It’s been a good two months since my last post; much of that time has been spent attending events like E3 in Los Angeles, working on personal projects, working to secure a job, and then deciding that I want to return to university life and improve my mind the old fashioned way—which has meant spending time researching programs and schools.
After having separated with my last job, which was fun, paid fairly well, came with almost unbeatable benefits, greatly grew my experience and creative diversity, and then moving literally halfway across the country during an economically depressed period of seven months afforded me plenty of time to evaluate a great number of things, the least of which were my available opportunities.
Those who have known me well enough over the past few years to have a frank discussion about my views of advertising, marketing, etc. know that I’m not exactly fond of perverting my creative talents to liberate consumers from their hard-earned cash and buy crap they either don’t really need or can’t really afford. It’s one thing to crave an audience; but its another to stage a crowd with smoke and mirrors while your business associates pick their pockets in their distracted state. I’ve been told that such an anti-entrepreneurial sentiment is the trademark of creative folk, but pardon me for having any sort of human conscience or ignoring the perceived importance of the almighty dollar.
Many people also know that for the past 3.5-4 years I’ve been volunteering countless hours on a popular gaming news and community web site. While it’s technically not paid a dime (yet), I have met countless wonderful people and it has opened doors to many new opportunities and horizons, many of which have roots here in the San Francisco area. During my months away from the workforce, I’ve had a chance to explore these options to a greater degree and have enjoyed it enough to consider officially working within the video game industry in some capacity. Many young people interested in games seem to be interested in pursuing a career in editorial capacities, which I can attest is a very exciting field, but not one that is likely to bear lifelong careers for anyone unless they have other skills that can be parlayed into much different roles within the industry, particularly in business or other managerial duties; things I have little interest in directly, so I will need to look deeper into the job well.
Last fall, my volunteer efforts with that gaming site landed me a very rare opportunity to travel with a game company to Japan, an experience that really opened my eyes in ways I could have never imagined. It’s one of those things you have to see or do for yourself to understand, not unlike parenthood—so I hear. Ten years ago I would have ignorantly written off most foreign cultures as bizarre, unnecessary, and irrelevant to my life and goals. For me, Japan specifically was perceived as a place of such other-worldly oddity that I could only laugh at the stereotypical wacky TV programmes and assign them as the single thumbnail of the whole country and its cultured history. As it turns out, that naivete has ironically become the defining factor in the goals I have now set for myself.
I am and will always be a creative person and a child at heart. Originally, my college education was intended to put me into a career making video games, albeit from a production standpoint versus creative, but it turns out my mind wanted a greater say in the matter than my technical skill with computers, and the trajectory toward being an Art Director/Designer was set. Does it mean I am tethered to a career in visual design? Nearly as long as I have loved drawing so too have I loved writing creatively, be it poetry, opinion/editorial, or just waste-basket lining such as these blog entries. All things considered, a career that could benefit from my experience with visual design, creative writing and my more recent interest in bridging cross-cultural gaps is the most appealing prize. As it turns out, the gaming industry is multi-national, so there’s hope that I can mix that experience into the dough as well.
What it means is that I have set my heart and mind upon this new horizon, and have begun taking the first steps toward that destination. An easy goal it is not, and the decision to leave behind many of the luxuries I have grown fond over the past ten years is equally difficult. It has taken me roughly half my life to get this far; it could very well take the other half to get back to this point when starting fresh with a whole new language and culture. But a life without goals, dreams and growth is not much of a life in my opinion, so it’s a task worth undertaking.
The question that remains is: am I crazier for essentially leaving behind what I’ve worked hard to achieve thus far, or for pursuing such a far-fetched and potentially imaginary treasure at the end of a transglobal rainbow? Status quo or dreams? Maybe it’s the creative soul inside, but impossible dreams are often the winner; they make me tick, and ticking is something I’m not quite ready to quit doing.
On a different note entirely, new art will be posted very soon!
