Melissa
@n7memo.bsky.social
Quality Engineer at Mojang Studios • BAFTA Connect • TGA Future Class • she/her • #SpaceGirls art by @maxbeech.bsky.social • https://linktr.ee/n7memo
Pinned
Melissa
@n7memo.bsky.social
· Oct 17
📌 I’m Melissa aka Memo!
🔸 currently works at Mojang Studios/Xbox
🔸 values a people-first, product-second culture
🔸 loves narrative-driven games like the upcoming Dragon Age
🔸 also loves TTRPGs and is in two nearly four-year-long campaigns
🔸 figuring out how to manage ADHD
🔸 cat lady 🐈⬛
🔸 currently works at Mojang Studios/Xbox
🔸 values a people-first, product-second culture
🔸 loves narrative-driven games like the upcoming Dragon Age
🔸 also loves TTRPGs and is in two nearly four-year-long campaigns
🔸 figuring out how to manage ADHD
🔸 cat lady 🐈⬛
I’m thankful to be employed with a fun job, to have a roof over my head, to have people who support and root for me, and to be eating good food with family tonight. Thank you for being awesome simply by being yourselves, supporting your peers, and continuing to believe we can be better together.
November 27, 2025 at 8:09 PM
I’m thankful to be employed with a fun job, to have a roof over my head, to have people who support and root for me, and to be eating good food with family tonight. Thank you for being awesome simply by being yourselves, supporting your peers, and continuing to believe we can be better together.
Reposted by Melissa
This is what happened to me. Employers across the board need to be aware of how harassment campaigns work and do better to protect their employees from them. These people should not have a platform to profit off of harassment.
Two months after firing over Charlie Kirk comments, Ghost of Yotei dev blames harassment campaign, not 'bad joke'
aftermath.site/sucker-punch-c...
aftermath.site/sucker-punch-c...
November 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
This is what happened to me. Employers across the board need to be aware of how harassment campaigns work and do better to protect their employees from them. These people should not have a platform to profit off of harassment.
I graduated college with a writing degree, but lacked the inspiration to write and didn’t want to go into teaching. After some soul searching, I got two job offers, one as a paralegal (I considered a degree in polisci) and one for QA at Xbox. Gaming sounded way more fun, so I took the risk.
November 23, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I graduated college with a writing degree, but lacked the inspiration to write and didn’t want to go into teaching. After some soul searching, I got two job offers, one as a paralegal (I considered a degree in polisci) and one for QA at Xbox. Gaming sounded way more fun, so I took the risk.
Wicked was just as beautifully tragic as I expected, and the changes they made from the stage musical were perfectly reasonable. I absolutely cried. I hope Ariana and Cynthia get their flowers because they pulled off one hell of a performance. 👏 😭
I’m seeing Wicked: For Good tonight and I just know it’ll be hard to resist humming along inbetween mouthfuls of popcorn. It’s one of my favorite musicals in spite of the tragedy. And yes, I’m a Gelphie truther. I know what you are, Glinda. 💅
November 23, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Wicked was just as beautifully tragic as I expected, and the changes they made from the stage musical were perfectly reasonable. I absolutely cried. I hope Ariana and Cynthia get their flowers because they pulled off one hell of a performance. 👏 😭
I’m seeing Wicked: For Good tonight and I just know it’ll be hard to resist humming along inbetween mouthfuls of popcorn. It’s one of my favorite musicals in spite of the tragedy. And yes, I’m a Gelphie truther. I know what you are, Glinda. 💅
November 22, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I’m seeing Wicked: For Good tonight and I just know it’ll be hard to resist humming along inbetween mouthfuls of popcorn. It’s one of my favorite musicals in spite of the tragedy. And yes, I’m a Gelphie truther. I know what you are, Glinda. 💅
This is a great example of how to meet people where they’re at. 👏 Very cool to see initiatives like this happening, and I hope the learnings lead to more whistles and ICE melting.
I spoke with people role-playing ICE raids in video games to help educate people on their rights and what to do in real-life situations. Tonight, they're holding an event in Fortnite www.wired.com/story/activi...
November 22, 2025 at 1:39 AM
This is a great example of how to meet people where they’re at. 👏 Very cool to see initiatives like this happening, and I hope the learnings lead to more whistles and ICE melting.
Reposted by Melissa
hard to maintain friendships with game developers because all these motherfuckers have ADHD and forget you exist when you're out of sight (it's me i'm these guys)
November 21, 2025 at 8:10 AM
hard to maintain friendships with game developers because all these motherfuckers have ADHD and forget you exist when you're out of sight (it's me i'm these guys)
Reposted by Melissa
Here’s the reason I spoke to so many video game actors. I attended the launch of TIVA, an independently run audiobook series with all of your favourite voice actors, aiming to fight back against AI and corporations, featuring an all female/non-binary cast.
www.thegamer.com/tiva-intervi...
www.thegamer.com/tiva-intervi...
Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, And Assassin's Creed Stars Unite For All-Female And Non-Binary Audiobook, And We Spoke To Them All
TIVA is a self-funded audiobook project featuring a wealth of talent, aiming to "stand against the exploitation of artists by corporations and AI."
www.thegamer.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Here’s the reason I spoke to so many video game actors. I attended the launch of TIVA, an independently run audiobook series with all of your favourite voice actors, aiming to fight back against AI and corporations, featuring an all female/non-binary cast.
www.thegamer.com/tiva-intervi...
www.thegamer.com/tiva-intervi...
It would be really cool if a game included QA early in the credits rather than buried at the end or under Special Thanks. Going out of your way to prop up the quality team is a huge sign of respect for what’s classically considered the “little guys” and would earn my sincere support and gratitude.
November 19, 2025 at 8:00 AM
It would be really cool if a game included QA early in the credits rather than buried at the end or under Special Thanks. Going out of your way to prop up the quality team is a huge sign of respect for what’s classically considered the “little guys” and would earn my sincere support and gratitude.
I finished Dispatch in just a few days, but it successfully scratches the Telltale itch. The dialogue is snappy, the story is tropey but engaging with solid acting and QTE, and it’s satisfying to fulfill the power fantasy of being a regular guy who saves the day and inspires change. Season two when?
November 19, 2025 at 7:09 AM
I finished Dispatch in just a few days, but it successfully scratches the Telltale itch. The dialogue is snappy, the story is tropey but engaging with solid acting and QTE, and it’s satisfying to fulfill the power fantasy of being a regular guy who saves the day and inspires change. Season two when?
Reposted by Melissa
My trailblazing game industry bad-ass friend Rebecca Heineman has passed away.
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Rebecca Heineman - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
My trailblazing game industry bad-ass friend Rebecca Heineman has passed away.
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Fuck cancer.
Friends, let’s not forget her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca...
Happy Friendsgiving to all who celebrate this weekend! I got home from mine after 1am last night and woke up about fifteen minutes ago. 😂 My voice is hoarse from all the laughing. Great food, great games, great people! Did I forget a tupperware? Who’s to say.
November 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Happy Friendsgiving to all who celebrate this weekend! I got home from mine after 1am last night and woke up about fifteen minutes ago. 😂 My voice is hoarse from all the laughing. Great food, great games, great people! Did I forget a tupperware? Who’s to say.
Even if you’re not particularly keen on theatre, do yourself a favor and go watch the PBS Shakespeare in the Park performance of Twelfth Night. It’s hilarious and excellent! Lupita Nyong’o was stunning, Peter Dinklage was earnestly unhinged, Sandra Oh said “gay rights”. www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/t...
Twelfth Night ~ About | Great Performances | PBS
The Shakespearean comedy of mistaken identity starring Lupita Nyong'o, Sandra Oh, Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Junior Nyong'o and more.
www.pbs.org
November 15, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Even if you’re not particularly keen on theatre, do yourself a favor and go watch the PBS Shakespeare in the Park performance of Twelfth Night. It’s hilarious and excellent! Lupita Nyong’o was stunning, Peter Dinklage was earnestly unhinged, Sandra Oh said “gay rights”. www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/t...
The c-suites are dragging this average up and skewing expectations. There’s no way that most game developers are making $142k! Would love to see more details and context about disciplines like Production and QA, marginalized communities, HCOL areas, contract/freelance, and layoffs/team size.
The average salary for games industry professionals based in the United States was $142,000 in 2025, according to a new report from GDC Festival of Gaming.
www.gamesindustry.biz/gdc-survey-a...
www.gamesindustry.biz/gdc-survey-a...
GDC Survey: Average salary for US games professionals was $142,000 in 2025
Findings reveal 33% of workers feel employers are "working to close existing pay gaps," while one-tenth report no efforts are being made
www.gamesindustry.biz
November 14, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The c-suites are dragging this average up and skewing expectations. There’s no way that most game developers are making $142k! Would love to see more details and context about disciplines like Production and QA, marginalized communities, HCOL areas, contract/freelance, and layoffs/team size.
Reposted by Melissa
Chatting with Future Class inductees for my latest at @theguardian.com. They paint a pretty clear picture of the perils of performative allyship.
Thanks to all who spoke with me, and always, to Keza for the chance to do important work!
Thanks to all who spoke with me, and always, to Keza for the chance to do important work!
“Don’t gather some of the most brilliant activists in the industry, treat us like crap, and then expect us to do nothing about it.” After the Game Awards cancelled its Future Class programme, @alyssamerc.bsky.social talked to its former honorees
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...
“We were effectively props”: young stars of game development feel let down by the ‘gaming Oscars’
Announced in 2020 by the Game Awards as an inclusive programme for the industry’s next generation, the Future Class initiative has now been discontinued. Inductees describe clashes with organisers and...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Chatting with Future Class inductees for my latest at @theguardian.com. They paint a pretty clear picture of the perils of performative allyship.
Thanks to all who spoke with me, and always, to Keza for the chance to do important work!
Thanks to all who spoke with me, and always, to Keza for the chance to do important work!
