The phenomenal game StarCraft launched in the summer of 1998. Its success led to thousands of players challenging each other online through our Battle.net service. The game featured a ladder system, and we planned to invite the top players each season to an official Blizzard tournament with cash prizes. Unfortunately, some players sought to gain an unfair advantage in the ladder system. I co-developed StarCraft’s ladder abuse detection software. Running on a dedicated server daily, it ensured fair play among competitors. Fun mention: During our first major tournament, I was honored to serve as one of the official referees.

This phone client (Inquest) is one of the many other suites of n-tier applications I solely developed for Blizzard Entertainment’s Customer Service Department. This application was used by the Phone Group within the Customer Service department to log phone calls. It allowed the representative to look up customer information and put in a new Ticket (issue) or reopen a Ticket. The data was stored in a central location and it let other support personnel look up customer information that was entered via Inquest.

As our video games gained global popularity, we began establishing regional headquarters in various countries. To enhance our customer service, I started localizing the applications used by our support representatives. Clipper, an application I developed several years earlier, was an ideal candidate for rearchitecting and localization. This tool enabled support representatives to search for and view solutions to customer inquiries. It was used for replying to emails and served as a knowledgebase to assist in communicating solutions to customers over the phone

Staffing our Customer Service department to support World of Warcraft and other games was a significant challenge. Hiring managers noticed that recent hires weren’t meeting expectations in chat or email responses, mainly due to typos and time spent typing. To address this, I took on a side project to develop a typing proficiency app. Within a few days, I had a rough prototype, and with additional testing and refinement, it was enthusiastically adopted and integrated into the hiring process. This app helped ensure potential candidates met the typing requirements set by the team.

There wasn’t a convenient way to access a directory with employee information such as full name, title, department, and organizational charts.  I developed a website called PeopleFinder, providing a centralized and convenient platform for viewing and locating fellow employees. Administrative features were also launched, enabling Human Resources to update employee information efficiently. An innovative part of this project was where I developed the map system using Adobe Flash (CS3), allowing zooming, panning, and other interactions to help locate the seating area of an employee.

As the company has grown, so has its employees’ thirst for knowledge. A Learning Management System (LMS) provides a great service to employees, allowing them to strengthen their skill sets and acquire new ones. I was the Product Owner and UX Designer for the project and it launched successfully, providing a one-stop shop for learning materials and classes employees can partake in.