Game Master Roles and Requirements.

After reading the interview with a game master article, I decided to look at what the specific roles or skills of a GM might be. I found an online job application for a GM at Aeria Games in the US. These are the requirements and desired skills wanted by Aeria.

As a game master, you would:

• Test and document bugs
• Draft and outline possible game enhancements and features
• Address and resolve customer/player issues
• Develop and maintain customer/player relations
• Investigate and document complex issues with regard to bugs, game exploits, trade and other potential issues
• Distinguish for the team and other departments between high and low priority items, focusing on areas yielding the greatest return, and make sound determinations based on what requires a "sense of urgency"
• Document and communicate game/technical/investigation issues to technical staff
• Document and communicate in-game community satisfaction, revenue stream, and revenue-building opportunities to management
• Organize and run events for the community of players
• Provide input on content driven events, updates, and future enhancements
• Monitor game servers to ensure stability and fair game play

  Qualifications:

• Fluent in English
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Knowledge and passion for MMOs
• Teamwork
• Self-directed, detail oriented, problem solver with a burning desire to contribute to a uniquely creative environment
• Demonstrate an ability to handle multiple demands from superiors and coworkers, have a strong ability to maintain professionalism with climate changes, and display finesse when working under adverse conditions
• Must be self-directed, detail oriented and a problem solver with a burning desire to contribute to a uniquely creative environment
• Experience with Massive Multiplayer Online Games is ideal
• Individual should have good computer skills and knowledge of MS Office suite of products. Basic networking knowledge is a plus

From the looks of the requirements for this job and comparing it to the interview from 2007, it seems like the job role hasn't really changed that much, and the role of game master is a combination of community manager, QA tester and a general path of communication between players and development. All of this is very similar to the community manager role on a whole, just takes more of a role in game and generally restricted to being in MMO's.

Jobs - Game Master, 2013. AeriaGames.com [online] Available at: <http://www.aeriagames.com/jobs/game-master-us> [Accessed 07 February 2013 ].