There is an old adage in the public relations world that "you can hire an agency that knows games or you can hire an agency that knows PR, but you can't find both." I disagree but I understand where that idea came from. To know games you have to play them, and most people I've met in my time at other agencies definitely do not.

It seems like that adage carries over to quite a few other jobs in our industry as well. It's amazing to me how many times I meet with CEOs of gaming studios and find out the last time they picked up a controller they were eating dots and being chased by ghosts. Worse yet to me are the product managers, marketing executives and artists that followed the same path. The feeling today seems to be if you know your job then that's all you need—after all, isn't this just another type of business to run? Let me put a different question to you. Would it seem wrong if the CEO of Toyota didn't have a car? Would you trust a film executive that never went to the movies? Then why do we hire people that don't play games and what benefits are there to hiring those that do?

Would you rather hire someone who plays your games? The answer seems obvious, except that with limited resources and candidates it is not always possible to get someone with the perfect qualifications. An MBA means more for job performance, in most cases, than a list of games a candidate has beaten. That being said, I prefer someone with passion for their work and a love of games over someone who just knows public relations. I know we can train them to call the press and write a release; what we can't do is make a person love it. There are far too many people out there treating this as just another industry, a place to go to work at and come home from. I believe if we made a conscious effort to look for those that played games regularly we would see cost benefits that would outweigh the price of the extended search. I know for a fact my agency has.

Everyone agrees on the passion point, we all want employees that not only excel at their jobs but also enjoy them. There is more to passion though in that it breeds knowledge. An employee that loves the field they are in will have a more inherent understanding of that field. In other words if the person loves games, they are reading about the newest titles, they know industry news and most importantly they know what the perception is of your company in the wild.

That same knowledge also gives them a special insight into your products. The best way to know your SKUs and see them through the "public eye" is to play them. This same data will also help you know how to make the next version better and how to address concerns the public and your own stockholders have. Their information is also going to be as up-to-date as possible and they will consistently add to it. Imagine the institutional knowledge of a company filled with these people.

There is also one other very important thing they know—if they play your games they also play the competition's. While people inside your organization may play your own titles since they are working on them, only a true gamer is out there beating the other company's product. This gives you competitive insight into how you can improve your product, how to find differentiators and how to beat them in both consumer mindshare and sales.

Beyond just the inherent understanding you gain from playing games there are other benefits for you and your staff. When dealing with the public, whether as an executive talking to staff or an agency bringing the word to the street for your clients, gamers know gamers. Everyone who regularly plays games can tell if someone else really does as well within a five-minute conversation. If your people cannot portray that kind of image they will only turn off the people who truly love to play. If, on the other hand, you can show the public you do play games you take away the sterile corporate image and replace it with a much more human and interesting one. Making your brand have a human face is done from the lowest employee all the way to the top and is the secret to many companies' successes.

Let's also not forget this is a form of entertainment we are making. Back when I was just a young associate at a large agency we worked with a large Human Capital Management Firm. They did several independent productivity studies which showed a relaxed and happy work force was much more productive than one that was stressed out. While everyone suspected that to be the case this was the first time it had been proven. One of the best ways these studies found to relieve the pressure was to find a time during the day when staff could unwind. When people find a break to gather themselves they can go back and handle a much greater strain.

At our offices we use two hours every week to play and learn our client's and their competitor's products at the office. Employees love it and will work harder to be able to make the time to do this. Then again most of my staff log on every night to play a few hours of their favorite games as well. As an added side benefit there is a nice camaraderie that develops over time as you see each other online and play a few rounds before bedtime.

Everyone I have ever met says I must love my work. They mean I work in video games and must spend my days playing games and beating high scores. We all know this isn't true; you have to get work done during the day or risk going out of business. This doesn't mean you shouldn't plan some time to play games, going so far as to consider some of that time "work," and to make sure the people and companies you hire do the same.

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