Originally posted by Cryotech

Originally posted by Novaseeker

I wouldn't ask my own recruiter to do a lot of digging about it, but if someone wolunteered to me that they had MMORPG's as a hobby, I would think twice about hiring them as well.  While many people just play an hour or two here or there, you never know if you're hiring one of the obsessed ones who will skip work to play, stay up until 2am leading raids and turn up at work tired and the like.  It's certainly a risk.

 

I liked this answer on the f13 forums:

Shrug. Everybody does something when they're not working. Just as an example, (and to be clear I do not do this, it's very illegal) I would love to avoid hiring married people with young children. Nothing sucks more time than kids, and children are always prioritized over work. I've had major problems with parents in the past. Major, major problems. If it weren't illegal, I'd hire the unkempt surly gamer with a neckbeard over the married professional guy with a lovely wife and infant at home any day of the week. Any day, any way. If only it were possible.

I also wouldn't hire anyone over 50, women, or cripples. Old people leave at 4:59:59.999, women get married and quit working or take long maternity leaves or sue your ass for harassment, and no matter what they may think, being unable to hobble with that crutch faster than 0.4MPH does impair your ability to do a white collar job, Quasimodo. But hey, all illegal.

Have to agree with the orange post... Id take a gamer over a mother, pregnant woman, old person, or cripple any day of the week.

sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen

also its just plain stupid to deny someone just because they play games and a few gamers become obsessive (funny how the media focusses on them) and screw up their lives.

also as if any of those obessive gamers would ever get a job anywhere outside of the fast food industry.

 I've worked in HR in the past and seriously any employ with an addictive issue whether it be gaming, partying, drugs, text messaging, extended online dating/surfing/youtube/facebook, etc., will have a reduced job performance.  Weeding them out on the other hand . . .  As I do game, I wouldn't have an issue with a person taking allowable vacation/personal time for gaming - if notified in advance - anymore than someone that is going to be gone for a child's school event, vacation, fishing trip, etc.  IF they are entitled to paid or unpaid personal time/leave then how they choose to spend isn't up to me.

People with young children/older parents (care giver role) do seem to need the most flexibility with their work schedule.  Generally women that hold this role, would I not hire them for this reason, no if they are qualified, but you do need to be prepared to be flexible.

As for a potential employee that games - if they're a 'got to be on 10 hours a day and the raid won't go off without me' type - I'd pass on them.  As you know where their priorities lay.  You tend to see that type though in lower paying jobs/shift work as high end corporate jobs that require extended overtime - well the two won't mesh!  Not to pin point a group but it tends to be the 18-24 year olds anyway.  Not generally high end earns.

I know plenty of 30 to 40+ gamers, but most have their priorities established regarding gaming and fall into the casual/hardcore gamer.  I mean casual/hardcore that plays randomly or daily - but has enough sense to know its a game and entertainment not their whole life in general makes an ideal candidate.  Having a hobby is generally viewed as a good thing.   

As I do game, I wouldn't have an issue with a person taking allowable vacation/personal time for gaming - if notified in advance - anymore than someone that is going to be gone for a child's school event, vacation, fishing trip, etc.

Who says that only the ideal, most productive possible candidates can be hired?  Very few job openings would ever be filled if that were the standard.  There's plenty of money to be made hiring people who will be only 90% as productive as the ideal candidate, and then paying them 90% as much as the ideal job candidate. 

Originally posted by Death1942

sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen

Lawsuit for what, not hiring someone because they play video games.  It's pefectly legal !

The only time people can get in trouble over hiring practices is when they do not hire based on some inappropriate class.  Federally guaranteed classes are age, disability, gender (sex), national origion, pregnancy, and one or two other ones.  If you do not fall wihtin protected classes the the employer can discriminate against you for any reason.

So like somkers, gammers need NOT mention that they play games during job interviews or list a game as a hobby on a resume (really do you think that makes you look professional?!?), or come in with bloodshot eyes after being up all night on a raid.

I forget, but I'm sure I read somewhere that drug addiction was now considered "a disability" these days and hence, falls under discrimination law.

I'm sure an enterprising lawyer would be able to argue that video game addiction was enough like drug addiction to warrant the same consideration in law.

Though latest studies might put a crimp in that argument;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7746471.stm

Everything is a lawsuit waiting to happen if the right lawyer finds out about it. 

Having read most of this thread, quite a bit of it is really clever trolling, I'm going to say that what I do on my time off is none of my employer's business. If a prospective employer asked me point blank, I'd remind them it was none of their business before getting up to leave and thanking them for wasting my time. Likewise I don't think an employer should be combing the web for social network pages or checking my credit history. Actually, I guess the credit history makes sense if I'm working in accounting or a bank or something, but outside of that they need to chill the fuck out. The best policy is silence and remaining as anonymous online as completely possible, using aliases for your private social networking, youtube Vblogs and forum posts. Make absolutely sure that potential employers know nothing about you that doesn't directly affect the job that you're applying for. And be on constant alert for interviewers trying to trick you into volenteering any more information than what you've already placed in your resume.

