Get a job...with Blizzard

Many of us who play online games often have a faraway dream of somehow working in the industry. Productivity gurus constantly tell us we need to do what we love if we're going to have real job satisfaction. It's one of the reasons I applied to work at WoW Insider, to combine my passion for writing and my obsession with online games.

Now you can check out the reality on Blizzard's official job listing site. You might just find something that justifies those 3:00 am raid wipes.

First up is a call for a Mobile Producer. A few months back, we posted this mock up of WoW on an IPhone. It was derided as unmanageable, but I think Blizzard disagrees. And who's going to argue with their success? As well as this report I found predicting the mobile game industry will be worth $11.2 billion by 2010.

But let's move on to some juicy Starcraft 2 job openings.

There are many opportunities to get in on the ground floor of Blizzard's newest title:

• Level Designer - We've all played with the Warcraft 3 World Editor and now you can use your maps as your submission. How sweet is that?

• Game Balance Designer - Yes, Dorothy, Blizzard really is concerned with game balance. They even create positions with the sole purpose of addressing balance issues.
  

• 3D Artist with User Interface Experience - Somebody has to make the backpack art icons, right?

• Senior Tools Programmer - If the terms MaxSDK, MFC, Qt or C++ look like opposing faction garbled speech, this is not the job for you.

And for you people lacking programming, art or design skills, there are tried-and-true entry level positions that allow you to work your way up:

• Online Community Representative - You know, like Tseric, but without the meltdown part. That looks bad on the resume.

• Forum Moderator, WoW - At least with this gig you don't have to respond diplomatically to the trolls, you just nuke 'em into next week.
  

Finally, my favorite job opening, if only for the title:

• Disaster Recovery Specialist - Insert combat rez joke here.

Now that you've seen what's out there, I leave you with this thought, gentle reader: What would be your dream job in the online gaming industry?