I finally finished Expedition 33 tonight, and now I understand why so many people were demanding that I play it and have been so adamant that it deserves awards like GOTY. It absolutely does. As I sit here, teary-eyed, I deeply respect Sandfall Interactive’s story about grief and family. 🥀
November 10, 2025 at 8:12 AM
I finally finished Expedition 33 tonight, and now I understand why so many people were demanding that I play it and have been so adamant that it deserves awards like GOTY. It absolutely does. As I sit here, teary-eyed, I deeply respect Sandfall Interactive’s story about grief and family. 🥀
Reposted by Melissa
i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is
November 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM
i’m ready for something different than whatever the fuck this is
What surprises and disappoints me about all of this is removing all acknowledgment that Future Class ever existed from the TGA site, that the announcement was informally shared in Discord, and how a program aiming to uplift burgeoning professionals made my fellow members do most of the uplifting.
EXCLUSIVE on @gamedeveloper.bsky.social: not only has The Game Awards not nominated a Future Class for 2025, it's told alumni it "does not have any active programming plans" for the award.
The Future Class page was taken down sometime this year—eliminating a definitive archive of honorees.
The Future Class page was taken down sometime this year—eliminating a definitive archive of honorees.
The Game Awards' Future Class program remains on ice
Future Class organizer Emily Weir has informed past honorees that The Game Awards has no active plans for the program.
www.gamedeveloper.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:42 PM
What surprises and disappoints me about all of this is removing all acknowledgment that Future Class ever existed from the TGA site, that the announcement was informally shared in Discord, and how a program aiming to uplift burgeoning professionals made my fellow members do most of the uplifting.
To be clear: This would be disastrous for the thousands of folks that would lose their jobs, for QA as a discipline (it’s clear the people making these decisions don’t understand what quality stakeholders actually do), and ultimately for the games themselves that will suffer and fail.
Square Enix wants 70% of its QA work to be handled by generative AI by the end of 2027, in partnership with the University of Tokyo's Matsuo-Iwasawa Laboratory. https://bit.ly/4qKdyQR
November 7, 2025 at 8:58 PM
To be clear: This would be disastrous for the thousands of folks that would lose their jobs, for QA as a discipline (it’s clear the people making these decisions don’t understand what quality stakeholders actually do), and ultimately for the games themselves that will suffer and fail.
My cat has stolen my desk chair, which means I guess I’ll be standing while I work for the foreseeable future. 🤷♀️ Who am I to question a 70-year-old feline’s rotating throne?
November 7, 2025 at 6:05 PM
My cat has stolen my desk chair, which means I guess I’ll be standing while I work for the foreseeable future. 🤷♀️ Who am I to question a 70-year-old feline’s rotating throne?
This will probably go down in history as one of the exemplary “yes it really happened and it was just as dumb as it sounds” moments of 2025. All of the clever sandwich puns are making me hungry.
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
November 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
This will probably go down in history as one of the exemplary “yes it really happened and it was just as dumb as it sounds” moments of 2025. All of the clever sandwich puns are making me hungry.
Reposted by Melissa
accolades are important to marginalized folks. not being able to access even an archived post hosted by TGA website kinda sucks ass. not to mention how bad of a look it is to just destroy 5 years of "hey look at us we're uplifting 50 incredible devs" to "don't look don't look"
looks like all mention of the future class program (which started in 2020) has been wiped from TGA webpage 🤪 the only archive that proves it existed is through the wayback machine. Here's my cohort (the last one): web.archive.org/web/20241119...
Future Class | The Game Awards
Celebrate the best in video games and see what's next - Live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
web.archive.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:19 PM
accolades are important to marginalized folks. not being able to access even an archived post hosted by TGA website kinda sucks ass. not to mention how bad of a look it is to just destroy 5 years of "hey look at us we're uplifting 50 incredible devs" to "don't look don't look"
Reposted by Melissa
This person took this when they called the race
November 5, 2025 at 6:07 AM
This person took this when they called the race
Reposted by Melissa
So this broke containment. Please, don't feel this is the best way to deal with people who gleefully and/or ignorantly celebrate what's happening to SNAP and the social safety nets in the US. You don't have to confront strangers. You do have to do what you can to make a difference for ppl in need. +
I was at the grocery store last minute purchasing candy for tonight when some loudmouth went off on how glad they were SNAP benefits were stopping.
Friends, I was so angry. I just gave two neighbours grocery gift cards because I know they use the program. Everyone deserves food.
Friends, I was so angry. I just gave two neighbours grocery gift cards because I know they use the program. Everyone deserves food.
November 1, 2025 at 11:24 PM
So this broke containment. Please, don't feel this is the best way to deal with people who gleefully and/or ignorantly celebrate what's happening to SNAP and the social safety nets in the US. You don't have to confront strangers. You do have to do what you can to make a difference for ppl in need. +
I was rooting for the Blue Jays in spite of the fact that they crushed the Mariners’ hopes and dreams this year, so I feel for you, Toronto. Both teams had incredible plays and they set up a skillful, entertaining series. Congrats to the Dodgers for a repeat win! 🏆
November 2, 2025 at 4:49 AM
I was rooting for the Blue Jays in spite of the fact that they crushed the Mariners’ hopes and dreams this year, so I feel for you, Toronto. Both teams had incredible plays and they set up a skillful, entertaining series. Congrats to the Dodgers for a repeat win! 🏆