As for who makes the best emplyee.... That's all really a roll of the dice. Unmarried, twenty something males aren't really a good bet since most of them still aren't over the high school / college mentality and don't give a shit since they still assume that mom and dad will take care of them no matter what. The under 30 crowd will have no problems with showing up late, showing up stoned, not showing up or calling in, and only working for two weeks and then never showing up again without so much as an "I quit." Only 28% of Americans even have a four year Bachelor's degree and out of those that do, only a small number of them will be able to wrap their brains around what it means to wok for a living within the space of about five to ten years.

A guy with family and a mortgage on the other hand.... He's already over a barrel and if he doesn't jump when you say froggy then his whole family will be out on their ass and starving. A few years back I worked in a factory where they had us doing 70 hour work weeks. Two years in a row, we would only get the actual holiday off and that was it (labor day rather than labor day weekend, christmas day but not christmas eve, etc.). Almost everyone that worked there, except me, had families and houses. Everyone that worked there, complained but put up with it because they had a family to support and couldn't afford to lose their job even though their job was killing them. I left. I was about the only person in that plant that could go somewhere else specifically because I didn't have have a wife and kids.

But if you want to insist that drunken, lazy, frat boys are better workers then more power to you.

I guess to each their own. Some work cultures are very traditional and would much rather value the guy whose only hobbies are golf and getting 4 hours/sleep a day so he can spend the rest of the time in the office. And of course "golfing" being seen as more of a way to network rather than a real hobby. Personally, I imagine most people wouldn't be that happy in that environment.

By contrast, working in high tech, I've met plenty of hardcore WOW players who are also high-ranking program managers or ace developers making crazy money, At places like Microsoft, being a WOW addict isn't a bad thing, as long as you get your work done.

When it comes down to it, no company is allowed to ask you about your hobbies  in an interview - it's against labor laws. And if you're worried about a potential employer seeing your facebook, make it private already and say you don't have one. Better yet, make a professional website and direct the HR guy there (that's what I've done and it works like a charm).

BTW, wasn't PC Gamer running a series recently profiling pro athletes, big name rock stars, and comedians who play WOW at a high level? I remember reading Dave Chapelle is a pretty big player, and so is one of the Red Sox (forgot his name).

I got a job in the past...and most of the interview they where asking me questions about the MMOs I was playing.

What can be viewed as a flaw can also be viewed as a strong point.  Depending on the job.

And habbits-wise, I wouldn't be concerned myself, someone who play MMOs a lot is likely to have few other habbits which may conflict with the job and he will lose interest in his MMOs soon enought, assuming it is ever a problem, which I don't think it is.

So I would say this is mostly a myth.  Of course, there can always be some weird folks out there, but who care for them?  I am sure someone may refuse to hire someone because he is good looking.

Originally posted by TeflonEddie

I forget, but I'm sure I read somewhere that drug addiction was now considered "a disability" these days and hence, falls under discrimination law.

I'm sure an enterprising lawyer would be able to argue that video game addiction was enough like drug addiction to warrant the same consideration in law.

Though latest studies might put a crimp in that argument;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7746471.stm

An employer has a right to not hire based on performance issues. Someone who takes illicit drugs, could take them at work, and be a liability to the company -- especially with work time accidents. Drug testing usually weeds them out at the gate, videogaming an employer will have to ask (and can when they ask about about hobbies and past times).

The point is employers really wouldn't care if someone games on their own time, only that when they're on the company's clock they're doing what they were hired to do, and at peak performance. Someone raiding until 3am every Thursday night, and has to be at work at 8am, isn't going to be quite alert and functional. That's unfair to both the employer who hired the guy, and to the employees who have to make up for someone who feels gaming is more important than his job.

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Originally posted by BattleFelon

When it comes down to it, no company is allowed to ask you about your hobbies  in an interview - it's against labor laws.

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No it is not. They can't ask about your sexual orientation, religion and such things like that, but hobbies can be asked. Such a rule would be silly, considering doctors upon getting an annual physical will ask the same thing, and even more probing questions -- which can be shared to the employer as they are the ones paying for the physical (just like the results from a drug and/or mental exams).

Ok, let me rephrase that - I don't think employers will come out and say "Do you play WOW? Because we won't hire you if you do." I think I've only been asked about what I do in my free time in maybe 1 or 2 interviews in my entire life.  Most employers don't really care - nor do they go out of their way to find out.

If asked, you can always make something up, like "I like travel and hiking."

The problem that comes up is if someone tells their employer about their hardcore raiding blog or who list their experience as a guild leader on their resume.

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Originally posted by BattleFelon

The problem that comes up is if someone tells their employer about their hardcore raiding blog or who list their experience as a guild leader on their resume.

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Whoever does that has more problems than just playing a game, and chances are -- on sight -- not much of a candidate for a job outside McDonald's.

An employer will ask about about hobbies, to also weed out wackos, as some past times really have a mental illness component to them (like collecting roadkill).