Dev Dating Service…

I had an interesting talk with a coworker of mine the other night.

The discussion revolved around whether or not people outside of the gaming industry actually respect what we do for a living. I mean, to the average outside we sit around in our bean bag chair offices, a mini fridge in every cube, playing what ever the game du jour is and basically acting the part of a layabout.

Which is only half true!

He made the point that it’s impossible for him to actually meet a woman because once he gets to the point in conversation where she asks “What do you do for a living?” his answer usually causes one of two reactions:

1. The aforementioned ladyfriends’s eyes will slowly glaze over to be replaced by a milky cloud of disinterest and boredom.

2. “No really, what do you do for a living”

Evidently, being a game developer is not a SUPERCOOLSEXY career to your average prospective mates. Being married myself and therefore oblivious to all needs and wants of other women aside from my lovely bride, the mother of my children and the matriarch of my household (banking brownie points here) I was unaware of the plight of the single male game dev in the modern world.

From my understanding, when speaking to any woman over the (completely random) age of 27 he just can’t be taken seriously. This line of conversation quickly branched into a conversation about the general view of game development in the professional world which in turn caused us to drink more. Then we talked about the Sham WOW guy.

Do other single Game Devs of a certain age, again let’s say 27, encounter this complete and utter lack of respect from their dates? If so, how can we overcome this stigma of irresponsibility and immaturity when interacting with “outsiders” in a social/romantic setting?