testy test test of floating pictures and whether this stupid jce insists on using float.

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hello, this is a test article with pictures in it. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

another test article with test pictures and text. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

Nowadays it seems that everyone loves zombies. They’ve always been popular, of course, but suddenly zombies are an Internet subculture. They’re the reason “ZOMG” is back in fashion. So what’s with the sudden love for the undead?

For starters, they make good pop culture symbols. Just gross enough to be awesome, and just iconic enough to be easily recognizable. Not everyone knows what a furry’s supposed to look like (despite the self-explanatory name). Zombies are a little harder to miss.

The Disappearing Art of Listening

Has someone ever said to you, “Did you hear what I said?”  What they really meant was, “Did you hear the words and listen to their meaning?” Listening skills allow one to make sense of and understand what another person is saying. In other words, listening skills allow you to understand what someone is "talking about." Hearing is a physical ability, listening is a skill.

My children always kid me that I talk to myself. I tell them it’s from having children. How many times do you say something and then mumble, “I might as well be talking to a wall!” Believe me when I tell you they HEAR you, they just aren’t listening.

We at Mary-Margaret Network are big fans of Ben Sawyer and Games for Health, a conference we partner with annually. Recently, Lisa Gualtieri, Editor-in-Chief of eLearnMag.org, sat down with Ben and asked him Five Questions. We thought we would share it with you.

Five Questions for Ben Sawyer

Ben Sawyer, co-founder of Digitalmill, organizes the annual Games for Health Conference, which took place in Boston last month. The conference is produced by the Games for Health Project, which is sponsored by the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Leading the project, Ben has single-handedly pulled together a diverse community of people working on video games used in therapeutic practices, to teach health professionals, and for increasing education and adherence in patients with the goal of improving health through games and their associated technologies.

Lisa Gualtieri: What was your motivation for starting Games for Health?

Ben Sawyer: I started the project as an outgrowth of the Serious Games Initiative, which we had put together with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.

The 3rd annual NY Games conference will, as always, be a great place for executives to connect with each other and network.  However, this year it will also be an opportunity for critical discussions on the direction of the industry, how to get ahead of the economy and implement strategies for the coming changes.

I have watched the industry closely for almost twenty years.  However, I’m a perpetual optimist so I asked for input from a few individuals that are also watching the trends and have different opinions and perspectives.  I asked about their current thoughts on the industry and what they hope and expect to achieve at the upcoming event.

Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer, Turbine: "The games industry is on the cusp of a huge paradigm shift in how users expect to try, buy, play and pay for games. Everything is going digital and players have more options than ever before. As developers we need to evolve our designs, find new ways to monetize the players and relentlessly push for quality or we risk being left behind."

The MMN team will be out in full force at Austin GDC this September 14-18th.

Robin McShaffry, MMN VP Operations, favors Austin GDC because she lives about a mile from the Austin Convention Center. McShaffry says "I will be down there for the whole event; setting appointments, taking a lot of meetings, and attending parties, especially the IGDA giant Rock Band crazy party. I love having the industry come to my town for this fun conference."

Friday 14th August 2009

Conference

The conference itself was held in the Baron Hall within the Corn Exchange complex (SW of Edinburgh town centre).

To begin Chris Deering, Chairman of Edinburgh Interactive (Chairman of Codemasters and former Chairman and President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe), gave an introduction and welcomed back delegates from the first day's event. He talked about how today's event is a less-formal day with some interesting sessions.

J-Squared Media, a fast-growing start-up company focused on social communication platforms and emerging technologies, is currently seeking a Senior Flash Graphic Artist/UI Designer with strong traditional art skills to create high-quality compelling user interfaces and graphics for their latest flash-based Virtual World game.

J-Squared Media hit the Facebook market when it was new and HOT.  In 2007 they successfully launched their first product, Sticky Notes, which grew to over 10 million users in a matter of months and quickly became one of the top 25 apps.  They are located in historic Philadelphia and brainstorm regularly in their open floor loft with lots of streetlight.

Social games are an exciting medium and J-Squared Media is passionate about their product.  They are focused on having fun, keeping the consumer excited, and using creativity to drive innovation.

The perfect addition would be local to the team and ready to start immediately but off-site work will also be considered.  Positions may be contract part-time or full-time.

THE ABLEGAMERS FOUNDATION IS NOW A NONPROFIT ORGANZATION

The AbleGamers Foundation, Inc., an organization devoted to improving accessibility options for the disabled is now a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.  Individuals and associations who donate to the AbleGamers Foundation, Inc. and AbleGamers.com website and projects may now be eligible to deduct their contributions on their federal taxes.

PERPETUAL JOB SEARCH & TRAINING

As a teenager, I learned some useful basics about finding work. My mom told me, "Treat looking for a job as if it were your job." She also said, "Knock on every door and introduce yourself, even if there's no Help Wanted sign." And I actually found my first job by filling in for a vacationing friend, which was a successful case of "who you know."

Flash forward to 1996 and to me seeking a career as a writer for new media, specifically in the gaming industry. "Career" still meant "job" at the time. I expected to build experience and a track record by taking whatever came along until finding the sweet spot and staying there. That was the old model. But at some point, I came to accept a professional life of availability for "paying gigs." And I came to see freelancing as perpetual job training. Here's how.

