10 Misconceptions You Have About Working In The Games Industry
7. The Tech Support Misconception
Channel 4If someone breaks into a wide smile when you reveal your career of choice you need to move quickly; youve got a very short time in which to invent and construct a personal teleporter before the inevitable follow-up question. That persons grinning like a shark because theyve identified you as that most precious of resources free technical support. Some people genuinely assume that anyone who works with video games in any capacity must be a modern-day Charles Babbage, intimately familiar with the operation of computers in general and their PC (its always a PC) in particular. Others may just be looking for any excuse to avoid a premium-rate phone call. Taxi drivers in particular are extremely fond of grilling you for impromptu tech support; they know that youre relying on their good will to ferry you safely to your destination, and that if you dont keep them happy they can just drive you into a lake out of spite. Even if you know your way around a computer, these conversations are a painful prospect. Its hard enough talking someone through diagnosis and problem-solving even when theyre actually at the PC, let alone when theyre half-sozzled at a party and insisting you set their homepage back to the funny cat website. Protestations that you mostly use Macs, or that you dare never venture beyond Photoshop without at least two IT staff in the room, will fall on deaf ears. Your only hope of escape is to keep giving your captor alcohol until they doze off and you can sneak away unless theyre a taxi driver, of course. Thats when its best to use chloroform.
Channel 4If someone breaks into a wide smile when you reveal your career of choice you need to move quickly; youve got a very short time in which to invent and construct a personal teleporter before the inevitable follow-up question. That persons grinning like a shark because theyve identified you as that most precious of resources free technical support. Some people genuinely assume that anyone who works with video games in any capacity must be a modern-day Charles Babbage, intimately familiar with the operation of computers in general and their PC (its always a PC) in particular. Others may just be looking for any excuse to avoid a premium-rate phone call. Taxi drivers in particular are extremely fond of grilling you for impromptu tech support; they know that youre relying on their good will to ferry you safely to your destination, and that if you dont keep them happy they can just drive you into a lake out of spite. Even if you know your way around a computer, these conversations are a painful prospect. Its hard enough talking someone through diagnosis and problem-solving even when theyre actually at the PC, let alone when theyre half-sozzled at a party and insisting you set their homepage back to the funny cat website. Protestations that you mostly use Macs, or that you dare never venture beyond Photoshop without at least two IT staff in the room, will fall on deaf ears. Your only hope of escape is to keep giving your captor alcohol until they doze off and you can sneak away unless theyre a taxi driver, of course. Thats when its best to use chloroform.