Video Game Jobs vs. Real Jobs

The longer I work, the more I realize that I've never had a real job. 

A few years ago, the game studio I was working for had its offices in a tower in downtown Vancouver. It was an unusual location for us, mainly because it was in the heart of the business district. The rest of the tenants in the tower were lawyers or brokers or whatever job that requires you to wear a suit and carry a briefcase. (Lawyer or broker are the only ones I can think of.) 

I got on the elevator one morning, and a woman in a suit, carrying a briefcase, stared at me for a few floors. Finally, she asked me, "What do you people on the 16th floor DO?" By the way she was looking at me, I could tell that the only answers she could come up with on her own were that we A) ran a pizza delivery service, B) that we were squatting in a vacant office, or C) that we were running a summer camp. 

People who work in video games are incredibly passionate people. For the most part, everyone I've worked with in my entire career has cared deeply about what they do. We all want to make something great. Which leads to a lot of discussion, and occasional arguments.

Sometimes during those discussions, I catch myself noticing what it is we're actually talking about. It'll dawn on me  that we're all arguing over, for example, what shade of green Orks actually are. Not what color we want to make them, mind you. What color they actually ARE

We'll have passionate discussions about the proper method for building a secret base over top of a volcano. Spend days figuring out how ghosts would interact with a toilet. These are not the things adults - well paid, highly educated adults - argue about. Real adults work on actual problems. They don't wear shorts to work. They carry briefcases and they talk about grown up things. 

While I'll never wear shorts to work (I consider that a public service), I've somehow managed to go my entire adult life without owning a suit. I am ridiculously grateful I've never become a real adult.