Hello gamers, and thanks for checking out my new game.  I am looking for feedback in a number of areas including performance, fun factor and difficulty.

For many of us, playing on Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. is a game all by itself.  Finding old friends, creating groups with professional peers and family albums is just the beginning.  Minutes after entering the social media world, the games begin to create their own attraction.

While attending a conference recently, I made sure that I had my broadband internet connection up and was running my restaurant in Restaurant City.  I didn’t want to lose eight hours of gourmet points and dollars earned for meals served.  I was not sure if I was more interested in surpassing Chris Early or my 15 year old niece on the rankings.  It gave me great pleasure as I blew past person after person in my friends group, friends from high school alongside industry luminaries.  I haven’t actually started playing Mafia Wars but I currently receive more requests related to that game over any other social game.

No, this article is not about how videogames cause violence – a ridiculous idea anyway – but how games can be and are used to teach soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines how to do their jobs. The military has always been interested in ways to simulate combat effectively to provide a realistic training experience. At the top of the scale, joint exercise simulations like Unified Quest help keep the Chief of Staff thinking analytically. The Air Force has been using various flight simulators since World War II – the latest versions differ from reality only in safety, cost, and g-forces! The Navy has also been at the forefront of simulation development, particularly since, as with the Air Force, using actual vehicles and weapons can be both dangerous and prohibitively expensive. Ground forces are just starting to catch up.

As ground-based combat systems have become more computerized, the ability to provide simulation-based training in that arena has also increased. Computerized fire control systems and GPS-based tracking systems like Blue Force Tracker naturally lend themselves to simulations for training on those devices. Newer systems, such as “DARWARS Ambush”, the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) and the Virtual Convoy Operations Trainer (VCOT), teach combat skills and decision-making to junior soldiers. A simulation called “Tactical Iraqi” teaches them rudimentary language skills. Large-scale exercises are held for commanders at all levels with a game called “UrbanSim” using virtual soldiers and covering issues like dealing with civilians, mission planning, terrorism, and logistics. Video games are even used for recruitment, as exemplified by the ever-popular “America’s Army.”

We here at Mary-Margaret Network are always interested in helping the greater global community. Wired has a great article on how Facebook users can get involved without much effort but a lot of impact here: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/facebookclimate/.

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously. – Hubert H. Humphrey

We worry all the time about identity theft. We are warned to protect ourselves. With the global acceptance of the Internet, protection from identity theft has become a major industry. But what happens when our identity is lost on the Internet?

Last Thursday, about one hour before I reached the top level in Restaurant City, Facebook notified me that my account had been disabled. Earlier that day I shared an article on my blog with four Facebook groups to which I belong. For some reason that tipped a scale somewhere and my account was turned off. But it wasn’t just turned off in order to make sure I wasn’t a spammer. It turns out they lost it. Over the weekend I had to rebuild from scratch, my account, all my connections, all my memberships and my restaurant in Restaurant City. I had to ask my husband to tell everyone on Facebook that he wasn’t married to Mary-Margaret Walker but was instead married to Mary-Margaret Walker, (same name, but to Facebook I was a completely different person). While he was doing this he wavered over the relationship selection “It’s Complicated” just to taunt me.

For the last couple of weeks, Andrew and I have been playing Restaurant City in our spare time, thanks to my nieces.  It’s funny that I sent him an IM message telling him I had milk and to go get it.  He thought I was asking him to go to the store and I was telling him to go trade for the ingredient he wanted for a recipe in the game. 

We all get sucked into virtual worlds from time to time – let’s face it we are big dorks.  However, we also have to pay attention to the game of work…. Those of you that are seriously looking or merely peeking should check the new job postings on our job board.  More postings are coming in the next few days and weeks as the momentum builds for the place to find the opportunities that will have you Playing for a Living.

Palm, Inc. is poised for tremendous growth.  Recently, Jon Rubinstein from Apple joined as chairman and the new CEO and has helped turn Palm back into start-up mode.  “The launch of Palm webOS™ and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm’s transformation; we have now officially reentered the race,” said Rubinstein. “We have more to accomplish, but the groundwork is laid for a very promising future here at Palm. Our senior management team is capable, motivated and focused on execution; there is large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS; and we have a new product pipeline that we think will set a standard for the industry.”

Mary-Margaret Network has partnered exclusively with Palm Inc. to find top-notch graphics engineers to create development tools for the Palm webOS.  Palm has established a new software team to focus on building the best tools and technologies to allow game developers to design and develop innovative gaming applications for Palm's WebOS platform.

Ever wonder about the development of games of chance? We asked Bob Ingold to give us a glimpse into his world of game development and some of the differences between “video games” and “casino gaming.”

Working on real-money casino slot machines isn’t much different than working on  video games  --   except you need a mathematician. Because slots are games of chance, it is up to the math guy to wrangle the exact weighting system of each symbol so that over the life of the machine, the casino is guaranteed a profit. Slots are rated in terms of percentage of return. A 90% slot means that over the life of the machine, the players will get 90% of their money back. That’s the equivalent of about 3 million spins!

