of getting a cert IV in business, rest of the year to start my own studio while still recieving student moneyz from government). After which I'll either have released a game or 2 that were successful enough to support myself while i develop another, or I'll have to try and get a job x]