The importance of networking within the creative industries.
First, what does networking entail? In the games industry networking involves making friends with other people that are involved in the industry, this may seem like a daunting and awkward thing to do as not everyone in the industry will have the same job — there are programmers, artists, animators, story writers etc. But you’ll find speaking with others in the industry at events is easy because after all, you all share a passion for making games.
Networking in the games industry
Networking in our industry in some ways is hard to break into and in other extremely accessible. Initially it may be a very difficult thing to break into and get your name out there but there are ways to do it, things like linkedin that allow people in the industry to connect online in a professional setting, message each other and share portfolios etc, is a great tool to get yourself out there in the scene, industry associations like IGDA host networking events for members that help you connect with more creators in the industry.
Once you’re established already in the industry though the opportunities to network with more professionals from across various fields are endless. Game conferences are common across the year hosted by game publishers and companies that allow them to show off the games they’ve been working on, more importantly however these allow developers to travel to these events purely to connect with other creatives, the main drawbacks of these events is the travel, these could be across country or across the globe depending on where the publisher wants to showcase their games, so a freelance or sole developer this can be very challenging and expensive to travel to and make space in their schedule to attend in the year. Even though it may be expensive, these events are probably the most beneficial for freelancers though as meeting people face to face may leave a lasting impression that could open up job opportunities to the freelancer that would not have been available if they didn't meet that person that decided to put their name forward for a project etc.
To conclude, networking in the games industry is something that can and should be done by all no matter the stage they are at in their career, being a member of a professional association and being active on linking don't take as much effort as many may think and still give great networking opportunities to everyone. I think more people should approach networking as a way to just make friends in the industry initially and if they would like to see your work or portfolio that should come much later and shouldn't be expected.
