Gamer Takes Her Act From Arcade to the Front Office

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Heather Gore calls herself an old-school gamer. She used to spend school vacations in the arcade, armed with rolls of quarters. Now, she finds herself in a different arena: the world of multiplayer games.


She is vice president of marketing and communications at IGE Ltd., which runs a Web site that allows gamers to buy, sell or trade virtual currency and assets for use in games like EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI.


Gore, who was previously a senior brand marketer at Yahoo Inc., was hired to in step up the marketing of West L.A.-based IGE.


“It’s a smaller company in a fast-emerging market,” she said. “There’s so much more opportunity to be involved in every single thing that happens here and creating the long-term plan from a marketing perspective.”


On a day-to-day basis, Gore works on search engine marketing, online banner advertising, print advertising and brand awareness advertising. The company’s revenue comes from advertising and the sale of the “virtual assets” like weapons, potions or food used in video games.


Gore does make time for sessions of online multiplayer games, typically at night or on the weekend.


“I have the old-school Atari and am proud to say I was a member of the ‘Pitfall’ club, said Gore. (“Pitfall'”was one of Atari’s first games). “I was probably 10 years old and I got something like 40,000 points, took a Polaroid of the screen and sent it in to be part of the club.”


Born in Houston, she spent years with her family in Java and Borneo in Indonesia, and also Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. “When I was 8, they actually had to staple an extension to my passport because I was out of room,” she recalled.


Gore is single and lives in Playa Vista.

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