Boards›[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous

Hey Riot, I'm looking to apply for a job. Any advice?

ChickenWrap·7/10/2014, 4:00:53 AM·4 votes·1,713 views

For someone with ambition, but not much work experience in this field and no college/university degree, what jobs might I be able to apply for? I've been a fan of this game since its incarnation, and spent way too much of my time playing the game than I should have. I know almost everything there is to know about this game, and I think it's the non-human thing I care about most. It allowed me to meet a bunch of new people (one of whom I'm currently dating), helped me to become a better person, and also to realize my own flaws, and it has helped me when I've been in a few rough spots in my life. To have a job working with the people I look up to helping to further the game I love would be beyond a dream come true to me.

I would be thrilled to land a job helping to design the game, but I haven't done anything noteworthy to show that I know what's important involving balance. I've made a few threads here and there, but they seem to get downvoted. Most of them were in relation to one champion being very strong, and why they're very strong. A trend I've noticed with these threads is that they get massive downvotes, and the slightest change to the champion pushes them into complete and utter chaos, such as with Pantheon, or when I mentioned Nidalee was a little too strong before she became a first pick/first ban, or when I said that Skarner's second rework would put him over the edge in terms of power, but I digress.

What can I do to show to you, Riot, that I'm worthy of joining your team of developers? Or just your team in general. I'd even take a position as a member of player support if it meant I was able to work with the company I care about.

6 Comments

Pendragon7/10/2014, 8:17:31 PM9 votes

“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.” - Walt Disney

RiotMattEnth7/11/2014, 3:16:24 AM3 votes

There is a huge difference between consuming video games and creating video games. Similarly, there's a huge difference between consuming art and creating it, or consuming jewelry and creating it. My wife, for example, is extremely passionate about creating art and does it in her spare time, even though she'll likely never get paid a dime for it. She's also passionate about consuming jewelry and fashion, but she completely lacks the skills to actually create a garment or accessory.

To get a job at Riot (or many other respectable game developers), you need to demonstrate a clear passion for creating video games. You have to prove that you can add value to the creation of games.

If you're truly passionate about making games and using those skills, you'll do them anywhere. In my spare time, I maintain a few WoW addons that I developed years ago. I'm also in the process of learning Unity and screwing around with a few prototypes there. Even tonight, I've programed an analytics dashboard and filed away a bug report (for context, I'm a producer).

None of these require a job - in fact, some of the best advancements in our industry have come from people doing stuff completely for free with no expectation for money or repayment:

DotA for Warcraft 3
Most TF2 maps are designed by the community
All MMORPG mods
DayZ (1.3 million played it. Free.)
Most Skyrim mods, including a 20-hour campaign "Falskaar"
Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings 2
Black Mesa - Free remake of Half-Life.

Passions are things you do in your free time, without a paycheck. So if you're really passionate about designing games, what are you waiting for?

Thelmon7/10/2014, 4:22:52 AM2 votes

Although I'm not a Riot employee, I was searching around a bit because I was curious myself. You should probably start by searching around on the Riot website (http://www.riotgames.com/).

From the sounds of how you present yourself, you might want to look into an internship type position. If you want to apply for a job, you have to sound more confident in yourself and prove that you would be a huge asset for their team. Although it's great if you're willing to learn, you still need to bring something to the table.

Being that you've probably played a lot of League, and probably other games, you should have a pretty good insight into general "how things should feel" and overall balance of characters.

Good Luck

Nidapee7/11/2014, 2:18:14 AM1 votes

Right now, Riot is so rich that whatever they need, they're going to be hiring the best of the best and not a no-experience, uneducated, gamer. Yes, you are enthusiastic, but anybody would be enthusiastic to work for a very, lucrative company.

Phreak said before that if you want to work for Riot, you have to provide something that the company does not already own. In other words, if you want them to hire you, you have to sell them something that you must also prove that they would need. So far, you sold yourself as useless. That doesn't mean you are useless; it just means you are of no use to Riot because you lack anything that they need.

Well, what do they need? That's what you need to find out. Personally, I think they need a video animator. They have such a great lore, that I really think they should get someone to make videos to animate the story and bring it to life. I mean they could totally afford it and it'd be really cool to watch. I'm thinking of something like MontyOum's work or the stick-figure spotlight--just pure, raw, fighting animation. Make a few videos and then pitch it to Riot, asking for a position to work full-time.

This is just one example, I'm sure there are more technical IT positions available. But take this advice for anywhere that you may want to work: you gotta sell yourself.

Daen7/11/2014, 4:26:42 AM1 votes

For someone with ambition, but not much work experience in this field and no college/university degree, what jobs might I be able to apply for?

As has been said here briefly, work experience isn't what makes or breaks a candidate. Passion is the most important thing, and if you are able to quantify and demonstrate that drive to succeed through your application materials, there's nothing that can stop you.

I would be thrilled to land a job helping to design the game, but I haven't done anything noteworthy to show that I know what's important involving balance. I've made a few threads here and there, but they seem to get downvoted. Most of them were in relation to one champion being very strong, and why they're very strong.

If you don't have experience you can show on a resume, get out there and make it happen. Write analyses of game mechanics for some third party sites, play other games and really think about why certain things are fun or not, design new kits, items, champion concepts, etc. Keep records of what you do and take on projects you feel strongly about, get those activity points going!

There is no "correct" way to break into the industry or Riot, it all comes down to what you make of yourself. Riot highly prizes autodidacts (people who learn on their own accord), so be that guy and get out there, show how awesome you are!