On October 11 2006, the CTS hosted a networking event for the 2006 Wallaby Squad.   

Stephen Larkham (career interest – computer gaming) was introduced to Ali Hinton (HR Manager of Irrational Games Australia, Canberra). Stephen and Irrational Games were interviewed about their experiences.

So Stephen, did anything come from your introduction to Ali Hinton?
Yes, Ali arranged for me to come into their Canberra office for a few days in December to do a bit of work? I was doing Quality Assurance testing on a new game called Bio Shock.

What does that mean in the world of computer gaming?
Smile on his face - I basically spent time playing computer games.  I wasn't just sitting there playing games all day long!  The game needs to be tested before it goes into production and this is done by the QAT's.  Their role is to play the game, analyse it, find any bugs and fix them. 

Is that all you did?
I also met with each of the Heads of Department. Joe, one of the lead program designers was great.  He walked me through the entire process from when the idea is formed to the final game development.

What did you walk away with?
It has helped shaped some of my ideas and where I want to go. I now want to move into game designing and not so much programming, and work my way up form there.  I also realised that I have a lot more to learn and doing more study is going to help.

Any benefits for you and Irrational?
Yes, for me, it really opened my eyes to the entire industry.  For Irrational, I think they appreciated getting feedback from a first time player – computer player that is. And I think they enjoyed hearing about rugby.

So was it worth making the effort to go to that original networking event in Coffs?
For sure.  Getting to meet Ali and the other staff at Irrational was just want I needed to learn more about computer gaming.
Will Marshall (Director of Operations at Irrational Games)

So how was it having a rugby player in the office?
We don’t normally take on work experience students because if we did, we would have everyone knocking on our door and never get any work done.  We made an exception for Stephen as Ali explained to us that he was intelligent, professional and it would be good for the staff to hear from someone outside of the computer industry.

Computer gaming – when people talk about it, they think of nerds and people who don’t leave their computers.  Is this the case?
No. The modern computer gaming industry is similar to the movie industry.  We have people working on sound whilst others research current and future social trends.  It is a multimillion dollar business.

Any benefits for Irrational and Stephen?
Sure, Stephen came into the office with fresh eyes and provided us with some valuable feedback.  For the staff,  I think it made a few of them realise how lucky they are to be in such highly sought after positions.  Stephen has a better understanding of the industry and when he talks about it, he will speak help change people’s perceptions about the gaming industry.

Irrational Games, started in 1997, is a small computer gaming company with offices in the USA and Australia.  Their most famous for their award winning game, System Shock 2.

A special thank you to Ali Hinton for being willing to support the CTS and its aim to support our players with their career dreams and especially for assisting Stephen.