Origin Story

So here's the scene:

I'm sitting at my computer at home, decked out in my work uniform (an old Warcraft t-shirt and yoga pants), with one of my 9 cats curled up on my chest. I'm about to write my very first blog post on Chess.com, something I've been anticipating for weeks, and then my mind goes completely blank.

WHY?!  /headdesk

What to write? What to talk about? These are important things to consider when starting a blog. You see, I have all these neat ideas swimming at lightning speed in my head. But the moment I start to formulate those little ideas into words, they turn skittish and bolt away like the minnows at every pet store ever. So cute, tiny, and colorful; just chilling out until I try to get a closer look. And then POOF! Under a rock.

You know the ones. 

Why am I talking about fish? Okay, Greta, back on track.

So after several minutes of staring at my screen, I dry my clammy palms on my shirt and shake my hands out in preparation to write something...anything. It shouldn't be too long, but not too short either. I'd rather not post a TDLR on my very first blog article to establish a bad trend for any future this blog might have. I guess- I guess I could start at the beginning. Hey, yeah, it's cliché and all, but perhaps it'll provide a better frame to give you an idea of who I am, why I'm here, and what I want to do. Okay, maybe it's actually to provide ME a better frame to get this whole blog started. 

So, without further ado:

Hello! My name is Greta, and I'm one of the newer members of the Chess.com Support Team! New is perhaps a bit of a relative term; it's more like 4 months now, but I'm having a blast, and time is whizzing by.  As of today, I've already helped 2,127 of you dear chess players out there, and I'm looking forward to helping out many more!

I'm what you might call a lifetime gamer. Please allow me to explain. 

A decent chunk of my childhood was spent playing on gaming consoles in the '80s and early '90s. I battled alien ships on Atari, negotiated epic obstacle courses with Mario on Nintendo, and discovered my own gothy roots with Simon Belmont as we savaged vampires in Castlevania. A few of my other favorite titles: Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Combat, Street Fighter, and The Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time or bust).

My teenage years brought Arcade Gaming to the fore, and this is where I learned how to drive. My dad (more on him in a moment) would take my little brother and me to the local arcade to play games and hang out. We'd race against each other on the twin Sega Rally racer game, gripping the wheels tight and hugging the turns as we hurtled towards the finish line. I also discovered my love of Tekken and was banned from playing Anna because no one could beat me. 

After graduating high school (with honors because we nerds rule) I made a critical decision. Instead of heading off to Virginia Tech on an ROTC scholarship, I took a gap year to figure some things out. During this time I lived in a bachelor pad with my friend Scott, his brother, and literal rocket scientist dad. The place was 'in transition' -meaning I had to skirt around the edge of a big 5' hole on the 2nd-floor to get to the bathroom. They were slowly refurbishing the old place between meals of powdered milk and warm Dr. Pepper, but I had a nice view from my bedroom down into the living room to watch the brothers play Ocarina of Time.

Yet within the sanctuary of my own room, away from boisterous bachelors, my Windows XP computer had a much different type of game installed. It was the very first title I owned from a company that I would eventually work for: StarCraft. I LOVED this RTS, for it required strategy and critical thinking skills, giving me the challenge my brain craved. At the time, I didn't give much thought to who the Protoss and the Terrans were. I just liked how the aliens looked and the architecture of their race. I can't tell you how many hours were spent harvesting enough Vespene to avoid hearing that dreaded system message:

"You must construct additional pylons."

Fast forward a year and I was boots on the ground in basic training as a young, fiery soldier, proudly following in the footsteps of my father, grandfather, and even great-grandfather. It was during my tour of service in Germany, mingling in the barracks, that I discovered such thing as an MMO existed. In this kind of game, you could use the internet to kill monsters with other people from all over the world. It blew my mind as I watched my battle buddy's character run panicking across the digital landscape while a Volkswagon Beetle-sized spider gave chase. This MMO was called Everquest, and my brief encounter with it would later change my life as a gamer forever.

Okay. Maaaybe that last line was a bit overdramatic. But it really did open up my purview to the creation of so many new MMOs that would be inspired by Everquest.  The one that stole my heart was the very first MMO I actually played: World of Warcraft. My world became everything and anything WoW related. I was still living in Germany and was lucky that my best friend Jen also adored the game. Together we created amazing adventures with our characters. We made many friends online, who still to this day are a part of my life and very dear to me. Jen and I often joked and daydreamed of how cool it would be to work for the company that created this amazing game we loved. 

Little did I know that wishing on stars really works. You should try it sometime.

When I returned to the United States, I found myself starting over. To be honest, it was quite a culture shock and took a while for me to re-adapt to American culture. I'd spent all of my adult life that point in Europe and living among her people. Germany is what I knew, and Germany was home. My travels landed me and my first cat, Rowan, in the heart of Texas. And with my best friend Jen, we managed to eke out a modest living situation.

A few months later, Jen was browsing the World of Warcraft website and exclaimed that Blizzard (the company) was hiring support agents in our area. Believing it was a long shot, I applied anyway. Their website accepted my application and noted that I might be contacted in two weeks. TWO DAYS LATER, a representative called me and asked if I could come in the next day for an interview. The interview was stellar and I was hired right on.

For the next 5 years, I lived and worked my dream. I was Game Master Syraethial: a blue-robed elf with long ears and flowing sapphire hair. It was truly an amazing experience in which I invested all of my blood, sweat, tears, and soul. I met all of my heroes from the company and even embarrassed myself like a noob in front of a few of them. (That's a whole other story for another time.) World of Warcraft was literally my livelihood in all regards. Sure, I've played other MMOs like Rift, Guild Wars, SWtoR, ESO just to name a few, but I always come back to WoW.

