Good morning all. It's time for a much belated post on this nigh obsolete blog of mine. I'm ok with that. An event is one short time period away from happening again; something I've waited 4 years for and is finally coming around. I'm quite excited and as geared up as I can be, given the circumstances...
Tomorrow marks the return of the Great Designer Search held by Wizards of the Coast. The prize was a six-month internship in Washington state where the winner will (for all in tents and porpoises...) be a WotC employee. It's any amature game creator's dream, barring you actually play and enjoy Magic: the Gathering. Actually, scratch that. The possibility of working with one of the largest (at least the most well known...) game company in the country, if not the world, should be an aspiration to any creator wanting to hone their craft and actually get your ideas out of the basement and into the spotlight. An internship with WotC would definitely be a big step in the right direction...
Four years is a long time to wait for this. I'll be the first to admit my skills as both a creator and a player aren't what they were back then. At that time, I was just moving in with Tara and Brian and I were only just entering the wide world of non-American board games (I almost said unAmerican...). This means we were still playing a bunch of Magic more so than other games and my attention was focused. Also, that was when Time Spiral (the Magic nostalgia block...) was in full swing and any waning of my desire had been dashed. I loved Time Spiral alot and I really don't care if they don't consider Time Spiral to be the success they were hoping for...
Let's cut to now: Much has changed since then. I'm getting married, I've branched out from Magic quite a bit gaming-wise, I don't play Magic as often as I used to want to, my desires have matured, I started a comic book. But I still want this very much. Working for one the head gaming companies would be a dream come true. I am prepared to take six months out of my life to do this, and I love it that Tara is behind me in my desire 100%. My worry is that I don't have the chops to make it happen...
Last time, I only made it past the essay writing part. I try not to belittle that, but it was only the first round. The essays I submitted, though, were some of the finest I'd written (both I and others have said the same...) and I was very proud of them. Still am, too. My test taking skills were less than par to say the least. I think I scored around 50% or so. Put that in perspective; there was 35 questions or so and you were only permitted to miss upwards of 5 to even be considered for round 3. However, I did follow the competition religiously and created my own cards based on the criteria Mark Rosewater posted online (and thanks to Brian for helping me out and grading and such for that...). I will say I was disappointed in more than a handful of the official submissions as I truly feel I could do better, especially in the early rounds. Some might call that hubris; others call it sour grapes. I call it just being a better designer (at that time...) than some who have better 'book' knowledge of the game...
What to do? I worry that, should I succeed, that it will throw my life in upheaval. Let me tell you, I have had enough upheaval to last a lifetime recently, what with the wedding and car troubles and getting settled into my job and all. I don't worry about not succeeding; I feel the deck is partially stacked against me (not to be a pessimist, but I do look at the facts...). I will do the best I can as far as I get. There is a part of me that NEEDS to do this for satisfaction alone. I feel the need to prove that I can at least throw down with others who aspire to the lofty goal. I did the same thing by going to a PTQ years before the GDS happend. I guess we'll see what happens come Wednesday and Rosewater delivers unto the masses. Wish us luck...