Aaron Allston is a popular writer of bestselling Star Wars novels, but he is also a veteran game developer and our long-time friend from way back in the day at Origin. We recently learned he has been having medical issues and needs our help. Mary-Margaret Network always wants to spread the word about people and groups in need, so please forward, link through, re-tweet, and pass the word along to everyone you know.

Back in April, while on a book tour promoting his latest novel, Aaron suffered a major heart attack and required bypass surgery. He has come through the surgery and rehab extremely well.  You can follow his progress on his blogs, http://aaron-allston.livejournal.com/ and http://www.aaronallston.com/. As a freelance novelist, and like many writers and artists in the US, Aaron does not carry any medical insurance. His bills are staggering. In response, his friends, fans and family have set up the Aaron Allston Donation Fund.

Considering I started writing for online sites only close to a year ago, the dramatic increase of this alternative revenue model is staggering. The creation of different revenue streams, in the form of downloadable content, and the addition of the microtransaction model are quickly becoming the smarter and more cost effective way to create revenue. Only the widespread acceptance from the consumer will propel this model past the retail environment.

The mainstream media constantly reports that the video game industry is growing at the speed of a virus. The revenue number that continuously repeats itself is “billions.” Two obvious questions arise: Are these media outlets looking specifically at retail/online sales of products? Are they taking into account the huge used game market that cuts out the publishers and developers? GameStop increasingly reports larger profits with each quarter, but most gamers should realize that the used game market’s profit margin against the new releases is huge.

Larry Goldberg, a renaissance man, left the corporate legal world to join Activision. While there, he and several other key players catapulted Activision into a world-wide leader in interactive entertainment. As President and CEO of Morrison Pearl, Larry has positively impacted numerous companies including E-Line Ventures, Emergent Game Technologies, The Rundown and Waddajuice as senior advisor, investor and hands-on executive manager.

For me, Larry is a great recent addition to my network, a good friend and treasured colleague. In the time I have spent with Larry, I have soaked in his years of knowledge and life experiences that are always shared with enthusiasm and humor. He balances his zen lifestyle with business development in cutting edge technology and will continue to build important and valuable companies and organizations.

MM: If you didn't go into games, what would you be doing?

LARRY: I’d probably be working in some other area of digital entertainment or media. I’m fascinated by how technology coupled with business innovation has affected the ways in which we consume and create content.

MM: Do you consider yourself a geek?

LARRY: No, I’m more of a biz guy. I love coming up with concepts and strategies, and then executing them. Oh, I’m a deal junkie too.

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There has been a lot of churn during the first half of 2009. However, here at Mary-Margaret Network we are seeing increased hiring and signs of new development on the rise and growing on our job board daily.  The game industry and the entertainment industry in general have been touted as recession proof; still many companies felt the pinch and scaled back a bit in recent months.  It seems that a big enough recession touches everyone.  Perhaps new growth is an indication that earlier layoffs were part of the regular cycle in this sector, where shelf lives are short as new and exciting technology is developed and the next big games are promised. It is also true that with the recession, many companies took the opportunity to cut back and rebuild their strategies.

Close on the heels of major announcements at this year’s E3, Microsoft recently posted 24 new openings on our job board. The Austin, TX game community, hit hard by several closings and layoffs earlier this year, is now growing as well. Bioware Austin just posted 10 new jobs in community, quality assurance, and game design.  Check out both Microsoft and Bioware job postings as well as others below in this newsletter and on our job board.

The gaming-to-dotcom shift

After spending a few too many years operating someone else's small business, I was hungry for a change. Having established that I could manage many details while keeping multiple balls in the air, I now sought a fulfilling professional use for my creative skills. It was late 1995, and I was finally Mac-literate, with a strong sense of the computer as a writer's medium as well as a writing tool. I saw how the electronic gaming world had changed since I dabbled with the all-text format in 1982.  I did some self-applied career counseling via What Color is Your Parachute?, confirming what I already knew: I was ready to seek my fortune in the brave new world of gaming.

A shift was happening.  Christmas 1995 was a disastrous season for game developers when actual sales failed to match over-leveraged expectations. As the industry circled its wagons and licked its wounds (and showed little interest in hiring untested writers), the Worldwide Web was at that moment turning from a hi-tech plaything into a cash cow. The public was ready to enter a different kind of brave new world -- the virtual one they could access from the comfort of their home computers. Investors were shoveling money right and left, and the angel-funded startup was the latest business model.

At first I felt like a kid in a candy store, because every other company name included the word "interactive." Yes! That meant they all had to be online game developers, right? They all used branching storylines and needed a fiction writer to fill in the blanks, provide captions and develop characters -- didn't they? Um... no. It's easy to laugh about it now, but I clearly remember my two big disappointments of early 1996.

Jon Nelson most recently was the Director of Online Marketing and Strategy at Disney Interactive Studios and held similar positions at J2 Global Communications, Princess Cruise Lines and Atari, Inc.  Prior to his four years at Atari, he managed various global brands at many Los Angeles based interactive agencies including Direct Partners, Rare Medium and Magnet Interactive.  In addition to his online experience, he also brings with him nine years of traditional agency experience from DMB&B Advertising where he was the Senior Producer on such major brands as General Motors, Budweiser, Baskin Robbins and Blue Cross.  A rare California native, Jon earned his BA in Liberal Arts/Computer Science at California State University, Northridge.

