Kristen Bornemann

It would seem that my post entitled LFG was aptly named as I accepted (and already started) a position with ArenaNet, the devs of the immensely popular MMO Guild Wars. So why Arenanet? I had other offers. Even a ridiculously inflated Senior Producer position with Zynga that would’ve paid me boatloads of money. Long story short: I could go into the amazing frosting that this company has on it, but the core of what I was looking for was: 1) A healthy work environment and 2) A place where I could have a ton of responsibility and grow as a producer. ArenaNet has offered me all that and more. I certainly never expected to work on an MMO. It probably comes as no surprise to those who know me that the idea of grinding on the same game, waterfall style, doesn’t really appeal to me. Surprisingly enough, ArenaNet is nothing like that at all. And damn, words can not express how good it feels to be doing “real” game development again (sorry web devs!).

As far as Rocket Ninja is concerned, my friends assure me that we all have to have our crazy startup stories and this was mine. Thankfully I got more than a story – I found some great friends and really tested the bounds of my production experience. I certainly don’t regret my time down in SF and looking back, it feels like one long vacation (well, when you ignore the really late hours and stressful work environment). And it goes without saying that I’ll be returning to San Francisco again soon.

(Apologies to my coworkers for not posting this sooner!) :)

tl;dr – Seattle. AAA. MMO. Happiness.