If you're familiar with the company and its IPs, you may have heard of an event called the Blizzard 600. Sadly, I was among the group affected and it was pretty hard to deal with. I managed to complete a three-month contract working at NCSoft as part of the hacks team for Lineage II and Aion. I even had the pleasure of assisting in the launch of Guild Wars II. But that was enough for me. I turned down a job offer from Turbine and switched professional gears.

Before we turn my premier blog post into a weep fest, let me assure you, dear reader, that this story has a happy ending. My point in revealing all of this backstory to you is to show you where my love for games originates. I must therefore pull you back further into time, where a father began to teach his 5-year-old daughter how to play a game called Chess.

Yes, we have arrived at my origin story.

My father is an amazing man. Trust me when I say it because I totally have an objective point of view on this matter. As a soldier, he inspired me to enlist and serve my country. His creative brilliance allows him to take something apart only to rebuild it with improvements that make it better. You should've seen what he could do in the instrument repair shop he ran in our basement.

As a musician, dad is incredibly talented on brass and I've enjoyed countless hours listening to him play in concerts that even our own Presidents attended. His gift of gab taught me early on how to weave congeniality in with a good-quality product. He always says that the best form of advertising is by word of mouth. And he proved it again and again, every time he welcomed returning customers or referrals through our front door.

Learning to play Chess as a kid was important because it taught me to think, to reason, and consider consequences. As a result, I excelled in all subjects of academics (except Probability and Statistics, of ALL THINGS!) I attribute much of my rationale and mindset to the hours we've spent over that 8x8 checkered board. Mind you, I haven't beaten the old man in a game, yet. But for me, playing Chess with him is so much more significant than a decisive checkmate. It is bonding time for me and my dad. It's our thing.

So, for as many electronic games as I've played, Chess holds an incredibly special place in my heart. I hope you can understand just how much as I draw your attention back to the present.

When COVID-19 rattled our world, all our lives were impacted dramatically. In April of 2020, my employment at a non-profit severed, and I contracted the illness that same week. Not exactly the best kind of tradeoff. As I'm too stubborn to let something like a coronavirus beat me, I made it through just fine. My father even invested in a full white hazmat suit secured with duct tape around the edges. Have you ever seen a spaceman grocery shopping? 

My father has always looked out for me with only the best of intentions at heart. And seldom have I found his advice to be flawed. So when he found out that Chess.com was hiring support agents, he urged me to apply. (It's worth mentioning that he's been a long-time member of the Chess.com website. We both have, but up until recently, he was much more active than I.) 

The idea of getting back into the gaming industry dredged up some old feelings. For three weeks I vacillated over applying. But in the end, I spruced up my resume, wrote a smashing cover letter, and submitted it along with the online application. I trusted in my father's advice and hoped for the best.

I also knocked on wood for good luck.

A few days later, Brendan from our hiring department emailed me. It seemed my professional background piqued their interest. The hope I'd held onto suddenly became a bit more tangible and we scheduled an interview. From the get-go, Brendan was friendly and easy to chat with. The inner nerd in me recognized his inner nerd, and the stiff formality I was expecting was quickly swept away by tales of our various exploits in World of Warcraft. And just in case Erik or someone else from HR reads this: We really did do the interview and Brendan deserves well-earned a promotion!

My second interview was with Shaun, the Director of Support. The title of 'Director' was a bit intimidating, and I wouldn't blame Shaun in the least for poking fun at me now in the comments below. Because again, my expectations of how the interview would be and the reality were quite opposite! Even now, he's had to remind me a couple of times that things around here at Chess.com are much different than your average company. 

Calling what we do here a job makes it feel like a dirty word.

It's better. I mean it. They really take the term 'family company' to its truest sense. We work together to solve issues and play Chess together. We hang out together outside of work hours, even though we're scattered all over the globe. We're happy and well looked after by Shaun, Brenda, and Erik which gives us the ability to excel at what we do best. I wish that everyone was lucky enough to be part of a company like ours. 

My first team meeting with the Support Department gave everyone the chance to introduce themselves. As I listened to each person speak, I began to pick out at least one thing I shared in common with them. And I realized I'd found my people. People who share the same love of Chess that I do, perhaps for their own reasons, but love nonetheless. In that same meeting, one of our teammates became emotional as they expressed their depth of passion for what they do here. And I'd be lying if I didn't say there were a few wet cheeks during that Zoom call, including mine.

Perhaps that is, in part, why I wanted to begin this blog. To affirm why I'm here and share various aspects of my Chess.com journey with you as they happen.

So here I am, 4 months in and I feel completely at home. I can be myself and have real conversations with you. I'm not restricted to using cold, canned responses when I message back and forth with you, my dear reader. It's truly a breath of fresh air. I always look forward to reading your tickets and taking on the challenge to resolve whatever problem you're facing. Think of me as your champion Knight on g1, ready to make an L-shaped move, because I Love to help. Everyone on our Support Team here is like that really, not just me. We love Chess, we love our community, and we love you.

We're here because of- and for you!

And I'm here... I'm here because 35 years ago, a young father sat down to teach his 5-year-old daughter Chess, unaware of just how much that game would impact the rest of her life and shape who she has become and what she's doing today.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have a father like mine. Thank you, Dad. I love you.

PS: Next game, let's play unrated ok? My rating is already embarrassing. LOL