It's easy to think of game design as something glamorous and exciting -- something done with the lights dimmed, with soft classical music in the background, whilst drinking a bottle of red wine and playing Quake on a 52-inch plasma-screen. Or variations thereof.

Here's the reality: My office-cubicle-thingy is small and, uh, cluttered (a better word than "messy", methinks). It's dusty. I hate that. There's paper everywhere, and I'm afraid to touch any of it because that might upset my "system". There is no "system", but there you go. I could listen to classical music, but that wouldn't drown out the noise of the other tenants of the room, who are generally uncouth and loud (but I love 'em...really guys, I do), so instead I listen to something even louder. The lighting may be dim, but that's because the shades are down all damn day long, and the light-fixture in my office needs to be replaced. Instead of red wine, I've got Solo Plus (it's Norwegian...tastes like crap, but hey, coffeine, guarana-root, and no sugar). And my monitor may be a 21-incher, but it ain't plasma, it ain't flat, and I don't have Quake installed. Even if I did, there wouldn't be any time to play it.

Game design can be as dreary as any job. Perhaps not as dreary as working the cash-register at the supermarket, but then again, I wouldn't really know. It's certainly more stressful, especially when the fate of millions of dollars rest on your bent shoulders. It's not always fun to write down EVERY SINGLE LITTLE DETAIL that goes into a game...and not just to write it down but think it through, make it work, balance it out... It's hard. It's a job. It's not a hobby. It takes time, and sometimes you think "is it really worth it?", because let's face it, we're not doing anything to better the world. We're making games. Insignificant little things. They'll never have a Nobel Prize for game design, and you know why? It's frivolous. It's totally unnecessary. Take away games, and the world would work perfectly well. It might not be as much fun, but there you go...life isn't always about fun.

Point is, you may think you want to be a designer, and that's great, but be conscious of the fact that it's a job. It's not magic. It's not even art. Only do it if you're irresistably drawn to it, like a moth to flame.

Still, though, most of the time...it's quite brilliantly fun.  ¶ 16:37