ngmoco Employees: Creating Culture TogetherThis is the second in a series of career focused articles on IndustryGamers, detailing different roles within the games industry. You can read the first one on PR here.
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Justin Hall didn’t exactly know what he wanted to be when he grew up.
“While in college, I took classes in 19 of the 22 departments, so it was difficult finding a major.”
It is but one chapter in the life of a man who New York Times Magazine called “the founding father of personal blogging.”
That was in 2004, a full ten years after he started his popular and rather intimate blog, Justin’s Links, in 1994. Since that time, Hall attempted to make a name in game development with PMOG, a Passively Multiplayer Online Game, also known as The Nethernet, a project he readily admits bombed.
Now he spends his days as ngmoco’s director of culture and communications, one of the stranger positions we’ve come across in the video game industry, a job that seems to perfectly fit Hall’s inquisitive personality.
It was, in fact, a position born from personal struggle.
“I knew some people who worked at ngmoco. They were like, ‘Oh your company just tanked and you have big debts, but you learned stuff. Do you want to come here?’”
It was quite a shift from running his own company, yet Hall relished the opportunity to carve out a new niche within the gaming business.
“I came to ngmoco to learn how successful commercial products are made and how successful companies are built.”
“In a way, I’m like the internal company journalist. My job is to make sure things line up, both company goals and personal goals.”
That means getting to know each and every ngmoco employee (AKA, mofo), regardless of whether he or she works in one of two San Francisco offices, or even internationally in Amsterdam.
“We spend a lot of time figuring out where mofos can go to find out what’s going on.” By “we”, Hall refers to assistant Stephanie Lin, who previously worked at NBC as an on air reporter.
“Her job is chief storyteller. She goes around and asks, ‘Who are you, and what do you like to do? You like to knit? You make cocktails with ginger?’ These are ordinary people, but they’re eccentric and crazy.”
To that end, Justin and Stephanie do whatever it takes to unite ngmoco’s studios.
“We have a company newsletter with 90 percent non-business related content, so it includes recipes, pet photos, sky diving stories and the bands people play in. This human element gives you a connection to the people around you.”
“We also do a series of videos oriented on the products we’re making. Then we present these pieces to all the mofos and say, ‘Here’s this team from a remote studio that was in the office for three hours, and we sat and spoke with them for five minutes about who they are, why they’re here and what they’re making.’”
Hall’s quick to point out, however, that he does not give pep talks and dance around. “When you think about the culture department, you could say our job is to keep people happy, but that’s like cheerleading. It’s fake.”
“People at ngmoco are already driven and ambitious. We want to make sure we’re out of the way.”
This theme persists throughout the entire company, where employees are able to speak to the higher ups, regardless of position, and voice their opinions. No one is bound to just one project per se. The company encourages mofos to branch out and follow their passions.
“We listen,” Hall said. “If someone says he or she wants to do some new project, we find out how to clear the way for that person.”
Keeping everyone unified is, therefore, of key importance.
“The center of the company is the online culture that binds us all together. Why are we in this business? Why do we care? Why bother making games? We distill down a set of values all mofos share. That’s where the company is.”
It’s this sense of friendship, of family, that binds everyone together.
“My job is to ask, hey why are you here? The company has reasons why you’re here. Make great games, make the best platform and a lot of money. Your reasons, though, are to work with awesome people, work on projects that make a difference and advance in your career.”
It’s something Hall takes to heart.
“One of the ngmoco founders pulled me aside and said, ‘You know, Justin, don’t ask permission, beg forgiveness. If you see something great, do it. Don’t wait for people to tell you to do it.’”
In other words, you may be the subject of a future ngmoco newsletter.
