A limo driver, an astrophysicist, and an MMO developer walk into a bar. No, this isn't the setup for a joke, it's just a day in the life of we who earn money writing RPGs.

My own day job is as a solar physicist with the NASA STEREO mission, and those interested in the day-to-day details of being a career scientist are welcome to read about it at my new blog, The Sky By Day (on scientificblogging.com). Curious about how other industry folks survive day-to-day, I did the thinkable. On a private industry list, full of career RPGers and freelancers of all stripe, I asked what their day job was.

With 103 responses, here's what I learned. Primarily, there's no one common thread--we're not all from IT, the computer gaming industry, or the fast-food service industry. We're, well, gosh darn it, we're the spirit of America (even the foreigners living overseas, given I estimate 10-15% of the replies were non-US).

The raw results are included at the end of this column. There were 9 female respondents and 94 male respondents, which may or may not be representative of the RPG industry. These data were self-reported, anonymized, and edited down to short descriptions.

Bear in mind that exact careers can be hard to pin down. For myself, am I an astrophysicist, or a stay-at-home Dad? Well, that depends on what hour of the day it is. As another example, how do you compare the careers of a former professional chef, injection moulding set-up man, customs broker, auto mechanic, and roofer, if one person held all those jobs yet still considers himself a game designer first and foremost? The delight of this survey was seeing the wide variety of activities RPG creators engage in to put bread on the table.

Also, everyone's job sounds cooler than your own. When the assistant manager of a DVD & Dr. Who shop thinks his job sounds dull, you know you're in competitive company. One freelancer is in jail... as a Sheriff's Deputy and hostage negotiator. One 'lancer in tech support used to be a clown, and before that, a radio personality. And apparently being a dog trainer pays more than freelance writing, "especially the aggression cases that require several sessions". Eek.

There are some broad trends. About a quarter of the industry list respondents are directly employed in the game industry, either computer and video games, or tabletop and related. About a fifth are in information technology, software, programming, or development. Another fifth are either full-time writers, editors, freelancers, or stay-at-home fathers who also freelance. And a third are spread across a diverse range of occupations.

Just working in the game industry can be as stressful (or not) as any other job. One person related a tale of being a software engineer for a game controller company, as "My boss would see me playing Quake and say 'playing games on my time? Keep up the good work!'". On the other hand, a video game tester noted "And before anyone asks, no, I don't 'play' video games for a living."

The role that RPG writing takes in a career can have a sea change. Some people are solidly in the 'game' part of their careers-- one fellow was a materials buyer for orthodontics, and now is a full-time writer for an MMO. Others are in the other part of the cycle-- a former game staffer turned full-time freelancer now is in grad school and working in business development for a software startup. It comes, it goes. At least four of the respondents are actively job-hunting.

And, to wrap up, it's joke time.

Two matrons are chatting about their families, one starts bragging. "My 3 sons are still so close, even as adults they share a house. One of them is a PhD scientist with NASA!"

The other mother says, "Oh, you must be so proud..."

"And another son is a published fantasy author!"

"Oh, you must be so proud..."

"And the third son has an auto towing company."

"Oh, you must be so disappointed..."

"Oh no, he's the one that paid for the house!"

Whatever your job, enjoy what you do.

Until next month,
Sandy
freelance, also solar physicist and stay-at-home Dad

Game Industry

1. assistant manager of a DVD & Dr. Who shop
2. comic & gaming store owner and runs a gaming company
3. computer animation studio producer
4. FT game publisher
5. FT game publisher, also has a sign shop
6. FT PDF/PoD RPG employee
7. games-into-libraries project manager (prior: video games, insurance webmaster)
8. gaming CEO, with 23 FT gaming employees!
9. MMO lead system designer
10. MMO online writer (prior: materials buyer for orthodontics)
11. MMO product marketing director
12. MMO senior designer
13. PS3 video game testor
14. R&D at digital entertainment company
15. RPG staff developer
16. runs games store
17. videogame designer
18. video game studio head
19. virtual world developer
20. online game network ops manager (and job hunting)
21. board & card game developer
22. creative director for a video game company
23. indie game publisher (has wife with job)
24. 2 game companies (1 owner, 1 webmaster), former copy editor/editor
25. semi-retired, was video game designer

Writing and Editing

1. FT freelancer
2. FT freelancer and job-hunting
3. FT freelancer
4. FT freelancer (as day job, but mostly at night)
5. FT gaming freelance
6. FT game line dev
7. FT game freelancer
8. FT rpg marketing, writer
9. FT game freelancer (but kid is 15 so not stay-at-home-dad as job)
10. freelance writer for internet
11. copy editor, esp. science (10% is game writing)
12. editor of congressional reports
13. editor/writer/web manager for a social network site
14. technical editor for a telecom
15. tech writer
16. writer and house-husband

Stay-at-Home Dads

1. dad with spouse, freelancer, masters student in info studies
2. dad
3. dad
4. dad and publisher
5. dad (neuroscientist) & freelance medical writing
6. dad and astrophysicist
7. dad and full-time freelancer

IT & Software

1. aerospace software manager
2. biz dev for sw startup, in grad school, sub teacher (prior: FT freelance)
3. critical system engineer for a major financial company (nights and wknds)
4. customer support engineer/architect with IT company
5. financial risk modeler/programmer, telecommmutes
6. gov't call center manager
7. gov't sysadmin
8. NASA mac helpdesk
9. PC support at uni, grad student, dad/homeschooler
10. retired rich IT person, now entrepreneur
11. tech support (prior: clown, radio personality)
12. unix sysadmin
13. web dev & sysadmin for uni
14. web manager for insurance company
15. web writer
16. software engineer at payment processing company (and busy dad)
17. software support engineer
18. storage network engineer for massive IT company (thousands of terabytes)
19. sysadmin

Everything Else

1. considers game industry his career (former professional chef, injection moulding set-up man, customs broker, auto mechanic, roofer)
2. art coordinator for razor company
3. bartender (also looking for work)
4. chauffer-concierge
5. clinical cross-mapping specialist in health
6. college professor
7. commercial driver
8. county substance abuse receptionist and general news freelancer
9. currently unemployed
10. customs broker and "Domino's Delivery 'Expert'" ("seriously...that's the title...I fell over laughing when I saw it...") and Dad
11. desktop publisher for children's book publisher
12. doc and curricula manager for business unit of major DB company
13. dog trainer (and spouse with good job)
14. educational laboratory technician.
15. forestry consultant
16. framer
17. framer and arts education student
18. in-house tax training (former full-timer)
19. internet marketer for sheet music
20. librarian
21. librarian
22. marketing (half game, half other)
23. marketing research manager for a magazine publisher.
24. newspaper layout
25. office manager at daycare
26. owns auto towing&recovery company, also graphic design, CAD, rapid prototyping
27. parking garage manager (formerly WotC employee)
28. planning director at a tech college
29. POD press owner
30. secretary for finance company
31. senior counterintelligence analyst
32. sheriff's deputy
33. speech therapist (prior: stay-at-home dad + freelancer)
34. teaches AP politics in High School
35. educator/college prep and tutor, and small publishing
36. private english teacher
37. student