Alumni Spotlight: Chase Straight

In this Alumni Spotlight, we catch up with Chase Straight, a former member of ModSquad who’s now a community developer at Ubisoft, where he works on popular title Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. We asked Chase about his ModSquad memories, from his introduction to the company while writing for his college paper to his years as a valued ModSquad team member. Chase credits the solid foundation he received while working with us to his success in the industry today.

What was your background prior to coming to ModSquad?

I actually started working at ModSquad during college, so I didn’t have much of a professional background then beyond playing a lot of video games.

What brought you to us?

I studied journalism in college because I wanted to be a music writer. I was writing for our school’s newspaper and doing a feature story on Second Life when I came across ModSquad and what they were doing with the Gossip Girl sims. I was offered a job and got my feet wet booking “live” artists for Gossip Girl events, before transitioning to working in virtual worlds for kids.

Why did you join the Mods?

It was an opportunity to work in the entertainment industry and seemed like a lot of fun, so why not? You have to take advantage of opportunities like that when they present themselves.

What were your thoughts as you worked for ModSquad?

One thing I loved about working at ModSquad was the incredible brainpower I had access to, either those who worked at ModSquad or those affiliated with the company (many of whom would later come to work there too). Many of these people were, and continue to be, my mentors and role models in the industry. There are so many smart and talented people you can learn from if you’re willing to listen and put in the work.

What did you learn?

ModSquad gave me the foundation for everything I know about community management and the game industry, so it’s hard to nail down one particular thing. It’s where I came up in the industry.

Did the flexible scheduling help you out?

The flexible scheduling did help a bit when I was still in college and working for the company, but otherwise it didn’t matter as much to me. After a short time, I moved to Dallas to work as the head of community for Webosaurs, a kids’ virtual world created by Reel FX. I probably worked a lot more than I should have!

How was it working with the other project managers?

My coworkers were pretty fantastic. Jason Ferguson, who is now a director at ModSquad, was one of my colleagues at the time. Really great guy and very good at what he does.

What skills did you take away from your time here at ModSquad that made you more marketable?

The Philosophy of Moderation document that ModSquad’s chief moderator wrote is something I’ve kept in my head long past leaving the company and has guided the community management best practices that I’ve implemented on titles later in my career.

Being able to be deeply involved with small titles across the spectrum (console, mobile, F2P, youth media, MMORPGs) helped me gain a lot of experience early in my career, which has been invaluable on my resume later on. Your resume should be a list of accomplishments, and working at ModSquad allows you opportunities to really make an impact that you otherwise might not have starting out in the traditional corporate structure.

Why do you think the ModSquad strategy is optimal for both Mods and clients?

ModSquad is a great choice both for those working for the company and for those who bring in the Mods to help out with their services. Mods can work as little or as much as they want or need, and have plenty of opportunities for advancement. For clients, ModSquad is flexible and accommodating, the perfect choice for those who need scalable external services in their model.

Gina Miller
Director of People Operations

Photo Credit for Chase Straight Illustration belongs to Aaron Fetter, from Ubisoft.