Are Employers Discriminating Against MMO Players?

Recently, a forum thread has emerged where one gamer shares a story of a recruiter telling him employers instruct him not to send them WoW players. Is this a disturbing new form of discrimination against MMO gamers? GameCyte investigates, calling up three recruiting personnel (one HR rep; one student-driven sales agency; and one of the nation's biggest staffing companies) to find out if this practice is more widespread than gamers know.

The answer may surprise you.

[GameCyteSean]

a recruiter for the Gold Farming industry.

[ahnonamis]

They probably don't want WoW players, either, since they'll be distracted by the game and lose focus on gold farming.

[LeJerque]

Felony conviction, eh? You were arrested for stealing $25,000 in office supplies, a company car, and an entire printing press? Ah, well, everyone makes mistakes -- that's why they call it rehabilitation!

I just don't want to hear that you're dropping productivity because you're thinking about farming Zul'Gurub for epic loots, you hear?

[iheartdestr0y]

I've known WoW players to call out of work for raids more than non-WoW players. Non-WoW players hardly ever raid.

[italianbreadman]

Whew, I knew swearing to never get deeply involved in WoW would serve me one day.

[LokMessier]

First of all, who has the money for a set-up like the one presented in the picture o_O?

Second I just don't tell my employer that I play Final Fantasy XI or any other MMO at the time. I mean unless they specifically ask me what type of games that are online and require monthly fees do I play, I won't say it.

[Prototype]

Its almost been a year since I quit Final Fantasy 11, and soon I'll be back in the MMO game when The Agency comes out.

At my job I was actually hired because (at the time) I played FF11 so they knew I had good people skills and could type 60+ words a minute (and knew about BIOS/driver updates).

[Megatron08]

To a point I can see why they dont hire mmo players. Like one person pointed out they call in sick to do raids and whatever in the game. I know many mmo players that got computer jobs and played non stop at work. They quick switch to their work if someone walk in on them. Another thing is some will stay up all night playing mmo and be really out of it wwhen they go to work and barely able to do their jobs.

Other side is that these games are an addiction and should probably be treated the same as any other addiction.

[LokMessier]

@Megatron:

Yes I saw it the same way as well. I think we have at least one co-worker who tries to call in sick every other week or so, every time I end up taking over her hours usually until I got tired of it. Although I would say some people who play MMOs are bad, it still feels kind of cheap to lump all MMO players in with the die-hard fan ones. Though I can definitely see their concern in not wanting to hire those who play MMOs.

@Prototype:

Tried quitting FFXI and the result is I joined back again :/, though nice to know that some offices/job places will hire based on that. If only a few more did that...

[ahnonamis]

That's nothing. Where's a picture of that guy who had like 32 simultaneous accounts going?

As for the reasoning for not hiring MMO players, it COULD make sense if everyone who played an MMO called in sick to work in order to raid. Like Lok said, it's kind of cheap lumping everyone who plays an MMO in with the very small percentage of hardcore fanatics/addicts.

[LokMessier]

Oh I remember that set up - a guy who played WoW and raided by himself or something like that? Yeah I was wondering how much THAT cost just as well :p

I don't know though now that I'm thinking about this even further it seems that some people are trying to find a bit of an excuse as to why people call off. I mean aren't their some people who call off sick to watch games as well as stand in line for first day game releases? Granted may not be as bad as someone who will call off for a Raid, but still feel that it is somewhat of a scapegoat.

[ahnonamis]

It's like the article says: why single out MMO players when there are plenty others who conduct their hobby on company time? Like fantasy football players. I know WAY more guys these last few years who spent time at work looking at stats and planning their lineup than guys who sneak in quick WoW sessions while the boss is gone.

[Prototype]

The way I see it, as long as their job was getting done who the f-ck cares what their hobbies are; I was hooked on FF11 to the point of not leaving my house 2 weeks in a row - yet I still went to work without calling in and I knew when it was bed time.

@ LokMessier

The way I quit 11 was getting the job I have now and moving away from where I used to live; or reading www.killingifrit.com when I wasn't in an exp group. I had 6 jobs at 75 and had about 90% of the entire game done, it was time for me to retire

[LokMessier]

@ahnonamis:

Exactly, I suppose games (Video games in general) will always be that sort of scapegoat that can be used.

@Prototype:

That's what I plan to do this time around, try and get several jobs to 75 and get at least 80% of the game completed so I can quit, but jeez that must have taken you quite a bit of time to get at least 6 jobs to 75.

[edit - ack thought I had hit reply, guess this shows that I should be heading to bed soon...]

[N4Flamers]

the way I quit ffXI was getting my ass kicked from over a mile away by a gian tree i pissed of by trying to take a picture of it. Who knew it was awake. btw I outran the friggin tree.

yeah I played for like two months straight when I got it, but went to work and sleep at the same intervals i do now that there are no pissed off trees around me.

[59]

face it people, wow is the fäggiest addiction out there. And 90% of all wow players have it, imo. Whether its a small and almost undetectable to full blown, wow is for nerds and it effects their work in one way or another.

Seriously, how many times have you been late to work because you kept playing wow till 2 am? I've heard admitting that you have an addiction is the hardest part...