On the importance of being social….
Having just had this tweet directed at me by @surfyournut :
@joecavers @Audiodaan @Stomp224 Haha, you busy socialite you Joe.
I thought I’d do a cheeky little blog post on what I like about the social aspect of the games industry.
I’ve been asked a few times since getting a job “How do you get into game audio?” and there’s a bunch of stuff I list, which I’m sure most of you have heard a bunch of times so I won’t repeat it here. However, one of the things I consider not only important but actively enjoyable, is networking!
First off, the sell. Why should you want to network? For me, it’s resulted in making some incredible new friends, getting invaluable advice (which is still coming from a number of people to this day) AND even ended up with me snagging a few freelance contracts before I got the job at TT. I hope the people I’m networking with get as much out of my company as I do out of theirs, because I consider many of them my closest friends :P
So how can a game developer network? Here are my favourite ways:
THE INTERNET!
Those who know me know I’m something of a “Twitter whore” (the words of @Tenebrious , not me). That’s because it’s awesome and there are loads of amazing people on there. Networking on Twitter is comprised of the following sequential steps:
- Make an account!
- Find interesting people to follow. This can be done either by recommendation (there’s a HUGE list of audio people a few pages back on this very blog), or by searching key words, referred to as hashtags on Twitter. I know the Game Audio community use (unsurprisingly) #gameaudio and #sounddesign , as well as #gamemusic on occasion. Searching for these tags, and seeing who’s using them can be a great way to find out who’s posting interesting content and talking about the topics you want to talk about!
- Engage these people! Get involved in the conversation. Chip in to the chat when you can, and eventually people will get to know you, and see that you’re interested and doing whatever you can to learn and network :) I find this to be a more effective method than cold-emailing people for advice, and you end up being in more regular contact with these people because Twitter is just little snippets of conversation, instead of huge time-consuming emails with formalities. It’s win-win!
CONFERENCES!
There are countless video game conferences up and down the country, and although the barrier to entry is high in the form of cost, these can be great ways to meet people, and often specifically people with much industry experience. Also, because you’re all at the conference for the same reason (presumably), social etiquette is somewhat relaxed and it’s totally OK to approach people and ask what they thought of the presentation that was just given, or to strike up some small talk based on their conference badge. This can then of course, lead to more of what’s listed above, and can also lead to more great friendships!
I attended Edinburgh Interactive in 2010 and made some great friends I still have to this day (including @BookOfTheDev, an indie game developer whom you should all check out). I also attended the AES Audio for Games conference, which was awesome for multiple reasons, 2 of which were firstly that I met lots of great people including one of my game audio heroes, and secondly that I qualified for a scholarship through Edinburgh University and the journey cost me far less than I expected!
And finally, my favourite…..
THE PUB!
Well, I don’t mean just going to the pub randomly, but looking for local networking events in your area. I found the following events using the first networking method here, but other groups might have sites on the web you can google. These are the best of all of the above because it’s a relaxed environment where you can talk shop without it being too serious (beer helps with this). If these are regular, it’s another great way to make new, like-minded friends. Just bear in mind if you want to try and set one up, that if you fill it with students keen to get into the industry, employed developers will be less likely to come along to what may seem to them to be a job fair!
Scotland has @GameDevEd and @BertWednesdays, both incredibly awesome meetups, and there are a bunch in London in the form of the London Unity Users Group and Silicon Drinkabout among others. Get on Twitter and find some in your area.
And on that note, if you’re in the NorthWest and in the games industry, get yourself along to this, on March 17th. I’ll be there, come say hey! North West Games Industry Meetup 2
Oh and side note, every single person linked to in this blog post? Met them through online networking :)
EDIT: At the suggestions of @geekchicalex , here is a list of some Games Industry Conferences:
- Games Developer Conf
- Develop Brighton
- Edinburgh Interactive
- Gamescom
- PAX East
The first two are the biggies in the US and UK respectively (both with dedicated audio tracks, yahoo!). Edinburgh Interactive is a bit more open and cross media, with lots of TV types mixing in. Gamescom is adjacent to GDC Europe and is a bit more consumer-y but combined with GDC Europe can make for an impressive week (so I’m I’m told) and PAX East is Penny Arcade’s games show!
DOUBLE EDIT: Can’t believe I forgot to mention this, the guide to end all guides to networking: Darius Kazemi’s Effective Networking. Some absolutely stellar advice in here and a great guide to keep coming back to.