VP of Executive Recruiting and Client Services Norma Crippen caught up with Nelson to discuss his career breakthroughs, current projects and navigating the online market.

Norma: How did you get your break in the video game industry?

Jon: I was fortunate enough to be working at a company that was laying employees off and one of those employees was an Account Director that asked me to come over to a French-based company known as Infogrames as they just purchased the rights to a small video game brand known as Atari.

If you’re a small developer and you’re having trouble finding skilled help, you might consider teaming up with a local college or university. Schools are often in search of professionals who can come in as adjunct faculty to teach specialized courses, especially courses that would be popular with students. Game-focused classes are popular because so many people want to get into games, but these classes tend to focus more on game design than the “hard” skills needed by game companies.

The problem facing those trying to break in, of course, is that the industry needs artisans – especially programmers and artists – who have specialized skills coding in C++ or creating 3D models and environments in 3ds Max or Maya. While many colleges offer some courses in object-oriented programming and 3D graphics, the instructors usually have no game industry experience, and so students are simply introduced to the basics of a language or graphics program with minimal experience in creating large, long-term projects like games. Moreover, most schools do not require students to work in teams where they learn about sharing duties and working to a milestone schedule. Finally, each department at a college may act as its own fiefdom, and therefore trying to set up an interdisciplinary course where artists and programmers work together is nigh on impossible.

You might want to check your local college to see what kind of graphics and programming courses they currently offer. If their offerings for programming and 3D graphics are limited or non-existent, you might be able to help them by sharing your technical know-how and in return they might be able to help you by turning out more skilled graduates.

Two years after launching All Games Network and the world's first daily talk show about games, he was invited to join forces with webcasting pioneer Pseudo Programs in NYC. At Pseudo, Rubin was Vice President of games and sports programming. In that capacity, he was responsible for all marketing and production of All Games Network and the NFL QB Club Channel amounting to more than 12 hours of live and on-demand programming each week.

In 2000, Rubin was lured to Hollywood (as a consultant for Comcast) to develop the video game TV channel G4 where he served as VP of Program Development, Internet and IT before finally settling in as the VP of Editorial. In 2002, he created and hosted a weekly interactive talk show and various specials. As G4 shifted away from gaming in 2005, Rubin left to re-launch All Games Productions. Since then, he has provided consulting and production services to GameSpot, Shiny Entertainment, CFP Productions, Crisp Branding, E For All Expo, Hewlett Packard, The Viral Factory, Wilshire Communications and others. Rubin was executive producer for the television pilot "Hollywood and Games" in HD as well as the documentary "As Real As Your Life."

Get ready for the big show

The Electronic Entertainment Expo aka E3 arrives June 2 through 4, 2009 in downtown Los Angeles. Getting ready to step into the madness is a big job. One must be prepared on several fronts to have a mind-blowing game industry experience by understanding what the big deal is; knowing what games are being announced and who is talking about what; getting passes, meetings and party invites squared away and packing well to travel well and 'expo' well.

What is the big deal about E3?

Game developers approach E3 with a mixture of love and dread. We love it because E3 shines a big spotlight upon our industry each year, exposing us to the glare of the mainstream and giving us the media tools to explain our jobs to our parents and grandparents. Every year there are more and more network or major cable news stations on site at E3 talking about how videogames are the wave of the future. Expectations run high.

Are you knee deep in a long term project? Thinking only about your next deal, milestone, or effort? What will you do when you reach your next goal? You’ll probably come out of your hole and look around at what the rest of the world has been up to while you were working, Right? Wrong. Don’t let four or five years pass you by. You can enjoy the project you are working on and stay in touch, keep your work relevant, and be on top of the latest trends.

Top companies consider the best candidates to be the ones who have the most experience, so why limit yourself to the experience you are getting in your current job? Here are our tips:

We just had to tell you about this really cool company we’re working with.  You MUST be a kid at heart to work at Spin Master.  Strict requirement, we know, but how else can you make cool games that target kids? Spin Master came to us for help. They knew we could find those kids at heart to join their growing Los Angeles games studio.

We're podcasting an interview with the hiring manager, and we want you to contribute! Send any questions you have for the Spin Master MMO hiring manager to Norma Crippen ASAP and we will get them on the air.

I recently went to a game conference in Seattle called LOGIN. Although it seems like there are game conferences every month of the year, this is one of my favorites. It's a place where plans are made and knowledge is shared.

But wait - isn't that GDC?

Sure, everybody knows about GDC. Everybody goes to GDC. And really, that's half the problem. There's a sea of humanity, most of them wearing black t-shirts. There are several huge expo floors with a maze of booths. If you know who you need to talk to, you spend the whole week in meeting after meeting because everybody is there. If you don't know who you need to talk to, you spend the week shaking a lot of hands and hoping to get lucky.

Getting laid off can be a traumatic experience. You’ll go through several levels of emotion – first shock, anger and then fear of where you go from here. For some people fear of the unknown can be unbearable. Allow yourself to go through these emotions. Take time to grieve for a few days -- it is natural and the first step in the healing process. But, don’t stay there for long.

Find the positive in this situation. On the bright side, you now have time. Time to reflect, time to polish your resume, time for change.

