Games Industry Career Advice

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if those of you knowledgeable in the subject could provide me with some careers advice. I am approaching the end of my law degree and I am lucky enough to be in the position that I am able to go on and train to be a Barrister this September. (For all Americans unaware, a barrister is what the British call a lawyer who just does the court side of the job). However I cannot get rid of the nagging thought in the back of my head that I shouldn't continue without at least looking at the games industry. I can't code, I can't do 3D stuff and although I am very creative I don't have the physical skills to be able to draw what's in my head on paper. As such I called a spade a spade and accepted that a job as a games designer just isn't for me.

However I'm now wondering if there are any jobs that would suit the skills that a law degree would develop? I'm in the odd position of having focussed all my abilities into one career and although I love games don't know much more about the industry other than what the bombcast dudes have mentioned! So I thought this would be the perfect forum to get some basic advice! So. those in the know, hit me up with some crazy info!

why not just live out the phoenix wright dream?

In all seriousness, maybe just try out writing reviews while you're lawyering (barristrating?) and maybe try to become a reviewer of some sort. Eventually you could build some web skills and work on a site with some other folks. That being said I don't know too much either, but I thought I could drop my limited knowledge

@EarlessShrimp: Cheers, I'm not really interested in the journalism side of it all. Was more questioning if there were any jobs within a game studio that I would be able to do! But thanks for the advice anyway!

Unless you can learn to code in your free time (or even learn the more user friendly tools like Multimedia Fusion or RPG maker) and try your hand at the indie scene....then not really.

Barrister

@JBird: ahhh, I probably should learn to read more carefully before I post, my fault!

I was in a very similar situation until I started working in GameMaker in my spare time. It's a great learning tool for coding, and you can do awesome stuff with it. If you want to get into design then you don't need to be John Carmack.

The advice that I've consistently heard is that if you can entertain a game developer with something that you've made for 5 minutes then you have a chance. So that's what I'm doing. GDC IN A WEEK!

Ahem, anyway, writing or design seem to be your areas of interest. A law degree absolutely will he helpful in that regard. You have to be able to think in terms of "we want the player to do this, so we will establish these rules to reinforce that behavior" and "The player has free choice and my system needs to account for whatever they do". Both of those attitudes are, you know, pretty key to the legal system.

@ajamafalous: You'd think so by the amount of coffee i make when on work experience!

@nintendoeats: Thanks for the information. I'll give that software a go in my spare time! Its a good comparison you make about the legal system and designing games. It would be really cool to come up with systems like that!

@JBird said:

Barrister

Dude you work at Starbucks?

There has to be legal aspects behind the industry. I'd invest in being a lawyer for a major game company.

there has to be lawyer aspect of video games, like the terms of use things. look into that.

Most importantly, what does "Rumpole the Bailey" mean?

@Subject2Change said:

There has to be legal aspects behind the industry. I'd invest in being a lawyer for a major game company.

This. Developers and publishers do need lawyers.

Game companies sue each other all the time!

@SlasherMan said:

@Subject2Change said:

There has to be legal aspects behind the industry. I'd invest in being a lawyer for a major game company.

This. Developers and publishers do need lawyers.

Exactly! Go sort out the Dota 2 mess between Valve and Blizzard.

This guy is a lawyer and a very well-known commentator/player in the fighting game community:

you can see him in action here:

Maybe send him your CV? or set up a competing firm!