Lloyd Campbell
Growing up, Lloyd Campbell III spent a lot of time on a Game Boy gaming system he shared with his brother, Gent, who has autism and was nonverbal to age 4. While awaiting his turn, Campbell began to notice patterns in Gent’s behavior. “I was able to read him because of his interaction with the video games,” says Campbell, who helped his parents learn to recognize when Gent was tired, sad, overwhelmed or just plain hungry.
Campbell’s parents always encouraged him to learn from those around him, no matter where he was. His mother was a Navy physician, so before he was 10, that “where” included Italy and Japan. When he arrived at Exeter as a lower, he furthered his studies in Japanese and took up Arabic.
At Williams College, he earned a degree in economics and Asian studies — taking a semester in Hong Kong and a summer job in Shanghai that allowed him to polish his Mandarin skills (he also speaks conversational Spanish).
After graduation, Campbell returned to Minnesota to be near his family. He’s now a marketing and product associate for the gaming company CogReps, where he continues to embrace the interplay between video games and communication by developing interactive sports apps.
Can you describe the app you’re working on?
Smash Routes helps players learn basic football skills so coaches don’t have to spend valuable practice time covering information again and again. It teaches player positions and what they do, and lets you go through plays to see how they’ll work out on the field. Coaches can see how everyone is doing and what they’ve learned. It’s a fun, interactive way for players, parents, coaches — anyone — to learn football. Our goal is to get into other sports. Basketball is next.
How did you get started in this line of work?
After I graduated from Williams, I realized I wanted to pursue a career in the video game industry, so I taught myself how to code in C# and how to use the Unity gaming engine. I attended Video Game Development Club meetings at the University of Minnesota, two and a half hours from home, whenever my dad had meetings in the Twin Cities. I found CogReps through a job board — they didn’t have an opening that fit my skill set, but I got an internship with them in 2019 and eventually created the role I have today.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I really like wearing multiple hats. I played football at Exeter and Williams, and I’m using my knowledge of the game to challenge players but still make it fun. My long-term goal is to run my own company, but right now I’m getting great experience learning on the back end what goes into making a game, and on the front end, sales. Seeing how my work affects others — especially how it’s helping youth players be more engaged and excited about football — means a lot.
— Sarah Zobel
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the spring 2020 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.
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