Everyone uses Xbox live and notices the ‘gamer spotlight’. I’m sure lots of you wonder how it would be to get chosen, well one of the men behind all the activities for Xbox LIVE, DMZilla joins us with answering some questions about himself and his work at Xbox LIVE.
Name: Eric DMZilla Doty
Gaming Persona: DMZilla (@DMZilla)
Company Position: Xbox LIVE Community Manager
Which online communities have you managed in the past?
Besides writing for small blogs and participating in forums? None.
How did you end up at Microsoft?
When I graduated college I moved to Seattle without a job and the dream to work at Microsoft. About 8 months later, and a little experience under my belt, I started at Microsoft on Valentines Day on contract to put content up on Xbox Marketplace like Gamer pics and XBLA games. My role evolved to allow me to do some side projects involving competitive analysis. After that, I went full-time to focus on the industry analysis aspect as well as travel around setting up hardware/software demos for events. Let me just say that working backstage at E3 is awesome, but incredibly stressful. A year later I jumped over to work closer to Major Nelson on the community side. It’s strange to think that I’ve been full-time at Xbox for almost four years already.
What part of the team do you work?
I technically work on the Programming team which covers almost everything you see on the main levels of the dashboard, but every day I interact with PR, Marketing, Promotions, and Support both here in the US and globally. The Community Manager position varies depending on the size of the company. Some CMs work in Marketing or directly alongside the developers. I’m kind of in the middle of it all and get to directly take the community’s feedback and suggestions straight to the source.
How does one get chosen for Gamer Spotlight? (things that are considered)
It really comes down to how interesting or funny you are. You could be the most hard core gamer with 100,000+ Gamerscore, but if all you do is sit home and play games then your answers to questions are probably going to be pretty boring. Also, gamers that can spell and answer questions with more than one sentence are what I look for. You’d be surprised how many one word answers I get to open ended questions. Remember, I look at hundreds of applicants, so if I see well written answers with facts that stand out then they will shoot to the top of my list.
What made you choose Community Management as a career? Anyone influence/support you?
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know Community Manager was a really role until I was basically doing the work. Early on I worked near Trixie360 and slowly started taking on more public facing projects. Community is always growing, so it’s a constant learning experience. I have a LOT of respect for Justin Korthoff (@sixokay) who has a ton of experience working in CM roles with various companies. The dude is a fountain of information about social media, interacting with your community, and superheroes.
What does your desk/office look like?
Well, take a look
What are three things you do to start your day?
As I wake up I check email, Facebook, and Twitter to make sure nothing has blown up (figuratively), and then shower. I pretty much can’t function if I don’t shower. Then I put on my headphones and blast music for the entirety of the 30 minute bus ride to work.
What is your favorite event to attend in the industry and why?
PAX Prime or PAX East are easily my favorite. They have a nice balance of developers, fans, and journalists. While it is fun, E3 feels very exclusive and all the devs and journalists seem like they are competing with their peers for best games or best exclusives. PAX is just a celebration of games where everyone from kids to adults are just there to have fun.
You talk about your personal projects on twitter care to tell us what the latest or share any of your work?
Besides playing games and working on secret Xbox stuff? I like to paint, skate around campus, and write. Nothing fancy, but I like to keep my creative side busy. I’ve said before that if you aren’t creating then you are just dying. Maybe a bit harsh, but it’s become one of my personal mottos. Also, live every day like it’s your final boss battle. 🙂
My current project is a comic called Steamfunk that I’m working on with Luke McKay (www.lukemckay.com). Luke did the art for the Rooster Teeth comic for 5 years, as well as his own webcomic Balls 2 That. I’m not sure when this is interview is getting published, but we currently have a Kickstarter page up to fund development and printing, click here for the kickstarter page. This is the first time I’ve published any of my fiction and the first time directly working with Luke. We hope to have physical issues for sale to non-Kickstarter donators in April or May.
Some might notice the unique and creative tattoos you talk about or can see, which is the latest you’re working on and which is your favorite and why?
I currently have 13 game related tattoos. My favorite one is my 8-bit hearts on my right forearm, though my Gears of War Lancer leg tattoo is a close second. I’m currently working on finishing a Mass Effect half sleeve on my left arm.
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Zilla
I would like to thank Zilla for taking time out of his busy work schedule and answering some questions. Hope all have learned some things from one of the community managers that work for Xbox. For some interesting tweets and great opinions be sure to follow him on twitter and keep a look out for his work.
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