Why it's so hard to convince employer to look at you works?

Post Reply New Topic

TL, DR: I spent 17 years trying to convince people to spend 15 minutes to look at my job examples. Nobody agrees. To me it seems weird because 15 minutes is nothing for a possible interesting read (at least) and possible valuable gain (at best). And since they just do not answer me, i don't know the reason why it happens.


My interest is creating worlds and stories for video games, and also core gameplay mechanics that would suit the story well and give player fresh expiriences. I spent my entire life to study all the video games in genres that interest me, and now i know what makes them good or bad, how to avoid annoying cliches, how to make proper pacing, and other important things. I also picked the best story ideas from thousands i had, and spent years refining them into near-perfect state. Some of my stories can easily compete with the best existing games in various genres. And while my original stories are the best thing i can offer, i can also work on existing ones (if the genre and lore will suit my skills) to make them better in any possible way - create quests, write characters, lore parts, or improving story itself.

I can't publish my works openly since it will instantly devalue them, but i always offer to show them to the developers in private, and i also have small examples of lower quality on my website, as well as RPG game published on Steam, that has only positive feedback about the story despite it's being only a prologue. Yet still none of that seems to be enough to convince developers to look at my works and i don't understand why - they not losing anything if they do, but they still never respond to me, or respond saying that they already have a writer (only few times). Even saying that i am from thrid-world country and ready to work for any payment, no matter how low it is not helping.

It's especially sad because i constantly see very incompetent writers and game designers ruining the multi-million projects, and causing massive losses to the companies yet still getting even better jobs in the future. I can point out every mistake they made and how it could be corrected with minimal effort and budget, but... who will listen to be. It's very frustrating to know that you can do better, but nobody will ever give you a chance to prove that.

I got the advice from other developers to take another gamedev job and after working on it for some time ask for writer's role in the team, but i am unable to do that because i have memory problems, and they are especially bad when it comes to thing that do not interest me, i have a very hard time learning them and forgetting them very fast. For example i tried to learn programming but now can't remember how to even code hello world. Or i spent years mastering various level editors, but now have only vague memories about how to use them. I am spending more time reading manuals over and over again instead of actually working and can't be effective employee at any other role.

Why it's so hard to convince a human to read a file for 15 minutes? I think even most busy people in the world can find extra 15 minutes once in month or something. For them it's nothing, for me - it could change my entire life from pointless existence to being happy by fufilling my purpose.

I don't know which country you're in and whether you've been meeting potential backers or employers in person or online, but maybe you just haven't found the right "match" for your skills yet. It could be that you need someone in real life who believes in your work and can back you up.

Your ideas do sound creative, even though I'm no good with technology and cannot thus be of any practical assistance. I can understand however, as I've been trying to get people to publish my children's fantasy/sci-fi and it is difficult nowadays to find traditional publishers who don't expect the author to contribute to the publishing costs.

Keep trying - but be very cautious of people trying to scam you and take your ideas for their own.

I am in Ukraine, the only option for me to meet other people (especially from the industry) is online.

^I know the world of video game creation is highly competitive but your remarks aren't exactly helpful to the OP. You're surely not suggesting that people should not put in an effort to be recognized by the people who make things happen?

If one has both the creative talent and the technical ability they should follow their dreams - everyone started out small even our home-grown Elon Musk.

Not easy, but it can be done. Difficult for some though, especially those with no substantial financial resources and who lack the type of personality that inspires confidence in people - that spark some folk have that can sell sand to a Bedouin.

In my country it doesn't matter what you are in a business, if you apply for another position there i think they have to select you or at least interview you. There are stories of janitors learning a job by being in the business and switching to good positions.

_________________
My Pepe Le Skunk. I have so much faith in our love for one another. Thanks for being an amazing partner. x

Any topic, PM me; mind my profile.

rse92 -- Alright, then if ElvenNeko posts a copy of the unsuccessful message, then I'll read it and try to suggest changes to the wording in order to make it acceptable to most potential employers. That could solve the problem of ElvenNeko's message being constantly ignored. That's helpful.

By the way, I didn't say all NT's. I said many NT's. Unfortunately "many" is accurate. I wish it weren't, but it is.