It’s the stuff of internet fantasy: NBA 2K gameplay director Mike Wang began his adult life as a terribly unsure college student worrying over what he would do for the rest of his career. In the meantime, he regularly posted on the Operation Sports forums, freely offering his “advice” (or just gripes) to anyone who would listen.

Through a series of incredibly fortunate favors and meetings, Wang eventually found himself at the offices of NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts. What awaited him was a team of developers that amusingly recognized his username from the forums.

 “I was just like your typical forum poster, not really understanding what goes into game development,” Wang said on this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered. “I [thought I] knew everything. ‘Why is this the way it is?’ [I’d] just post these random thoughts like, ‘Why don’t they do this instead?’ Obviously when you’re not in the industry, your ideas, sometimes you just don’t understand. You’re naive to what goes into making games. I was one of those guys.”

On this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered, editor Ryan McCaffrey sat down with Wang to talk about his path to Visual Concepts, then to EA, then quickly back again, as well as how sports games have evolved over the last decade. You can check out the full episode here on Wednesday, December 26.

You can also check out every past episode of IGN Unfiltered, where Ryan McCaffrey chats with some of the industry’s biggest names about their histories and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. Recent guests include BioShock Infinite writer and Underworld Ascendant creative director Joe Fielder and 3D Realms co-founder Scott Miller.

Joseph Knoop is a freelance writer for IGN, and begs you not to look up his old 1UP forum posts. Share Christmas-themed Evangelion fanfiction with him on Twitter @JosephKnoop.