Here are a few tips I hope will help get you through this hiccup…because that’s all it is, a hiccup.

What I did after being laid off

I worked as an art manager and 3D modeler for a prominent Fortune 500 homebuilding company and I was laid off in November for economic reasons. Knowing how bad the market was, I decided to shift my focus to other fields. I attended the Video Game Exposition in Philadelphia, where I was able to meet a number of working professionals and gain valuable information and insight into the industry. One suggestion I recieved included taking my digital camera on walks and trips for photos to be used in texture maps and artistic reference. It was a very helpful piece of advice. Most importantly, I learned what type of artist the industry sought.

I spent the next month learning HTML, and by January I had created and launched my own website to showcase my portfolio. That month I had also purchased a brand new computer, a WACOM tablet with Corel Painter X, Adobe Photoshop CS4.  I downloaded the 30-day free trial of After Effects to train myself, as well as attended weekly drawing workshops to scrape off the rust and update my portfolio (and I continue to update it). By spring, I noticed I was receiving more inquiries from recruiters, and wound up not only landing a short-term contract job doing 3D modeling near my hometown, but also a freelance art job to create a CD cover.

MMN asked Alan Lipton to tell us about his entry into the game industry, to illustrate how writers can follow in his path.

What kid doesn't dream about rewriting reality when things aren't going his way? As a young escapist, I was always reading stories, watching movies and losing myself in immersive play. Then I got my first taste of branching story lines while visiting the Czech Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. It was "Kino-Automat: The World's First Interactive Movie" by Raduz Cincera. During this film, the action stopped five times, and someone would come out and ask the audience to choose between two possible outcomes, voting with the red or green buttons in the arms of our chairs. I vaguely recall a story involving a towel-clad woman locked out of her apartment, but the really important part, the sense of storytelling possibility, stayed with me over the years.

Mary-Margaret Network recruiters reveal their secrets

Recent travels found me presenting marketing best practices to conference attendees at the inaugural Triangle Game Developers Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.   I had a lot of fun participating at this conference and it was also exciting to be able to support an industry event on the east coast; based on the great turnout we can look forward to Triangle 2010!

Folks from the North Carolina development community came out in full force including employees from Insomniac, Epic and Atomic Games as well as Red Storm, Vicious Cycle, IBM and The Escapist with session topics across multiple disciplines including Game Technology and Programming, Game Design and Production, Games and Media, Serious Games and the Business of Gaming.

Noah Falstein, one of the first ten employees at Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts, The 3DO Company, Dreamworks Interactive and the first elected chairman of the IGDA, has cemented his place as an icon of the industry.  He has created games in many genres, including Sinistar, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Hungry Red Planet.  Noah went free-lance in 1996, establishing a solid reputation as a design guru.  His recent design credits include the Mata Hari game from DTP, and the Cisco Mind Share Game, a Serious Game for training network engineers under his design. 

For me, Noah is the guy who hired me into my second job in the industry at 3DO in 1992.  It has been an honor for me to have him in my life as a long-time friend and mentor.  His brilliance, geekiness and eagerness to inspire continue to affect the industry worldwide.

MM: How did you break into the game industry?

NOAH: When I got my break, it wasn't an industry yet. I just got a job fresh out of college at Milton Bradley, originally programming the gameplay software for a little voice-controlled robot companion they never released.

MM: What's your claim to fame?

When Jim Cochrun talks about getting employers on the right TRaC, it's something he's intimately familiar with. Together with some colleagues, he invented the Targeted Research and Candidate Generation (TRaC) program in 2001 while working as an external recruiter during the "dot-com" bust.

"I knew companies weren't hiring ‘en masse', but there was still a need for key talent and lack of capability to identify and hire those people in growing companies," said Cochrun, vice president of Mary-Margaret Network. "The TRaC program freed up a company's internal recruiters to be true business partners."

Every year, quite a few eager students or recent graduates email me trying to find an internship.  This year I have already been approached personally by a couple of great kids looking for a summer gig, I’ve responded to a post on our LinkedIn group and received a few Tweets requesting information on available internships.

It is free to post internships on Mary-Margaret Network’s Job Board.  It always has been.  Companies have the opportunity to advertise internship postings for free.  Additionally, organizations can also post positions on Mary-Margaret Network’s Job Board.

April showers typically bring May flowers... but, for several lucky winners, a simple stop to the Mary-Margaret Network website also brought valuable prizes and smiles all around!

To build excitement leading up to GDC '09, Mary-Margaret Network staff produced a weekly blog segment to prep attendees on how to maximize their conference experience. One lucky individual won a Resume Overhaul, one-page Power Resume and sample Cover Letter valued at 0.

The Resume Overhaul package was won by Dave Block (right) of Seattle, Washington, and it couldn't have come at a better time: he's currently in the process of changing career directions.

When Mary-Margaret Walker, CEO and founder of Mary-Margaret Network, was asked to speak at GameIS ‘09, she refused to let scheduling conflicts stand in the way. Turning to technology, Walker created this video--describing how she stumbled upon the game industry--which was aired between sessions at the conference in Tel Aviv March 2.

"I knew I wanted to be a part of something that was going to change the world," said Walker of her foray into the industry. In addition, she offered insight to those wishing to break into the game industry or move up the ladder, and imparted advice to guide employers on their critical search for talent.

