SoCal to NorCal, Gaming Enthusiast & Game Industry Professional

Hi friends! My name is Christian. I just hit 30 years of age and I grew up in southern California - Huntington Beach to be specific. I do not surf, but spent many days at the beach and it's a place of serenity for me. I've always been a gaming nut, my game of choice back in the early days was Counter Strike. I primarily have and currently play on PC, but I've played various consoles throughout the years. The first system I owned was the very first Game Boy (giant grey brick) that my grandparents gave to me. I was hooked.

I started building PCs when I was 15. Back then, there was no such thing as BIOS with UI. Installing Windows was a series of DOS commands, and the internet was seriously limited compared to what it was now. It's way more user friendly today, and that's putting it lightly. I'm always up to talk about hardware, PC builds, and other peripherals. I'm also happy to give advice and/or recommendations, so don't hold back if you're curious!

After graduating high school, I went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for Computer Science. To say I wasn't ready for college is a massive understatement. After a year, I decided to withdraw and take some time to figure out my direction. I took some classes at community college and ultimately decided to enlist in the Air Force. After an enlistment stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, I knew I wanted to get back to college and get my degree. I moved back home and in two weeks I had a job at California Pizza Kitchen and was enrolled for classes at my local community college again. I was driven.

I pursued Business, although my direction for career was still wildly unclear. But the classes made sense and I liked them. I worked really hard to make sure I was transferring to a 4 year with an associates degree in 2 years. The final two semesters, I was taking maximum 19 unit semesters and working two jobs. It was rough, but worth it. Come applications, I set my sights on top tier schools. I applied to top business schools, because the worst they can do is decline, right? My top choice was Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. I had never been up north that far, but I knew if I got in I would go.

The odds were severely against me, though. Transfer acceptance was 6%, and I had two community college counselors literally say I shouldn't waste my time and it wasn't worth applying. I didn't have a perfect 4.0, but my recent grades were damn near that - I pointed this out in my statements. I found another counselor that was actually genuine and constructive. He was honest with me - that the odds were definitely against me - but that I should absolutely go for it. I did, along with applying to other schools like USC and UCLA. I got rejected from quite a few, and had some other acceptances that I felt happy there were options. UCLA rejected me, and I figured I was out of luck for Cal.

But I got the shock of a lifetime when I checked my decision while at work as a server at California Pizza Kitchen - I got in! I literally collapsed onto the floor. It was the single most exciting point of my life, and validated LOTS of hard work.

The road ahead was difficult, and that's putting it lightly. I went from annihilating classes to being challenged to every capacity I had. Take every top student, shove them into these classrooms, and that was the intensity. Some kids were literal geniuses. Intimidating, but I learned an incredible amount in 2 years.

Along the line, I randomly connected with some fellow students who were reviving a Business club for roles in the Entertainment industry. It was such a stroke of luck, and it was relieving because my other options were the ABCs (Accounting, Banking, Consulting) - none of which I was really stoked on entering into. I stayed with the club for the remainder of my time, moving up to lead a committee and as an executive officer helping grow the club. In leading my Marketing committee, I got in contact with a guy working at a gaming company that my sister's high school friend worked at as an HR rep. We arranged a call, I pitched the idea of an "informational tour" of the office, where they would show us around and give us a run down of their day-to-day. He loved the idea and we put it on the books.

At the end of it all, he was super impressed with how I handled it start-to-finish. I softly put out a probe to see if they had any internship opportunities, because they don't have a formal process. As the VP of Marketing, he would easily be able to argue that budgetary need. In another big stroke of luck, they were looking for an intern. The entire marketing team was 4 people, and one of them had just left. They needed a cheap solution for someone to take over basic daily duties like reporting, partner relationships, etc. I started my summer internship on an hourly rate, then was invited to stay on part time as I finished my last year of school.

Free to play games are a marvel, and they hold their risks. After graduating, 3 months of full-time employment passed and they laid off a third of the company, including me. I went briefly to mobile games, and moved on to my current position with Perfect World doing Product Marketing and publishing/launching awesome games!

I'm a huge game nerd and love to talk about past, present, and future things in the industry. My hope for my future posts is to share my passion and knowledge with others and have fun dialogues about various topics. I want to avoid simply reviewing games, unless it is specifically requested or if I feel a game might be worth a review and compared to other examples.

Please share some of your game favorites below, I'm always looking for fellow gamers to connect with! I've also been told I look like Bryce Harper, you be the judge.