Lucky and grateful

For the change that's in the air. I watched as the polls in the US elections close down and Barack Obama becomes the 44th President. As a Canadian, I watch with approval as I can't exactly say that the last 8 years have been prosperous for our neighbours down south.

At the end of the day though, I don't get the chance to vote and even if I did have a strong opinion about things, I digress and leave the debate for those that have voted.

On the topic of change, though, today was my second day back at EA SPORTS, where I left a few months back after some time with their Marketing and QA teams. There's been a lot of chatter about the recent layoffs, and though I've been there in the past when this has occurred before, I was not there this time around, but all I can imagine is that it just goes to show that even the video game industry is not immune to the tough times of the current economy.

I'm not a business analyst though...yes, I went to business school but I joke around saying that I majored in football and minored in partying. And business over 10 years ago is a lot different than business is now. Personally, I am very grateful to have the opportunity to have come back knowing that there were some people that I did know that were part of the cuts. Maybe lucky...very grateful.

I was welcomed back though as their newest Community Manager at EA Canada, a role that is still fairly new and still being defined with many gaming companies. Mainly a role that's been regarded with mostly MMO gaming, more and more companies, whether it be the video game industry or any industry, are looking to grow communities to help sell products.

Though it's a new role for me, it's not an unfamiliar one. I worked closely with the previous Community Manager during my stint as a marketing assistant on the NHL franchise, and was totally on board when approached about bringing in the community to meet and spend time with the dev teams. The way I saw it, at the end of the day, these are the guys and gals that play and spread the word about our games. Good or bad, these folks spend their own time passionately following ours and many other companies' games and communicate with a large number of users that business need to open to working with.

So I'm totally grateful for the chance to make a difference in the creation of our games. I'm not saying that I know everything about community management...every community requires different traits. All I can do is put it the effort and time to be as active as I can and communicate as much as I can. I know there will be some challenges, and with that, there will also be some great wins. From what I've seen so far, plans for the near future are looking really exciting and I'm sincerely enthused to be a part of some big plans. Very lucky...I'm tellin' ya.

Lastly, one of the perks are intramurals at EAC's indoor gym. I got to re-join my ball hockey team, the Ice Hogs, in their 3rd game of the season. They were 0-2 so far. We won 6-2. I celebrated each goal like it was an overtime one in game 7 of the Stanley Cup, scoring one and assisting on a few others with some nice passes. I may have been overcelebrating...ok...my bad.

Sorry...can you blame me?