"A lot of people stopped throughout the day to watch the [Mary-Margaret] video," said Guy Bendov, head of distribution for Shidonni and chairman of GameIS. "I think it worked very well and was an excellent addition to the program."

Israel has always been known for its innovation and development capabilities, but the casual flair of GameIs provides a unique platform to learn about market innovation and grab opportunities while they are young.

Every spring and fall I am offered the opportunity to speak with college classes about the game industry: specifically about what new graduates need to know to get a foot in the door. This spring, I was honored to speak, via  teleconference, with a student group at Rochester Institute of Technology and in person with students in game development classes at The University of Texas at Austin.

In my last talk at UT-Austin I had an opportunity to make the distinction for the students between "game designer" and "game developer." Many students view the entire industry as being about "game design." When in reality, game design is only one department of many: art is another, programming another and so on.

" What late bloomers receive as compensation for their wait is 'savor.' When life puts blossoms in our open hands, we know how to carry them without crushing them." - Author Unknown

The emails below are from my mother, Annice. Email allows my mom to send me really great stuff easily. I just love it! So, this blog has two layers of pleasure for me: the beauty of a late bloomer, and the beauty of technology bringing my mom's dry humor into the room with me.

 

As a veteran conference-goer, both as an exhibitor and attendee of countless recruiting, industry or technology-centric events, I approached my first GDC conference with mixed emotions of excitement and dread.

It's probably important to note: despite nearly two decades of recruiting software engineers, architects, marketing professionals and executives for the technology industry, my exposure to gaming was limited to some work done for Origin Systems in the early 90s, and as a gamer playing Sims, Ghost Recon, VietCong and Texas Hold'em.

For those who've been exhibitors of products or services at conferences, you know that being in the booth is akin to being on stage. Every person who walks up is a new audience, equating to thousands of "first impression" opportunities over two to three days. Frankly, it's exhausting work (not the "boondoggle" as described by some detractors).

I recently had the opportunity to represent the Mary-Margaret Network team in a different kind of speaking engagement.

Usually I find myself on a panel in front of industry professionals who have "been there and done that." This time, however, I was sitting in front of a group of University of Southern California (USC) students looking to land their first internship or possibly a real job.

"Easy," you say... "A no brainer."

Part 5 of 5:

A reverse chronological update of the latest travels of Mary-Margaret Walker

I drove home yesterday from San Francisco after attending the MI6 conference at the Grand Hyatt. It was a beautiful day for a drive. Winding down the 101 towards LA, listening to the Eagles I thought: I get to stay home for a whole month! If you haven't enjoyed listening to The Last Resort while driving past the Pacific Ocean then you need to add that to your list of things to do before you die. A word of caution, however, there were innumerable people receiving tickets and even more cops stationed to catch their next prey. With the State of California going broke, I'm guessing that is another source of revenue.

Making money and increasing your audience through strong marketing (brand, viral, social, etc.), PR and advertising was a major focus of MI6.  The day started out with the innovation and marketing power of Nicholas Negroponte.  He gave an incredible keynote on his program One Laptop Per Child.  You can visit their website and donate any amount of money or you can arrange for your company to set up a matching fund program.

Attending this conference afforded me the opportunity to meet some fantastic new people and catch up with some great old friends who are normally incredibly busy at other events because they are doing their job.  But at MI6, we all got to sit back, relax, learn, network and eat French fries from a snack buffet table at 4 p.m.

GameDaily recently reported that Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” would appear on the next installment of Harmonix and MTV Games’ Rock Band Music Store. The power ballad debuted on Journey’s 1981 album “Escape” and is a classic 80s throwback to the days of big hairdos, acid-wash jeans, MTV’s pop and hair-metal bands smashing the music charts and the heyday of arcade video games.

So, it got me wondering: what were some of the favorite 80s video games of the Mary-Margaret Network team?

My own foray into video games began in a cramped 3’x4’ closet-sized area in the back of a 7-Eleven convenience store where I watched my middle school man-crush, Bill S., play hour after hour of Galaga. I never really mastered the nuances of the game, but I remember sucking down Slurpees and being amazed at his prowess, while the oddly familiar scent of Old Spice and Doritos wafts back into memory.

You all know it, you go through it every day: the fans just don’t understand what we do. They whine, complain and claim that without any of the equipment, skill set, tools or know-how, they could do a better job.

As a volunteer scoutmaster and First Lego League coach, I work with youth a lot in my spare time. A surprising amount of that work involves educating them about just what we, the game developers, are actually doing all day at our incredibly radical jobs.

Video games are an art form, plain and simple. I don’t believe it is pretentious to place video games on the same shelf as some of the great paintings or sculptures of the world; just like books, movies, and to a degree some TV shows belong on that same shelf. We’re seeing this shift in the industry where ever since at least E3 2005, there has been the ‘art of video games’ show-case as a traveling display.

On Wednesday, April 1, 2009  the first edition of "Who Wants To Be A Superhero: The Defuser"  was released.  The Defuser signed copies of the comics to help raise money for Scare for a Cure at Austin Books.

Remember the board game LIFE? In the very beginning, if you landed on business school, you knew there was little hope of beating your lucky opponent who landed on med school and instantly scored a fabulous salary--many times your puny income. The outcome of the game was pretty much determined in the first round.

