Employment Recruiter: WoW Players Need Not Apply

Seems like a poster over on the F13 forums was told by a job recruitment type not to mention the fact that he plays MMOs. Supposedly, the recruiter told him that one of the employers he consults for specifically asked not to be sent people who play World of Warcraft.

According to the post:

I met with a recruiter recently (online media industry) and in conversation I happened to mention I’d spent way too much time in the early 2000s playing online games, which I described as “the ones before World of Warcraft” (I went nuts for EQ1, SWG and the start of WoW, but since 2006 I have only put a handful of days into MMOG playing – as opposed to discussing them – I’ve obsessed over bicycles and cycling instead).

He replied that employers specifically instruct him not to send them World of Warcraft players. He said there is a belief that WoW players cannot give 100% because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, etc.

I mentioned that some people have written about MMOG leadership experience as a career positive or a way to learn project management skills, and he shook his head. He has been specifically asked to avoid WoW players.

For one thing, I can understand this on some level, but so what if it is a videogame? It could be a number of things that the person does when not at work that can lead to being a less than suitable employee. There is excessive drinking, whoring, knitting, dog training, working out, getting high all night, MMO grinding, reading into all hours of the night, clubbing, your kids myriad of different sporting events you have to attend, a TV marathon of “My Big Redneck Wedding”, the wife/husband/mother-in-law bitching and yelling all night, insomnia, chronic masturbation habits, just being a crap employee– a number of things can make a person less worthwhile on the job. Don’t just blame MMOs, and if you have hired a load of people who play these games for your company, that means you are an industry that appeals to gamer types any way so get used to it. It could just as easily be some multiplayer “shoot em up” on Xbox LIve that is keeping them up all night.

I understand productivity in the workplace, and as someone who comes from a managerial background, I have no need to know what an employee does when they are not at work. It is none of my business. I also know that (at least where I live) this could be considered discrimination in some respects and get you into some hot water. While people who do play online games have a tendency to stay up late grinding or raiding away into the night, not all gamers who play this genre are irresponsible louts who suck the clock at work. Granted, if a WoW player were slacking off at work because they were too tired to work, yes, I would probably fire them if they kept it up. But the same goes for anyone, not just an MMO player. Not all MMO players will be too tired to work and to generalize a particular person such as this recruitment customer has is just the wrong thing to do. It’s like saying that all beer drinkers are rednecks, all fat people are lazy, and all women suck at math– it is borderline stereotypical. If this guy has had back luck in the past with MMO players, I feel bad for him, but he should not take his prejudice out on the rest of us.