So Why Should a Recruiter Disqualify WoW Players?

Here’s a story of a recruiter instructed not to refer World of Warcraft players:

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. (source)

I totally understand the expectation that avid WoW players have poor sleeping habits or lack focus. After all, there are other compelling games like Civilization or SimCity (in my opinion).

But World of Warcraft—and other, similar online games—are different. Many serious players commit to a constant and often busy schedule, as they sign-up for guilds, go on quests with party mates, etc. This means they have to sacrifice some of their individuality for the sake of the group, which more often than not eats into their personal time as they try to find a balance between their day job (or school) and their virtual passion (of course, you can always play 36 characters by yourself).

Still, I can’t imagine why an online media company (the supposed employer according to the forum post) would look down on WoW. Wouldn’t someone used to interacting within online communities prove to be a valuable asset to them?

Not necessarily. Perhaps the company had a bad experience with a previous employee, who showed promise as a seasoned navigator of the online world, but turned out to be a management nightmare full of focus issues. Maybe the online company has learned its “lesson” and implemented a policy of indiscriminately screening out addicted online gamers.

But in an environment where results matter more than the traditional corporate structure—where getting the job done and interacting well within a team is more crucial than old concepts like seniority, applying such a filter to the recruitment process may be dangerous. Again, because it automatically disqualifies a significant number of people who may have the experience, skill set, and work ethic beneficial to the company.

My point is that an arbitrary criterion like a passion for WoW shouldn’t be part of any valid recruitment process. After all, an employee’s likes or dislikes shouldn’t weigh so heavily on their chances at finding a job. Rather, what should be done, and this is a bit ironic, since it’s a tried-and-tested principle, is to concentrate on finding smart people who get the job done. And these kind of personalities may or may not be avid WoW gamers.