I’m not sure how many of you know the whole R&D at this point, but I have the distinct honor of being “the new guy”.  That said, I’m fairly sure that my blog will receive more hits than any blog in the history of WoW R&D simply because I’m the most recent hire for the team.  Don’t worry, I promise not to start my story saying “I used to play cards back in college/high school”.

My story starts back when I was about 6 years old on a wonderful Christmas Day that will forever be remembered by parents as the day their children became zombies.  My brother and I were lucky enough to receive a shiny new Nintendo Entertainment System with a Power Pad.  Needless to say our house quickly became THE house to spend time at as our Duck Hunt and World Class Track Meet marathons drove my parents crazy.  My brother and I found ourselves at the mercy of this 8-bit god, and we were hooked.  The 20 years following that first foray into the land of Mario has seen countless systems sit on the floor of my various rooms and piles upon piles of games have had their credits scroll across my television.

Now you may be wondering what any of that little back story has to do with my current position with the TCG.  Suffice it to say that my early Goomba stomping action eventually lead me to the world of MMORPGs during my freshman year of college.  EverQuest started as just a time-filler while I was injured during football season, but it quickly turned into the fuel for my competitive side.  After four years of EQing, World of Warcraft was finally coming out and it was time for me to move from EQ into the land of Azeroth. 

In elementary school I had begun to develop a craving for fantasy, specifically of the swords and sorcery style, and MMORPGs helped to satiate the thirst.  I continued my competitive streak into WoW where I was lucky enough to have Jeff Donais as a member of my guild.  Once I graduated college with my ultra-awesome degree in Psychology, I took some time off to live in Costa Rica and learn Spanish while I was there.  Jeff Donais looked after the guild while I was off eating sweet-tasting ketchup and having my laptop stolen, and upon my return he mentioned a job opening that Upper Deck had as a Game Support Representative.  I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life yet, but this was an opportunity to not only get a job in the Entertainment business, and also a chance to live in the San Diego area.  At the time I didn’t know much about TCGs, but my wealth of knowledge about WoW and my gamer background gave me enough to work with.  Thankfully I had no responsibilities outside of myself, so I hastily accepted the position and packed up my car to drive cross country.

The first couple of days at Upper Deck were very interesting for me.  My most notable interaction with R&D at the time was a talk I had with Danny Mandel as he attempted to explain “The Chain” to me.  I was deadset in making him understand that if I play the card Execute, something should be destroyed; none of this responding nonsense.  My video gamer mentality stuck its nose where it doesn’t belong and I’m pretty sure Danny thought I was just the most ridiculous person that could ever be employed to work with TCGs.  Over the next two years I found myself enjoying TCGs more and more, and as each set of the WoW TCG was released, I couldn’t get enough of it and I tried to play as much as I could.  I was tutored (i.e. he beat the snot out of me repeatedly) by Russell Pippin early on in my career and I tried to play as many games as I could against Ken Ho.  Once the position for R&D opened up, I didn’t know if I was ready to apply for it or if I was what they were looking for, but I figured I had nothing to lose and that I would go for it.

Now here I sit, in the same room as the great minds that have created and maintained the WoW TCG.  All of them are probably better TCGers than I will ever be, but my skillset as a video gamer and a lore junky, I believe, is much different than a majority of the other R&D members.

Long story short, all three categories that Mike Hummel first mentioned were a part of my hiring experience.  Who you know, what you know, and what you’ve done are all extremely important and I would not be in the position that I am in today without any of those categories.  However, when all is said and done, you have to be willing to take a chance and sometimes make a sacrifice to do what you love to do.  The people you know and the things you know could open up all of the doors in the world for you, but until you have the courage to push yourself through those doors, everything remains a pipe dream.

Stay Frosty.