I started in graduate school studying how juries and judges decide cases built on complex scientific evidence, DNA matches and dueling damages experts. I burned out, took a job building statistical software, and noticed the people around me were intimidated by a time-sharing system nobody could figure out. I wrote them a friendlier front end before I knew UX was a field.
When I said the same ideas would work on games, they told me I was crazy. So I joined Microsoft Game Studios in 2001 and spent years in the usability and playtest labs on Rise of Nations, Crimson Skies, and Catan for Xbox Live Arcade, mostly on core systems and combat rather than menus. Players will forgive a clumsy menu if the moment-to-moment is great. The reverse is not true.
Later came Zynga in the early free-to-play years, mobile studios, and then co-founding a game UX studio with a friend from that first Rise of Nations project. Today I mostly advise: accelerators, publishers, funds, and teams who want a veteran read on where players will bounce, and an honest answer about where AI actually helps.
I have two teenage sons who no longer fit the shirts I put them in for talks. I play board games with strangers in whatever city I'm in. StackPlay is where I play with the judgment in public.