sonofableep

i believe the children are our future.  teach them well and, let them lead the way.

whelp, Career Day has come and gone, and i think i managed to aquit myself with a minimum of embarassment.  i did my 30 minute “what it’s like and what it takes to work in the video game industry” spiel six times in a row today, to as many 3rd grade classes at my neighborhood elementary school.  some of the highlights:

my presentation included a video montage of Warhammer gameplay footage (edited-for-content), and some behind the scenes footage of music-making in Prague, VO in LA, etc.  i figured i’d better run it by the school admins ahead of time, lest the game footage prove too violent for general nine-year-old consumption.  i got an email back from the principal saying she enjoyed it and thought it was fine.  damn.  i should’ve left more violence in.

the boyfriend of one of the 3rd grade teachers came in for one of the sessions.  the teacher said he was a big RPG’er, and would be psyched if he was permitted to come hang out.  the more the merrier!

my first presentation began with the video not working.  the teacher was assuming *i’d* know how to run her A/V equipment.  i was assuming she’d deal with it.  we were both eventually saved by the school A/V dude.  go A/V dude!

after three hours of hearing myself prattle on about my life story, i never wanted to hear myself speak about anything ever again.

the kids questions were awesome.  as expected, i got lots of, “did you make the sounds for <game X>?”  sadly, no.  hi kids!  disclaimer: unless you’re a hardcore MMO or RPG player, you’ve never heard of the games i’ve worked on.  does that make me less awesome in your eyes?

also, “do you like Metallica?”  why do you ask?  “because of your tattoos and rings.”  oh.  um.  well, see back in 1986 when they were at the peak of their creative powers…oh nevermind.

also, “do you like Dragonforce?“.  i shit you not.

also, “what was the first video game ever?”  at which point i drew Pong on the whiteboard.  which i enjoyed immensely.

also, lots of “what are you working on now?”  sorry kids.  i can’t tell you that.  “seriously?”  seriously.  for grownup silly reasons.

also, after explaining how foley is the act of recording the real thing itself, “how do you make the sound of someone dying?”  well kid, we go out an kill somebody.  i actually said that with a smile, followed quickly with a j/k.  still, i don’t think teacher found it all that funny.

at the end of the day, the whole experience was a hoot.  dunno if i sparked the minds of any future sound designers out there, but based on their enthusiam it’s a safe bet that 95% of them have a future as gamers.  and let’s hear it for teachers!  how they stand up in front of all those little buggers all day and get them to focus on anything is a mystery.  somebody should be paying them a lot more money.