Waukster Online

Today I’ll be publishing the interview I recently had with the Finance and Human Resources Director of Level Up Games, Richard Laig. Ric, as we call him, is one of the best things that happened to Level Up Games. We used to have lots of HR problems and it’s good that we have him on board already. He’s a top caliber executive that Level Up is really lucky to have.

Wauks: Hey Ric! Thanks for accepting the interview. To start off, can you tell us something about yourself? Where did you work prior to Level Up?

Ric: I was in the healthcare industry for the last 8 years. My last immediate employer was Johnson & Johnson.

Wauks: What made you decide to join Level Up?

Ric: Got tired of working mainly for the money and decided to try something out of the box. I’ve always wanted to work in the tech or entertainment industries. LU is a fusion of both, so it was a sufficiently off-the-wall choice. Luckily the finance and HR skill sets translate well across industries. I also liked The Boss (you previous interviewee) a lot during the interview so I ended up here. (Trust me, you tend to stay in a job because you like your boss, and you tend to leave a job because you don’t like your boss.)

Wauks: What’s it like working for Level Up compared to your previous job?

Ric: I wore a shirt and tie for eight years. Now I work in t-shirts and jeans. :) The job is still the job. The numbers still have to be made, the papers still have to be filed, and people still have to be taken care of. That’s constant regardless of where you work. What makes LU different is that I can speak Gamer with a lot of the folks here. (Though my team in finance and HR still need to learn how to game!) That was never true in any of the previous places that I worked.

Wauks: What games do you play?

Ric: I’m an omnivorous gamer. (A)D&D 2e is still the greatest game ever in my book. I was a Magic: the Gathering tourney player for several years. My current hobby is Eurogames, which are mainly German card and board games. I used to play console RPGs on the PS2 when I had the time. I still play fantasy sports (NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL) to this day. On the PC I prefer turn-based sims. For MMOs, my game is The Lord of the Rings Online. My favorite Level Up! game, I can’t talk about yet. :)

Wauks: As the HR Director, you get feedback from Level Up employees. Is there anything interesting about the comments you get that you can share with us?

Ric: Level Uppers are some of the most passionate and dedicated people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Like all companies there are a lot of things that we can do better to make LU a great place to work. What makes me optimistic is that there a a lot of genuine friendships and shared interests here and that helps everyone through the inevitable difficult times at work.

Wauks: What’s your most memorable Level Up moment since you joined the company?

Ric: The day we looked at a bunch of games that seemed to be really great, but eventually turned them down because they didn’t fit some critical parameters that we’ve set for games that we license. That’s the I really learned to split my views between being a gamer and a game company exec. Sometimes the best-looking games have deal-breaking flaws that aren’t readily apparent to someone who doesn’t see what’s behind the magic curtain.

Wauks: What can you say to the readers of the blog who are interested in applying at Level Up?

Ric: LU is a very young company that needs good people. LU is the pioneer in a very lucrative industry that’s growing at a ridiculous pace both locally and worldwide. It’s got a unique culture that encourages individuality while still keeping everyone focused on achieving team goals. We work hard, but we damn well play hard. (A lot of companies say that, but few actually play as hard as they work. We do.) Waukster.com readers are by definition gamers, so if you have a skill set that you think would be valuable to LU, and you’re looking for a place that’s different from your usual Fortune 500 company or your everyday BPO/call center, drop us a line. I for one could really use people with strong finance and/or accounting backgrounds on my team. Stat. ;)

Wauks: Do you have a message for the Level Up employees who are readers of this blog?

Ric:

Have faith folks. Think of each project at work as a 230-man instance. We can make it to the edge of night and back. We will not wipe. At the end of the day, we all turn off the computer and go home to our families and our beds and that makes the world alright.

-END INTERVIEW-

Thanks for accepting this interview offer Ric. We’re really glad to have you on board and we can’t wait to see what projects you have lined up for Level Up! Cheers!

For more interviews of Level Up employees, please CLICK HERE.