Which doesn't count for much small-time. I've done pro photography work for a racing company for free- do I get any recognition for it? No, because it was a smallish company, and I'm not planning on mapping out racetracks for the rest of my life. Never mind it was good work, such that can be applied to many jobs- nobody you give a resume to is gonna care much about that, there are only about 10,000 other people applying for the job who have roughly similar "sorta applicable" skills. Even more if you're talking CG and ****- this ain't rocket science, most of the time, and any little punk with upper-middle-class parents can afford tools that make up for most of the skill gap.
Unless anyone here plans on opening up an extensive CD-label business, this "professional recognition" won't get 'em much of anywhere. Saying you did a CD cover for an amateur singer in Japan and hence are qualified to get a job is just... weak.
You'll have to do better than that, man. I can think of much more directly applicable niche jobs I could have filled on Utopia, inc., which actually would be something sensible to put on paper (actually, much more than it's practical in real life, which is the point of the project), but I'm not arrogant enough to expect that anyone'd work for me for free, much less fight over the opportunity to do so. ****, anyone who wants to work up some professional cred can just go onto one of the dev boards with a decent portfolio and get a job- one that actually pays (albeit with **** salaries) and entitles you to classify yourself as a game developer, etc. and name complete, expansive products thousands or tens of thousands of people will see.
Fact, the only reason nobody does is that most people around here are bone idle. Hell, look at the campaigns- we feel like "working" on this **** maybe once a month.