I propose the game needs a new space.  Spice it up a bit, give everyone a fighting chance to change course and retire a millionaire. About half way down the path, it would be awesome if you could connect with someone who could change the course of your career: take you from business school grad to big-corner-office executive.

As the 2009 Game Developers Conference (GDC) wraps in San Francisco today, thousands of attendees are returning home armed with job interviewing tips, skills and enthusiasm about the game industry. Though the weeklong conference hosted sessions on succeeding in an unstable economy, attendance rivaled last year’s at the world’s largest, professionals-only, annual event.

“There’s a ton of people here,” said Mary-Margaret Walker, CEO of Mary-Margaret Network: The destination for recruitment, staffing and career services in the global interactive entertainment industry.

In November 2005, I wrote about reactions to Governor Schwarzenegger’s A.B. 1179, making it illegal for the sale of “violent video game(s)” to anyone under the age of 18. The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) had filed suit to seek judicial determination that the statute was unconstitutional.

In 2007, Judge Ronald Whyte issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement upon determination that the statute was unconstitutional, which was appealed by the Governor’s office. As of last month, the 9th Circuit rejected the state’s appeal.

For background, AB 1179 defined a “violent video game” as a video game in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting the image of a human being, if those acts are either depicted: (A) in a manner which is especially heinous, cruel or depraved in that it involves torture or serious physical abuse, or (B) falls within one of three standards: (1) a reasonable person considering the game as a whole would find the acts appeal to the deviant or morbid interest of minors; (2) is patently offensive to the prevailing standards of the community as to what is suitable for minors; or (3) it causes the game, as a whole, to lose its literary, scientific, artistic or political value.

It appears game developers are back in the news again as the hell-spawned corruptors of America's youth. The same youth who would otherwise be flawless citizens, always ready to help little old ladies across the street, if not for the presence of Halo, Grand Theft Auto and any other violence-centric video games that were hurled from of the sky, Erich Von Daniken-like, to impact and direct a culture that would otherwise not have produced these works for themselves. Which brings me to probably the biggest fallacy that the hysterical blame-layers have conveniently forgotten to acknowledge:

Neither art nor commerce is created in a vacuum.

Part IV of IV:  Your Online Identity

Choosing an email address name or domain name for your online portfolio is an important task in helping you define your image. These names are, essentially, the center of your online identity; your brand. Properly choosing your name can build your identity and give you credibility and a sense of professionalism, boosting your branding. Choosing poorly could leave your recipient with a negative impression of you. In extreme cases, it could possibly knock you out of contention for a job interview.

The most important first step is to understand who your audience is. You are presenting yourself to potential employers. Your email name and URL need to reflect a certain amount of professionalism. However, we are lucky to be a part of such a fun, creative industry because “professional” doesn’t have to mean boring!

More details here on our GDC 09 resume overhaul or banner drawing!

 

Mary-Margaret Network celebrates Women in Games International!

This organization belongs to and advocates for all of us and it is our responsibility to keep it strong!

We are putting our "money where our mouth is"...

Make a small (or large) donation to further the activities, mixers and events of Women in Games International around the world. Every USD you donate enters you in a drawing to win a USD0 gift card from the gadget store of your choice in your country, provided by Mary-Margaret Network. We know that all of our international members and friends cannot possibly all have the same cool gadget shops near them, so we're solving that issue by letting you decide!*

Mary-Margaret Walker, co-founder and CEO of Mary-Margaret Network, joins the advisory board of IGDA's Women in Games Special Interest Group (SIG).

IGDA is the leading non-profit trade organization within the game industry, with nearly 15,000 members and growing.  The mission of IGDA is to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.

Part III of IV: Go Green at GDC!

Effectively presenting yourself at a game conference is of the utmost importance to obtain the job of your dreams. To put your best foot forward, you will need business cards, a resume, and a portfolio. Everyone knows that the information contained on these materials is very important. But, have you ever thought about the materials themselves? These days, the manner in which you present your information says a lot about you too.

Protecting our environment has become a priority for everyone. Paper, ink, CDs, discs and portfolios are all items that the typical job seeker uses daily in his/her job hunt. Using these items freely and abundantly, however, increases our carbon footprint, sends material to landfills and hurts our environment. Governments, large corporations and businesses of all sizes are stepping up to do their part to protect and save our climate and environment. Are you doing everything that you can?

Below are some tips to go green this year at GDC and save your mother Earth!

SXSW Interactive (SXSWi) kicks off Friday, March 13 in Austin, Texas. In the last few years, the game industry has become more of a focus for this festival featuring panels, lectures, exhibits and parties all centered around interactive entertainment.

For many years, SXSWi coincided with GDC, making it hard for developers, publishers and interested parties to participate in both. Though both conferences are still in March, the week's separation between events allows attendees to catch their breath and regroup to take full advantage of both opportunities!

I have attended and spoken at several SXSWi conferences, and I have enjoyed building my network through the diverse groups in attendance. Being in the know, from being on multiple mailing lists-and more importantly party lists-I'm happy to share the inside scoop with everyone in the blogosphere.

