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About Me
Currently Playing:

LittleBigPlanet
Team Fortress 2 (PC)
PixelJunk Eden

Happy with:
My new Xbox 360. My RROD upgraded my messed up Zephyr to a Falcon!

Favorite game of 2008:
Dead Space


Also a registered CAG under the same name.
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Best Job for a Portable Gamer
carpwrist | 5:50 AM on 01.19.2009 8 comments


The Night Auditor.
Any respectable hotel has an attendant at the desk 24 hours a day, every day of the year. People come from all around the world and you'll see meet some cool people. I personally enjoyed talking about my drinking experiences in town, sending bros to gay bars, assholes to McCoy's (a place where weekly stabbings seem to occur). The real perk of being the Night Auditor position is that it's between 11pm-7am, where a third of a day will go by with maybe a handful of guests in the lobby, if any. So in order to combat boredom and make the hands of the clock accelerate I brought my Dell XPS M1530 gaming laptop to work. I first filled the time up with my novel, The November Plague. Then I got a little tired of writing and took a break to something much more fun.

As the night auditor for the Clarion, I did most of my gaming at work. In the past three months I've finished Dead Space, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Far Cry 2, Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, and put over 30 hours each into TF2, L4D, Demigod, Civilization Revolution, and Desktop Tower Defense 1.5.

Job Summary:
Pros
Easy-peasy: As Luke from the best DS game of 2008 would say. Yes I do mean Professor Layton and the Curious Village. The job requires little to no effort. This job was almost intended for high schoolers, were it not for the late night hours.

Free time: I particularly enjoyed this part of the job and often gloated about it. In the morning, I ride the bus home to look at miserable faces, people who are going to be trapped in an office or store for the next 8 hours. I on the other hand, am free to do as I please. I can actually make a run to the Post Office, pick up a few groceries, head to circuit city to pick up some clearance titles... all without waiting in a single line. That's something I cherish and will miss dearly.

Cons
the pay: $9/hr isn't exactly going to be chipping into my retirement fund, but for an employee that's gaming at least 4 hours a night, I don't expect much.

the hours: graveyard shifts will make you lose your goddamned mind. night becomes day, and day becomes night and unless you're exhausted from rocket-jumping all night long, you're not going to be tired at sunrise. This is one of the main reasons I decided to move on to a real job.


Like any job, this one has its ups and downs. The hours are great and suck at the same time. However, I know alot of people are hurting for work right now and as one gamer to another, I strongly encourage you to at least try this graveyard job that seemingly no one wants.



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7 comments | showing # 1 to 7
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XYU's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/19/2009 07:43
XYU
It actually sounds like a nice, easy job. $9 an hour to game isn't so bad :D

I used to work 48hour shifts....Sitting on my own.....in a portocabin.....for 48hours.

All I would do was get stoned and play Golden Sun and Pokemon on my GBA all weekend. I even had a TV and would bring my original XBox into work.

In my new job, I'm a little weary of playing games during work hours. But because it's in a school, on the last day of term the kids bring in their consoles and hook them up to the projectors in the classrooms.

That's when i show the kids how we do it old school :)
gabisthesux's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/19/2009 08:10
gabisthesux
I used to work in a call center for travel insurance for those hours, and i have to admit. I guess i was also more reckless about it because since i didn't even have to see people I did as i pleased and would go borrow the training projector at night and play resident evil 4 on it, or invite some friends over and have a smash bros melee party... while technically i was working alone.
johannhat's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/19/2009 11:18
johannhat
I had a summer job working at the ticket booth of one of the Go Kart tracks around a very touristy city. Despite having to call the cops on customers for not getting the color of kart that they wanted-- Seriously-- It was a pretty sweet gig. I sat in an air conditioned office away from all the noise and played the GBA I got the week before in between a lot of reading and simple mathematical ticket things. I think I beat Aria of Sorrow like twice before they even bothered to ask what I was doing.

Sadly, I can't get away with such antics at my current job. Now I just go to my car during my lunch break and play my DS. :D
randombullseye's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/19/2009 11:59
randombullseye
Demigod is out?
Red TheHaze Veron's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/19/2009 12:50
Red TheHaze Veron
Last summer, I worked for a couple of months every weekend on the night shift at an exxon gas station. All that could keep me sane and awake through it all were gaming podcasts, I wish I wouldve been able to play games like you on the job.
welkstar's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/19/2009 13:28
welkstar
I used to work a reception desk my first year at university. Same thing as you, crap pay, crap hours, but tons of free time.
carpwrist's Avatar - Comment posted on 01/20/2009 01:23
carpwrist
@ Randombullseye, Beta 2 is out. Out and awesome.
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