I don't think you should be asking that question. You need to understand what brought you to development, and why you don't want to continue in it. From that you can figure out where you want to go. If you really wanted to go into business you would have phrased that question completely different. As for mechanics, I'd say networking is always helpful. It cannot hurt at the very least, and getting exposed to many different people is good. I'd start by asking people where you currently work what they are doing. Many people are happy to explain what they are doing if you show an interest in it. Pay attention and look with the lens of whether you'd want to be doing what they're doing. For starting a business, it really depends. Lots of cities have organizations that help connect new founders to mentors. Do Startup Weekend or some such. Even if you don't want to stay in tech it wouldn't hurt to know how that works. The dynamics of starting a company is really similar whether that company is tech or something non tech. I would not go for an MBA or any real class until you have a clue whether you really want to do it or not. And now for the bad news, your development experience will devalue quickly over time. Lets say you're lucky and start a company and that company lasts for 2 years. So you need a job relatively quickly so you fallback on your old skills. Right now that wouldn't hurt too much. However, lets back up to 2007 or 2002, you would like be SOL. Your old skills are old, and your new skills are way too new. So I'd make sure you have a decent safety net before transitioning.

I'd say it depends on the relationship between you and your "friend". If you're a parent, relative, etc, then IMO, stop hovering. Let your son/daughter/relation make their own mistakes. At the point of career, it won't hurt too much, wherever they end up. While I would say working for a large game company like Blizzard has its drawbacks, you cannot deny that working there wouldn't give some eye opening experience. However, if this friend is a lover/husband/wife, then the question I would ask you is whether you're planning on having children soon, and whether you mind having your spouse/lover/mate away working 60-80 hours. If the answer to either question is yes, then you really should rethink whether you want to be in a relationship with this person. And why do I say that? Because working at a big company in IT isn't that much different than a game company. Yes it can be more stable, but it doesn't have to be, and many of these companies are sweat shops. I'd not be surprised to see 50-60 hours at least, possibly more. If you can't handle that, then the problem will likely be you. Sure, game companies can be worse, but so can any other company. If you're just a friend, I'd tend to go with the parent/relation and let your friend make a mistake. I might say it will suck for you working at a game company, and you'll likely hate it. I may even go so far to grab the worst title I can find at BestBuy and say how'd you feel if you spent 18 months of your life making that. And if the friend wants evidence? Tell him/her to Google it.

It provides fulfillment. If his friend wants that from making games, he/she is very likely not to get it from an EA/ATIV type of company...

The "hacking" laws are written in terms of access, which is contextual. Manning had access to the systems to do the work for which he was employed by the DoD. He did not have access to copy off files and give them Wikileaks. So he did violate those laws.