A How-To Guide for Game Producers and Developers (Part I)

A game producer or lead developer has at least 12 irons in the fire at all times. He or she needs to be experienced in project management, coding version control, raising and spending money, signing off on artistic and writing decisions, and, of course, structuring the audio for the game. And audio is one of the most mysterious components for many game producers. It can be very hard to communicate your desires and goals to your game audio people, and oftentimes, it feels like you and your audio team might be speaking different languages!

Because of this, I put together this multipart article series discussing what makes great game music; how it is its own unique form; and (for all you producers and developers out there) how to find and communicate effectively with great game music people to get the great game audio your project needs!

Part II of IV: The Power Resume - Take aim and hit your job target

The one-page Power Resume is critical to your arsenal of career and job-hunting techniques. The Power Resume is a "must have" for executives, career changers and anyone with an extensive repertoire in a single field or across multiple disciplines.

More succinct than a full curriculum vitae and providing more depth than a business card, the Power Resume is the perfect tool for effectively presenting your skills at conferences and job fairs and serves as a handy reference of who you are, and exactly what it is you do.

The Power Resume uses smart styling and brevity to communicate your key hiring skills quickly so that potential employers can assess your worth with a glance. The easy-to-read, one-page format serves as an encapsulated snapshot of your career highlights.

Read on for more tips on crafting your Power Resume and setting your best foot forward at GDC:

Game Path LLC is excited to announce the 2009 Independent Game Conference East!  This May 7-8, IGC East will take place at the Northeastern University campus in Boston, Massachusetts, and will attract developers from across the Eastern United States and Canada to come together and discuss the latest trends and tools for development while addressing the challenges that studios face in creating new, exciting content.

IGC East is for developers of all platforms, including iPhone, Web, Flash, and Console who want a leg up on the competition and for the publishers who want to see the hottest games in development by the rising stars of the industry. Publishers can find the next big game at the Game Demo Night where independent developers bring their skills and commitment to the show.  The sessions at the IGC focus on the business of being an independent developer as well as the technical demands of game development. With both Business and Technical Tracks, the IGC is the place to be no matter what stage of development your company has reached.

 

Mary-Margaret Network Launches Industry's Most Expertly Targeted Job Board

Trust Mary-Margaret Network to reach the audience you need to fill your jobs. Our network spans far and wide into all interactive entertainment professions.

CEO Mary-Margaret Walker is in Phoenix this week to speak at the graduation of the DeVry Game & Simulation Program. In addition to speaking about the game industry with DeVry students at all stages of their education, she also had the privilege of speaking at the Her World extravaganza for high school students, an event held regularly at DeVry campuses nationwide.

Walker met with a room full of students Wednesday evening, February 25, inquiring about their career aspirations in the game industry. She then turned the Q&A around, and spent more than two hours answering questions and providing tips and feedback to help prepare them for a strong career.

Part I of IV: The Business Card

If you think people don't pay attention to business cards, check out this video and think again!

When it comes to being an effective networker, presenting a well-developed personal set of business cards means serious business. Your business card is your opportunity to market yourself to new contacts, effectively communicating who you are, what you do, and how, all in a bite-sized 3.5" x 2" of real estate.

Think of your business card as the key to establishing your personal brand: one that makes a strong and lasting first impression. Like people, there is no one-size-fits-all: each business card should be unique to the individual.

Following are some universal truths that you should consider when developing your own cards:

Dear Friends and Family of the Mary-Margaret Network,


Greetings from the road! I spent the month of January in Austin, Texas, where I celebrated the twentieth wedding anniversary of my dear friend and colleague Robin McShaffry and her husband Mike; if the weekend festivities are any indication of 2009, it’s going to be a terrific year.

Before I share some of my goals for Mary-Margaret Network in 2009, I’d like to take a step back and reflect on our many accomplishments of the prior year.

Fabulous WIGI Party - January 18

WIGI would like to thank Animation Army for collaborating with Women in Games International at our January 18th mixer in Hollywood.

Richard Taylor from Electronic Arts was a fascinating speaker and had a lot to say about moving into the videogame industry from the film
and television industry.

One of the odd offshoots of the rise of the internet was the creation of an entirely new profession: the Community Manager. And while still in its infancy, Community Managers do something that's likely critical to your game's success: they work with your community of players.

They're there every day (and often nights), connecting people, putting out the messages that will help your game thrive, helping to nourish a positive supplementary game experience, and bringing back all of the info they gather to your dev and marketing and CS and QA teams. They're doing their best to grow a huge asset for your game: the community.

Most everyone in the video game industry has or has heard a story that begins with "I got into video games by a lucky break," but most of these stories don't paint a complete picture of how the person in question was prepared to seize the opportunity with which they were presented. Volunteering in the video game fan community is an excellent way to create a path to that lucky break in getting into the game industry, and to prepare to make the most of that break. My own entry into the video game industry came after many years as a video game player, with several years of varied experience in the online video game fan community.

The original "The Sims" game and its online fan community helped me get my start in the video game industry. Even before I had acquired my own copy of "The Sims," I was aware of the game's substantial following on the Web, and I also discovered that "The Sims" allowed for user-made content to be integrated into a computer game on a scale not seen before.  Both of these features interested me immensely.

D.I.C.E. Summit - Las Vegas, Nevada

February 18-20, 2009