Game Studio Visits/Shadowing?

[Grant]

I am a game design student from Chicago, IL and I will be in Seattle, WA in a few weeks. I was hoping that while I was there I could connect with someone who was working at a game studio there, preferably in a design position. As a student I have questions that I'd love to ask a working professional and just see what exactly a working game studio looks like. Does anyone know if and how I could connect with a studio, talk to an employee, or even get a tour of a studio? Is something like that possible? I've looked around at a few studio websites and on professional websites like LinkedIn and meetup.com but I don't really know how to go about getting in contact with someone in the industry without coming off as a spammer or something. Seattle is a place that I am definitely considering moving to after school and this would be a great way to get to know the area and make a few connections. Advice? Any and all answers would be helpful! Thanks!

-Grant

[tsloper]

Originally Posted by Grant

1. I am a game design student from Chicago, IL and I will be in Seattle,
2. if and how I could connect with a studio,
3. talk to an employee, or even get a tour of a studio?
4. Is something like that possible?

1. Grant, if you can't swing it in Seattle, you can always try a Chicago studio. See gameindustrymap and gamedevmap.
2. You can't connect with a studio. A studio is nothing more than a legal construct within a building.
3. First, find the titles of some games made by that studio. Then look at the credits of those games. Identify a person you'd like to talk to. Then Google that person, see if s/he has a LinkedIn account or Facebook page. You can also just try emailing "first initial+last name@company.com." Send a brief well-written letter of self-introduction, stating your request without any gushing. Maybe that person will reply affirmatively, and maybe not.
4. Anything is possible except (1) time travel to the past, or (2) the Star Trek holodeck.